Planned Serendipity
An idea for a yearly reading schedule.
I’ve spent the last 7 years experimenting with different reading patterns and schedules and have landed on one I really like. It’s a schedule dedicating 2/3rds of the year to planned reading while also opening ample time for serendipity.
For lifelong learning, I’ve found it’s helpful to break up each year like a school year. I have self-styled spring and fall semesters, summer and winter breaks, and time for revisiting the best books. Here’s how I schedule each year:
January & February | The Bible
I start each year reading straight through a different version of the Bible. I’ve done it three times now and each time, I’ve finished on the very last day of February. I include the Apocrypha every other year. Going forward, on the non-Apocrypha years, I plan to read a different translation of the Iliad.
The idea here is to start the year reading a book that has impacted you. As you change, read more, and learn more over the years, that book will speak to you in new ways.
March - June | Spring Semester
My current goal is to read 200 of The Great Books. Each March, I start wherever I last left off on my chronological list of The Great Books.
I encourage you to determine a reading goal. Perhaps it’s to read all of Hemingway’s books or to do a deep dive into trees. Make a list of the books, arrange them in order, and start reading one book at a time during your spring semester.
July | Summer Break
Breaks are when I read books on my TBR (to be read) pile. These might be books I’ve had recommended or gifted to me, or ones I’ve come across that I’d like to read. This is more of a free-flowing time of reading in contrast to the more rigid semester reading.
August - November | Fall Semester
Here, I return to my Great Books reading project (I expect it will take 15 years). Again, I start right where I left off in the previous semester.
December | Winter Break
I close out the year reading from my TBR pile. I already have more books in that pile than what I’ll be able to get through in December, but it keeps that serendipitous spark alive.
In years past, I’ve either been all planned or all serendipitous. The schedule above balances those two. I experience great progress in reading the books I really want to read while also leaving room for the books that inevitably pop up on my radar. There are just certain books that I want to read before I die and I know myself enough to know that I will never read them without a plan.
I want to encourage you to make your own reading schedule. Set goals and have fun. A plan will make it possible for you to enjoy more books.
I’d love to hear ways in which you plan your yearly reading. Use the comment field below to share them.
Chance occurrence. Delightfully coming across a new book.
What does serendipity mean?