How do you decide what is worthwhile?

I've heard that somebody has commented that they don't see the point of my Book-a-Day for a year scheme. They said that they could understand it if I'd made it into a fundraiser for charity ...

I wondered why. Is expanding your knowledge of books not a worthwhile aim in itself? Is there something wrong with challenging oneself intellectually just for the sake of it?

Am I on track with my targets?

Well, I've just counted up the books I've read and I've completed 40. I started reading on the 10th November so (going by weeks on my calendar) on Friday 21st November I should complete book number 42. As this is Wednesday it looks to me as if I am 1 book ahead. I could give myself a night off! On the other hand I have already selected a book for tonight, a play of about 100 pages. It looks as though I could read that AND have time to watch Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa ...

There must be an easier way to count up the books I've read and still have to read. Perhaps there is some sort of Gadget for Blogger. In the meantime I'll continue doing it the hard way!

The Saffron Garden by Jasmine Crowther

This is a book about an Anglo-Iranian family. It opens with a shocking event, and the rest of the book traces the causes of that event, and the lives of the two main characters who are a mother and daughter. The strength of the novel lies in its evocation of the mother's rural lifestyle as a young woman, and the particular problems she had to face in that society. This would probably be considered a woman's book.