I’m gonna do a 7 week 7 book challenge. Not gonna wait for next year to do a 12 book/52 book/popsugar challenge. It’s “one day or day one”. I used to love reading before COVID. After that it was only computer games, netflix, doom scrolling apps and what not. I’m going to take action and I’m going to have it a little better. Next month being my birthday month, this will be a gift to myself.
I need help choosing books for this. I’m looking for shorter books but that’s not a rule. According to howlongtoread.com my reading speed is 254 WPM. Books with around 250 pages should take around 4 hours to read. I’ll dedicate 4 hours of my time per week. That’s little less than the average amount of time I spend on my phone daily. DAILY.
I’m currently reading Animal Farm. If I can finish this by this weekend, I can push to 8 books for this year. I need suggestions for the challenge. I need as many suggestions as possible because money is also something I would like to keep in check. Some books are very expensive here.
Also if anyone wants to do it with me, I’ll be really happy to be an Accountability buddy. We can push each other
by stressyourmind
4 Comments
Annie Ernaux is brilliant and writes short books exclusively. Charles Simic and Mary Ruefle both have incredible collections of prose poetry – The World Doesn’t End and The Book respectively. Night by Elie Wiesel, Oreo by Fran Ross, Dubliners by Janes Joyce, The Devil Finds Work by James Baldwin would round out the curriculum if I were assigning it.
Genre?
*A Psalm for the Wild-Built* by Becky Chambers is 2021’s “cozy cup of coffee” book. Insightful and touching at under 200 pages, but sometimes feels a little like reading a self-help book.
*This Is How You Lose the Time War* by Amal El-Mohtar is written like a series of love letters and is around 200 pages. Very interesting and romantic while still having an edge as both the characters are on opposite sides of a war.
*Piranesi* is a quick read at around 250 pages. About a man who lives in a mysterious house/castle. The house is just as much of a character as anyone, and has some mystery involving who the MC is and how he got there.
*Ogres* is an exciting action piece that falls around 100 pages. People living in an old world fantasy setting are under the thumb of giant Ogres who are their landlords and property owners. When they come for tithe/rent a young man stands up for himself, and winds up going down a rabbit hole of conspiracy and violence.
*Our Wives Under The Sea* is a creepy atmospheric book under 250 pages about a woman whose wife returns from a Deep Sea Expedition. A very satisfying read that grows more strange as you read it.
You mention books being expensive. Go to Libby. Select the filters “available now” and “books” (or audiobooks if you prefer this is just to get the magazines and stuff out of the list) and sort by popularity.
At my library, books in the top 20 available books that I would recommend myself include: The Second Mrs. Astor, Where the Crawdads Sing, Before We Were Yours (excellent), Educated, The Giver, 1984, and The Final Gambit (last in a series is probably not what you are looking for but the brothers Hawthorne series is good.