52 books a year

I have loved reading since I was a child. Back then, summertime gave me endless hours upon endless days to read as much as I wanted.

Propped against my bed or lying on my blue shag carpet, I would lose myself in epic stories. Five Jewish sisters enjoying everyday adventures in early 20th-century New York. Pioneer girls surviving blizzards, locust plagues and the isolation of the prairie. Twelve siblings in 1940s New Jersey testing their parents’ time-efficiency techniques for bathing, dishwashing and more.

While I don’t have unlimited time these days, I still want to read as much as I can. A few years ago, I set a goal of reading 52 books a year. So far in 2026, I have read 27 books.

As the designer of my personal reading program, I get to make my own rules:

📱Use the library. Whenever possible, I check out books using the Libby library app for e-books and audio. Pro tip for fellow Ohioans: you can get a free library card at nearly any public library in the state.

🎧 Mix formats. Listening to audiobooks while working and switching to the text version at night keeps my momentum going.

⏱️ Allow novellas. If I fall behind, shorter reads are fair game.

📚 Explore new voices. I actively read new-to-me authors each year. In 2026, that’s included Colm Tóibín, Michael Connelly, Gillian Flynn and Nora Roberts.

This year, my favorite book so far is “Prairie Fires,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser. It’s not on the list because I’m still reading it!