My 10 (about to be 11) year old nephew George told me that he has to read 40 books this school year. Each book needs to be at least 200 pages long. He was not looking forward to this and thought that nothing could possibly be worse. Since we are a very competitive family, I told him that it was easy and I could do it no problem. Not only that I could read 40 books twice as long as the ones he was reading. Result of my boast is that I now have to read 40 books by the end of the school year. Each of my books has to be at least 400 pages long. Stupidly, I didn’t get the details of his assignment before I agreed to this. After we shook on it, I found out that I don’t necessarily get to choose all the books, but that they have to be in some specific genres. So, here’s what I have to read this year:

Realistic fiction – 5
Historical fiction – 5
Fantasy – 4
Science fiction – 2
Biography – 2
Nonfiction – 4
Poetry – 2 (shoot me now)
Traditional Lit – 5
Graphic novels – 1
Mystery – 2
Free choice – 8

I have to say that the challenge worked, since as George was leaving he said he was going home to read. I, on the other hand, will be visiting the library soon to get some books. And if anyone can recommend a 400 page or greater book, let me know. I’m going to be looking for ideas. And when I’m trying to get through 400 pages of poetry, I will probably not be someone anyone wants to hang out with. I’ll try to warn people in advance.