New year, new reading challenge

So, it’s 2021. January. A time for new beginnings. This year, especially, we hope for new beginnings. Or at least, I do. Toward the end of last year, my reading life faltered. There was just TOO MUCH going on in my head and the world and I was trying to read non-fiction and it wasn’t working for me. I abandoned (temporarily) a book I really wanted to read and binged a bunch of fiction. Mostly cozy mysteries and some YA books just to feed my brain some fantasy worlds. 

By the time 2020 was over, I had blown past my Goodreads challenge goal, and I had a new idea for a way to challenge myself with my reading for 2021.

I’m here to tell you about it.

First, do you set a goal for number of books to read in a year? If so, what determines that number? I usually look at the number of books I read the previous year and set something similar or a little higher. Last year, I wanted to read 50 books. I set the number low because I aimed to read more non-fiction. I ended up reading 68 books with much more fiction than originally planned because well, pandemic.

This year, I set the goal at 70. I know I can make this goal no matter if I’m reading fiction or non-fiction, especially if I choose books more often than social media. (Anyone else find themselves scrolling when they could be reading?)

Late in the year, while working out, I was listening to an “all 90s” station online and “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel played. I’ve always been a fan of Billy Joel, and despite what some people say about its merits, I like the song. It’s catchy and chock full of historical references. Most of which I don’t understand. I read that Billy Joel wrote this song when he turned 40, including major historical events from his life up to that point. I found that interesting. I wondered what events I would include if I was going to write a song about my first 40 years of life. (This is something I’m still pondering. Maybe it won’t be a song, but a list or a poem.)

I realized as I listened that not only did I not know to what the lyrics were referring, I didn’t know much about the time periods in general. I looked up the lyrics. There’s even a Wikipedia page that explains some of the historical references. I decided that in 2021, I would read some books about the events listed in “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

Because, as I’m learning, the problems that are revealing themselves in the United States today did not happen overnight. As Joel says in the song, the fire “was always burning since the world’s been turning.” I have such a limited view of history, even American history, and I want to change that.

To keep the list manageable, I picked one topic from each set of stanzas in the song before a chorus for a total of nine books, some fiction, most non-fiction.

Here’s my reading plan:

•  Truman by David McCullough. “Harry Truman” is literally the first person mentioned in the song. I know nothing about him or his presidency. Also, I’ve never read a book by McCullough, even though he’s a favorite author of my husband.
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I don’t remember ever reading this. If I did, I don’t remember anything about it. I find that any classics I had to read in school, I don’t remember and I probably did not appreciate. So, it’s good to re-read them as an adult.
• Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella by Neil Lanctot. This is about a baseball player, a person of color who had a notable career in the major league and was later in a car accident that paralyzed him.
• Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. I’ve never even heard of this controversial piece of fiction.
• A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School by Carlotta Walls. Walls was one of the “Little Rock Nine” and she wrote about her experience integrating the high school in Little Rock. 
• A Brotherhood of Spies: The U-2 and the CIA’s Secret War by Monte Reel. This is the “U-2” in the song, not the Irish rock band.
• Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. Another piece of fiction.
• Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and The Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11 by James Donovan. Maybe this is self-explanatory? I’ve watched a lot of movies about the space race of the 1950s and 60s, but I can’t recall reading anything about it.
• How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France.

I added all of these books to my “want-to-read” list on Goodreads, and they are all available from my local library (and we own Truman), so I’m not planning to spend any money on this reading challenge. I invite you to join in on all or part of it. I can’t promise that this will be a one-book-every-month thing because have you seen the size of Truman? Nor are these the only books I will read this year. In fact, I haven’t started the challenge yet because I have two non-fiction books I’m working through right now. (I’ll tell you about those at a later time.)

One thing I’ve realized is that my picks from the song’s list of historical events and people is still very much centered on U.S. history. I believe it’s important to know about the events that formed our country, AND I believe it’s important to understand what was happening around the world. Maybe my next challenge will be to pick books and topics related to international events mentioned in the song!

I’m not sure I blogged about books at all last year. I did send a few newsletters about reading to a small group of people. I’m still undecided about whether I will continue that, but I will update you occasionally on this challenge here. And if you decide to read one or more of these books, I’d love to hear about it! You can comment on the blog or send me an email or a message on Facebook or Instagram.

Happy 2021 reading, friends! Ultimately, read what you like and love and what interests you because time is too valuable to spend on reading things you hate.