52 Books in 52 Weeks...

I read.

Quite a bit.

I never really used to pay attention to the numbers. Back in late-2005, Chris and I were talking about how much we both read. I asked her how many books she had read that year, expecting some thought, then a vague answer (you know: "ten-to-twenty","thirty-to-forty"). She replied immediately with, "Thirty-seven." I was dumbstruck, but I guess the cocked eyebrow gave away my thoughts. She explained, "I have a log."

She then turned towards her laptop and pulled up a Word document that listed every single non-academic book she'd read, right back to the beginning of 2002. I was intrigued. This was exactly the type of anal-retentive personal record-keeping I love. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before. With the first book I finished at the beginning of 2006, I started my own "Books Read" list.

Every book I read, I put on the list. The only distinction I make is whether I was reading a book for the first time, or it was a re-read (since I re-read a LOT of fiction). I like perusing my lists every so often to see the way I jump between fiction and non-fiction, changes in subject matter and how often I re-read certain books.

But, in the end, it's about the stats.

In 2006, I finished thirty-six books. Twenty new books; sixteen re-reads.

In 2007, I finished forty-three books. Thirty-three new books; ten re-reads.

I wasn't making a conscious effort at it, but I liked seeing the fact that both my "books-read" totals and the percentage of new books were increasing year-over-year.

For 2008, I issued myself a challenge: Fifty-two books in fifty-two weeks.

In reality, this 'goal' really doesn't mean much. The number of books I read a year is mainly a function of how much time I devote to reading, but I could easily meet the challenge just by choosing the right books. I could end this 'challenge' tomorrow by picking up the entire English catalogue of Mr. Men books, read all of them, and be done with it.

Obviously, to meet this goal, I need to read, on average, a book a week. The time it takes me to finish a book depends on length, density of the prose, and my engagement with the subject matter and/or writing-style of the book. There is no correlation in the time it takes me to get through fiction vs. non-fiction. I was surprised how engaged I was with Dr. Philip Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect, tearing through it in barely a week, while trudging through the excruciating writing style of Gen. Rupert Smith's The Utility of Force for over two. I can breeze through a Ken Follett book in a few days, but a denser Steven Erikson book will have me at it for four times as long.

The last week-and-a-half proved to be a good one for both the challenge, and ticking some books off my 'Need to Read' list. They were all easy, fast, engaging reads. I finished Atonement in five days (I didn't really read over the weekend), Animal Farm in practically one sitting, and The Kite Runner in three days.

Twenty weeks in and I finished off book #21 on my home from work.

I grabbed book #22 to read on the subway ride to the gym last night: Jian, a 1985 novel by Eric van Lustbader. This one's denser -- a large number of characters and plot-line, and an abundance of descriptive prose. I'm about a hundred-pages into it right now and, so far, it reads like a cross between Tom Clancy and James Clavell.

But with ninjas.