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One year, 100 books What Susan Kosior read this year

December 7, 2007 12:35 am

Late last year a friend of Susan Kosior wrote in a blog, "I'm never going to be one of those people who read 100 books a year."

Kosior thought, "I'll give it a shot."

Kosior made reading 100 books a 2007 New Year's resolution. Last month she met her goal, closing the cover on her hundredth book--Tim Farrington's "The Monk Downstairs"--in early November.

Though she has always been bookish, Kosior, 32, doesn't have the leisure for luxurious, uninterrupted reading binges.

She faces the usual demands of adulthood: spouse, house, job, pet, friends, family. She spends a lot of time in the car, commuting from her home in Stafford County's Ferry Farms subdivision to work as a rehabilitation teacher for the Virginia Department of the Blind and Visually Impaired.

There are hobbies, too. She and husband Michael are ham radio enthusiasts. And with sister Judy, she pursues a zeal for meeting well-known personalities at book signings. Kosior has met Dave Barry, Anderson Cooper, Alan Alda, Laurie Notaro, Andy Rooney, Caroline Kennedy, Harry Shearer and Christopher Buckley, among others.

It's a booked-up life even without an ambitious reading goal. But Kosior set a challenge for herself, and she was determined to meet it.

"It just seemed to me that 100 couldn't be that big of a deal." She soon realized that to meet her goal she'd have to read almost daily before work, at lunchtime and before bed. "I'm just glad I didn't say 200," Kosior said.

She didn't set rigid rules about her reading list.

It was fine to revisit favorites from years past, including all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's autobiographical children's books. It was acceptable to count selections she read for one of two book clubs she belongs to.

Works intended for young adults were fair game, as were thrillers read out loud with Michael.

And it was OK to ditch a book if the first 50 pages didn't grab her--though only completed books counted toward the total.

Her interests led her to read more fiction than nonfiction, including an ample serving of mysteries, a few self-help titles and, of course, the last in the Harry Potter series.

And there was "chick lit, but not the kind that's like, 'Girl in a big city gets dumped by her boyfriend and loses her publishing job,'" Kosior said. "If it's set in New York City or London, I probably will not read it."

Though she read a few emotionally wrenching works, she appreciated such lighter fare as Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries and Jennifer Chiaverini's quilters books.

"If I'm in a bad mood, I don't want to read a depressing book," Kosior said. "If I'm in a good mood I don't want to read a depressing book."

That doesn't mean books had to be all sunshine.

Among Kosior's favorites were "Year of Wonders" and "March" by Geraldine Brooks; "The Last Days of Summer" by Steve Kluger; "A Northern Light" by Jennifer Donnelly; and "The Virgin of Small Plains" by Nancy Pickard.

Kosior didn't spend much money or much time in the library. If a book caught her eye she'd trade for it using online book-swapping services.

As each month passed, Kosior wrote mini reviews of each book in a personal blog and assigned each a rating, from "great" to "stinker."

There weren't many stinkers. If she absolutely hated something, she ditched it in favor of something else on her "to read" list.

Reaching her goal early was something of a surprise, she said. From the beginning, she had planned to ease off on reading in November because it's National Novel Writing Month--an online effort that challenges budding authors to produce 50,000-word novels in 30 days.

Kosior completed a novel last November and went to work on its sequel this year.

As daunting as reading 100 books in a year seemed in January, Kosior found that the goal was within reach for an ordinary working person.

That's not to say she'll try it again.

In 2008, she said, "I might shoot for 50."