The Rabenstranger

As 2006 began I looked back on the few years recently past and was saddened to realize that I had largely given up my love of reading. The joy of curling up in a warm bed with a good book had become an almost forgotten pleasure. It is a pleasure to have a stack of books by my bed again. Instead, I had fallen into a pattern of feeding my mind on the short articles posted on the web. I saw that the cold light of my monitor had proved a poor substitute for real books and resolved to change my ways. As a start, I set a modest goal: I was to read fifty books during the year 2006.

This seemed an easy place to start, as there are 52 weeks in a year and one book per week is hardly a burden. It seemed very attainable considering that before starting college I easily read 4-5 times that number of books in an average year.

Unfortunately, I underestimated the effects my new habits would have on my reading schedule. Despite checking out stacks of books, I never seemed to get around to reading them. At the end of the year I had finished a mere thirty books.

Despite the disappointing count, I recognized that even the small step I had taken had been worthwhile. So when this year began, I decided that I would try again and so far I am doing pretty well. Admittedly, only two months have gone by but I am beginning to feel a spark of optimism. In spite of a poor start, I might make it this year.

So Far:

January: Kaisha: The Japanese Corporation

February: Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan - Edmund Morris, The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy, Right Ho! Jeeves P.G. - Wodehouse, Freedom and Capitalism - Milton Friedman, The Best of Father Brown - G. K. Chesterton, Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck, The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

March: The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

It’s been nine weeks and my count is at nine books completed and two half finished. I’m currently working on: Next Door Savior - Max Lucado, Emma - Jane Austen, Collapse - Jared Diamond and Getting Things Done - David Allen.