I Already Know What One of My New Year's Resolutions Will Be

Ask me how many books I've read this year.

The answer is two.

Two?!?!

Two.

That's like one every six months!

Hard for me to admit, but it's true. I've always been a self-proclaimed bibliophile, and I believe I still am, but now it appears to be more in spirit than in practice.

In 2007, I didn't do any better -- that year I finished two as well. The year 2006 was at least somewhat better for me, because I made it to seven.

I know I can't be too hard on myself, because there are reasonable factors that have contributed to the drop-off in numbers, including the fact that my current and most recent job have required so much reading that it's sometimes hard to make my eyes focus in my free time.

I have a notebook in which I keep track of what I've read and when (usually just the title, author and the date I begin and finish). I'll probably never give up that habit, but I'm considering trying out Goodreads.com. You can sign up there for free and create virtual "bookshelves," where you can "shelf" books you're reading, books you've already read and books you want to read. Even better, you can view the bookshelves of other users, so you can read their reviews and discover which users have your same tastes in literature.

The site could be a handy tool for deciding what you want to read next -- or, if you're like me -- a handy way to keep the hundreds of books you want to read in queue.

I remember reading a few years ago on Nicholas Sparks' website that he finishes one book approximately every three days. That's over one hundred books per year!

I don't think I'll ever want to reach that level of reading intensity, but still -- two? I can do better than two books a year. And I can do better than seven.

There are still three months left in 2008, so let's see what I can do.