Being comfortably in middle age, something I’ve wanted to do for years is conquering one of those 100 books everyone should read lists. They’re all over the internet, from Esquire, to Business Insider, and everywhere in between.

Problems, Problems, Problems

The problems for me though are myriad. First, I’m a slow reader. Sometimes it takes me several weeks to slog through a book that’s easy to read, let alone a magnum opus like The Brothers Karamazov or Don Quixote, which could take several months. At that rate I’d spend the rest of my life and only make it halfway through the list.

Secondly, like many people, I don’t have an endless amount of time to devote to reading. I have a wife and kids and I can’t lock myself away night after night for years on end just to read. Something had to give, and up to this point in my life, it’s been reading.

Still, I’m determined to enrich and empower and educate myself, and there is no better avenue to accomplish those goals than reading. A while back I attempted something similar, challenging myself to read twenty books in a year. I failed miserably. I barely finished five books and found myself disgusted by the lack of commitment to my goal.