Read 20 Books

Time to accept an adventure or challenge - whatever you want to call it.

Read more books! A lot more books!

What's a lot? I consulted a friend and a lot was determined to be 20.

Reading is Fun
I never disliked reading. Back in high school (that's four years) I ended up reading 100 books. That's about 14 books a year, a little more than one book a month. I ripped through those things and read everything and anything I could. When I was in high school, there were no electronic books, by the way, only physical books. Acquiring them could be a little difficult so I just focused on reading everything I could find.

Must consume words

My Book History
My Mom read mysteries so I got into the whole Brother Cadfael and we had a bunch of classics like the Prince and the Pauper and the complete works of Shakespeare, and I did read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, the dictionary and the Thesaurus. I read all of Sherlock Holmes and more informational items like Bananas B-Guide to School Survival and the Anarchist Cookbook and the Book of Lists.

I stopped reading in college when I had to do more stilted reading of text books and things for research papers and whatnot.

I think a lot of people lose their love of reading when they are they have read a lot of stuff with heavy constrains  pressure and little freedom.

I couldn't find anything that really impressed me. I use to sit and read and lose time when reading - the words effortlessly translating into a movie in my brain.

Sickness also stole my reading habit. There was a point that the infection in my brain was taking up so much space when I tried to read words, my vision was bouncing around due to the pressure of my brain on my eyes. I also began losing my short-term memory so books didn't make sense.

Current Reading
I think some of that is based on your own enjoyment of the material and the quality. I think the last two series I read were Warlock of Gramarye and the Anita Blake series and the last single books I read were The Lovely Bones and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Oh, and, Hunting Down Amanda and Animalia,which was too much fun. And a friend gave me Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin which was surprisingly good.

I don't own many books.

I always kept maybe one or two books myself or a couple to prop up lamps. I would always give away books I finished reading or donate them to the Universal Library (something like Book Crossing). I never understood people who hoard books, many they have never read, just to prove they have books.

The Challenge
Anyhow, reading 20 books shouldn't be that hard these days, right? 20 books at 2 a month will take me 10 months. I will start counting as soon as I acquire a book. I don't have a fancy reader or anything - old fashion books will have to do.


I might have to get some type of tablet or something - an e-reader. I can get some free books on my phone, but, that is a bit of a strain. I have wanted to get a tablet.

So everyone knows I am doing this, I will write a little review for each book and post it on my blog.

The did decide to apply one rule - I cannot count books I already read even if I cannot remember the story. Books I read when sick, like the Brief History of the Dead  or Geek Love, and would like to read again since the brain infection made it hard to understand, cannot be counted as a book read.

The List
I asked people what books I should read and, frankly, vetoed a lot of them.

M: I'm not reading crap. I maintain my veto power.
R: Isn't the point of this exercise to expose you to new things?
M: A lobotomy would be a "new thing," but I'd probably veto it.

Here is my current list in no particular order. The first books I vetoed where upwards of $20:

• Dopefiend: The Story of a Black Junkie by Donald Goines
• Magical Thinking: True Thinking by Augusten Burroughs
• The Night of the Pussy Willows by Kimberly Dawn Bickford
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
• Unwind by Neal Shusterman
• A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
• Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
• Snow by Dr. Seuss
• Tell Me Where It Hurts by Dr. Nick Trout
• The Swordless Samurai by Kitami Masao
• Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

Since this is the sum total of my list, I found myself a site that tells me where I can get free digital books - that would be Free Book Sifter

Be Part of the Adventure

Do you have a suggestion or want to see me attempt something? Drop me an email at AdventuringAmanda@gmail.com with your suggestion.

Image Credit
Books from harvestbooks.com
How to Read from funmeme.com