Friday, January 1, 2010

The Year of 100 Books

It started with The Year of 1000 Miles.

At the beginning of 2009, a friend of mine from Kansas City decided to run a marathon. So he did a big one in Pittsburgh. But that wasn't enough, so he did a canoe race, and an ultra-marathon, and another canoe race (this one was four days long and required a pit crew!). Ultimately, between training and competition, he ran, paddled and sweated for over 1500 miles by November, thus out-doing his goal of 1000 miles of physical activity in 2009 by 500 miles and two months. Unbelievably Awesome.



I for one hope he'll spend 2010 watching sports and drinking beer in his living room so the rest of us can feel less crappy about our own physical accomplishments in comparison.

After hearing about his adventures, my competitive nature set in and I had a conversation with myself that went a little something like this:

Geez that's incredible.
And a perfect little name for it too - "The Year of 1000 Miles"
...sounds like a book.
Or a movie.
Or both.
It probably would be if he wrote about it.
Dammit!
Why didn't I think of that first?
Whatever.
I hate running anyway.

Well.
Maybe it doesn't matter if Andy did it first.
The point is, what he did is cool, and he didn't write about it...so go for it!
Swoop in and steal his idea!

Who am I kidding?
I'd be dead from exhaustion by the side of the road one block from my house if I tried to run.
Lazlo the dog would out-perform me at the Great Chandler Chihuahua Race.
Not Going To Happen.

I want a big stinking awesome goal for 2010 that I can write about!
I want one!

Okay I've got it!
The Year of 100 Books.
Take THAT, Mister Big-Shot Runner-Canoer!
What until you get MY email next November.
Ha!

And so it has begun. 100 books in a year translates to a new book ever 3.65 days. Definitely difficult, but not impossible - this isn't my first time reading you know. And thanks to GoodReads - a online library organizer for tracking books you own, would like to own, have read or would like to read - I am keenly aware of all the books I started but never finished and those I just haven't gotten to. Similar to Facebook, on GoodReads you can connect with friends and acquaintances to view their libraries, book reviews and wishlists. Authors post their picks, and you can get recommendations for literature that you are almost guaranteed to love by following other readers with similar collections and tastes.

I've also read that having outside interests and personal projects impress potential employers, and we all know how important that is these days. Looking forward to dropping this little tidbit into interview conversation in the near future.

A quick google search this afternoon finds that apparently, I am NOT the first person to attempt to read one hundred books in a year. Or write about it.

It's too late to back down now and I'm excited. I'll definitely learn something, and maybe I'll meet some new friends too, who knows? You can read about my literary adventure on a new blog at One-Hundred-Books.blogspot.com and if you are on GoodReads, look me up, I'm always happy talk books!

3 comments:

Cicely Rocha.Miller said...

Hi Megan,

I just read your last three posts and am looking forward (o backward) to your others. Your writing is excellent, amusing, insightful and real.

Thank you for this.

Cicely

Analiese said...

Sounds awesome! You can do it!

Megan Michelle said...

Thanks Cicely and Analiese!

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