Reading goal

I have a goal of reading 30 books this year and I've read 16 so far, so I'm doing alright as far as progress goes. It's been nice to finally get through some of my many unread books. Most have been sitting unread on my shelves for years. Many of them are big and/or not the easiest to read, so there's usually a reason they've remained unread. Those books take longer to get through too, which is slowing my progress down. I need to pick up my pace if I want to be able to reread books with good conscience any time soon. Still, I'm happy I've really gotten back into reading.

The latest book I finished was a poem book by Mary Oliver. It's my first time reading a book of poems, which was a very different experience. I'm still not sure what the best way of doing it is; I wanted to take more time to sit with each poem but that would take forever. In any case, I picked that book because it contains my favorite poem "Wild Geese" and because I like the evocative descriptions of nature that Mary Oliver's poems often contain.

Now I'm reading SPQR by Mary Beard, which is very good and informative, but also so big! There's so much information! I will know so much more about the Roman empire after finishing it and I can only hope some of it sticks. I'm also hoping it will give me ideas for my original writing, what with all the conflicts and the gradual development of civilization. I would also like to read a similar history of ancient China at some point to compare and contrast.