For 2014, I set a goal of reading 52 books — an average of one a week. I hit 64, but eight were by Roald Dahl, which some people might not consider worthy of an adults list (they would be mistaken). Even subtracting those, I beat my goal by four books.

I know people who read far more than that, but it was a respectable number for me. I didn’t push it, and there are several quite long books among my reads. Strangely, the book that took me the longest to get through was Roald Dahl’s BFG. I just had a hard time getting into it. heh heh.

This year, I’m setting a much more daunting goal — at least for me. I’m committing to reading three particular books that seem to constantly elicit groans of dismay even from avid readers:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Portrait of the Artist a a Young Man by James Joyce.

I’ll start with Moby Dick as soon as I finish trudging through The Winter of the World by Ken Follett. this Follett is really dragging for me. Ken Follett is funny that way. Some of his books just suck me in completely. Some simply bore me. However, there is always something to be learned from historical fiction, so I will soldier on.

I don’t know how many new books these three masterpieces will displace, so this blog may be quieter on that front. I do intend to report on my progress and impressions as I work towards my goal. So many people have said these books are impossible to digest. However after decades of hearing how tough Faulkner was, I found Absalom! Absalom!, which is considered one of his best, not difficult at all

Who knows what pain or pleasure awaits? At the least — assuming I don’t give up — I’ll have read three books I should have read but have feared to try. There’s something to be said for that.