I just spent quite a bit of time culling my "to read" list using a combination of Google Books and the "Search Inside this Book" feature of amazon.com.  Google Books, in particular, was incredibly helpful, and I'm grateful to my wife for encouraging me to use this resource more than I have in the past.  As a result of that search process, I was able to shift quite a few books from the "need to read the entire book" category to "just order a chapter on Interlibrary Loan."  That is good news on two fronts: less reading and less spending (because I don't have to buy the book).  Perhaps even more importantly, taking the time to at least look at the table of contents of every book on my "to read" list has given me a sense of relief that there seems to be less and less "landmines" ahead of me -- that is, discoveries of huge swaths of relevant literature of which I am currently unaware.

So, the upshot for this week, with 64 books to read and 36 weeks to go, is 1.78 books/week left to read.   And, as my total, again weighs in under the 2.0 books/week threshold, the question emerges of whether I can perhaps finish my reading well before December 2009 -- and thus potentially start writing my dissertation earlier than planned.  At minimum, it would be a huge step forward to have my dissertation outlined by the end of 2009.

74 books and 37 weeks = 2 books/week.  I read two books last week, but also added to new ones.  With a week less in 2009, I'm up to 2 books a week, now even with the 2.0 threshold.  I hope to knock out a number of shorter books this coming week, but we'll see what happens.  I also have a lot of meetings, etc.

74 books to go and 38 weeks = 1.90 books/week.

I've broken the 2 book/week barrier...kind of: the total continues to fluxuate as I add new books, whichI am only now hearing about related to my project (the number of which is thankfully decreasing in frequency), and subtract books, which I now see are not immediately relevant to my project.  

I am late posting this week (Friday instead of Monday) because I was hoping to get through a list of possible books that I may need to add from a book I read last week.  I wanted to take those potential books into account in this week's posting, but that discernment process will have to wait at least until tomorrow or latest because I haven't yet had time this week to focus on those books, between reading for my dissertation and addressing my primary job at church.

85 books to go and 39 weeks = 2.18 books/week.

I've moved some books to my amazon wish list in recognition that -- although these books are important and I plan to read them eventually -- they are not vital enough to my dissertation for me to commit to reading them in 2009.  I've also decided to not count some books in my "to read" list since I now know that I will likely just read the introduction or conclusion or selected chapters.  

So, reversing the trend of the total increasing each week -- or staying the same -- the last two weeks, the total has dropped around ten books/week.  I doubt that trend will continue, but those two precipitous drops do make me have more hope in my prospects of finishing the reading for my dissertation this calendar year: the goal this weekly blog is tracking.