A book a week. Reading at that kind of pace might sound impossible, given our hectic lifestyles, but that’s exactly what many members of Constant Chatter are doing.
It’s not clear who started the 50 Book Challenge, but it has been widely embraced online. LiveJournal.com and LibraryThing.com both have communities devoted to the challenge. Bloggers from Salon.com to Bookslut.com have written about their efforts to tally up fifty titles in one year. Constant Chatter has jumped into the fray as well, with nearly twenty users committing themselves to the challenge and logging in books as they read. You can join in here.
Why has this challenge taken off and inspired so many people? Is it the love or reading or the love of competition? Perhaps a little bit of both.
While most readers are plodding along at the rate of one or two books a week, one LibraryThing.com user claims to have read 51 books in January 2007 alone. That’s the thing about the internet—you can make any outrageous and superhuman claim you like! Since I do need to show up at my job and sleep occasionally, I’ll stick to reading a book a week.
In doing this challenge, I’ve found that it’s very important to vary the kinds of books you’re reading. I just read two long, dense books back to back (Suite Francaise is 448 pages and The True History of the Kelly Gang was 14 hours on audio book), so now I need to read something a little lighter and shorter to stay on pace. I’m working on The City is a Rising Tide, which is only 197 pages. Of course, then I did a silly thing and bought The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, which clocks in at a whopping 528 pages. I may have to follow that with something really easy, perhaps Shopaholic and Baby, which can likely be read in a single day.
Whether or not I end up reading 50 books this year, the real accomplishment will be in reading far more than I read last year. Reading is good for the mind and soul, and each book I read stays with me long after the last page has been turned.
Rosebud
This is my second year doing the 50 Book Challenge through the LJ community. The best thing about it for me is that it has encouraged me to keep track of every book I read and write reviews of them. I enjoy looking back through all of them and reminding myself about the ones I loved.
I read exactly 50 books last year, just making my goal, so I hope I can do that again in 2007.
Incidentally, I have Suite Francaise on hold at the library. I can’t wait to dive in!