For the last couple of years I’ve been struggling to get through many books as I used to. Partly down to watching more TV (damn you, torrents), partly due to work and study. When I was travelling I did a fair bit of reading, mainly on buses and flights – but still nowhere near as much as I did when I was at school.
I would reckon when I was in my late teens I was managing something like 80+ books a year, and that’s a conservative estimate. What with a paper round and public transport to and from school, I had a fair bit of time to walk/sit with a book in my hand. There was no internet either, so less time sat on blogs/facebook/games than I do now as well.
I discovered a very useful site during the year called GoodReads. Primarily I used it as a way of ensuring I didn’t re-purchase a book I already had sat on a shelf somewhere, but spotted that they do an annual “challenge”. You set yourself a target number of books to get through by year end and log them as you progress.
I initially set myself a target of 20, and am glad to say that I managed to finish number 29 last night. Now I think you can see them by following this link to my 2011 challenge on Goodreads, but I’m not certain. So just in case, here they are:
| Title | Author | Mark |
| The Sacred Vault (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase, #6) | Andy McDermott | 4 |
| Empire Of Gold (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase, #7) | Andy McDermott | 4 |
| 42 – Douglas Adams’ Amazingly Accurate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything | Peter Gill | 3 |
| On the Edge | Charlie Carroll | 4 |
| Scorpia Rising (Alex Rider #9) | Anthony Horowitz | 5 |
| Rough Justice (Dan Shepherd, #7) | Stephen Leather | 5 |
| Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet Volume 1 HC | Kevin Smith | 3 |
| Odd Hours (Odd Thomas Novel, Book 4) | Dean Koontz | 2 |
| The Lost Symbol | Dan Brown | 3 |
| Road Trip to Hell: Tabloid Tales of Saddam, Iraq and a Bloody War: Tabloid Tales of Saddam, Iraq and a Crazy War | Chris Hughes | 5 |
| Lifeguard | James Patterson | 4 |
| Dave Gorman Vs the Rest of the World: Limited Edition with Bowling Voucher | Dave Gorman | 3 |
| The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1) | John Buchan | 3 |
| Self-Defense (Alex Delaware, #9) | Jonathan Kellerman | 2 |
| Playing with Fire (Skulduggery Pleasant, #2) | Derek Landy | 4 |
| Risk | Dick Francis | 3 |
| Dead Men’s Dust (Joe Hunter, #1) | Matt Hilton | 3 |
| The Faceless Ones (Skulduggery Pleasant, #3). | Derek Landy | 5 |
| Dark Days (Skulduggery Pleasant, #4) | Derek Landy | 5 |
| Mortal Coil (Skulduggery Pleasant, #5) | Derek Landy | 5 |
| The Templar Salvation | Raymond Khoury | 4 |
| Twice Shy | Dick Francis | 3 |
| Undead | Kirsty McKay | 4 |
| The Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | 2 |
| The Greek Who Stole Christmas (Diamond Brothers, #7) | Anthony Horowitz | 3 |
| To the Hilt | Dick Francis | 5 |
| Silverfin: A James Bond Adventure (Young Bond) | Charlie Higson | 4 |
| Horowitz Horror: v. 1: Nine Nasty Stories to Chill You to the Bone | Anthony Horowitz | 3 |
| The Enemy (The Enemy #1) | Charlie Higson | 3 |
Nice going and good luck! I’ve gone for a target of 42, which is the number I read last year but I was so amazed that I read so many, that I’m going to see if I can do it again! I’m don’t mind a bit of teen/young adult either, there’s some good stuff out there. Tried Patrick Ness? Highly recommended I’d say!
From what I’ve been warned, I can forget about reading when the baby comes along… On the other hand I could need something to do while I’m feeding the nipper and trying to get him/her back to sleep!
That’s how my sister did her reading after she’d just given birth – during feeds and when she couldn’t get back to sleep after being woken up in the middle of the night/morning/etc…