Sunday, January 1, 2012

A Year of Reading Resolutions

Posting has not happened much this month.  With all the holiday festivities, I've been sorely behind on my reading, and if I don't read, I can't post!  Well, in the new year I am making a few book related resolutions. First of all, I'm starting fresh on my "Bookshelf Stats" page.  I figure a new year should be a fresh start.  I am going to make a sincere effort to curb my book acquisition, because at my last count, I have 300 books I have not yet read! (That does include a few eBook short stories as well as several books currently in my possession that have been lent to me, but for these purposes, I'll count them.)  Yes, I'm still going to get the new books published by my favorite authors, and yes, I'm still going to get books at the Bookworm (my favorite little used bookstore ever). I'm not going to cut that out altogether because I've found some real gems on those shelves - books and authors I've never even heard of, but ended up loving! But at the same time, I don't even want to think about the number of new books I added to my collection this year. So, what I DO need to do is cool it a little (OK, maybe a lot).  Especially because we're still living with Nick's parents and I'm going to have to move all those books out soon!  So, my main reading goals for 2012 are as follows:

1. Buy less books.  Basically, I want to be much more picky about the new books I purchase.  This does not stop me from discovering new books and authors from reviews, friends, or surfing Goodreads, but I need to just let them hang out on my "Wish-list" for a while or borrow them from the library...with 300 others in the queue...there will be a time for other books, it just doesn't need to be now! I honestly don't spend a lot of money on books because most of them I get used, bargain-priced, or on really good deals, but I still don't have the time or the space to keep us this craziness!

2. Set my 2012 Goodreads Challenge to 50.  Last year, I set a goal with Goodreads' 2011 Reading Challenge to read 30 new books and I succeeded! I actually read 33. So for 2012, I think I am going to challenge myself even further and set the goal for 50 books. I think I can do it, because this year I didn't read for almost 2 months straight due to packing, moving, and working an extremely stressful job.  This year, I need to find a job, but I doubt it will be as stressful as my old one and even when we move, we already have most of our stuff packed up (stuff that never got UNpacked) so when the time comes, it should not be as time consuming.

3. Read more of my series.I really want to read a lot of the series I have accumulated. So I want part of my 50 books to include some of the following:

Stephanie Plum series, by Janet Evanovich

Wolves of Mercy trilogy, by Maggie Stiefvater
Riding Lessons/Flying Changes, by Sara Gruen
Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull
Gemma Doyle trilogy, by Libba Bray
Septimus Heap series, by Angie Sage
Inkheart trilogy, by Cornelia Funke
Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
The Rizzoli & Isles books, by Tess Gerritsen
Pink Carnation, by Lauren Willig
The Summer series, by Jenny Han
The Scottish Prisoner & An Echo in the Bone (from the Outlander series), by Diana Gabaldon
The Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini
The Immortals series by Alyson Noel
Liberty Lane series by Caro Peacock

There are also lots of stand-alone books I want to read that I'll have to slip in between all these series! A couple titles in particular are:

The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
The Lantern, by Deborah Lawrenson
The Taker, by Alma Katsu
Angelology, by Danielle Trussoni
The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters
Graveminder, by Melissa Marr

4. Read only new books. I want to continue with the resolution to read only new books, instead of re-reading all my favorites.  As much as I love them, they take time away from my new books and I feel if I can hold out another year or so, I'll really, really enjoy them when I finally do re-read them. The one exception I'm going to make is to re-read One for the Money by Janet Evanovich because I don't remember it very well and I want to read the rest of the series.

So, a Happy and healthy New Year to all! Good luck to everyone with their resolutions! Do yourself a favor and make a few fun ones too, that way even if you stumble on some of your harder ones, you have some fun goals to work toward as well :) Oh, and never make just one...that's a sure-fire way to feel like a failure.  Every year I like to make a really long list of things I'd like to accomplish in the coming year.  In the past, it's been as long as 100! I never accomplish them all, but it feels really good to look back at the list and see how many things I actually have been able to do.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I'd love to hear what you think :)