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    <title>#biography posts — Ben Crowder</title>
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      <title>Reading goals for 2015</title>
      <link>https://bencrowder.net/blog/2015/reading-goals-for-2015/</link>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 10 Jan 2015 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ben Crowder]]></dc:creator>
      <description><![CDATA[<p>I recently came across a <a href="http://sociologistnovelist.wordpress.com/2015/01/04/my-2015-reading-challenge">post about reading goals</a> that got me itching to go and do likewise. I’ve had numeric goals in the past — read X books this year — but I’ve realized I’m less interested in the total number of books read and more interested in the types of books I read. (It’s also a grudging acknowledgement that this mortal life is finite and there’s no way I’ll be able to read all the books I want to. Such a sad thought. But there are massive libraries in heaven, right? I’m banking on that.)</p>
<p>Here, then, are my reading goals for 2015:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read more books I wouldn’t ordinarily be interested in</strong>. Basically, expand my horizons, both in fiction and nonfiction.</li>
<li><strong>Read more science fiction and fantasy classics</strong>. I did read the <em>Foundation</em> books in 2012–2013, but most of the time I tend to read newer stuff. (I guess I did also read <em>The Stars My Destination</em> earlier this year. I didn’t like it at all.)</li>
<li><strong>Read more literary classics</strong>. Specifically, I want to read at least <em>War and Peace</em> and Dante’s <em>Divine Comedy</em>, and hopefully the Dostoevsky novels I haven’t yet read. Yes, I know, this isn’t the first time I’ve made a goal to read <em>War and Peace</em>. But this is the first year I’m going to actually do it, so help me. (I’ve read enough 1000-page epic fantasy novels by now that I can handle the length just fine.)</li>
<li><strong>Read more nonfiction</strong>. Specifically, more history and biography. I’ve been reading more nonfiction this past year (<em>Rubicon</em>, <em>Lies My Teacher Told Me</em>, <em>Food Rules</em>, <em>Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn</em>, <em>Stuff Matters</em>, etc.) and it’s been quite enjoyable. Right now I’m reading and loving Edmund Morris’s <em>Rise of Roosevelt</em>, the first of a three-volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt, and Blake Harris’s <em>Console Wars</em>, a history of Nintendo and Sega in the 1990s.</li>
</ul>
<p>Any of you have reading goals or happen to be reading something particularly interesting?</p><hr class="feed-extra" style="margin-top: 48pt;" /><p class="feed-extra feed-mail"><a href="mailto:ben.crowder@gmail.com?subject=Re%3A%20Reading goals for 2015">Reply via email</a></p>]]></description>
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