Goal-Setting: Tackling My Summer Reading List

I set a goal this summer to read 18 novels. The fact is, I don't read nearly enough. I peruse the web, devour my Yoga, Natural Health, and Whole Living magazines, and remain a steadfast devotee of just about all things college football, but it's a tough sell for me to sit down and read a novel without becoming distracted and abandoning it at some point. To this day I am only halfway through Anna Karenina and can't find the patience to even begin The Invisible Man. 

On the other hand, I have read Atlas Shrugged...and loved it! So go figure.

But, back to my summer reading list. It's, as I said, 18 novels long. Some of the titles that pepper this list are classics like 1984, Song of Solomon, and Catcher in the Rye. All of which I am excited to read, but have yet to get to because of my third book on the list. See, I wrongly figured if I read the books in the order they appear on my list, I would remain more focused. I was doing just famously—finishing the first two novels inside of a week—until I reached my third selection, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.

Ugh, what a tough read! I thought I would be able to keep pace with his style of writing, which can only be described as a runaway train, but it's tough to be engaged in a novel when you aren't sure what the heck is going on–the characters, the timeline, and the sequence of events seems completely disjointed. I feel I might have a better understanding of the book if I were on acid as I read, but I refuse to remain anything but drug free.

So, sufficeth to say, I have yet to make it to the midway point of this book and have allowed better than three weeks to pass without reading it or anything else much at all.

Did I mention my goal was to read 18 books by Labor Day? That said, I've decided to move on to another title, perhaps revisit Faulkner a bit later.

My latest adventure involves one of my favorite authors, John Steinbeck. I loved, loved, loved East of Eden, and took great pleasure in reading The Grapes of Wrath, so I am hoping to get back on track by finishing The Winter of Our Discontent before the weekend is over—fingers crossed.

I plan to check in often here to let you all know how I'm coming along, perhaps that will keep me on the right track. So, look for an entry next week to see how I'm doing.

Happy reading!