Inspired by Julien Smith’s Book A Week Challenge, I’m posting a list of the books that I intend to read throughout 2011. As I work on the editorial calendar and outline my blogging goals and objectives for the year ahead, I intend to keep reading a part of my daily habit. And lots of it!
I might finish 52 books in a year, I might not (hey, I’m keepin’ it real)…but I’m gonna try my best damn it.
I’m kicking things off with Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements
I’m publishing a list of the books I’ve read here. If any of these are on your reading list, hop on over and drop a comment (I’d love to talk about ’em). We can use that page as a mini-book club to talk about the concepts in the book and whatnot. And heck, if you’re looking for a good book to read, check out the ones on the list. If you’re a book author or publisher and you think I should check out one of your books, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
What’s on your reading list?
What books have you read recently or what books are on your reading list for the weeks ahead? How many books do you read in a year? Have you thought about challenging yourself to do something similar?
Nice goal.
Wish I had some more time to read, it's that important. I am more focused on my health this year so I've got a mix of business and health books for the year. Already finsihed Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution this year, starting Delivering Happiness now. Trying for 1 per month, that's about all I can commit to right now.
Good luck on the 52 Ricardo. Keep us posted.
I'm also doing it as a way to force myself to get up earlier (to finish my set of chapters for the day) and to manage my time better. The better I manage my time, the more time I'll have to schedule some material in, ya know.
P.S. Delivering Happiness was a fun read!
Hey Ricardo. Because of your tweet about Julien's book a week challenge, I too am trying to get 52 books read this year. However, I'm also using it to try and get my children to read some more. We started our “book reading club” after homework during the week. I also scheduled it into my day for extra reading time (less TV/internet).
Thanks for the suggestion.
Hey John,
That's a good tactic 🙂 Do what I do, hang out at Barnes & Noble for a few hours. Buy some coffee and just hang out for a while. Give 'em free rein to go pick something out.
Anyway, happy to hear this inspires a little. I love reading!
As I read this I see a big pile of books on my right shaft looking with crying eyes at me – read me, read me…
Crack one open and hop to it! No time like the present.
Hmmm, well i can start with the school books i've got to read for english literature 😛
Heh, go for it! I was on the quarter system in college so each quarter was 10 weeks. I didn't start reading till 3rd week at times (not a good idea) so I'd end up playing catchup for midterms and final's week.
Anyway, between your books for class, I'm sure you can knock out a book a week 🙂
Its funny, I did something like this a while back on my blog…I picked out 8 books and committed to reading them and giving reviews. Unfortunately I've only read 2 of that list so far….distraction by new books is a terrible thing…Plus I didn't really put a strategy into place to get it done (so many pages a day etc) I just got another 15 or so books from Amazon the other day, so Im glad this came up. Time to recomit and get focused!
Last book I read was The Leader With No Title – Robin Sharma. Great Read.
Good luck with your selection, have fun.
Jackie: Oh believe me, I get side-tracked too. I have this horrible tendency to read three books at a time. Skimming through one chapter and jumping on to the next. Then going to hang out at the bookstore (B&N) only to find something else on the shelf that I really like and feel like I have to read right now! It happens to me all the time 🙂
But this time, I'm taking Julien's approach and setting daily goes (read “x” amount of pages or chapters). I'm forcing myself to wake up earlier, get some reading and writing in. And I'm also reading during lunch and less TV.
So far, “Brains on Fire” is living up to it's title! Really can't put that one down. And Marsha's book is totally timely and ties in well to my role at work.
Anyway, thanks for the comment Jackie and here's to getting re-energized and engaged in your books!
That's awesome! I'm working on this as well but you already know that. I just picked up George Bush's memoirs. I'm putting politics aside and will only focus on the reading material so far it's great. 🙂
A friend of mine (@tyr) suggested I needed to add more non-marketing/business books to my list. And you know, I agree. The problem with me is, I don't know what. I dig that you've chosen variety on your end (I need to add some of that myself).
That's a great idea. I'll also be reading those books but that can get tiresome after a while so I'm reading one marketing/business related book, one fiction/other genre etc. just to keep it fun and insightful. 🙂
That's what I need to do…a different genre every week or every other week. Shake things up and keep it interesting ya know…
Yup! Can't wait to see what you come up with! 🙂
Well @tyr actually recommended a few books by @neilhimself. The one he pointed to first was “American Gods”. So far, I'm loving it and really liking Neil's imagination and writing style so I think some of his books will keep me entertained for a while 🙂
It's great that you've got a list going. I'm almost finished with 4-5 books which will put me well ahead of my goal for 50 this year. 🙂
Jealous! It's so awesome when you find a book that's so good you just can't put it down…
I've been fortunate enough to find some awesome books to get started with. Last year, I had a bad spell of really awful books which deterred me for a while. 🙁
Last year (early in the year I think) @EvangelistaLA and I met up with a small group of people at a local cafe. We each brought 2-4 books from our stash, talked about 'em a little, and then exchanged book from each other's pile. Now that was awesome!
It was our own little mini-book club. Unfortunately, we didn't keep it up :-/
But it was refreshing to meet up with a group of people face-to-face and just chat it up for a bit on a variety of topics ya know… But then, I imagine that's what it must feel like being a part of BNI and meeting weekly.
Well, it's a new year so I'm sure you could start it up again and keep it going. 🙂 I would suggest a reading club. Each member is assigned a book and you all talk about it.
BNI is definitely that way for me. BTW, we still need a web designer for our group. 🙂
Well, the problem with me is that I'm also in Irvine now which makes it difficult for me to meetup with my LA buddies like @EvangelistaLA. Otherwise, I'd love to!
Well you have OC buddies too and I'm sure you could arrange something for the Long Beach area so that it's halfway and to make it convenient – hold it on a weekend. Where there's a will there's a way. 🙂
Hi Beezie! I have a list of books on my plate or those I get to tackle (though I haven't updated since I finished a couple in the past few days) here: http://www.readwithtlc.com/. I love anything that gets people reading (and BTW, I also ADORE Neil Gaiman – own everything of his he's ever written). Keep it up!
Now there's a familiar face! Hiya good lookin' 🙂
I just came across Neil Gaiman because of @tyr's recommendation. I browsed through the first chapter in “American Gods” and got hooked. That hasn't happened in a while…
The last time I got hooked on reading a book cover to cover without being able to put it down was a series of books by Stephen Frey (loved his books!). Anyway, thanks for the recommendation on Neil, I'll definitely be reading “American Gods” and other of his selections. Any in particular you recommend? Or any other authors works for that matter?
Uh. How much time do you have? If you like graphic novels, even a tiny bit, Joe Hill's Locke & Key and Neil Gaiman's Sandman series are awesome. Otherwise, in “straight” books – for fantastical, Clive Barker's “WeaveWorld” or anything by China Mieville or Haruki Murakami. For historical, the 3 books about Teddy Roosevelt by Edmund Morris are FANTASTIC (but I'm a big Teddy fan). Non-fiction as well – War Letters, by Andrew Carroll, made me cry. On the fiction front – of course there are the “Girl Who” series by Steig Larsson which were pretty fun. Pat Conroy's last one, “South of Broad” was illuminating and really captured Charleston. Seriously, I could go on and on. I. Love. Books.
52 books in a year! That's an ambitious target, Ricardo!
I'm focusing on reading one book at a time and then checking that I'm practicing and mastering what I've learned in the book before I move on to the next.
After I read Made to Stick, I delivered a speech that shared 3 tips from the book. I used the 3 tips to write the speech, too.
I've got to ensure that I'm *using* the information in the books — and not just reading it!
Ambitious? Yes. Possible? Maaaybe. So far, I'm on schedule (forcing myself to wake up early, watch zero tv, etc.). Will I keep it up? We shall see (I sure hope to).
But yes, I totally agree with your point. It's all kinda pointless if I'm not putting into practices what I've learned from reading the principles outlined in the books. While I'm reading I tend to hi-light, take notes and relate the principle to what I do in my day-to-day work so this is definitely helpful. I do love your approach of delivering a speech using the 3 tips in the book and using those tips to construct your speech (perfect implementation of the principles I'd say).
Last year I read 15 – 20 books. This year, I hope to do much more but as others have suggested, I also want to explore other genres ya know, not just all marketing and business. The way I see it, it's a good way to exercise the creative mind. The more I read, the more I'll write and the better I'll get at it (or so I hope, heh).
Thanks for the comment Kevin! And hey, if you come across anything good you'd recommend, please do so…
Ricardo, here's 6 of the best resources for writers:
http://www.kevinkane.com/2011/…/
It includes:
– 3 Books (1 for basics, 1 for reference, and 1 for sticky writing).
– 2 Websites (1 for web writing and 1 for content marketing).
– 1 App (a dictionary).
Hey Kevin, thanks! I just stepped out for the daily dose of caffeine but I'll check this out for sure in a bit 🙂
Hey Ricardo
Interesting post – the books on my 'radar' for the next few weeks are Resonate by Nancy Duarte (half way through that one), The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (the 6th or 7th time), the latest John Sandford Lucas Davenport mystery (ooopssss, not a business book I know), and there's a collection of Malcolm Gladwell's articles collated into a book that I want to read, can't remember the title.
one tip for you – you probably have it covered, but just in case – if you drive or commute or run or do anything regular where you can be listening to your iPod, then you can get some books as downloads and listen to them rather than read them.
Paul
Hey Paul,
I'll have to check out the one's you listed here…including the mystery one. A friend of mine (@tyr) suggested I should probably read some more non-business books, you know, to mix things up and I agree. Don't get me wrong, business books are great, but reading other genres is good for the mind too 🙂
P.S. Love Malcolm Gladwell's writing by the way! “Outliers” was one of my favorites.
Now, regarding books on tape, that's something I need to do more off. I do commute actually (and it's quite the drive). Unfortunately some of the books I've looked at as of late weren't available on CD :-/ If only they offered a download option online or somethin' when you buy a copy of a book, now that would be awesome!
Thanks for the comment Paul and welcome to the site!
I'm totally gonna do this! I was doing 2 books a month, this will step it up! I just read Juliens post about this.. totally doing it.
I only managed to do around 15 books last year. I left others unfinished. I'll be keeping the 'Reading List' updated and by publishing it, it'll be my way of staying accountable (let's see how that goes).
If you did 2 a month, I definitely think you can do more 🙂