Two books items that caught my eye:

1) They’re more ambitious than me over at The New Yorker, where the magazine’s books staff is devoting January to reading Roberto Bolano’s 900-page novel “2666” and declaring January to be National Reading “2666” Month.

2) An L.A. Times books blogger, Sarah Weinman, says she read (gulp) 462 novels in 2008. Whew. Me, I read 24 books last year, some of them art books, and was hoping to quicken the pace to 30, 40, even 50 this year, if they’re short enough. How does Weinman read so quickly? Read the Q&A with her and be sure to read the comments afterward. Some fellow speedfreaks share their stories, such as the person who, at 11, read the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy in one day. Then there are those more like me, who admit to being easily distracted. I also like the occasional smart-aleck commenter, like the one who says she can’t write more because she has to read all of Proust in the next half-hour.