(Almost) 100 Reads in 2020

(Almost) 100 Reads in 2020

Each 25th January I am hit with the same remorse as I recall that I have yet to make any meaningful progress on my dreams.

I think of Dwynwen, the patron saint of lovers in Wales, and I think of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet and lyricist. It’s not a coincidence that I think of these two seemingly unrelated figures, they are drawn together in my mind in great part because the 25th January is both Dydd Santes Dwynwen (Saint Dwynwen’s Day) and Burns’ Night.

Partly due to my Celtic ancestral sympathies, and partly because I have a love of, well, many things related to the both of them, such as Wales, Scotland, writing, history, culture, nature, creativity and folk-stories, my feelings feel focussed and heightened on this day. Yet each year I am reminded that I’m no further forward than the last.

This year will be different, she said.

If this year is to be any different, I must take an approach that is proactive, meaningful, and useful. Mel Robbins‘ free course Best Decade Ever, with her free attachments that can be printed off, such as her toolkits and her Dream Book, is providing a spring board for me to take some little jumps forward. I’ve written my five big dreams for the decade, I’ve narrowed that list down to just one for this year’s theme, and the theme is WRITING.

Encouraged to brainstorm via some scribbling at the bottom of my Dream Book page for 26th January, I wondered what momentum my writing would take if I gave more time to reading. After all, some of my favourite novelists already share this pearl of wisdom, so I know it but I don’t readily apply it. What if I actually, meaningfully, did?

[I am readily prepared with my own excuses as to why I don’t read more, and the biggest of all is actually less excuse and more observation: reading wears me out. Everything I now do affects my medical condition, M.E. but seeing as I already know this, I can plan around it. I don’t have to stipulate how much I read every day, and on my worst health days, this may prove to be utterly unsconscionable. But I have to give it a go.]

What if I read (almost) every day?

What if I read something almost every day, and gave myself a list of 100 books/publications/journals (there’s really no need to be specific) to read?

Instead of the popular pastime of Run Every Day, which I specifically can no longer do for the foreseeable future, what if I gave my brain the training, gave my heart the workout, and my mind the techniques to become a great writer? I used to run well, I could race at many different distances and terrains, and I learnt strategies to help me cope when these became tough and emotional, to say the least. Can I transfer these skills into a writing practice?

I’m going to give this a shot. I will update this page throughout the year, adding to it whenever I read a new book or something else, and record how I manage this reading (intentionally) (almost) every day idea.

#ReadEveryDay

My 100 Reads in 2020 (so far)
  1. Dreams of Gods & Monsters—Laini Taylor
  2. Find Your Artistic Voice—Lisa Congdon
  3. A Rare Book of Cunning Device—Ben Aaronovitch
  4. Tales of Max Carrados: The Coin of Dionysius—Ernest Bramah
  5. Tales of Max Carrados: The Game Played in the Dark—Ernest Bramah
  6. The End of the World Running Club—Adrian J. Walker
  7. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street—Natasha Pulley
  8. The Bedlam Stacks—Natasha Pulley
  9. Magpie Murders—Anthony Horowitz
  10. The Colony—F.G. Cottam
  11. The Outcasts of Time—Ian Mortimer
  12. The Radleys—Matt Haig
  13. Strange the Dreamer—Laini Taylor
  14. Flesh Wounds—Chris Brookmyre
  15. The Prisoner of Brenda—Colin Bateman
  16. Their Lost Daughters—Joy Ellis
  17. Differently Morphous—Yahtzee Croshaw
  18. Rivers of London—Ben Aaronovitch
  19. Moon over Soho—Ben Aaronovitch
  20. Whispers Underground—Ben Aaronovitch
  21. The Dead Pass—Colin Bateman
  22. The Muse—Jessie Burton
  23. The Secret Life of Bees—Sue Monk Kidd
  24. The Secret Hours—Santa Montefiore
  25. The Shadow of the Wind—Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  26. The Sacred Enneagram—Christopher L. Heuertz
  27. Broken Homes—Ben Aaronovitch
  28. Foxglove Summer—Ben Aaronovitch
  29. The Angel’s Game—Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  30. The Furthest Station—Ben Aaronovitch
  31. The Hanging Tree—Ben Aaronovitch
  32. Lies Sleeping—Ben Aaronovitch
  33. The October Man—Ben Aaronovitch
  34. False Value—Ben Aaronovitch
  35. Outlander—Diana Gabaldon
  36. The Lost Future of Pepperharrow—Natasha Pulley
  37. Things in Jars—Jess Kidd
  38. City of Girls—Elizabeth Gilbert
  39. Orlando—Virginia Woolf
  40. Just One Damned Thing After Another—Jodi Taylor
  41. A Symphony of Echoes—Jodi Taylor
  42. The Graveyard Book—Neil Gaiman
  43. Talking to Strangers—Malcolm Gladwell
  44. A Tale for the Time Being—Ruth Ozeki
  45. The Midnight Library—Matt Haig
  46. A Second Chance—Jodi Taylor
  47. A Trail through Time—Jodi Taylor
  48. When a Child is Born—Jodi Taylor
  49. Roman Holiday—Jodi Taylor
  50. Platform Seven—Louise Doughty
  51. The Prisoner of Heaven—Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  52. The Alchemist—Paulo Coelho
  53. Cambridge Blue—Alison Bruce
  54. The Siren—Alison Bruce
  55. The Calling—Alison Bruce
  56. The Backs—Alison Bruce
  57. Lincoln in the Bardo—George Saunders
  58. Notes on a Nervous Planet—Matt Haig
  59. Reasons to Stay Alive—Matt Haig
  60. Muse of Nightmares—Laini Taylor
  61. Paper Cuts—Colin Bateman
  62. The Labyrinth of the Spirits—Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  63. The Girl Before—JP Delaney
  64. White Silence—Jodi Taylor

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