An Update on My Reading

Earlier this year I decided to read the entire Hardy Boys Digest series followed by the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers and Hardy Boys Adventures series.  I purchased a huge lot of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books on eBay in order to get the Hardy Boys Digest books.  Once I had the books in my possession, I set up the books in a little bookcase that is nearest to where I read.

I read fast, and I like for the books to be within easy reach.  I finished the Digest books earlier this month and moved on to the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers books.  I moved all of the Digest books to another room and changed the contents of the shelf to the Undercover Brothers and Adventures books, as well as other books that I want to read or try once I finally finish my Hardy Boys experience.

The idea was to place what I am currently reading on the top shelf and then fill out the bookcase with the books I plan to read and in the approximate order I plan to read them.  It is for certain that I will go in the order seen in the bookcase from the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers through to the end of the Hardy Boys Adventures.

Everything else placed in the bookcase could change order depending upon how I feel when I get to that point.  Sometimes I add books to the queue.  Just this week I added the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Mystery books from 2007 to my reading list.  For those of you with sharp eyes, I do have just four of the six, but I will have the remaining two titles within one week.

I do not plan to read the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Mystery series from 1988 or the Hardy Boys Casefiles series at this time. I'd like to read them, but I'm not sure I can keep up the momentum after having read so many Hardy Boys books.  It does wear on me.

The Girls of Canby Hall series has been in the queue since October.  I would have gotten to them months ago if I hadn't decided to read over 250 Hardy Boys books.  If you wonder why I don't give a specific number of Hardy Boys books, it's because I didn't read all of the Hardy Boys Digest books from beginning to end.  I have read parts of all of them, but around five to ten of them were only partially read due to how boring I found them.  I don't count books in my total unless I read the entire book.  I do still count the book if I skimmed a little here and there. 

When I made my decision to read all the way through the Hardy Boys Digest, Undercover Brothers, and Adventures series, I was somewhat uncertain whether I would be able to do it.  I had trouble getting through the original 58 Hardy Boys books, so I knew that I could run into problems.  After all, I would not like all the books, and that's when I would be tempted to quit.  Committing to reading over 250 Hardy Boys books altogether is a significant task and not an easy one to accomplish.

This is the reason why in March I set myself a goal to read 300 books by the end of the year.  I had read approximately 262 books in 2014 and exactly 231 books in 2015, so this goal is within reach.  I set a goal of 300 books because I always achieve specific goals that I set for myself, and this would force me to read through the Hardy Boys books as fast as I can.  And so far I have.

Since February, I have read through the Hardy Boys Digest series and am currently halfway through the Undercover Brothers series.  If I continue at my current rate, I will be finished with my Hardy Boys experience by the end of July, and that does include the Hardy Boys Adventures series.

The year is halfway over, and I have read 180 books so far.  My pace will slow down once I finish the Hardy Boys books, but I am well on track to finish the year having read at least 300 books.

Several of you have expressed awe about my reading and have wondered how I do it.  We all have a certain amount of time for various recreational activities, and we all have to make decisions on how to use that time.  I choose to use that time reading.

This means that I do not watch much television.  I do not watch movies at all.  Movies take up too much time, time that can be spent reading a book.  I use reading as a means to lowering my stress, and my stress level has been quite high for a few years.  That's why I have read so much since 2014.  Reading is my coping mechanism.  It takes me to a happy place.