Is Reading in Your New Year’s Resolution?

“Do you read a lot?” you ask.

“I don’t know, compared to what?” I respond.

On December 13, with still 18 days to go, George Easter, editor of Deadly Pleasures, wrote on his blog:

“My reading goal for 2023 was to read 120 mysteries, crime novels and thrillers. Today the count stands at 121 read. So my goal was reached.”

Holy book pages, Batman!

Gosh all Fiddlesticks!

Damn, that’s amazing!!

First of all, it’s amazing that he actually kept track all year. Personally, I’ve lost track of the times in my past life that I started a list of the books I was reading… only to forget the list-making just weeks later.  So actually keeping a list for more than 3 months is in itself a feat.

Then again, George is obsessed with lists of books, so maybe it’s easier for him?

See, George is the guy I praised and thanked last year for identifying and analyzing 84 “best books lists” of crime fiction for the previous year. And this year (in addition to reading 121+ crime fiction books himself), he has found 113 lists of what others consider to be the best!  Once again he has tallied up the books most frequently mentioned in all 113 lists. At the top of the MOST RECOMMENDED books that he discovered for 2023 were the following:

All the Sinners Bleed, by S. A. Cosby, with the sky high number of 51 recommendations. Our Mystery Book Club will be reading it in June.

Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane, with 35 recommendations. I plan to read it soon.

The Secret Hour, by Mick Herron, with 29 recommendations. This also is on my list to read ASAP.

Bright Young Women, by Jessica Knoll, with 27 recommendations. I’ll be looking into this book.

I heartily recommend getting on George’s mailing list for the quarterly issues of Deadly Pleasures. It is the best resource for evaluating new crime fiction as it comes out. PERIOD! Just 10 bucks for 4 issues! Do it!

Speaking of S. A. Cosby…

All the Sinners Bleed is looking like it will be Cosby’s 3rd consecutive blockbuster book in a row since 2020. (The previous two have each gotten a heap of awards.) He is a humble 50 year old man who has had incredible success at this point.

One thing that super impressed me was an interview he did for the New York Times. When asked questions like, ….What books are on your nightstand? What’s the last great book you read? What recent classics have you read for the first time? What’s your ideal reading experience?… Cosby recited the title and author of 21 books… right off the top of his head! Just for the record, I extracted all these books and put them into a list below:

1. The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy
2. The Hunt, by Kelly J. Ford
3. Blue Like Me, by Aaron Philip Clark
4. Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper
5. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
6. The Stranger, by Albert Camus
7. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
8. Darkness, Take My Hand, by Dennis Lehane
9. The Real Cool Killers, by Chester Himes
10. Provinces of Night, by William Gay
11. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
12. The Chill, by Ross Macdonald
13. The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
14. Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley
15. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
16. Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris
17. Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King
18. An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
19. Before I Let Go, by Kennedy Ryan
20. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
21. Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Talk about widely read! Plus, I’m lucky if I can remember what I read last month! Reading a lot of books is great, but I’d like to deploy them in a conversation like he did! (I’m looking forward to June!)

What Does it Take to Read 100 Books?

I have no idea, because I have never done it. I probably average 3.5 books a month. That’s only going to get me to 42 books according to my calculator. And, as indicated, I do not have a complete list for any year. So, that is my first goal – to end up with an accurate list of what I have read in 2024.

A young working age guy named Darius Foroux says he has a system for reading 100 books a year. (I can’t tell if he has actually done it yet.) However, he points out the following:

Most people read 50 pages an hour. If you read 10 hours a week, you’ll read 26,000 pages a year. Let’s say the average book you read is 250 pages: In this scenario, you’ll read 104 books in a year. With that pace—even if you take a two-week break—you’ll read at least 100 books in a year.

Surely a retired guy like me can read 10 hours a week! (I’m going to be checking to see how applicable 50 pages an hour is to my reading speed.)

But Do I Want to Read, or Need to Read, 100 Books a Year?

I admire George, and others like him, but that doesn’t mean that’s what I want or need to do.

I read almost entirely crime fiction books. I read for two reasons: 1) Pure entertainment. 2) To get acquainted with more authors so that I can be helpful in introducing the right books to the right people in our wonderful Mystery Book Club.

I’m thinking one book a week would be upping my game. We’ll see how that goes!

Well, those are the things going through my mind on this New Year’s Eve. Happy New Year mystery fans!