Reading Plans for 2023 and Beyond! (Half-Year update) 

Has it been SIX months already? How time flies when you don’t have to do stuff you don’t want to (mostly). Despite knowing that no plan ever survives contact with the enemy or enemies, I still keep making and all too often breaking them. But what are plans for, except to laugh at as they slink away unfulfilled? Anyway, how exactly am I doing at the half-way point? 

Following the Labels   

As I mentioned back in January, I’ve given up on my previous attempt to fill in label blanks and instead have decided to attempt to read at least one book from each book-friendly label over on the right. There’s 108 or 109 in that list so I’ve got my work cut out for me. I’m not doing TOO badly though – despite being concerned that I’m reading far too much that don’t add a single label to the pile – with 53 to date. That’s very roughly halfway but it also means that I’ve probably already snagged a lot of the low hanging fruit. The next 6 months could be a challenge here! 

The ‘Knowledge Streams’   

The three ‘Knowledge streams’ I’m trying to focus on – Britain Alone (1939-41), World War to Cold War and USA: WTF? - are not doing awfully well, I’m afraid. I’ve managed a few books that could be unsystematically slotted into the Britain Alone pile but that needs some more systematic reading to bring it in line. The USA: WTF? Stream is SUCH a wide subject that almost any US related reading will apply and I think I’ve made a bit of progress there. What HAS fallen down – again for another year to be honest – is the World War to Cold War theme. I had intended to start this with the D-Day landings and move to the raising of the Berlin Wall and beyond but, as you’ll no doubt have noticed, D-Day has been delayed for some time. Which means, hopefully, the landing craft will be leaving their mother ships shortly, or at least at some point THIS year! 

The ‘Wild Cards’  

I think the new ‘Wild Cards’ are working well. Essentially, I’m slotting in a pair of ‘related’ books – usually one fiction and one non-fiction with a common theme (or at least some kind of obvious link) - about every 5-6 books in my ‘Reading Next’ pile. They’re normally easy to spot and will continue for the foreseeable future. 

Finishing/Progressing Series   

Again, I think I’m doing OK with this one. Presently my immediate focus is to progress the Foundation and Dune series with reading the 3rd book from both before the end of the year. Being me, there’s a few outstanding series that I’ve started (reading the first book only) or have almost finished (with a single book yet to go) so I’ll be trying to progress at least a few of them too. 

Book length & the Review Pile 

I’m still experiencing some kind of weird slow-reading bug, so my review pile is still at rock bottom (presently just 2 books). This means I can’t really read any chunkers presently as that would probably result in me having nothing to review periodically (which means either gaps or with me trying to think of something to say – neither of which I really want to do). So, that means I’ll be reading shorter or fast books again for the foreseeable future. My present average size (after 279 books) is 307pp. I think the *real* average page length is more like 280-285. We’ll see how low it can go! 

Other Plans 

I’m on target with my Classic reads this year – the aim is 10. Presently, I’m at 7 although 2 of them are short story collects so maybe shouldn’t ‘count’. I’ve got 1 more coming up shortly with a LOT more in the background waiting to be read. Looking ahead to 2024 I wonder if I could (or should!) attempt to read 10 in a row. Oh, and speaking of Classics, I need to continue with some more British Library Crime Classics and I’ve been meaning to re-read my Sherlock Holmes books (after 40 years or so). One thing I am very conscious of is the lack of Science reading so far this year. I’ll look at that and see what I can do. I might even try to get out of my Biology rut at the same time! Finally, I’ll see if I can drop in a few more modern thrillers that I’ve been accumulating and that are presently accumulating dust around my house. I’ll aim to read at least 2-3 before the year ends. I think that should keep me going for another 6 months!