2016 Book Challenge

You can find my 2015 Book Challenge here, with the results recorded. I went off target about halfway through the year and yet that list prompted me to do some reading I'd never have done otherwise — like poetry — which was very rewarding.

This year, considering the lack of attention I paid last year, I thought about not doing a list. However, I realized I do actually have some goals for this year. They are fewer and more focused, which is all to the good.

1. Dante's Divine Comedy [done]
   I feel as if this is going to be my year of Dante. Last year my interest in Louis Markos' Heaven and Hell put Dante on my mind. I began reading Anthony Esolen's translation. I wanted to read through with as little use of notes as possible this time through.
   
   I read John Ciardi's translation my first time around.
   
   Once I finished the Esolen translation, I began listening to the Benedict Flynn translations which were done specifically for audio and read by Heathcote Williams. They were simply fantastic and added to my understanding of the book (at least on the surface level).
   
   And then I read it a third time for conversations at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. And a FOURTH for my Catholic women's book club! I didn't intend a Year of Dante but it turned out that way!  - Inferno (Good Story #135) - Purgatorio (Good Story #137) - Paradiso (Good Story #139)


2. Finish Dickens' novels: [done]
   
   • Martin Chuzzlewit — liked this despite expecting to hate it because Dickens' savages America in the middle. That part was so one-dimensional that it slid right off of me. 
   • The Old Curiosity Shop — there was more to this than I had been led to expect. And I liked it!
   • Mystery of Edwin Drood — read this one last. Liked it even though it was only half finished upon Dickens' death.
   • Hard Times — the biggest surprise of all was liking this book which I'd heard was dour, dark and ... hard. Loved it!


3. Reread Middlemarch — never did it
   I've been wanting to do this for the last half of 2015. It's time to let it happen.


4. Use my "To Read" list
   I have pages listed of interesting fiction and nonfiction titles that I never get to because something shiny distracts me to the latest new thing. No more! There is a reason I wrote those names down. I need to try them out!


5. Read the Bible in Chronological Order - ADDED IN APRIL
   Now I won't be doing this in a year, but it is a new reading goal, so I'm tossing it in here in case anyone else is interested. I'll keep track of what I've read here (fingers crossed I remember) — I actually have been doing this pretty regularly and enjoying the heck out of it. It has led to some surprising realizations. For example, did you know that when Isaiah was prophesying doom and gloom initially ... there were several other prophets also doing the same thing? And still no one listened. Oy veh! I'll be continuing this in 2017.

1. Use my "To Watch" list
   It's the same problem I have with books. So many reviews have prompted me to keep lists of movies and then I never use the list! No more!