A Reading Goal Met

 

Each year I set reading goals. I have an overall goal based on number of works and pages - this year 60-70 works and 15,000 pages.

I also set specific goals about genres and particular writers. One of those writers each year is G. K. Chesterton. I had two goals related to him: a book about him, and a book by his that I had not previously read. 

Earlier this year I read The Gift of Wonder: The Many Sides of G. K. Chesterton edited by Dale Ahlquist, meeting the first goal. In the last week, I finished The Club of Queer Trades, meeting the second Chesterton goal.

It was an early effort on his part - 1905. And it seemed to be making fun of detective fiction. The "detective" in this case, Rupert Grant, who keeps getting things wrong. Meanwhile his brother, the retired judge Basil Grant, solves the puzzles, always ending up with no crime being committed!

I had the sense that Basil was Chesterton projecting himself into the story. Hmm.

The title is based on a club where the members come up with odd and original trades that provide them with a living. 

There is plenty of Chestertonian humor in the characters. I think he was having fun.

I enjoyed it. I was considering several of his books to read, and I'm glad I chose this one.

By the way, among my other reading goals - one that I also met:

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J. R. R. Tolkien

A book by C. S. Lewis, possibly a reread - The Weight of Glory

A book by Charles Dickens I have not yet read - Our Mutual Friend

A book by Dostoevsky - The Possessed

Indeed, I have met all of my specific goals, with The Club of Queer Trades being the last one met.

All have left are my overall goals, and I am on my way to meeting them. I'm up to 55 works, so 60-70 is well within reach. And my page count is up to 12,986 - so I just have about 2,000 pages to go.