Of course, this is an arbitrary number.
Does it mean I read more than in previous years? What about the
average length of books? Consider Saramago and the works of poetry I
read. Do I need to count pages? Number of words? But this isn't about nit-picking. It's about setting a goal and reaching it.
I like this reading goal in
that it forces me to read wildly and without precision. I can read a
wider range of works when I force myself to read 52 books. Having
this goal in mind means I read more short poetry works and more works
of flash fiction and short story collections. I read more non-fiction
this year than I've ever read before. I found that sometimes books
had to resonate with how I was feeling at the time. Like Lewis's
It Can't Happen Here after Trump won the election or finally reading
in the Spring Tender Is the Night, which I had purchased at a book
fair over five years ago. Some books I couldn't wait to start as soon
as I bought them like Known and Strange Things or Speedboat (although
I couldn't get into it at first, it really grew on me).
The White Album, complete with front
cover falling off, I found at the Logan Square Arts Fest, the same
warm day I listened to Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay and found a
reissue of the Beastie Boys first EP on on vinyl. Open Books, where I
volunteer, provided many serendipitous findings as well, including
Road-Side Dog and Written on the Body. Some books I special ordered,
like the poetry collection by Danez Smith after I read a poem of his
on Buzzfeed of all places.
