But, seriously...

Wow. It is pretty embarrassing to admit that I have failed drastically in my quest to achieve my New Yorker-reading goals so far. It's been 8 months since I declared I would be caught up, and by late December, I had fallen farther behind than ever.

There is no time to relate what I did or didn't enjoy in the following issues, however, I can honestly admit that I did read them, sticking to my plan of reading only the articles which grabbed hold of my interest and didn't let go, leaving me feeling more informed and thoughtful after I'd finished them. Here is a list of the issues I've gotten through in the past couple of months:

October 31, 2011, completed Oct. 23
November 7, 2011, completed Oct. 28
November 14, 2011, completed Nov. 6
November 21, 2011, completed Nov. 23
November 28, 2011, completed Dec. 26
December 5, 2011, completed Dec. 27
December 12, 2011, completed Dec. 30
December 19 & 26, 2011, completed Dec. 30
January 2, 2012, completed Jan. 2, 2013
January 9, 2012, completed Jan. 6

Clearly, a new, more ruthless strategy is required. And so starting Jan. 7, in order to catch up on virtually one year's worth of back issues, I am pulling out two issues to place on my bedside table each Sunday night. By the following Sunday night, whether they are read or not, they get pitched in the recycling. So...I am either going to read them and be a better, more informed, thoughtful and interesting person, or I am going to ignore them, glaring at me as I wake up and as I go to bed, and feel tremendous guilt and shame as I recycle them away, their spines never cracked, their insights unshared.

So far, it's working: with one day left in the week, I have already completed this week's two issues:

January 16, 2012, completed Jan. 9
January 23, 2012, completed Jan. 10

In fact, I don't want to jinx it, but I've even started the next issue. At this rate I may even have time to post a few thoughts and comments on what I've read!