My 100-book journey

What I read, and what I learned from it.

Kristina Webb

I read more than 100 books in 2016.

That might seem like a lot, a ridiculous number, just completely unrealistic. But to those who know me well, I’m sure this comes as no surprise.

When I was in elementary school, I slayed reading challenges like knights slay dragons and like Beyonce slays everything.

I tore through books at a pace that led one teacher to call my reading habits “suspect” and accuse me of lying on the sheets she had provided to log our progress each month.

But I just love reading. It’s been a lifelong habit cultivated wonderfully by my family, from my mother who got me my first library card, to my older sister, who taught me to read using her own homework and Readers’ Digest magazines.

Perhaps that’s why, as the sun rose on Jan. 1, 2016, I set out to achieve a somewhatlofty goal: reading 100 books in a year. And I did it, completing 117 of the 121 books I started last year.

The only people who didn’t meet my goal with surprise: my mom, my sister and my husband. Instead, they nodded, said things like, “Oh yeah, that won’t be a problem for you,” and reminded me to make sure my library fines were paid.

Other folks weren’t so understanding. A few coworkers looked at me like I was nuts. The most common response upon hearing of my goal was, “Where would you even find the time for that?”

But that’s one of the many things I learned from this goal — which I met, quite triumphantly, in early November. I learned how to make time for the things I want to do, a piece of advice first bestowed upon me by a tattoo artist who looks like my favorite author, Stephen King, and was quite fittingly working on matching King-inspired tattoos my sister and I share.

Strangely, I didn’t start reading toward my 2016 goal until Jan. 2, when I picked up “Weird Florida II: In a State of Shock” by my co-worker, Eliot Kleinberg. It was one of four excellent Florida-themed books I read last year, along with “Oh, Florida!” by Craig Pittman, “Myths and Mysteries of Florida” by E. Lynne Wright and “Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland” by Dave Barry.

I had some great moments while working on this. While reading “Raylan” by Elmore Leonard, my lovely 4-year-old niece asked me if I could read

continued on