Last week I mentioned that I often have difficulty with decision paralysis on what to read next. The problem is never that I have nothing to read. Instead, it is always that I have too many great choices, an embarrassment of riches, in fact. When I rely on my feelings, I tend to waver back and forth over what to choose.

As a result, I’ve decided to follow a couple of reading plans this year. I want to choose at least some of the titles and have them at my house by the end of January. That way when I finish one book, whether a planned or spontaneous read, I can pick up one from the plan and read it without waffling.

I’ve chosen two plans for this year. The first is the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2019 Reading Challenge. I have been reading the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog by Anne Bogel and listening to her podcast, What Should I Read Next, for several years now. Both are fun places to hear about books and book-related topics. I especially like her reading challenge this year.

When you sign up, she sends you a set of worksheets to help you decide what you want to add to your list. Interestingly, for herself, Anne chose three selections for each of her categories, which I thought was a great idea. I may even do the same. Then I will still have some choice based on availability and desire but will have some guidelines, too. The best of both worlds.

A few of the categories the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2019 Reading Challenge are:

• A book you’ve been meaning to read: The title that immediately came to mind is Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. I have been meaning to read that book for years, but it’s such a commitment at 1000+ pages that I keep putting it off. 2019 is the year! Another option: On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior (I won it in a contest and am dying to start it!)
• A book you chose for the cover: One possibility is I’ll be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos. It has such a pretty cover. I need to peruse my shelves and the library for other options for this category. I tend to choose books based on what I’ve heard or read about them, not their covers, so this may be the one serendipitous category.
• A book in translation: I think I may choose The Elegance of a Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. It’s one of my book group reads for this year, and it’s one I’ve been wanting to read for a while.
• A book outside your (genre) comfort zone:  This category will be covered at some point this year at work. We are challenged to read a book a month and the genres change each month. This month’s genre is memoir, which is a favorite of mine, but I’m sure that at least one of the genres this year will be outside my comfort zone. Or I can reattempt The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, which I started last year but didn’t finish. Horror is definitely outside my comfort zone. Another option would be to read a graphic novel. One title that sounds interesting is Spinning by Tillie Walden.
• A book published before you were born:  I found a really fun site with lists of best-sellers from every year in the 20th century here. A few titles I found that would fill this category are: Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn, or A Passage to India by E. M. Forster.

The second reading challenge I plan to complete this year is the one at challies.com. Although it is tempting to choose something other than the light reader category, I need to keep room in my reading life for book group reads, work reads, research reads, comfort reads, rereads, and “just because it’s fun” reads. So I”m choosing the light reader category which is just twelve titles. Categories from this challenge include:

• A biography: I love biographies so the hard part will be choosing which title to read. Some of my options are: A Passion for the Impossible by Miriam Rockness,  Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxes, Thomas Cromwell by Diarmaid MacCulloch, Luther by Eric Metaxas, or Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George M. Marsden. I will probably read the Thomas Cromwell biography. I have been intrigued by him and his influence on the English Reformation since reading Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. It is 700+ pages, but none of these are small books so that will likely be my choice. A Passion for the Impossible is the runner up, I think.
  A book about Christian living: I have several books on my shelves that will fit this category. I just need to decide between them.
  A book with at least 400 pages: This should not be difficult to attain. For some reason, the books that most attract me are the big, huge ones. I could count Kristin Lavransdatter for this category and choose something else for the “I have been meaning to read” category. Although, at 1000+ pages, it should count for more than one reading challenge don’t you think?
  A book by or about a missionary: I have Helen Roseveare’s Give Me This Mountain, which I want to read for a couple of reasons. First, I heard her speak many years ago at the Urbana missions conference, and I have never forgotten her talk. Also, after reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver last year, I have wanted to know more about the Belgian Congo during that time period. Helen Roseveare lived through the same events as Kingsolver covers in her book so I am looking forward to it.
  A book from a “Best of 2018” list: This is an easy category because I’ve just started The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, which fits this category. I’ve had so many people I know rave about this book that I want to see if I think it’s as great as everyone else does. I loved her book The Nightingale, but this one is very different so we shall see. I am also reading Educated by Tara Westover, which would also count for this category.

One other guideline for my reading this year is to read 25% nonfiction. It’s not that I don’t read nonfiction, but my tendency is to read just bits and pieces and not finish nonfiction books. Since I don’t count unfinished books in my completed books list, I don’t have many nonfiction titles. So I will aim to finish at least 20-30 nonfiction books this year. That would give me the 25% (depending on whether I read my goal of 80 or go over like I did in 2018). Also, I would use my time more wisely by reading entire books rather than dipping into multiple books that I don’t finish. I don’t count books that I’m using for research since I rarely read those books cover to cover.

If you are interested in choosing one or more reading challenges for yourself this year, you will find links to more challenges in my article here.

Are you planning your reading this year? Please let me know in the comments.