Reading Project Thoughts

A bit more than a week into thinking about a longer-term reading project, I have thoughts.

What is working: I have started both War and Peace (first time) and The Brothers Karamozov (again!), reading at the pace of one chapter a day. W&P is 361 chapters, and TBK is 96 chapters (in the edition I’m reading). I am loving them both at this pace–just enough that I’m not forgetting day-to-day what is happening and also leaves me wanting a little more without getting overwhelmed. Reading my daily chapters is something I look forward to and not a chore.

As for the other part of my plan–rotating through award winners and lists–I still like the idea, but I need to think about how to personalize it and account for my tendency to feel too restricted. I picked up the first book on the Pulitzer list, but abandoned it quickly because it was too bleak for me right now (and Pulitzer winners do tend to be heavy). I capital L Loved the first book from the PEN/Faulkner award for fiction, but the next several on the list either don’t interest me or I’ve already tried and DNFd. So what to do? I’m not sure, just verbally processing here.