I’m throwing in the towel. Maybe that’s not quite the right way of saying it, so let me say it this way: I’m shutting down the 10MillionWords project. Life has changed a lot over the past few months and I can see that something is going to have to give–at least something will have to give if I am to do and do well all that I’ve been called to. After talking to my wife, after talking to those who care for my soul, I’ve decided that 10MillionWords is going to have to go.

There are two broad reasons.

When I began this project I assumed that writing my second book would be a repeat of writing my first. That has proven naive. This second book, though I’m largely enjoy writing it, has proven a much greater challenge. I am genuinely grateful for such a challenge. It has taught me a lot about myself, about my own limitations, and about the way I presume ease and can react with despair against difficulty. I’ll conquer the book, I’m confident. But it is taking more thought, more effort, more time than I had imagined or assumed. Most of all, it’s taking more energy and more brain power. And I feel like all the reading of 10MillionWords is sapping my limited brain power reserves. If I am going to write an excellent book, I’ll need to tap the parts of my brain that are currently consumed with this project.

Secondly, last Sunday the members of my church called me to serve them as an elder. Though this was not entirely unexpected as I’ve been “under examination” for some time now, the reality and gravity of this new position have only just struck me now that it’s that close to becoming reality. That open-ended time line to move into leadership and to be responsible for the care of their souls has suddenly become a date circled on a calendar–May 16, the day I will be ordained. I want to be able to add that responsibility and that privilege to my life with as much ease and as little conflict as possible. And I don’t see how I could excel at that while still maintaining the reading load. If I am to be an elder who serves the Lord by serving the church, I’ll need that time back.

And so I am stepping away from it, just like that. Right now. Today.

This has been a fascinating project and I’m genuinely grieved and humbled to be giving it up. Partly out of genuine interest, partly out of stubbornness, partly out of pride (maybe mostly out of pride), I’ve wanted to hold on to it. But I am confident in the wisdom of walking away. I’ll miss the reading–truly I will. I enjoyed having a reason to read books that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. I’ve learned a lot about the world, about society, about culture, about worldview, about Ozzy Osbourne and Chelsey Handler. But I’ve also learned about myself and what I just can’t do based on the way life has changed even since January when this project kicked off.

And so I extend my apologies to the faithful readers who have been enjoying this reviews. And I bid you farewell. I’ll see you over at challies.com, I’m sure.

Four new titles found their way to the bestseller list this week.

Starting out at #3 is The Bridge, a biography of President Obama and written by the editor of the New Yorker.

Right behind it at #4 is This Time Together by Carol Burnett. “The comedian describes her rise in show business and the people she’s met along the way.”

At #9 is Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Christianity, a massive 1200-page history of the church. As the girl said at the checkout of the bookstore, “Of course it’s big! It covers 3,000 years!” If I can read 100 pages per day, it will still take me 10 days to get through (since there are 200 pages of end matter). Interestingly, I also received (separately) the accompanying DVD series.

And finally, down at #13 is The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein. This will be the sixth book I’ve read on the financial collapse and bailouts. And I still barely understand what happened. That probably speaks more to my own ignorance than to the skill of these authors in crafting their accounts.

Looks like another busy week!

Debuting at #5 is Mount Pleasant by Steve Poizner. Poizner is a wealthy and successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur who decided to try his hand at teaching in a public high school (in a poor area of town, naturally). This book tells his story.

At #11 is 13 Bankers by Simon Johnson and James Kwak. It is a call to reform the banking industry. I’m hoping it’s a bit more interesting than it sounds!

Down at the #14 spot is the Obama Zombies, undoubtedly the most interestingly-titled book I’ve come across this year. Jason Mattera tells how Obama and his allies staged a high-tech assault to capture the minds of young Americans. I’m looking forward to reading this one. Unrelated to this project, it may also prove useful for my studies on technology.

And squeaking onto the list at #15 is The Best Kind of Different by Shonda Schilling, wife of pitcher Curt Shilling. She writes about her family’s experience with a child who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome. Interestingly, this is the third or fourth book to hit the list in recent years that deals with Asperger’s.

I considered giving up, but I will persevere. I’m stubborn and probably a bit proud. Nine days out of 10 I am enjoying this project and enjoying all the reading. I think it very unlikely that if I persevere to the end I will regret it at all. But if I do give up early, there may well be regrets. So I will press on. But do rest assured that if ever it truly gets to be too much (as judged by myself, my wife, the men who keep watch over my soul) I’ll let it go in a heartbeat.

Squeaking onto the list at the #14 spot is The Devil’s Casino by Vicky Ward. It tells the story of Lehman Brothers, presumably focusing on its collapse during the economic downturn. I’ve already read several books that have focused on Lehman in general and the downturn in particular, but this will be the first to reverse the order–to focus on Lehman instead of the whole downturn. And I suppose it ought to be interesting. With luck I’ll get to it within the next couple of weeks!

• Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt
• No Apology by Mitt Romney
• Lift by Kelly Corrigan
• Not Without Hope by Nick Schuyler
• No One Would Listen by Harry Markopolos
• Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef
• Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, by Chelsea Handler
• Courage and Consequence by Karl Rove
• Change Your Brain, Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen
• American Conspiracies by Jesse Ventura
• Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
• The Big Short by Michael Lewis
• Where Mercy is Shown, Mercy Is Given by Duane Chapman
• Lies the Government Told You by Andrew Napolitano

As you can see from the titles that have not been linked to reviews, I’ve got quite a bit of reading still to do. And here we are at another Friday with a new list of bestsellers about to release. In my defense, I’ve read one and a half of the books that I haven’t yet reviewed, so at least I’ve got a start. But I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

Interesting, it seems that more and more books are coming out in hardcover initially with the Kindle editions only following later. This is problematic for those of us who end up paying far more for “real” books than electronic ones.

In terms of categories, these things are always a tad hard to define, but here’s my best shot:

• Biography (7)
• Politics (3)
• Business (2)
• Health (2)

Once again, biography proves to be the dominant genre. I suppose we just can’t get enough of reading about the lives of other people.

And that’s it for the March round-up. April is here and I’ve got lots of reading to do!

Straight to the top is The Big Short by Michael Lewis of The Blind Side fame. He writes about the people who saw the real estate crash coming and made billions from their foresight. It sounds like his book will resemble several others that have already found their way to the list this year. Lewis is quite a good writer and I’m looking forward to reading this one.

Far down the list at #13 is Lies the Government Told You by Andrew Napolitano. Interestingly, the book is published by Thomas Nelson, making that two Nelson titles on the list (along with Son of Hamas). Napolitano writes about the deterioration of American freedom.

And squeaking in at #15 is Duane “Dog” Chapman’s Where Mercy is Shown, Mercy Is Given. He released a bestselling memoir just a couple of years ago, so I suppose this one must either be a retelling of that memoir (unlikely) or an update of his story over the past two or three years (more likely). I’m guessing his well-publicized use of the “n-word” will feature prominently.

I managed to read only three of last week’s books, leaving me at least 6 or 7 titles behind starting the new week. I’m going to have to hope for some merciful slow weeks on the list to have a hope of catching up in the near future. I’m still working my way through Mitt Romney’s book and am quite enjoying Eating Animals–more than I would have thought at any rate.

Going straight to the top is Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, by Chelsea Handler. The book is a collection of essays by Handler, a comedian. I’m a mite concerned it’s going to be an ugly read. But we shall see.

Start out at #2 is Courage and Consequence by Karl Rove. The book gives President George W. Bush’s senior adviser and deputy chief of staff an opportunity to explain why he did what he did during his years serving the President.

At the #3 spot is Change Your Brain, Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen. The one-line description goes like this: :”Using the brain-body connection to lose weight and avoid depression.” Can’t say that I’m particularly looking forward to reading that one.

New at #6 is Jesse Ventura’s American Conspiracies. “The former Minnesota governor questions the official explanation of events like the Kennedy assassination and 9/11.” At the very least it ought to be interesting.

And way down at #15 is Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I do believe Foer, a novelist, is going to try to convince me not to eat any of those delicious, delicious animals that I so enjoy. I don’t like his chances, though lately, just for sake of variety, I’ve been eating vegetarian quite regularly.

And there we have it. Five new books added which brings my “to read” list up to seven titles. Interestingly, most of this week’s titles are not available in Kindle format. It seems to me that many publishers are treating the Kindle format a bit like paperbacks, allowing the hardcover to stay in print for a while before bringing out the Kindle version. I suppose there must still be more money in hardcover than in e-books.

Shooting straight to the top is Mitt Romney’s No Apology. Subtitled The Case for American Greatness, I think we all know the real subtitle is Why I Need To Be Your Next President. It’s no coincidence that both Palin and Romney have released books in the past few months.

Coming in right behind it at #2 is Lift by Kelly Corrigan. This is a wee little book, under 100 pages, that is simply a letter from a mother to her two young daughters.

At #4 is Not Without Hope by Nick Schuyler. You may remember that in early 2009 four men went deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico (two of them NFL players), only one of whom returned. This is the story of the survivor of that tragedy.

#6 brings us No One Would Listen, a “financial thriller”  by Harry Markopolos. It is “the exclusive story of the Harry Markopolos-lead investigation into Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme.”

Close behind at #7 is Hugh Ambrose’s The Pacific. Written specifically to coincide with the new and highly-anticipated HBO miniseries of the same name, this book and it’s author will draw inevitable comparisons to Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers. It’s been too long since I read a good book on the Second World War, so I’m looking forward to this one and was anticipating that it would end up on this list.

And showing up on the list at #11 is Mosab Hassan Yousef’s Son of Hamas. I had hoped this book would make it to the list and started reading it in advance, actually finishing it just as this week’s chart was released. This is the story of a son of one of the founders of Hamas and his eventual conversion to Christianity.

And that’s that. On Thursday I finally caught up with all of my reading and on Friday I caught up with all of my reviewing. And it seems that I did so just in time.

There were 9 books added to the list of bestsellers in February, 7 in the first two weeks and just 2 over the course of the next two weeks. That offered me a bit of a respite which I (typically) did not use as well as I should have. Nevertheless…

Here are the books I reviewed this month:

• Evidence of the Afterlife by Jeffrey Long
• Drive by Daniel Pink
• Just Kids by Patti Smith
• I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne
• The Politician by Andrew Young
• Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell
• Making Rounds with Oscar by David Dosa
• Staying True by Jenny Sanford
• Courting Disaster by Marc Thiessen
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity by Bill O’Reilly
• Willie Mays by James Hirsch

Three of those books I purchased in hardcover while the rest I read on my Kindle.

The only two I have yet to review are:

• Anticancer by David Servan-Schreiber
• Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt

If all goes well, I will have reviews of both of those by the end of the week. And then, for the first time in my life, I will be all caught up.

In terms of categories those books fall into, it goes something like this (remembering that categories are often quite difficult to define):

• Biography (5) – Just Kids, I Am Ozzy, Staying True, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity, Willie Mays
• Politics (3) – Courting Disaster, The Politician, Intellectuals and Society
• Business (1) – Drive
• Health (1) – Making Rounds with Oscar
• Medicine (1) – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
• Religion (1) – Evidence of the Afterlife

Unless I miss my guess, biography and politics are going to prove the dominant forces on the list this year.

And already we are a week into March and the reading continues…

Coming up this week I’ll have a belated round-up of what I read and reviewed in February. And then I should have reviews of these two new titles. I should also say a word on how I’ve found the 10MillionWords experience to this point. Stay tuned for that.