So, first, there is the matter of 2012. That which came before.
My spreadsheet lists 240 books, my GoodReads shelf 247 (it’s an imperfect, yet perfectly bookish world) and I’ve updated the pages of Books Discussed and added a list of favourite titles.
My reading year ended in a burst of indie-press love. (Yes, there is still a giveaway to sort out: I haven’t forgotten!)
There were a lot of challenges and events (all listed under Reading Projects if you’re curious), all of which were finished successfully, with the exception of the TBR 2012 Challenge. And I’ve realized that my habit of making a list of Must Reads for each year belongs to a time when I was mostly reading by whim, whereas now I nearly always have a more-demanding read on the go. So the Must Reads have taken a different shape.
But there will be more similarities between my reading in 2012 and 2013 than differences.
Generally?
This year I hope to read more of my MRE (Must-Read-Everything) Authors as well, including filling-in-the-gaps with Elizabeth Taylor (last year was her Centenary, but there were some that I didn’t get to) and Barbara Pym (with the added incentive of the LibraryThing celebration).
And I’m still targeting my old favourite categories too (short stories, continuing with series, re-reads) as well as making a point of tackling some larger books (thanks to last year’s Chunkster Challenge, which reminded me that this is possible) and more often including the works of Quebecois, aboriginal, Jewish and African authors (aiming for 6 of each).
Specifically?
I’m playing Reading Bingo and tracking my 50 Book Pledge with my shelf here.
I’m watching the Stella Prize and the Orange/Women’s Fiction Prize and anticipating The Rosalind Prize and this year’s ReLits and other Canlit prizes.
I’m joining Melwyk’s Postal Reading Challenge, the Global Women of Colour Challenge, but I haven’t made my joining-posts yet.
I’m planning to participate in Once Upon a Time, Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.), Mel’s Irish Short Story Month (March) and Kimbofo’s Australian Literature Month (April), but I haven’t made my reading lists yet.
And, yet, my GoodReads challenge tracker informs me that I am 22 books behind schedule. I currently have 50 books on loan from the library (ok, some of these are family reads, but, admittedly, most of them are mine), but the three books I am reading most often these days are from my own shelves. I imagine spending ten hours a day reading, but I seem to spend ten minutes instead. I’ve only just begun to think about 2013’s reading goals and challenges and we are nearly a quarter through this reading year.
Could be that my read-o-lutions are a bit out-of-joint with my reading reality. Could be that my more general resolutions for this year are more time-consuming than I expected.
How is your reading year so far?
I think Read-o-lutions are great, as long as one doesn’t get too invested in meeting all of them. I find that making a plan and joining challenges inspires me throughout the year, but if I start to feel anxious about finishing everything it ruins the enjoyment. So I sign up but just do what I can!
I started out this year going great guns on my challenges but it’s really slowed down now that I’m busier with various projects for work and for myself as well. Will catch up at some point! And thanks for joining in with the Postal Reading challenge, very pleased to have you reading along at will 🙂
My mind boggles thinking about all the books and projects you seem to get through! Good luck with your read-o-lutions. I think I have made a great start to 2013 having read more than this time last year. Here’s hoping it continues 🙂
Thanks, Jessica. I’ve definitely read less in the first three months of 2013 than I’ve read in the first three months of most other reading years in my life; I hope your trend continues for you and that you continue to enjoy your re-reading too. For awhile, the counter on GoodReads was simply intimidating, irritating even, but that I am reading regularly again, I’m not bothered by it; I’m content to see the balance shift in its own time.
Why does everything have to sound so interesting? That’s my problem. Wanting to do more than I know I have time for, but that rarely stops me from trying anyway! Maybe you can think of your goals as possibilities–the more you might be able to manage the better but not something hanging over your head so you feel overwhelmed by it all (which is generally what happens to me and then I start fretting about it all). I love the idea of Reading Bingo–how fun. I need to get back to my postal reading books and want to read more Pym and Taylor in general. So, yes, lots of possibilities! 🙂
The neat thing about Reading Bingo is that it’s actually quite easy to get several of them, if you are regularly reading at all, and then you can start to obsess about the remaining ones. (Well, if you’re the obsessive sort. *looks innocent*) Thinking of them as possibilities is likely a good way to go about it, but I find that, once I get to the stage where I have named a goal of sorts, it becomes more directed. So I do feel a conscious desire to read in these areas AND I am entertaining the possibilities of reading more mysteries and filling in some other gaps in my classic reading (maybe a Dickens, a James, or a Galsworthy), or tackling the stack from last autumn’s booksales or the non-fiction on the living-room shelves…all *those* possibilities are still hovering around the edges of these more deliberately articulated plans. *smirk* Yes, I think there is such a thing as too many choices!
I like the idea behind your Must Read’s list. I have so many books that I have been wanting to read for years and lose track of somehow. I guess that is what the Long-Awaited Reads Month was for, but having a list to return to would be nice.
Actually, I like all of your plans. I wouldn’t be able to do much planned reading this year. My reading has sadly fallen since I started a job (and that’s not a sad thing, so I’m okay with the new “balance”, although there is always the wish for more books). Let us know how you progress during the year!
Exactly! I was thinking about your month of January while I was updating this list, but then I forgot to mention it; that’s exactly what I would have been reading from if I’d been reading along with you and Ana. I’m a little disheartened to even think of updating, when it feels as though this reading year has gotten off to a painfully slow start (being nearly the end of March, when I’d normally be posting a quarterly update rather than posting about the plans to begin with), but I suppose that’s just like worrying about all the books one hasn’t read yet, rather than enjoying all the books one is currently reading, and that doesn’t make sense, does it. *wags finger at self*
My read-o-lutions are hopeless because I never stick to them. I have two reading challenges this year (a Pym a month and a Powell a month) and even that’s stretching me as I’m on such a Russian reading jag. I can only read what I want to read at the time and so I deliberately limited any challenges this year because I knew I would fail. I think I read from the heart, really and the only goal I’m setting myself is to read as much as I possibly can – given the limitations of time (and sometimes ten minutes seems optimistic….) Good luck with all your goals – I really admire you for setting them!
From an onlooker’s perspective (and, largely, a non-Russian-reading perspective at that), it seems like you’ve been reading the Russians for ages *grin*, so maybe you should make a read-o-lution about the Russians, and then you would love your plan and just naturally stick with it…maybe that’s the trick anyhow, to choose the read-o-lutions that are securely rooted in reading that brings you pleasure. (But, then, I have a feeling that simply shifting a pleasure read into reading which even lightly smacks of ‘duty’ can be the kiss of not-reading-never-ever-death too.)