When a reading ‘goal’ becomes a reading ‘project’, what it really becomes is a reading adventure.
One of the ways that Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an adventure is “an exciting or remarkable experience.” Embark on any of these reading projects and you are sure to have an exciting and remarkable experience.
When choosing a reading project, consider these things:
- how you want to challenge yourself
- what you are interested in
- ways you want to grow
- your 'secret' dreams
Below are some examples of reading adventures you can embark on. Remember, a reading project can (and should) be long term. It is the difference between a week’s vacation at the beach vs. the adventure of moving to a new country. Your reading project can take months or even years. That is part of the fun. So take your time.
Reading Adventures (aka projects)
Pick a country
Each country is unique in its own way and culture. For this reading adventure you pick a country. It could be a country you have never visited but always wanted to or one you would never even consider visiting but are curious about.
For this project – whether you choose to read fiction or non-fiction – all your reading is set in this country, or is written by people from this country. You can read fiction, poetry, philosophy, or read about the history and language, the natural flora and fauna native to the land, the mythology, and so on for this particular country.
Pick a time period
This reading adventure is like time traveling. Everything you read is either written during this specific time period or setting of the book is during that time period.
Your reading can include fiction but also non-fiction: art, science, philosophy, poetry, and history and so on written about or written during that time period. For example, if you were going to choose the medieval age, you might pick up Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales as well as a more contemporary novel like Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose that is set in medieval Italy. In the last project idea you were limited by geography. For this one you are only limited to a certain time period, but can travel anywhere in the world.
Read Only Books Sitting on Your Shelves (or in your e-reader)
Most avid readers will have a personal library – either of physical books or ebooks. Whether your personal library has twenty books or thousands, there usually are unread books that keep being put off to ‘later’.
Yet, later never seems to arrive.
You know the saying, “so many books, so little time!” – it’s so true! For this project pick a certain amount of time – a few months to a year – and read only books that you already own. You are finally going to read those books that have been sitting on your shelves for years!
Yes, it’s ok to purchase more books during this time as you wish but don’t read those new additions until this project time period is completed. Otherwise, you just keep putting off the ones waiting on your shelves.
Perhaps, however, you are minimalist and don’t own any books. (You borrow all your reading.) If that is the case, then you will take this time to tackle those books you always wanted to read but haven’t done so yet.
So for this project, now is the time to go ahead and make a dent in your TBR. Pick up those books you always wanted to read but kept putting off. Just go for it!
Read Prize or Award Winners
For this reading adventure, you can choose a certain prize – such as the Pulitzer prize or Nobel prize for literature – and then reading all the books from this category. Perhaps you choose to read books written only by Nobel prize winners. Or, systematically read books that won the Pulitzer prize either starting with the first prize given in 1917 and moving forward in time. Perhaps you want to start with the most current prize winner and go back in time. Decide what works for you.
There are other prizes and awards as well. The Hugo Award for science fiction, the Booker Prize, the National Book Awards, and so on are other ones. Reading award and prize winning books is a great way to find some of the best and most rewarding reading experiences out there.
Pick a region or place
This is similar to the country project above but more specific. For example, within the U.S. you could pick a region – like the South – that produced amazing authors that are so unique. Or you could pick a state, such as Hawaii, and read all novels set there or produce from authors from this small island state. The same could be done in any country, not just the US.
This is very similar to choosing material for a country as mentioned above, but more specifically an area. It’s one thing to choose the USA for your country project, it’s quite another to limit it to only the South. See what I mean?
Read only referrals from friends, family, and strangers.
This could be a fun reading adventure. Readers are everywhere and we all love to read different things. For this reading adventure, you will read only those books others share with you. By sharing, I mean people you actually come into contact with in your life – not just people you happen to follow online that are being incentivized to share a book with you by a publisher. These are recommendations by people you interact with in some way personally.
For example, maybe it is a book a family member read and told you about, the person sitting next to you at the doctor’s office waiting room that mentioned a book they loved. It could be the person standing next to you in line that you got to talking about books. Books people gifted you. Perhaps you have a list of TBR that were all recommendations you said you might read but never have. For this project, those are the books you will read. If done right, this could be a wildly varied and awesome adventure. You may discover new genres and book loves you would never have found on your own.
Read the Biographies of Every President
I read about someone doing this years ago and decided to include it here. It was such an interesting idea. Here is a list of all the presidents to get you started.
Start with George Washington and go all the way to the current president. Imagine the perspective you would have on politics if you were to read the biographies of each President of the United States of America.
This does not have to be United States specific. Perhaps you live in a country that historically had kings and queens or some other form of government. You would read biographies of each of those leaders. Whatever country you are from, read biographies on your leaders throughout history.
Read a Novel from Every Country in the World
This is a reading adventure someone else did that I thought was awesome.
Choose to Always Read the Book Before the Movie/TV show.
I have a general rule that I never unwittingly watch the movie before reading the book. For example, the movie Dune came out in 2021 and I still haven’t seen it yet because I haven’t read the book. Also, if I do watch something and later find out that it is based on a book, then I find the book and read it.
It seems that pretty much everything on television and or in the movies these days is based on a book or short story. The majority of what you watch was a book first. Seriously, try to find something that is not based on a book. In fact, it is probably more difficult to find a movie or TV show that is not based on a book.
For this reading project, you will read the books that TV shows you currently are watching or movies you saw and loved are based on. Also, before you see any new movies or TV shows based on novels, you will read the book first.
As most readers know, the book is (nearly) always better. This project gives you a chance to reflect on this. What exactly is it that makes the book better? For those very few times the movie or show is better, ask yourself: Why? What is different this time.
Dive into an Author's Canon
Pick and author you love and read all the books, short stories, essays, and/or poetry they have written.
For example, you could choose to read all books by Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Austen, Tolstoy, Twain, Wharton, or Henry James, for example. Or, you could choose a more contemporary author if that is your thing: like Sue Grafton’s alphabet series. It might be more satisfying challenging to choose a less contemporary author. You can read them in the order they were written to get a feel for how the author’s writing matured and changed over time.
Go ahead and spend a year with your favorite author. You could even read a biography about them while you are at it.
Read all of Shakespeare's Plays
This is similar to the one above but Shakespeare is truly in his own category. You could read the plays in the chronological order they were written, read them by type (comedy, historical, tragedy, and so on), or just read them as you please.
You could even supplement this project once you have finished with critical books like Harold Bloom’s Shakespeare, add in some of the his other writing in poetry, and even read a biography of the bard himself.
Read About Your Own Culture
A lot of people are into genealogy these days and sending in DNA samples to find out their genetic history. Whether you just know through family history or you found out from your DNA, start reading more about the regions and cultures that are a part of your personal and physical history.
Dive into the mythology, beliefs, religions, history, and culture that you come from or that show up in the majority of your DNA.
My grandparents on my mother's side are Greek immigrants and my dad's side of the family are Norwegian Viking history. I love reading and diving into those cultures.
An Epic, Epic Poetry Reading Project
This is one a reading project that I am embarked upon this year. I recently read this commentary in How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler J. Adler:
“… the most honored but probably least read books in the great tradition of the Western World are the major epic poems, particularly the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Milton’s Paradise Lost… Most of us are not aware of the loss we suffer by not making that effort [to read them]. We hope you will take a stab at reading these five great epic poems, and that you will manage to get through all of them… Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Milton – they are the authors that every good poet, to say nothing of other writers has read.”
I had read a few of these but not all of them and some not in their entirety. Thus my decision to embark on an Epic, Epic Poetry reading project. This reading adventure includes The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer, The Aeneid by Virgil, The Divine Comedy by Dante, and Paradise Lost by Milton.
A reading adventure through the five greatest epic poems every written - sounds Epic to me!
Great Books of the Western World
It's been the canon of learned and educated people everywhere for a reason.
Remember the movie, The Equalizer? Denzel Washington’s character is reading his way though the 100 best books. A classic and great reading project. Many people have embarked on this throughout history. To read the great books is to join a conversation that has been going on for hundreds if not thousands of years. In today’s world that is increasingly becoming a novelty. However, many successful people do this and it will definitely elevate and deepen your reading life and your world.
Read Books or Topics Everyone is Talking About But Few Have Read.
Everyone talks about evolution and Darwin, but few people have actually read Darwin (The Origin of Species) directly. Many people like to throw around words “Nazi” and “fascists” who have never directly experienced these ideologies or read about them or the history they caused. Lots of us base commentary and opinions on what we have heard from others rather than from direct sources and understanding.
Another example is how today many people like making memes about 1984 and Brave New World, but many have not read those novels. Another example would be the naming of X’s AI “Grok” – that word was coined by Robert Heinlein in the novel Stranger in a Strange Land. (As soon I heard the AI would be named “Grok”, I grokked it because I had read it a few months before - spoiler: it was not my favorite but worth a read.)
So next time you mention or talk about an idea or topic or novel, but haven’t read the source text or book – go and read it. Make that your project – to get educated on the ideas and things that are in popular culture you may not have direct knowledge or experience in reading.
Learn Something New
Pick something you know nothing about and create a reading adventure around it. (Tip: think about what you would be in another life and then learn about it)
Perhaps you are interested in chess. Learn to play by reading Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess or any other chess books. Then read a book about the game: The Immortal Game by David Shenk.
Maybe astronomy is something you want to know more about. Start with Welcome to the Universe: A Brief Guide. If the book you are reading is referencing another book, then read that book and so on from there.
Maybe you are into architecture and design, read A Room in Context by Katherine Benzel, The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe, Book 1 – The Phenomenon of Life and A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander.
Maybe you always secretly wanted to be and FBI agent or something like that. Read a book like What Every BODY is Saying about reading body language by an FBI agent or Unmasking the Face by Dr. Paul Eckman who taught agents about micro expression and who the TV show "Lie to Me" was based on.
Whatever it is you are interested in learning, reading about it for 30 minutes for a year will take you much father than you imagine.
Your Next Reading Adventure
Make this year the year you embark on your own reading project and adventure. And remember, adventures are fun but what truly makes them adventures is that they are challengingand cause you to step out of your comfort zone.
Speaking of comfort zones…if your only reading goal each year to read a certain number of books, then check Cultivating a Deeper Reading Life Through Better Reading Goals for more ways to challenge your reading this year.
