50 Book Pledge

I’ve always been a reader. When I was younger, my parents wouldn’t let me read books because they thought it took my attention away from schoolwork. It’s a lot like how many parents try to limit their kids’ interactions with video games, but with immigrant parents, schoolwork was king and they didn’t understand how beneficial reading really is for anyone at any age, but especially for children. They would make me go to bed, and I would lay down in a way that allowed for the light from the hallway to shine over my shoulder and illuminate the words in whatever fantasy world I was reading about that night. That’s probably why I wear glasses today.

As I moved onto college and university, I never lost my love for reading, but I lost my time. Instead of stories about magical worlds, evil villains, and sappy romances, my books were replaced by philosophy and history. Graphic design manuals and typographical guides. I yearned to pick up a book without the feeling that I had something else to do. In university, I picked up a job at Indigo Books & Music, the unquestionable leader of bookstores in Canada. Just like that, I had unlimited books at my disposal and began to read again; though never with the fervour of my 11 year old self. Over the last three years working with Indigo, my list of “books to read” has grown so long — curiosity of their stories, insatiable — that I need to challenge myself.

Starting May 16, 2014 to May 16, 2015, I am pledging to read 50 books. You can follow my progress on my userpage at 50bookpledge.ca and I will also be posting reviews and thoughts about each book I read here in my book nook. Although I have only ever read fiction, in an effort to expand my horizons, I will be reading at least one book from each section of my store. Thanks for following me on this journey. Let me know in the comments what books you think I should read as part of my pledge! Sign your own pledge, add me as a friend, and we can devour the book world together!

Click here for the reviews of each book of my 50 Book Pledge as I finish them!

FICTION

• Terry Hayes – I Am Pilgrim
• Jonas Jonasson – The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared * Currently Reading *
• Dan T. Sehlberg – Mona
• Heather O’Neill – Lullabies for Little Criminals
• Rachel Joyce – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

TEEN FICTION

• Amy Tintera – Rebel 
• Jess Rothenberg – The Catastrophic History of You and Me

9-12 KIDS

ROMANCE

EROTICA

• Opal Carew – Total Abandon 

MYSTERY

• Camilla Lackberg – Buried Angels
• Jo Nesbo – The Leopard

TRUE CRIME

SCIENCE FICTION

HUMOUR

MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS

BIOGRAPHY

HISTORY & POLITICS

• Bill Bryson – A Short History of Nearly Everything
• Annalee Newitz – Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive A Mass Extinction

SCIENCE

NATURE & PETS

RELIGION

HEALTH

WELL-BEING

NEW AGE & OCCULT

RELIGION

BUSINESS

TRAVEL LITERATURE

LOCAL INTEREST (Hamilton, Ontario)

COMMUNITY & CULTURE

POETRY

PHILOSOPHY

COOKING

* I have decided to leave out books age 0-8 because I can read those in 10 minutes. I have also decided to leave out parenting books as they are not applicable to my current lifestyle.