Hello there! And thanks once again for joining me here on this page! I'm extremely proud to say that I reached my goal of 52 books this year, and I couldn't have done it without your recommendations!
First, I would like to thank Geoff Ramsey, of RoosterTeeth, for inspiring me to do this in the first place. Without having seen his post in the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have started this, and I certainly wouldn't have finished it either. My number of books read would have been way less than 52, and I probably wouldn't have gotten in the habit of reading daily.
As someone who has never really made a New Year's resolution prior to this year, I was compelled to try something out. Not only did I find this fitting for me since I was starting a literature class in January, but also I thought it would be something enjoyable as well. I have always been an avid reader, but never anything like 52 books in a year.
Below is Geoff's initial post about the challenge. As simple as it seems, this really got me thinking about my goals for the year. And I am incredibly grateful that I saw this! I'm not sure if Geoff stuck to the challenge and made it to 52, but I know he also got in the practice of daily reading.
Next, I would like to say thank you to those of you who take the time to read this blog. I started this as a way to keep myself accountable, so for you all to have viewed this website almost 1500 times is incredible to me. I really didn't anticipate any amount of readership, but I'm very happy that you took some time to read about what I was reading!
And last, thanks to all of you who gave me recommendations on what to read. I got to as many as I could, but if I didn't get to them this year, I'll do my best to read them next year. Rest assured, they are still on my list and I'll read them soon! However, currently my "To be read" list is about 47 books long (and perpetually growing)... hopefully I can make a dent in that this new year!
As far as 2015 goes, I do have some more goals for myself. I won't try to read 52 books again. That was really hard! But I'm not saying it will not happen either. My long term goals are to continue the habit of daily reading and to try to read at least 30 books every year. I think that's a more manageable number, and allows me some extra room to space out what I'm reading. If I end up reading more than that, then it's just a bonus!
As a further goal for myself, I would like to read the entire Bible within the next year or next few years, including both the New and Old Testaments, and my plan is to keep a journal about my thoughts on it. (I won't be posting about this on my blog.) If I finish the Bible, which I will be studying more than just reading, my plan is to get into other religious texts as well, such as the Quran and the Book of Mormon. I'd love to continue to learn more about world religions over the course of the next year!
To close, I just want to again say thank you for spending some time reading this, and giving me recommendations! As far as this blog goes, I may continue to post some in order to make sure I reach my goal of 30 books in 2015, but no guarantees.
And also, if you're interested, here's a list of my top 5 favorite books I read in 2014:
#5.
Pandemic, by Scott Sigler
#4.
1984, by George Orwell
#3.
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
#2.
Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell
#1.
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Again, thank you for reading, and have a happy New Year!
Nathan
(Yes, I counted the novellas in the two Stephen King collections as separate books, thus only 46 pictures).
