To Follow or Not Follow the Reading Plan – Now That’s the Question

I have a reading plan for the books that I wanted to read this year, and many of the books on the plan are classic literature. In the past, I have taken breaks from the classics and read other books. Since the start of 2012, I have read several of the classics, many of which were not on the original list of books to read.

With the sudden death of my mother, and living in Jamaica for a month, once again I deviated from my reading plan. Although I have always been able to focus, I had great difficulty focusing, and was unable to read any serious book that required great thought.

I was more interested in reading books that comforted me, that would help to heal my broken heart, and bring joy to my soul. And that was a great lesson to me, to be gentler to myself, and to cut myself some slack. Life happens, and we always have to make adjustments along the way. People who care about you will understand.

Yes, the quality of what you read is more important than the quantity, but there are times when we need to escape via what we read, and that’s okay. There are times when we will need to take a time out from our reading plan, but we have to establish how long the time out is going to be. And in life, we have to be flexible, and give ourselves permission to deviate from the plans we have, so that we do not miss important opportunities that present themselves.

Starting next week, we will gradually revert to the regular schedule for The Invisible Mentor. I have to reschedule the interviews I had to cancel because I had to leave so suddenly. On January 16, 2012, I posted Adventures in Learning: Books to Read in 2012. From the books I’ve reviewed so far, you will notice that I have deviated from the plan. However, I read many literary classics that I discovered along the way that were not a part of my reading plan, and they made my life richer. The big lesson there, is that although plans are essentials, we must be prepared to deviate.

Here are some of the literary classics that I have enjoyed this year:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (Review)
2. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (Review)
3. The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Emmuska Orczy (Review)
4. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach (Review)
5. Silas Marner (Dover Thrift Editions), George Eliot (Review)
6. The Canterville Ghost, Oscar Wilde (Review)
7. The Invisible Man, H G Wells (Review)
8. Bartleby, the Scrivener – A Story of Wall-Street, Herman Melville (Review)
9. Why I Am So Wise, Friedrich Nietzsche (Review)
10. The War of the Worlds, H G Wells (Review)
11. Pygmalion (Enriched Classics Series), George Bernard Shaw (Review)
12. Peter Pan, JM Barrie (Review)
13. The Railway Children, E Nesbit (Review)
14. Wide Sargasso Sea (Norton Critical Editions), Jean Rhys
15. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (Review)
16. Watership Down (Scribner Classics), Richard Adams (Review)
17. The Rise of Silas Lapham, William Dean Howells (Review)
18. Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne (Review)
19. Giant (Perennial Classics), Edna Ferber (Review)
20. Candide, Voltaire (Review)
21. Journey to the Center of the Earth (Dover Thrift Editions), Jules Verne (Review)
22. Bacchae of Euripdes (Euripides V: Electra, The Phoenician Women, The Bacchae (The Complete Greek Tragedies) (Vol 5)), Euripdes (Review)
23. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Dover Thrift Editions), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Review)
24. Saratoga Trunk (Perennial Classics), Edna Ferber (Review)
25. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka (Review)
26. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, (Review)
27. The Seven Poor Travelers, Charles Dickens
28. Charlotte’s Web (Charlotte's Web with Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan), E B White (Review)
29. Stuart Little, E B White (Review)
30. The Pearl. John Steinbeck, John Steinbeck (Review)

We have seven weeks before 2012 comes to a close, and there is a lot that we can accomplish in that time. I will read more of the books listed in my 2012 reading plan, and others I will carry forward to 2013.

How closely have you followed your reading plan? If you deviated from the plan, did you have a legitimate reason for doing so? Which books will you be including in your reading plan for 2013? Is it worthwhile to create a reading plan, or is it simply a waste of time?