My current stack.
My 2022 plan: Read no fewer than 100 books from my personal library (i.e., books acquired before the end of 2021), including 25 or more non-fiction titles; at least two books from each of the following categories: Shakespeare (about and/or retold; the plays will not satisfy this category), poetry, NYRB, Kurt Vonnegut (by or about), Joyce Carol Oates, philosophy, art, and children’s / YA; and at least one book about my bird of the year (American Crow).
This morning, I joined our local library’s winter reading program, which awards virtual badges for minutes of reading. (I usually satisfy their requirements for a prize (a free book) within a week.) I will join Yiyun Li, who led both iterations of Tolstoy Together (I participated in 2021), when she begins Moby Dick this year, and I will continue my journey with Dante in 100 Days. Otherwise, I have not yet locked in any other reading projects, although I do hope to continue my studies with The Catherine Project.
I read 233 books in my first year of retirement and 208 in my second. As I eye the list of tomes on my list for this year (e.g., Tom Stoppard: A Life (Hermione Lee; 2020; 896 pages), Van Gogh: The Life (Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith; 2011; 976 pages; and Ruth Bader Ginsberg: A Life (Jane De Hart; 2018; 752 pages)), I wonder if it’s wise to put a number out there. Granted, last year I managed The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexander Dumas; 1844), The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky; 1880), Middlemarch (George Eliot; 1871), The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War (Louis Menand; 2021), and War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy; 1869). Still, I think I will let the year unfold a bit before making a projection.
What reading plans are you making?
Nerdishly 
Thank you for sharing your reading life, what a generous wealth of information. I discovered Tolstoy Together through you, which was a high light of last year. I’m looking forward to reading Moby Dick this year. Can you recommend a translation/edition. Thanks again for the blog posts! I always look forward to them.
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Thank you for the kind words.
I think I will use my Norton Critical edition (although I really love my hardcover with the Barry Moser illustrations).
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I’ve got several chunky books on my shelves that I’m planning to read. Currently reading Wolf Hall which is turning out to be surprisingly entertaining and interesting. The rest are mostly science fiction, however I do want to tackle Atlas Shrugged this year.
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The Cromwell trilogy is a triumph. Enjoy it!
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Always enjoy reading about your reading! I set a goal for 75 books in 2021, and finished 86. It was a big year for me, with a lot of life changes, so I felt pretty good about that. This year, I have set an audacious goal of 150 books. I want at least 50 of those to be works of fiction. I read A LOT of non-fiction. In fact, I only read 3 novels in all of 2021, and I miss fiction. The rest will be business-realted for my job, a lot of spiritual formation and theology, and biography and history.
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You and I both know it’s not about the numbers, but, wow! Great job surpassing your goal!
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I should also add that my plans include reading 4 “major works” which are Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology, Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, Susa Wise Bauer’s History of the Ancient World, and The Collected Poems of William Cowper.
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Just finished The Green Road, Anne Enright. Seemingly good writing! I’m a fan now
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Aghhh! I meant seeringly good writing!!!
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