Do you want to read more books? Of course, everyone does. Don’t be one of the 40% of people (and 100% of current US Presidents) who doesn’t read a single book after high school or college. One of the best ways to motivate yourself to read is to give yourself a goal. Make it your New Year’s Resolution. You can lose weight next year.
Every year, each of us at the Drunk Guys Book Club challenge ourselves to read 100 books a year. And we’re drunk. If we can do it, you can do it. We’re here to help you.
Gold = 100 books (2 books per week)
Silver = 75 books (1.5 books per week)
Bronze = 50 books (1 book per week)
Stone = 25 books (1 book every 2 weeks)
Wood = 10 Books (a little under 1 book per month)
Paper = 5 Books (a little under 1 book every 2 months)
Trump = 0 books (0 books per lifetime)
Step 1: Make a Reading Challenge on Goodreads
Join Goodreads, make a 2018 Reading Challenge for yourself, and add drunkguysbookclub as a friend. The Goodreads reading challenge will keep track of the books you’re reading and tell you if you’re on track, ahead, or behind schedule. This makes your reading challenge a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, and Time-bound). Tell us about your 2018 Reading Challenge goal on Goodreads, @drunkguysbc (twitter) or send an email to drunkguysbookclub@gmail.com.
Step 2: Find Books
It’s not just the size or your reading goal that matters, but also how you use it.
- Don’t JUST read the classics or serious books. These are often dense and difficult, and you should read them, but space them out with easy/fun/short books. You’ll find you will get a lot more read this way.
- Plan some time in your weekly schedule for when you’re going to read. The Drunk Guys get a lot of their reading done on the subway to and from work. Maybe plan to read before bed every night. Or make the most out of your time on the throne.
- Listen to Audiobooks as well as reading. Audiobooks are great if you’re driving, at the gym, doing chores, or otherwise need your eyes for something else. Not all books work as audiobooks, but most do. Drunk Guy Mike thinks listening to audiobooks is cheating, but he’s drunk. So fuck him.
- If you start a book but aren’t into it, put it down and start something else. You can always go back to it later. Drunk Guy Mike disagrees on this, too. See above.
- Reward yourself with a beer every time you finish a book. Or a chapter. Or page. Or word.
- Spice up the variety in your reading with a genre checklist. Its a great way to make yourself look for authors/genres you wouldn’t normally read. We all have our preferences in genre and tend to stick to them pretty strongly. But there are plenty of entertaining books that you’ll miss out on if you slavishly stick to the styles and authors you know.
The Drunk Guys Book Club Reading Challenge Genre Checklist
Read AT LEAST ONE from each of the following categories:
| Category |
A Few Recommendations |
| Literary Fiction |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Daiz |
| Science Fiction |
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
Ender’s Game Orson Scott Card |
| Fantasy |
American Gods Neil Gaiman
The Once and Future King TH White |
| Historical Fiction |
The Alienist Caleb Carr
The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead |
| Mystery/Thriller |
The Snowman Jo Nesbo |
| Dystopia |
1984 George Orwell
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood |
| Young Adult (YA) |
Ready Player One Ernest Cline
The Fault in our Stars John Green |
| Comedy |
Fool Christopher Moore |
| Pulitzer Winner |
The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen
All the Light we Cannot See Anthony Doerr
A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole |
| Booker Winner |
The Sellout Paul Beatty |
| A Book You Should Have Read in High School, But Didn’t |
The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen |
| History |
Devil in the White City Erik Larson |
| Biography |
Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand
Hamilton Ron Chernow |
| Science |
Packing for Mars Mary Roach
What If? Randall Monroe |
| New Release |
The Winds of Winter (hopefully) hurry the fuck up, George RR Martin |
| Graphic Novel |
Watchmen by Alan Moore |
| 19th Century Novel |
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens |
| 18th Century Novel |
Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift |
| Series |
Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood |
Step 3: Hit Amazon or Your Local Library
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