Read 100 Books

Today in Relief Society we were asked if we had set goals for the coming year. I said that mine were:

1. Lose weight. (A perennial favorite.)
2. Read 100 books.
3. Get published.

Oddly enough, the idea that I would read 100 books brought a lot of astonished gasps and surprised looks. The teacher joked that she might read 1 book. Okay, I know I'm a little bit odd. I really do enjoy reading. But is it so mind-blowing that I would want to read a lot? Really, it's less than 2 books a week.

My idea to read 100 books in 2012 came from Book Chick City where she is hosting the 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2012. The only rules seem to be no audio books, and only fiction.



I already know many of the books I want to read. For the past year or so I've been collecting books that look interesting, that I'd like to read "when I have time." I've decided that, just as with my writing, I am going to have to make time to read. Otherwise my "to be read" stacks will just keep getting taller. Honestly, they may keep getting taller anyway. There are a lot of good books out there.

One of my objectives with all this reading is to post reviews of books I like, and possibly a few warnings about books I don't like. I think it's important for parents to know what kind of books their children are reading, and what is in those books. When my son brought the first Harry Potter book home, I decided to read it to see what all the hype was about. When the Twilight series started to get really popular, I thought I should read it before my young teenage daughter did, just in case. Both of those series led to several interesting discussions with my children, and some awesome Halloween costumes.

There is another series (which I may post about later in the year) that is beautifully written, with wonderful plot and characters, but I've hesitated to recommend it to anyone just because I don't want anyone to think I'm giving my stamp of approval to some of the actions of the characters. The third and last book is out. I've checked it out of the library. We'll see how the author wraps things up, and I'll probably blog about the series eventually. With all appropriate warnings.

So, yeah, I'll be doing a lot of reading this year.

(Oh, and the getting published thing? We're on track for Spring 2012.)