Reading goals help me stay on track and remain consistent each day, week, and year. I aim to read everyday in order to hit my weekly reading goals; in completing my weekly reading goals, I invariably complete my monthly and yearly reading goals.
If I follow this pattern without straying, I’ll be able to complete my decade reading goal of (minimum) 520 books too — one book per week, four books per month, 52 books per year, 520 books in the decade.
But, of course, such are the best-laid plans of mice and men.
A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)
A Study in Scarlet is the very first depiction of the most famous detective in history, Sherlock Holmes. It is witty, incisive, and fast-paced, told through the perspective of Dr. Watson, Holmes’s loyal and wise friend.
The novel is short, as it was the first out of many decades of Sherlock Holmes stories written by Doyle. The novel, and the series of short stories in sum, made waves in the fictional crime world; Doyle splintered boundaries and created entire worlds for our enjoyment.
Fun fact: it is the first instance that a magnifying glass was used as a tool of a detective.
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (1915)
One of the most widely read books of the 20th century, the 700-page tome that is Of Human Bondage made me feel joyous, sad, angry, frustrated, and all the emotional colors in between.
In short: it is a masterpiece.
We begin with Phillip Carey when he is nine years old. We watch him grow up and live in London, Germany, and Paris, taking swings studying art and languages and medicine. The story pivots around a hopeless, tiresome romance between Phillip and Mildred: a wretched, abominable character that I hope only exists in fiction.
“He did not care if she was heartless, vicious and vulgar, stupid and grasping, he loved her. He would rather have misery with one than happiness with the other.”
The result is a tale so convincing, a coming-of-age journey so relatable, that it is as if it is a book written specifically for each individual who reads it.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1962)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn is best known for his sweeping history of the Soviet Union Gulag prison camp system, The Gulag Archipelago. Unfortunately this means much of his fiction, such as One Day in the Life, is overshadowed.
This book is far shorter than his other work but, in typical Solzhenitsyn fashion, it is brutally candid in depicting the savagery of a Soviet prison camp. Solzhenitsyn also depicts his highly nuanced understanding of human nature and the tendencies of prisoners.
“Can a man who’s warm understand one who’s freezing?”
It is fiction, but it is based on his own experiences as a prisoner for over a decade.
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brian (1990)
Tim O’Brian — a Harvard graduate, war veteran, and master storyteller— weaves together anecdotes from his experiences in the Vietnam War as well as his musings on the writer’s life and what it means to tell a story, as well as the implications of storytelling.
The writing is terse yet poetic. His ability to imbue feelings of sadness in the reader (the reader being myself) was impressive. Some of the tales he tells of the war years are touching, brutal, gory, and all too human.
I enjoyed this book a great deal. It was realistic in depicting not only war but the strange feeling the author felt in writing and publicizing personal anecdotes from the war.
Ethics and Public Policy: A Philosophical Inquiry by Jonathan Wolff (2011)
I enjoyed learning about public policy, and how often times it can miss the mark when dealing with morally and philosophically tense issues such as guns, drugs, and sex.
Philosophy is a tool for reveries and public policy is one for practice. It is far more challenging to reconcile the two than we may think; philosophical musings rarely align with the X’s and O’s demanded by legislation.
A more technical, academic read taken directly from London School of Economics’s recommended reading list for their Public Policy and Philosophy Master’s Program. Not one I would recommend necessarily, unless you were seeking specifically to learn about these niche topics, as I was myself.
I read this story in the collection of Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps the blood test laboratory in Britain was built on the basis of this story. Alexander’s book was a bit old I’ve read Anne’s anne applebaum Gulag on this subject.