Summer Reading 2012 wrap-up

I finished 7 of the 10 books I assigned myself for summer reading this year, 4 of them in August, and 3 of those in the last week. (To be fair, I had started THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CITY much earlier; the last week was just when I got around to finishing it.) On the bright side, I am pretty good at making deadlines! But what should I have done to make it 10?

I should have picked one longer book, not 3. The three books I didn't even touch all weighed in over 600 pages. My original thinking was "I'll take each of these longer books on a trip with me," but in the moment I wanted to take a bunch of shorter books instead. I still really want to read the Caro biography and the Yates short stories; less sure about Katharine Graham (but I'm open to argument if you think I'm wrong to demote it).

I should think about ranking the books on the list. I got a lot more done once I put the remaining books in an order from "I need to read this right now!!!!11!!!!" to "Nice to knock off, but not as urgent." Cold-hearted, but maybe necessary.

I should have finished more earlier, to allow myself that sense of accomplishment. Everyone loves that.