Nearing the age of 40, Author Andy Miller has a family and has a job.  His life is full and he has no time to read.  Yet, for some reason he can not let go of all the great reads that he has never taken the time to experience himself.  Andy decides to take on a self-inflicted project, a year of reading.  A year that he will spend connecting with the books that have stood the test of time, the books that are whispered and shouted about “you must read.”

Both a memoir and a list of detailed book reviews, The Year of Reading Dangerously was funny and interesting.  I imagined, going into this read, that I would find within this book a book or two that I must read myself.  In the end, I am not sure if that happened, but I sure did get a funny take of Andy Miller’s thoughts on some of the books that I myself had not read.

Among the 50 titles that Andy read in that one year time were: Middlemarch by George Eliot, Post Office by Charles Bulowski, The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdoch, War and Peace Tolstoy, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, Anna Kerenina by Leo Tolstpy, and Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky by Patrick Hamiloton.  *The entire list is at the end of his book/audio

The titles that Andy chose are for the most part heavy reads, many of which that are considered classics, and some I admit, I have never heard of.

Andy discusses his reads some in more details than others, some he struggles with and then amazingly goes back and reads again, some he doesn’t get at all and others he finds to be the greatest works of our time.  At times, his comments cracked me up.  Andy is totally real on his thoughts on the books and thoughts on the authors.

I listened to this on audio.  Andy Miller narrates this himself and while all the books did not appeal to me or my future reading wish list, his narration is delightful and made it well worth the listen.  If you have ever made a wish list of the great reads you hope to one day try, I suggest you give The Year Of Reading Dangerously a whirl… it may have you adding (or dropping) books from your own list.

• Narrated by: Andy Miller
• Length: 9 hrs and 1 min 
• Unabridged Audiobook