At the end of 2017, I set the intention to read 52 books in 52 weeks in 2018. If you were following/reading along, you may remember that I got off to a strong start: five to six months worth of a strong start. Not bad!
Some people asked me if reading that quickly was worth it, if I actually absorbed the material. I think that depends on each individual reader. I happen to read pretty quickly; that’s been true for as long as I can remember (I had a classmate in elementary school who didn’t believe I was actually reading). While I definitely don’t remember all of everything I read this year, I believe that what needs to stick, sticks. Specific highlights from certain books really resonated with me. I also made notes about books with ideas I needed to explore further or return to.
How 52 Turned to 35
I ended up slowing down anyway, unintentionally. In May, I started working at Orangetheory. I love my job. Love it. But it changed my schedule. Suddenly, I was waking up at 3:30 am to teach classes. By the time I got home in the afternoon, I was too tired to focus on much of anything; at night, instead of reading, I went to bed early. I started struggling to finish books at the same pace.
As my work schedule got my hectic, my reading schedule got more sporadic. I was so slow in compiling my list for the second half of the year that I never got around to publishing it as a blog post (it’s still in draft, with about 15 books on it).
It’s Still a Success
Still, I feel like this was a great success. I read 35 books last year! I would call most of them well worth it. The stand-out exception is The 5-Second Rule. Great concept, but it should have stopped as a blog post. You can explain it in 10 seconds; it didn’t need a whole book. The book was full of testimonials about people using the 5-second rule; I felt like it was being sold to me, for absolutely no good reason. So that was kind of a waste of time.
My Favorites
Otherwise, I loved my selections. My stand-out favorites include the following. (The links below are affiliate links. If you purchase the book via that link, I get a small commission and it’s at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!)
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Insight by Tasha Eurich
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby
- Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
I would love to say I’m gathering my list for 2019, but honestly, the thought of reading at that pace right now is overwhelming. Yes, I’m still working early mornings (even more than I did in May). I’m still pretty beat by the afternoon, and I’m still going to bed early. And through it all, I’m writing like crazy for my content clients.
However, I still have several books from my 2018 list that I never got to. Brent got me a book for Christmas that looks fantastic. So my intention for 2019 is to get back to reading (the last month, I haven’t read at all), but I know I won’t get through a book per week. Maybe one per month? 12 seems like a lame goal after 52, but we’ll see what 2019 brings.
What are you reading? I’m still taking recommendations. 🙂