Skip to main content

2018 reading list

  Near the end of 2017 I did something I hope becomes an end of year tradition.  I planned out all the books I’m going to read in the next year.  I read some great books last year and I hope that having a plan will make this year even better.


Why would I plan out a year of reading?

Last year I was able to read a lot more than I have before.  However, there were still long periods throughout the year in which I wasn't reading anything, and some of what I read was just whatever was in front of me, not what I really wanted to read.  Like most things in life, I suspect, having a plan will help align what I do read with my goals.  There are several subjects I’m interested in, and didn’t read about.  There are authors I want to read more of, but haven’t made time to.  And modern fiction?  What is that?  (I  think I read one new book last year)

I made a realization a few months back.  My pile of books I want to read is much taller than the stack of books I have read in my life.  Continuous learning (including learning by gaining a different perspective through fiction) is a big priority in life.  Reading is a huge part of that.  Combine this with constant reminder that life is short, it goes by faster and faster every year and it's time, there are only so many hours in a day and ... you get the idea.  

A plan will help make that big pile of books in the want to read pile seem much more manageable and less daunting.


What do I have on my list?

As I mentioned I want to better align what I read with my interests.  As such I’m reading mostly non-fiction with a mix of classic novels and newer fiction.


In the nonfiction side of things I went pretty heavy with newer books on christian living and theology.  This includes several books by Francis Chan, one by John Piper, who I’ve been meaning to read for a long while, as well as Radical by David Platt.  I also have quite a few historic writings from ancient times.  The Republic, Meditations and histories by Thucydides and Herodotus.  This much ancient writing might be a little too aggressive but we'll see.  

I’ve added a few memoirs involving subjects I’m interested in.  Running, writing and hiking.  As well as a few books on parenting and diet.  

Sticking to this list I hope to actually be using my time reading to get some real actual learning done on some subjects I really actually want to know more about.

In the fiction realm I have a mix of novels from some classic writers, some I’ve read before and some I haven’t, as well as some well reviewed novels from last year.  I’ve also mixed in some sci-fi and fantasy just for fun.

See my full list on Goodreads.

Do you ever plan out what you are going to read in the future?


Have you read any of the books I’m planning to this year?  What did you think?

Have books that probably should be on my list?


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Writing Goals

  Recently I came to the conclusion that I should write more often.  That is, I believe, I should start to consider myself a "writer."  That's the main reason there's been a bit of an increase in publishing to this blog (going from zero over the past few years to a couple times a month is a pretty huge jump).     I, like most humans, have thoughts and opinions which are a product of the times and places in which I live.  I figure I can do my part for future historians and write a few of them down.  I also just might have enough creative juice to pump out a story or two. This blog   I'd like to post to this blog at least once a week from now on, or at a minimum once a month.  Really, anything at all would be better than what I've been doing.  I'll mainly write about my life, family, interests, and opinions about, current events and local and state politics (I'll try to steer clear of national issues for my own sanity).  Pretty much whatever I fee

Playing Mari0 on Ubuntu 12.04

If you are looking to play Mari0 on Ubuntu you may have run into a bit of a roadblock because love 0.8.0 is not yet available for Precise from the love-unstable ppa.  No need to worry though the .deb file for Oneiric will work just fine.   First download the .deb from launchpad, either amd64 or i386 .  Then install dependencies by running. $ sudo apt-get install libdevil1c2 libmng1 libfreetype6 libgl1-mesa-glx liblua5.1-0 libphysfs-1.0-0 libsdl1.2debian libopenal1 libogg0 libvorbis0a libvorbisfile3 libflac8 libflac++6 libmpg123-0 libc6 libgcc1 libphysfs1 libstdc++6 Then install the love-unstable with dpkg ~/Downloads$ dpkg -i love-unstable_0.8.0~r1028-0oneiric1_<amd64/i386>.deb Run  love-unstable on mari0  ~/mari0$ love-unstable mari0_1.3.love Enjoy what is possibly the coolest crossover game of all time.

Ubuntu games?

    One of the things I have been doing very little of for the last several years is PC gaming.  This is probably mostly due to a complete lack of a Windows machine in my life.  Plus with all of the great games available for Android my needs as a casual gamer are more than met.     However, this years humble bundled has reignited my interest in PC gaming.  I got it and installed a couple of the games on my Ubuntu machine.  So far they are a lot of fun especially VVVVVV .  This got me asking "what else can I play on Ubuntu?"  Turns out there is a plethora of free open source games, some awesome, some not so much.  Many are available from the   Ubuntu Software Center and many you have to hunt down around the web.     One thing that keeps many Windows users from Ubuntu (or any Linux OS for that matter) is a supposed lack of games.  This is simply not the case.  While yes many of the commercial PC games are only available for Windows or at best OS X, there are many free