Completed 52/52 Today
Sorry. It's a bit of a long post.
I probably read maybe 2 dozen books the past 5 years, most of them rereads. I found this sub last year and decided to set a goal of 52 books and I'm pretty shocked I completed this so early. I would read 2 books at a time, to help break up the monotony if I got bogged down with one. This was very helpful a few times to keep my momentum going.
The average is about 310 pages per book. The breakdown was 23 books under 250 pages, 23 books between 250 and 450 pages and 6 books over 450 pages. I definitely gravitated to shorter when given multiple options, and easier reads, particularly the beginning of the year. Assuming I do the same goal for next year, I may set a goal to average of 350 or 400 pages per book. Currently undecided.
I set goals to read books from different centuries (pre 1900), 1 or more from each decade after 1900 and 1 or more books from various regions or countries. All books were ones I have never read before or only read partially. I found the books pre 1900 less fun in general and exploring books from different regions the most rewarding.
Category breakdown and scores for each book:
- 1900s - The Secret Agent (4.0*)
- 1910s - My Antonia (4.5*)
- 1920s - Siddhartha (4.0*)
- 1930s - Journey by Moonlight (4.0*)
- 1940s - The Stronghold (4.5*)
- 1950s - Farenheit 451 (4.5*)
- 1960s - The Crying of Lot 49 (3.5*)
- 1970s - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (4.0*)
- 1980s - Libra (4.5*)
- 1990s - Lahore A Sentimental Journey (3.0*)
- 2000s - 3 Assassins (4.0*)
- 2010s - The Guts (4.0*)
- 2020s - Murder Bimbo (3.5*)
- 1800s - Frankenstein (3.5*)
- 1700s - Gulliver's Travels (2.5*)
- 1600s - Don Quixote (5.0*)
- 1500s - Baburnama (3.0*)
- 1400s - La Celestina (4.0*)
- 1300s - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (3.5*)
- Pre 1300s - The Iliad (4.5*)
Book from continent or region or country:
- Africa:
Stay With Me (4.5*)
Things Fall Apart (4.5*)
- Middle East - Beer in the Snooker Club (4.0*)
- India/South Asia - Exit West (3.5*)
- East Asia x2:
Heaven (4.0*)
Bullet Train (3.5*)
- Korea x2:
The Vegetarian (4.0*)
We Do Not Part (4.5*)
- Australia - The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (3.5*)
- Mexico - Hurricane Season (4.5*)
- Canada - Station Eleven (4.0*)
- Latin America x3:
Texaco (2.0*)
The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao (3.5*)
Tokyo Suite (4.0*)
- Russia - We (3.0*)
- Europe (Non English) x5:
The Wolf and the Watchman (4.0*)
The Door (5.0*)
The Lost Daughter (3.5*)
Three Bags Full (3.0*)
My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle (5.0*)
All Others:
- A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (4.0*)
- People of Darkness (3.5*)
- The Dark Wind (3.5*)
- The Ghostway (3.5*)
- Everybody's Fool (4.5*)
- The Gone World (4.0*)
- Killers of the Flower Moon (3.0*)
- Annihilation (4.0*)
- MASH - A Novel About Three Army Doctors (4.0*)
- The Path to Power (5.0*)
- Blood Meridian (4.0*)
- Somebody's Fool (4.0*)
No more than 3 books per author.
I haven't set a goal for the rest of the year but probably will settle on averaging one per week without any other restrictions.