#Read26Indy: Challenging a City to Read & Talk About It

This morning an interesting story popped up in my Google+ news feed. Indianapolis Star Reporter Michael Anthony Adams is challenging the citizens of Indianapolis to read 26 books in 2014. Which in itself is an admirable goal. But Adams takes it one step further. He wants us to talk about what we’re reading using the hashtag #Read26Indy, or in the GoodReads group #Read26Indy. He’s calling on us to make a pledge:

The pledge: I’m calling on every Hoosier to read 26 books in 2014. Think of it as your informal education, a collective challenge. One book every two weeks. That’s 20 pages a day (if you figure that the average novel is 280-300 pages long). When you start a book, let everyone know about it on Twitter by using the hashtag#Read26Indy. Feel like telling us what you’re drinking while you’re reading? Have at it, but use #Read26Indy. Can’t stand a character? Want to rant about it? #Read26Indy is your pedestal. The point is to read. Like Faulkner said, “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad.”

Now, I really have no idea how many books I read last year. My GoodReads list was a bit neglected. Plus, I was a bit embarrassed about the amount of trashy romance I read. But this year, I’m reading 26. It doesn’t seem unreasonable really, I already have a backlog of books on my Nook/iPad that I need to get through. And since trashy novels count, I should be able to reach it.

My First 5 for #Read26Indy

As I said, I have a huge backlog to get through, but of course I’m starting with books that aren’t on that backlog list. Here are the first five books I’m planning on reading for #Read26Indy:

1. Home Networking Do-It-Yourself For Dummies: One of my New Year’s resolutions was to finally learn home networking. I bought this book to help me along the way.
2. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway: I love Hemingway, but I haven’t read any of his work since my freshman year of college. A Moveable Feast, a Hemingway’s memoir of Paris in the 1920s has been on my reading list for a while, so I’m borrowing it from my grandma to read.
3. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg: Sheryl Sandberg is the COO of Facebook, and was previously a VP at Google. I always love to hear what influential women in the tech industry have to say, and for that reason Lean In has been on my reading list since it came out last year. Plus she said it’s OK to cry at work, and that just makes me want to give her a hug and say “thank you.”
4. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi: I bought this in a Humble eBook Bundle, and it has sat on my virtual shelf ever since. It’s about time I read it.
5. Lean on Me (Masters of the Shadowlands #4) by Cherise Sinclair: Because of course I’ll need to have a trashy romance novel thrown in the mix, just for good measure.

I encourage all of our Indy readers to join this challenge with me. Heck, even if you aren’t in Indy, join in. You might as well, you’re going to be getting a lot of book reviews from me this year anyway.