52 Books & Blogs in 52 Weeks

Well it’s been a while since I’ve written in here. Quite a long time, in fact.

It’s been so long that while I have again decided to pick up the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge, I have also decided to spice it up with adding an extra level to it. As well as 52 books, I have to write 52 blog posts.

This will be tough to keep up with, as I am someone who habitually attempts to take part in National Novel Writing Month and manages to rarely make it past the first week. I also only have to look at the half dozen unfinished stories in my Google Drive.

Yet I’m going to attempt it and attempt to put together something of a coherent schedule. As long as I can get 300 to 500 words down on any topic in particular, I will be happy. That’s why this particular post will be cheating, as I talk about 52 books again.

I skipped 2019, mainly because I was looking forward to doing things like watching Netflix shows, listening to podcasts, and going to see films rather than trying to read like some dervish. However, the problems I had with 52books in 2018 were mainly down to the fact that I kept gravitating back towards massive non-fiction tomes about the Second World War…

So, this year I am aiming to stick to books of around 250 pages or less. That means if I want to read non-fiction I’m going to have to settle for smaller books. I’m also going to try and not plump up my numbers by reading pamphlets or short stories under 50 pages.

The first book I’m reading is already breaking the rules. It’s 270-pager Flash Boys by Michael Lewis, who has emerged as one of my favourite authors. I rank The Big Short and Moneyball among my favourite books, and I’ve flown through the first 100 pages of Flash Boys in a day.

I haven’t decided what’ll be next, but I plan on visiting the bookshop down the round to pick something out. I relied too heavily on Goodreads rankings in 2018 and it led me to reading some acclaimed books, but also some that were really just not my taste. It’s not worth it if I’m not enjoying the reading, is it?

I’ll likely be coming back to this post when I inevitably fail to keep up with my schedule. Until then, I’m one book down and one blog down.

1/52

(Photo by Ali Yahya on Unsplash)