I always thought that once I finished grad school, that I would be able to finally read all of the books that have been patiently waiting on my shelf. In the next few weeks following my graduation, I started and finished at least two books so I thought that my hypothesis would be true. But then my wonderful daughter was born, and all of a sudden that goal went out the window.

That was summer 2010. Since that time, I have read not even a dozen books. That makes me a little frustrated, because reading is not only a great joy of mine but it inevitably makes me a better writer, which is great financially speaking. And so, I decided to make a new goal about a week ago which only costs me 30 minutes a day and fewer episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond.

So 30 minutes a day. That’s it. No less, and I don’t have to force myself to do anymore unless I have the time. I have had to rearrange my evening schedule a little bit, but I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying the change. So far, I have finished Purple Hibiscus, which I started over a month ago. It was such an amazing read! Next, I plan to finish another book I started about two months ago, Divided by Faith, which is good but not as moving as other books I have read. (Sidenote: one thing that I do not like about this book it lacks a deep scriptural basis for its arguments which is problematic for a book that discusses faith).

Here are the next ten books that I plan to read, in no particular order.

1. Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

2. Radical Together by David Platt

3. The American Way of Eating: Undercover at WalMart, Applebees, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table by Trace McMillan

4. Revolutionaries by Matt Brown

5. Some Assembly Required: A Journey of My Son’s First Son by Anne Lamott

6. Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff

7. You Never Marry the Right Person by Timothy Keller

8. A Public Faith by Mirslov Volf

9. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

10. They Poured Water on Us From the Sky by Benjamin Ajak and others

So what’s on your list? And it you don’t have one, start one now with Dancing on Hot Coals.