Roughly 8 months ago, I posted what my 2010 Reading Challenge was going to be.  I had wanted to give my reading some more focus and align it with the values that I was trying to foster for the 2010 year.  I decided to pick four categories/genres and read two books from each one.  The categories that I picked were: Buddhism, Leadership, Steam Punk, & Graphic Novel.

I got both of the Buddhism books from the library.  I picked The Places that Scare You by Pema Chodron and Taming the Tiger Within by Thich Nat Hanh.  These ended up surprising me a little.  I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from the books, but had heard a lot of recommendations to read anything by Pema Chodron.  The reflections were interesting and definitely worthwhile, but the problem with it being a library book is that I had a time limit that I had to work on.  And I found a lot of the suggested exercises were a bit repetitive.  The Thich Nat Hanh book turned out to be a collection of his insights from other works.  As such, it had one reflection/idea per page.  It made a very quick read, and I found I also would have liked to have more time with it.  I liked how the book was edited together and it had a very nice flow.  This one I wouldn’t mind adding to my collection so that I have time to work on each meditation for longer.

For the Leadership books, I ended up reading one classic and one much newer book.  The classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People really deserves its status since it does still have good advice that stands up to modern day.  But, I found the writing style to be very outdated that it made it difficult to read.  I rushed through the end bits because I was already tired of it.  I do plan on going back to revisiting the principles from time to time, but I don’t think I’ll do a cover-to-cover read through.  The newer book, Never Eat Alone was also full of great advice.  And, I found the writing style to be much easier to read.  It gave me some really concrete tips on dealing with people.  I don’t own it, but it’s another one that I could see going back to again and again to refresh my skills.

The Steam Punk books were both really fun to read.  Of course, they were both newer releases.  And, they both turned out to be Young Adult books too.  The first one was Boneshaker.  I’d been anticipating the release of this book since Wil Wheaton first mentioned it.  I thought it had the perfect amount of suspense and generally love the alternate history she created.  I can’t wait until her other books are released and will probably check out more by this author in the future.  The second book, which I only recently finished, was also a great read!  I borrowed Leviathan from my friend Cait1 and absolutely loved it!  The edition she had was hardcover with beautiful drawings in it.  The book had such great flow and pacing and I also can’t wait to read the next books in this series and the other books by this author.  The more Steam Punk that I’m reading, the more of it I want to read, and write!

The Graphic Novels I read were definitely a bit more varied in style.  I picked up Mouse Guard mostly based on all the great recommendations I’d heard about the corresponding RPG system2.  I thought the artwork was pretty and the story was a typical adventure type plot and it was highly enjoyable.  The teacher in me also likes how kid friendly it is and how it can be used as a good bridge for introducing role playing to your children.  The other graphic novel I borrowed from another one of my friends, Shea Koshan, who does hilarious 1-minute comic book reviews on YouTube.  She gave me a selection and I ultimately picked Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. I don’t think I could have picked two more radically different examples.  The art I find has the nice classic comic book feel to it.  The writing is hilarious.  Very wry, very twisted, and it just works so well.  Unfortunately, I still feel like a total newb in the world of graphic novels.  Luckily, I have friends who can help me work on this genre.  I definitely plan on reading more!3

Since I’ve got a little bit of time left in the year, I’m already planning my next reading challenge.  It’s going to be a little bit different in that it’s going to be a list of books all with the same theme.  My goal will simply be to read as many as I can before 2011 rolls around.  I’ll do up a blog post requesting your recommendation soon, so stay tuned!

I’m still interested in reading more in each of the categories, so if you have any recommendations that I should add to my ‘to-read’ list, let me know in the comments!

  1. who, as you can see from her goodreads profile, is a voracious reader and has great taste! [↩]
  2. Which I would also eventually like to pick up and try out with my gaming friends [↩]
  3. While some of the series are long, they tend to be a fairly quick read and involve different and interesting story telling features since they also need to consider things like the images and art style. [↩]

Related posts:

  1. Reading Challenge: A Very Dystopian Christmas
  2. Own But Haven’t Read Reading Challenge
  3. Cait’s Reading Challenge Extravaganza!
  4. Cait’s Reading Challenge Extravaganza Follow-up
  5. R & R Reading Challenge Follow-up