Reading in 2016

My plan to read eight books in 2015 sort of fell apart about halfway through the year, and 2016 isn't off to a fantastic literary start. But, I still have some high hopes. Here's the situation as it stands.

Last year, I read Cyber War Will Not Take Place by Thomas Rid; Warlords of Oman by P.S. Allfree; The Martian by Andy Weir; Churchill's First War: Young Winston at War with the Afghans by Con Coughlin; and Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force by Robert M. Farley. I had actually started the first two in late 2014, and I eventually got stuck on The Devil's Sandbox: With the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry at War in Iraq by John R. Bruning. My best excuse is that Lady Jaye came out for the Summer, we had other priorities for our time, and I never got back into the habit of reading. So, that was five and a half books out of eight, but sort of four and a half books out of eight.

So, what about this year? Well, we're already two months in, and I have very little reading to show for it. I'm also trying to be a bit more realistic this year, and count professional reading as part of my goals. Here's what's on the tentative agenda - after I've finished The Devil's Sandbox, of course.

1) The Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems by Mary Lynn Garcia: I've been trying to finish this book for five years. This needs to be the year, because it's standing between me and my PSP certification, which also plays into the pursuit of my CISSP, both of which are integral to my medium term professional and personal goals. So, there you go. (This one will be supplemented with ATTP 3-39.32 (FM 3-19.30) Physical Security, NIST Special Publications, and a yet-to-be-determined CISSP textbook.)

2) Bleeding Talent: How the US Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution by Tim Kane: I'm still eager to read this. I would liked to have read it in concert with a couple of books from last year's list, but it's still relevant, so it's still on the list.

3) Tower of the Sun: Stories From the Middle East and North Africa by Michael Totten: I'm still eager to read this book, and I'm hoping that Lady Jaye will read it with me as well. Michael Totten is a great author who writes on current international issues. Time permitting (who am I kidding?), I may also try to finally finish Where the West Ends, as he's just published another book (Dispatches: Stories from War Zones, Police States and Other Hellholes) that I'd eventually like to read.

4) The Hardy Boys #24: The Short-Wave Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon: Lady Jaye and I made a recent pilgrimage to Powell's City of Books, and while she was looking for some books for some of the kids in her family, I found a cache of The Hardy Boys. Since I'm interested in both nostalgia and shortwave radio, I ended up grabbing a copy of this particular mystery. I'm going to try to chew through it one quiet weekend.

5) An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer: This was another Powell's purchase, and Lady Jaye and I are going to try to read this one together.

6) C.S. Lewis & The Catholic Church by Joseph Pearce: I've been a great admirer of C.S. Lewis for a number of years. Lady Jaye is Roman Catholic, and I've been sort of uncomfortably Anglican for most of my adult life. The rumor is that I'll end up Catholic myself in fairly short order. Last year, Lady Jaye and I took a trip to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and I purchased a copy of this book. I'm looking forward to reading it, and I hope that it will help me continue to make sense of the transition upon which I'll embark.

That's six, but really seven. So, what else might I read? Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin was on last year's list, but it's a bit less pressing since the competition that Lady Jaye and I were going to read it for has passed. I also considered reading The Story of the Malakand Field Force in conjunction with Coughlin's book; but, again, the moment may have passed for now. I'd love to finish Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming and Armor by John Steakley, both of which I started and never finished in recent years. As I'm cooking more this year, I may also try to finish Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville, War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, and The Mysterious Island by Jules Vern by way of both Project Gutenberg and, to a greater degree, LibriVox.

Of course, I continue to chew through On War by Carl von Clausewitz. And, I continue to read from the Bible each weekday. I was in a bit of a personal "valley" late last year, and I happened to be reading Jeremiah. I'm going to keep reading in chronological order until I'm through Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. I'm out of my "valley", but I think there's some value to following the Bible's narrative through the course of the Babylonian Exile. What I read when I'm through those four books is anyone's guess.

Hopefully, I'll stick a bit closer to my ambitions than I was able to last year.