A new year is once again upon us, and it is time to start year nine of the goal to read a book a week for the entire year, totaling 52 books in 52 weeks.  In year one, I only made it to 8 books.  Year two doubled that total.  Year three used graphic novels to improve once again, finishing with 24.  Year four was the first where I dropped from the year before, only finishing 18 books, which was well short of the ultimate goal.  Year five, I bounced back to finish with 23 books.  Three years ago, I had my best year since starting this challenge, not to mention my best reading year ever, finishing with 31 books.  Two years ago, I matched that high point in total books, though far surpassing it in total pages read thanks to reading the entire Harry Potter series.  Last year, I dropped back down to 28.

I’m going to give it another go this year.  I’ve got a plenty of new books loaded in the Kindle app on my iPad, plus a few new purchases from Amazon, not to mention one or two birthday and Christmas presents, so I’ve got a good pile to start with.  As a reminder, the rules I am using are:

• You can count a book as read as long as you have completed the book in 2018 and at least 50% of that reading takes place in 2018
• Any book counts as long as you’re not embarrassed to count it.
• Poetry collections do indeed count.
• Re-reading a book is okay as long as it isn’t done this year. (Reading Twilight twice in 2010 only counts as 1 read)
• Audiobooks also count.

My first book of the year looks like it will be You Deserve A Drink, the first memoir from internet sensation Mamrie Hart.  All told, 2018 should be another good year.