[GA Russell]

I expect to read a lot of short stories this year. So rather than count books, my goal will be to read recreational prose at least four evenings per week at least forty weeks this year. That's 160 evenings.

I will list each week as pass or fail, and I will also list each book (including those which are not recreational prose) that I have read in 2012.


(Week ending....pass/fail....evenings that week....total evenings....total pass weeks)

1/07..................PASS...............5.......... ....................05.....................1
1/14...................fail.................2....... .......................07.....................1
1/21..................PASS...............5.......... ....................12.....................2
1/28...................fail.................2....... .......................14.....................2
2/04..................PASS...............5.......... ....................19.....................3
2/11..................PASS...............7.......... ....................26.....................4
2/18..................PASS...............6.......... ....................32.....................5
2/25...................fail.................3....... .......................35.....................5
3/03...................fail.................2....... .......................37.....................5
3/10..................PASS...............6.......... ....................43.....................6
3/17...................fail.................2....... .......................45.....................6
3/24..................PASS...............4.......... ....................49.....................7
3/31...................fail.................2....... .......................51.....................7
4/07..................PASS...............4.......... ....................55.....................8
4/14..................PASS...............7.......... ....................62.....................9
4/21..................PASS...............7.......... ....................69....................10
4/28..................PASS...............7.......... ....................76....................11
5/05..................PASS...............4.......... ....................80....................12

I note that after 18 weeks, I am halfway toward my goal of 160 evenings. In the past I have not done a lot of reading during the warmest months of the year, so I feel on schedule.

5/12..................PASS...............4.......... ....................84....................13
5/19...................fail.................1....... .......................85....................13
5/26..................PASS...............4.......... ....................89....................14
6/02..................PASS...............5.......... ....................94....................15
6/09..................PASS...............4.......... ....................98....................16
6/16..................PASS...............7.......... ...................105....................17
6/23...................fail.................1....... ......................106....................17
6/30..................PASS...............6.......... ...................112....................18

At the mid-year point, I am 70% toward my goal of 160 evenings. However, I am two weeks behind the pace of reaching my weeks goal. The evenings goal is far more important to me than the weeks goal, so overall I am pleased thus far. However, I have historically done most of my reading the first half of the year, so I cannot be optimistic about the weeks goal.

7/07..................PASS...............6.......... ...................118...................19
7/14...................fail.................3....... ......................121...................19
7/21..................PASS...............4.......... ...................125...................20
7/28..................PASS...............5.......... ...................130...................21
8/04..................PASS...............6.......... ...................136...................22
8/11...................fail.................3....... ......................139...................22
8/18..................PASS...............5.......... ...................144...................23
8/25..................PASS...............4.......... ...................148...................24
9/01..................PASS...............6.......... ...................154...................25
9/08..................PASS...............7.......... ...................161..................26

Hooray! On Friday Sept. 7 I reached my goal of 160 evenings reading!

I have lost interest in my secondary goal of 40 weeks reading 4 or more evenings per week. However, I will continue to keep track to see how far I get this year.

9/15..................PASS...............4.......... ...................165...................27
9/22..................PASS...............6.......... ...................171...................28
9/29..................PASS...............4.......... ...................175...................29
10/06..................fail.................2........ .....................177...................29
10/13................PASS................5........... ..................182...................30
10/20..................fail.................2........ .....................184...................30
10/27..................fail.................2........ .....................186...................30
11/03..................fail.................2........ .....................188...................30
11/10..................fail.................3........ .....................191...................30
11/17..................fail.................2........ .....................193...................30
11/24................PASS................4........... ..................197...................31
12/01..................fail.................2........ .....................199...................31
12/08................PASS................4........... ..................203...................32
12/15................PASS................5........... ..................208...................33
12/22................PASS................4........... ..................212...................34
12/29................PASS................6........... ..................218...................35
12/31................****................2........... ..................220..................**

And so with 220 evenings read, I surpassed my goal of 160 by 37.5%. With 35 weeks reading 4 or more evenings, I fell short of my goal of 40 by 12.5%. I finished 15 books in 2012, which is the same number I finished in 2011. I read at least once every week, and only once only two weeks.



************************************************** *******


1...3/08...2011 Canadian Football League Rule Book
2...3/18...Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
3...4/19...Aiming at Amazon - Aaron Shepard
4...4/22...Happier than a Billionaire - Nadine Hays Pisani
5...5/11...Games People Play - Eric Berne
6...6/05...Losers Live Longer - Russell Atwood
7...6/16...BAD or The Dumbing of America - Paul Fussell
8...7/02...The Maltese Falcon (original version) - Dashiell Hammett
9...9/07...Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson
10...9/18...The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs - Richard Yancey
11...9/23...Armageddon, 2419 AD - Philip Francis Nowlan
12...10/01...The Airlords of Han - Philip Francis Nowlan
13...11/10...History of the All-America Football Conference - David A. Bene
14...11/24...Madrigal - John Gardner
15...12/31...Ten-Gallon War - John Eisenberg