Starting in 2017, I began challenging myself to read 52 books per year. It was a daunting goal as it increased my reading time tremendously. I had to make changes in my life to make time for reading. It’s been a ton of fun and as part of this project, I closely track my progress so that I know how much I need to read each day to complete all 52 books. For the 3+ years of this project, I have only finished all 52 books in one of the years. Here are my reading stats at the mid-way point of this year:
Completed:
- 19/52 books completed
- 6,523/17,461 pages read (37.36%)
- on book 20/52 – The Aeneid / Virgil
- I’ve read classics such as the Bible, Hamlet, Crime & Punishment, and The Great Gatsby
- average 36 pages read per day
Remaining:
- 32 books remaining
- 10,938 pages remaining
- I will need to average 60 pages per day for the remainder of the year to finish all 52 books on this year’s reading list
Status:
I’m 50% into the year and I’ve read 37.36% of the total pages for the 52 books on my 2020 reading list. I’m quite a bit behind if I hope to finish all 52 books. Here are the reasons why:
- Book 1, the Bible, took 2 months to read and I averaged 30 pages per day during that time.
- In March and April, I got overwhelmed with the news cycle and that cut into my reading time.
- My workload increased tremendously beginning in March and running through May. That cut into my reading time.
- We are in the process of moving, so paperwork, prep, packing, etc. has and will take some of my time.
However, I am very pleased with the progress. I have a goal of reading 52 books per year, but the most important thing is not to get through a certain number of books, but to comprehend and remember what I read. That takes time, especially for the classics.
This Photo:
I’ve completed the books on the top shelf. I’m reading the Aeneid. The books on the bottom shelf are the 32 still remaining.
Reading Project Status from January 2017 thru Today:
- 170 books read
- 56,410 pages read
- 119 podcast episodes
