Two days ago I officially began 10MillionWords. This is a year-long project in which, for 2010, I am going to read all of the New York Times bestsellers (non-fiction, that is). The purpose of the project is something that has maybe evolved a little in the months since I dreamed it up. It began as a kind of culture or worldview study in which I would learn about life, North American life, at the dawn of a new decade. After all, there is a lot I can learn about the culture through its bestselling books. It has also turned into something of a personal challenge in which I want to see just what I can learn from all of these books, what patterns I can detect in them, and what themes arise. The amount of reading I intend to do this year is, well, intimidating. Yet there are few things I love more than reading and I do anticipate enjoying myself a good deal.
Anyway, if you have not yet heard of this project, I’d encourage you to check it out. There are fifteen books on the list at any given time which means there were fifteen there as of January 1. I’ve already reading thirteen of them and will be finishing up the other two in the days to come. Through it all I will be keeping tabs not only on the books but on the process of reading and attempting to digest them all.
You can read the first couple of posts at 10MillionWords.com or subscribe via RSS.
