Book-a-Month Challenge

I love reading books almost as much as I struggle to finish them. Reading books is like backpacking. When you start off on the trail it's just awesome, like opening a new book — there's this big rush of motivation to discover new things, new ideas, and be part of a club that includes the author and everyone who's read that book. Then I get tired. Reading is hard, and there's no way around that. It should be hard (a la productive struggle). Backpacking is also hard, but the difference is that you rarely can just dip off the trail back to civilization—certainly not as easily as you can just drop a book and start a new one. Some books don't need to be finished. It's fine to read selectively, especially when chapters stand-alone. But there is a glory in finishing a book, like finishing a hard hike. Often it is also necessary to get an author's complete vision.

So, this series is to motivate me to finish a book a month. I'm also going to cheat and include books I've started long ago and haven't finished. I'll share a quick insight that I'm going to keep in mind as I try to complete more books, and may help you finish books: the 100-1/2-100 rule. These are the major check-points of reading. Once I pass the first 100 pages, I'm committed to finishing (or, I have given it an honest shot and peacefully quit). The slog is between that and the half-way point. But after the middle, things start going faster (this is true with so many things: half-way through the semester, a vacation, a life?). When I'm on the last 100 pages, things really start flying. It's like when you can see the peak or campground after a long journey (just don't burn out before the finish line! This also happens for some reason. I can see the end so I'm basically done, right? I am, in fact, not done).

Of course, there's no better time to finish reading a book than while camping (although ironically books slow you down when you carry them backpacking), and luckily it's summertime, camping season. The first book I'll write about is Bhaskar Sunkara's Socialist Manifesto (2018) which I finished while camping on the Sunshine Coast, in the company of starfish and bald eagles. Next week I'll be lucky enough to be camping in Washington State's Enchantments, and will be bringing the Odyssey. (If nothing else, it'll make the climb to Snow Lake seem tame by comparison? Fingers crossed).

Happy booking.

PS: If you're one of those who reads a book or more a week, I'm envious of and happy for you. The rest of us are increasingly stuck in what's been called the post-literate society, with reading for pleasure dropping 40% in the last 20 years (I skimmed the articles 🤷🏻‍♂️). Join the challenge!