Insomniac Nightmares

I failed last year’s Goodreads reading goal. Miserably, in fact. The year before, I had set it to 100 books, thinking I’d plow through easily; didn’t even make it halfway, but at least there was reading being done. Last year, I set it at a more realistic 20 and did… three, I think? If that. Almost all of it was towards the beginning of the year.

Yeah, I’ve had a shitty time, but I know I should read more. Should be doing that instead of bringing the Vita into the bathroom. I haven’t set a goal (and probably won’t) since goals just depress me when I inevitably fail them. See for reference my performance in NaNoWriMo, where the manuscript I started is still stalled at the 12k words it was mid-November. But I intend to read something.

I’m starting with a pair of books I’ve had for a while and just never opened up to get to. The first is Confessions of a Yakuza; it’s a pseudo-memoir of a former Japanese crime boss. I have a strange fascination with the Japanese mafia that carries across all forms of media, and I’ve managed to get through 1/5th of it in the day since I started, so odds are good I will actually finish it. It’s interesting so far, though most of what’s already happened involved learning how they treated syphilis in the 1910s, pretty graphically. Fun stuff.

The other is Spooked: Science Tackles the Afterlife. I’ve owned it for a while – and had it marked as To Read for a lot longer – but hadn’t done much but crack it and glance at the first page beforehand. About 20 pages in, which may not seem like much, but I imagine the pace’ll pick up once they actually start getting into the title topic instead of musings about the nature of death and the spirituality surrounding it.

What are you reading this year? Have you got a target, or just taking them as they come along? Anything you think I should be reading? Let us know down below!