by Bob Hostetler @BobHoss

At the recent (and wonderful!) Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, I had occasion several times to mention the fact that I compile and generally follow an annual reading plan every year. As a writer, of course, I afford reading a high priority in my life. I read not only for pleasure, but also for self-improvement, believing (as Francis Bacon said) that “Reading maketh a full man” (or woman). I read also to make myself a better writer.

So every January (though it can be done anytime) I devise a reading plan. In that plan, I set a goal of the number of books I intend to read in the coming year, taking into consideration such things as the workload and the amount of traveling I anticipate.
In addition to deciding how many books I will try to read (in recent years my goal has been 100), I also develop a sort of syllabus that will allow me to derive maximum variety and benefit from my reading throughout the course of a year. My annual reading plan always includes:

• at least one biography;
• usually two or three memoirs;
• a healthy dose of at least four classics (e.g., Shakespeare, Pascal, Dostoyevsky, Dickens, Austen, etc.);
• a minimum of two writing books;
• at least one history book;
• at least two books by authors I’ve never read before;
• a couple poetry books each year;
• a couple as-yet-undiscovered books from among my favorite authors, such as William Faulkner, Louis L’Amour, C.S. Lewis, and Mark Twain;
• a minimum of two books in my general field of writing expertise, which happens to be Christian/inspirational;
• a minimum of two books in a new discipline or field of interest (e.g., logic, gardening, ethics, archaeology, etc.);
• a few children’s books, since I am still a child at heart and a great admirer of picture books and juvenile literature;
• one or two selections from a short list of books I’ve decided to re-read every few years, some serious, some life-changing, some fanciful, from A. A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner to Knowing God¬by J.I. Packer;
• finally, for good measure, I require that at least one of the books on my list (in any category) must be what I call a “mule-choker,” a book of great heft, the intimidating sort of book I might not otherwise read, such as Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) or The Brothers Karamazov (they don’t always have to be Russian, however).

My reading is not entirely void of spontaneity, however. The above list accounts for about twenty-six books, so there’s ample opportunity to read a book on a whim, pick up the latest blockbuster at the mall, or borrow a book from a friend. Nor do I carve my reading plan in granite; I’m free to substitute books or shift priorities at any time. It’s my plan, after all, not the Ten Commandments.

I also keep a record of the books I read. I had done this as a teenager, and abandoned it after losing a list or two. But then, soon after discovering the “western” writer Louis L’Amour (curiously enough, by reading his medieval novel, The Walking Drum), I realized that I would soon be overtaken by confusion over which L’Amour novels I had read and which ones I had not. This practice has also long since paid off in helping me recall the titles and authors of books that I want to reread or recommend to friends.

Since devising this deceptively simple habit of planning a year’s reading in advance, I’ve vastly broadened the nature and number of books I read, introduced myself to new authors, and developed expertise in new fields. Moreover, I’ve learned (literally) volumes about various kinds of writers and writing, and have continued the process of education—so vital for a writer—far beyond my college years.

And, while my writer’s annual reading plan is nothing fancy, it has delivered me from multiple maladies of just a few years ago, such as overdosing on one writer or genre, reading only the easiest, least challenging books, and that listless feeling of staring at my bookcase like a teenager standing before an open refrigerator, wondering, What do I want, what do I want? After all, the menu’s already been prepared; I need only place my order, and I’m ready for a readable feast.

Do you organize an annual reading plan?

Bob Hostetler is an award-winning writer, editor, and speaker from southwestern Ohio. His 47 books, which include the award-winning Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door (co-authored with Josh McDowell) and The Bard and the Bible: A Shakespeare Devotional, have sold millions of copies. Bob is also the founding pastor of Cobblestone Community Church in Oxford, Ohio. He and his wife, the lovely Robin, have two grown children, Aubrey and Aaron, who have given them five beautiful grandchildren.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save