Sunday, January 09, 2011

TSS: 2011 Reading Resolutions


For last week's Sunday Salon post , I looked back at my year in 2010. Now it is time to look forward.

When I started thinking about my reading goals for this year, they look a lot like my goals in previous years! They generally involve reading a certain number of books, reading more Australian authors, and that at least some of the books I read should be books that I already own but haven't read yet.

Read 150 books -  Last year I was aiming for 125 books because I had changed jobs and therefore my commuting and reading time reduced, but I still managed to read 166 books, so I am thinking aiming for 150 should be a doable figure. I could try for more than I read this year, but I don't want to be forcing myself to read just to reach a hard to achieve goal.

Read 10 books that I owned as at 31 December 2010 - Every year I read less books that I own than come into my house. This is my attempt to try to make sure that I read at least a few that have been on my shelves for a while.

Reading Australian authors - Every year I look at my list of reads and think, gosh, I don't read enough Australian authors. This year I am aiming to read at least 12 books by Australian authors. I also rejoined the Aussie Authors Challenge to try and help me meet this goal.

Read some Jane Austen - A few years ago I aimed to read Dorothy Dunnett, and didn't manage to even crack open a book, and still haven't in fact. Last year I said "I intend to rectify what I feel is a major gap in my reading. I have never read anything by Jane Austen. I have watched a couple of the adaptations that are around and liked them, so we will see how we go with reading some of her books." Didn't happen. So now I have the books loaded on the ereader, and I have joined the Sense and Sensibility challenge, so maybe that will be the impetus that I require.

Perpetual Challenges - Last year, one thing that I didn't do very well at all is read for the perpetual challenges that I am signed up for like The Pulitzer Project, the Orange Prize Project, and the Complete Booker. This year I would like to read at least one book for each of these, if not more. I have cut back on a lot of my other reading challenges to try and do better with the perpetuals.

Finish War and Peace - Last year I started, and was really enjoyed War and Peace, but then I got distracted by other books. I want to pick it up again, and I know there are a couple of readalongs happening so I might hook up with one of those to assist me with that.

Review more - This is what I wrote last year "Over the last couple of years I have allowed myself to get very lazy about writing reviews of the books I read. I still start a blog post for every book, but not enough of them see light of day! This year, I am going to try to write at least one review a week, preferably more. Need to get back into the habit. I know that that really isn't many, but I do also want to be a no guilt blogger as well, because at the end of the day blogging is supposed to enrich our lives and be fun and not something that we are slave to." All of that is still relevant for this year!

13 comments:

  1. Best of luck with your 2011 resolutions! I want to try to read the Jane Austen novels I haven't got around to yet (Sense and Sensibility being one of them) and read more Aussie authors.
    150 books sounds really ambitious, go for it!

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  2. I admire you for making (and sharing) your reading resolutions. Your last paragraph is so true -- keep it fun!

    I've been thinking about the WAR & PEACE readalong as well; I started the book for a book group a few years ago, but didn't get through all of it.

    Good luck with all your plans!

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  3. They sound like some great goals. Mine is going to be to buy less books and read more that I own. I have about 200+ that are waiting to be read.

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  4. I like the writing reviews resolution. Writing a review seems to solidify the fact that I read the book and this what I thought of it. Great idea.

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  5. Good luck with your goals! And I'm glad you're going to give Jane Austen a try. :)

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  6. I'm going to try more mini-reviews this year. There are some books that I just don't need to stew over -- not every book needs 300-500 words. I like that you start a post for each book to give yourself a head start.

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  7. Great resolutions. I am posting mine on Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish.

    Here's my Sunday Salon: http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2011/01/sunday-salon-travels-in-siberia.html

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  8. Good luck with the resolutions. Hope you enjoy Jane Austen. I plan to read some more of her books this year too.

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  9. Thanks Amy!

    Deb, I will look forward to seeing your resolutions.

    Beth, I should do some mini reviews. I am thinking about doing some more joint reviews if I find people reading the same book as me.

    Hippy Chick, for me once I do the stats for the book, mark it as read on Goodreads and at least start the review make the book feels finished to me.

    Becky, I need to do that resolution as well, because I get a lot more books coming into my house than I read of non library books.

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  10. Those are good resolutions! I'm very impressed with your plan to read War & Peace. My "big read" this year is going to be The Iliad, I've decided :-)

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  11. These are great resolutions! I'm with you on review more. I get so lazy and just move on to other books. This year I'm telling myself that I have to do more.

    And, you haven't read any Jane Austen. yay, I think you are in for a treat. I hope you'll enjoy discovering her books! I still haven't read all but hopefully this year I'll get to another.

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  12. Austen is one of my favorites. Start with Pride and Prejudice, it's the easiest to read, in my opinion. My absolute favorite is Persuasion. I have read it numerous times. Good luck!

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  13. Excellent goals Marg, especially the write review and reading from your own shelves. I can totally get behind those myself. Well good luck in 2011 and I am sure you will do well :)

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