Sunday, January 09, 2011

The Next 5 Years

I'm glad I'm not one for New Years Resolutions...cause I'm sure if I was, it would include blogging more.  And as you can tell my participation in this has decreased over the last few months.  I guess getting busy and having this blog for recreational purposes lends to a certain relaxation in updates.

Though I don't have a specific New Years Resolutions I am thinking of a five year plan/goal.  Nothing interesting like scaling a mountain or running marathon (which I am doing in a month). No, this is more along the lines of a "fill you head with stuff" plan.  I came across the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels online list a couple of days ago and resolved to better my self in the category of literature. There are two lists,  a Board's List of 100 and a Reader's List of 100.  So that makes 200 books in my near to distant future.  Fortunately the list does criss-cross which decreases the number...but not by much.  Also I have read some already, but only a few, and in some cases it's been so long that I owe it to myself and the great authors to read it again.  I have my work cut out for me.

The situation is, I don't want to be tied down to one list for the next 190 or so novels...So I'm working around this.  I'm alternating a list novel with one of my own choosing.  This way I can still read the fantasy, economy, and autobiographies I enjoy intermingled with the 100 best (which is really 200).  Needless to say, I'll be pretty full up on books for the next half decade, at least.  We are looking at around 390 books.  Say it takes me two weeks per book ( a rough estimate), that's approx 195 week or 3.75 years, so lets bump that up to 4 years.  But, I know me, and I tend to get lackadaisical at times, So I'll give myself a 1 year cushion.  5 years...that's my goal/plan.  I can do that.

Now, I haven't started yet.  I'm finishing up another book series, one that should be done by tomorrow afternoon.  So, Hopefully I will start my newest "task" on Tuesday.  This is where I need some help.  I need to know which book to start.  The other portion of this is I'm not going to buy these books.  I will beg, steal, or borrow...which equates to ask, borrow, and rent from library, but no purchasing.  This is where you come it.  Scan the list, see if you have these books on hand and make a pile for me.  I'll come pick them up for you.  That requests leads into the second one.  I need to know which book to start reading first.  Any Ideas, suggestions?  I'm all ears, or eyes as it would be.  Maybe I should spin this into a reason to buy an Ipad, a digital reader to store my 200 novels, hmmm.  A great way to save space.  The ideas and benefits are already flowing...

Modern Library's 100 Best Novels

So, what is your suggestion of the novel to start with?  Send me a comment and let me know.  Also, if you have one of these novels I can borrow, that would be GREAT!  Happy Reading to you.

No comments: