A New Year

One of the great things about being a father (and teacher) is how much my children teach me. A couple of weeks ago my daughter told me she was putting together a reading list for 2008. She and some friends (who also are fiction writers) are challenging themselves to read 100 books--at least 75 of them literature and fiction.



I thought "Wow, what a neat idea!" I thought I would do a reading list as well and quickly realized a couple of things. First, making a list takes time -- I was up late until 2 a.m. the other night working on a list and got to about 18 books. It reminded me of my brother several years ago coming up with his top 300 movies, ranked in oder. I tried it and simply coming up with 300 movies was nearly impossible, let alone ranking them. Second, I realized 100 books is a book every 3-4 days -- impossible.



Oh, to be young and able to dream big things. Her list (at 94 books a few days ago) includes some of my favorites like Brave new World and Apollo 13. It also includes a lot of Shakespeare and literature that we often would not read on a whim. The beauty of this exercise is that she picks her own list based on interests and needs. I believe people know what they need to learn more than anyone else.



So I have decided to make my own list with--with my own rules. I have mostly non-fiction and am looking at 25 books. Some are books I would have read anyway (business books), but most are ones I would like to read but never have time to. Also, I am picking representative ones from all decades starting in the 1920s. I am still looking for one in the 1980s. I still have a few to add -- I will leave this open as new leads come available.

Time to get reading. My daughter told me this morning she has already started her first book, Ella Minnow Pea, -- promptly at midnight.