The final chapter!
This is the part of the year where I was like, "eh, what's 15 more books?" Which is a ridiculous statement that no one should ever be able to say! I had too much time on my hands and a willingness to avoid doing almost anything else. I'm not even certain I watched a movie during the last....half of 2020. Ah well, here we are.
The List Part G (and technically part of H, if we're dividing by 50s): 301-365
Part VI really feels like the home stretch. I was getting a rhythm where I knew how much reading I could push into a day, and what that translated to for number of pages. I was starting to be more insistent that I work on 'my project' and taking every possible moment to listen to audiobooks or read an extra page of my ebook.
Two things really increased my reading. First, audiobooks - usually listened to around double speed (depending on the narrator). I had some major house projects going on so a couple books are mentally tied to the rhythm of pulling out blackberry vines. Second, ebooks with the OverDrive app have an option to list how many pages are in each chapter. I found this helped me with the lack of physicality in an ebook. A subtle aspect of reading fiction in print is that you can physically sense the story arc as you progress through the book. A cliffhanger when you are clearly just a few pages from the end is much more stressful than a cliffhanger when you're in the middle of the book. The 'countdown' of pages helped give context to the fiction I read, and also gave me hope while I plowed through some sloggy-but-good books (I'm looking at you, People's History of the United States).
Anyway, here's the next batch, which takes us to November 22nd.
The List, Part F: Books 251-300
Ah, here come the next 50, or rather, what takes us from April 14th through June 23rd. You'll notice that although I had several books I was supposed to read for my classes, they aren't listed anywhere in here.
The List Part C: Books 101-150
December 31st of last year, Sawyer made the comment "Wow, just read 50 more books and you'll have read a book a day!"
Could I? Should I? Fifty books isn't that many, I can read that many more over the course of a whole year. Usually goals don't stick for me, so I was like sure, why not, I'll set myself a challenge to read 365 books this year. No, 366 - it's a leap year.
Thanks to quarantining for the pandemic, a lot of driving and double-speed audiobook time, and a whole mess of graphic novels thrown in, I did it. I never want to do it again. Here's my list and some notes. I've bolded the ones I think you should read too (hint: it's almost all of them - hooray for reading!) and highlighted the ones I extra extra loved.
The rules: Audiobooks count. Single issues of graphic novels count, but only if I couldn't find a collected volume. Children's picture books would count, but I didn't read any. The backs of shampoo bottles do not count, but Dr. Bronner's soap bottles could be considered in a pinch. Tea required.
The List Part A: Books 1-50
