52 Books In A Year: Reading Challenge (2019)

"52 Books A Year" challenge is reading a book per week for 52 weeks in a year. Despite my love for books, I never tried it until last year. I finally completed the challenge in 2019. I have read some novellas, self help books, thrillers, humorous books, coffee table kind of books and some tough books. Some had huge impact on me, some I felt that I should have skipped, some got me on the edge of the seat and some were just too fun to put down. It was an odd combination. While the longest book I have read was of 1126 pages, shortest book was of 118 pages. I finally introduced myself to the works of Kafka and Poe.

52 Books Challenge

Why you should take this challenge?

• Even if you love reading, you may not be actively taking out time to read. This will help in making time for books in your busy schedule - may be someone is choosing to read over a negative habit or a trivial activity.
• I swear that this challenge pulled me out of my gloomy days.
• Consider any topic or problem, there's definitely a book written on it. Many books will shed their insights on your life and help you at least to some extent.
• Books are fun! They don't have to be tough, they can be on some topic which you love.
• To boast about it on blog.

Tips:

1. It helps to take notes from self help books, as after a certain period of time, some of the concepts may become fuzzy. I tried to blog about several self help books for my own reference.
2. It's better to stay on or close to track of reading one book per week. Otherwise in the end, the books pile up and you won't have that break time between two books where you ponder about what you have read.
3. Goodreads is the best app to track your books and see where you stand.
4. When do you find time? Kindle has become one of my most prized possession. I read most of the books on kindle while going to sleep. Some I have read at work :-|. We all know that there are several pockets of time when the code is compiling, when the IDE has hung, boring meetings etc. Even if you have a stressful job, out of 100 days, you will definitely have one free day. I read discretely though(obviously). I had books in my phone too, to read whenever I had some time. Have books everywhere handy - phone, laptop, kindle, hard copy etc.
5. Alternate between tough and easy books. Try genres which you wouldn't usually try. Challenge your brain and reading skills.

My Books:

My 52 Books Challenge

 

My favorites: One Hundred Years Of Solitude and Good Omens.

Despite controversial sub plots like incest, One Hundred Years of Solitude was written amazingly and introduced me to the genre of magic realism. I understood what "writing beautifully" actually meant, after reading this one and several prose style books just before picking this book.

Good Omens left me with goodey good feelings. I loved it absolutely and had many good laughs. I became a fan of Crowley(character) and also it's author - Neil Gaiman, which made me read more of his books : Norse Mythology and The Graveyard Book, which were both quite fun to read.

Best Thriller/Mystery: Shadow of The Wind.

Self help books that actually helped me : 

Atomic Habits(helped me break out of some loops), The Bullet Journal Method(helped me perfect my journaling).
I also liked The Startup of You and Never Eat Alone - I am yet to actually act on the concepts of the books.

Best book on minimalism : Goodbye, Things.

Book that changed my mind :

Steve Jobs - I finally understood his brilliance.

Book that took way too much time to finish : 

Great Expectations - I am probably not someone who is into classics, I read this over several months, switching it with other books.

Book that blew my mind with it's writing : 

Apart from my favorite books, 2666 blew my mind with it's huge narrative spread across continents and several accounts of violence against women across 200 pages - I swear they were never ending and so detailed, it felt like there must be at least 100 gruesome incidents described. This book actually evoked extreme disgust in me against all the people who abuse women and left me disturbed even after finishing it.
I also loved The Time Machine, written in 1895, which was way too ahead of it's time.

Books I have abandoned:

• Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Okay, may be I am not an intellectual. I just couldn't go ahead with this book - the philosophy was beyond my understanding and it all felt so pretentious(blasphemy! I know). I did find Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a tough read, but it was something challenging and I could make sense out of it. May be I will read this later when I am wise :D
• The Power of Your Subconscious Mind - If you think that Secret book and it's law of attraction sounded far fetched, this book tops it.
• Rapt
• Dare  

These are all I remember, but I am sure I have abandoned more. I wasn't just reading for reading's sake.

Complete List of Books I Have Read:

1. The Canterville Ghost, Oscar Wilde
2. The Little Book of Hygge, Meik Wiking.
3. Do The Work, Steven Pressfield.
4. The Power Of Habit, Charles Duhigg.
5. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
6. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster.
7. Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce.
8. Make Time, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.
9. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
10. The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy.
11. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L.Frank Baum.
12. Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson.
13. Atomic Habits, James Clear.
14. Norse Mythology, Neil Gaiman.
15. The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch.
16. Siddhartha, Herman Hesse.
17. To The Lighthouse, Virginia Wolf.
18. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka.
19. The Bullet Journal Method, Ryder Carroll.
20. Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight, Rujuta Diwekar.
21. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens.
22. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
23. Terrifying Tales, Edgar Allan Poe.
24. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro.
25. 2666, Robert Bolano.
26. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova.
27. The 10X Rule, Grant Cardone.
28. When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi.
29. The Shadow Of The Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
30. Minimalism : Living A Meaningful Life, Joshua & Ryan.
31. Minimalism : Essential Essays, Joshua & Ryan.
32. Decluttering At The Speed Of Life : Dana K. White.
33. The Little Book Of Skin Care, Charlotte Cho.
34. Beyond Soap, Sandy Skotnicki.
35. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman.
36. So Good They Can't Ignore You, Cal Newport.
37. The Startup Of You, Reid Hoffman & Ben Casnocha.
38. The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night Time, Mark Haddon.
39. The Passionate Programmer, Chad Fowler.
40. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman.
41. Fingersmith, Sarah Waters.
42. The Year Of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion.
43. The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald.
44. Confessions Of A Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella.
45. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding.
46. Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi.
47. Ikigai, Hector & Fransesc.
48. The Time Machine, HG Wells.
49. Spark Joy, Marie Kondo.
50. Goodbye Things, Fumio Sasaki.
51. Breakfast At Tiffany's, Truman Capote.
52. The More Of Less, Joshua Becker.

PS: I think I may have read the book "The Goal" in 2019 only, which will make my book count - 53!