Word Storm: New Years Resolution

Showing posts with label New Years Resolution. Show all posts

Sunday, January 2, 2022

2022 Reading Resolutions

Happy New Year! *eyes 2022 warily* I don’t really put my hope in the New Year, but it is fun to evaluate my reading progress and make new goals. My aim this year is to be more realistic, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Goal: 1 Book 700+ pages

Perhaps I can finally find time for The Priory of the Orange Tree, which has been on my list for… *checks calendar* …three years now?

Goal: 2 Writing Books

I’m a writer so this is a must, right?

I can’t remember the last time I read a book on writing. I’m a bit of a skeptic. I don’t really believe in writing rules because what works well for one person may not work well for another. Team prologue over here! My favorite dialogue tag is “said.” And when I write what I know, I know about dragons, okay?

Plenty of writing books can be helpful though. And it’s dangerous to assume you already know everything. That’s when we stop learning.

On my list:

The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donal Maass
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Goal: 3 Books Published in 2022

I’m a little behind on recent releases. What’s a recent release? What year is it? Granted, sometimes these books are a little harder to get your hands on when you rely on the library, but hey! I try.

On my list:

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
The Lost Metal (Mistborn saga, book 7) by Brandon Sanderson

Goal: 3 Rereads

I did this last year, but it wasn’t exactly purposeful. Besides, I’d like to get back into some of my favorites that I considered worth buying. I don’t remember all of their plots anymore!

On my list:

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman
The Final Empire (Mistborn saga, book 1) by Brandon Sanderson

Goal: 5 Books I Own

Not rereads. There, I said it. Now I can’t cheat! Right?

On my list:

Inferno by Dante
Journey to the Heart of the Abyss by London Shah
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Goal: 5 Books by 5 Different Non-American Authors

I’m going to go a step further and say I’m not going to count Manga. It’s really cool, but I read 35+ graphic novels last year, so that’s not challenging enough. That’s not to say I won’t read Manga, but rather that I won’t count it toward this particular goal.

On my list:

The Beast Warrior by Nahoko Uehashi

Goal: 1 Short Story Collection

I’m a little pickier when it comes to these. Usually, I’ll only finish it if features a story or several by an author I’ve read before. But they can be a lot of fun!

On my list:

Timely: A Phoenix Fiction Writers Anthology

Total books: 20

Is it doable? Yes. Realistic? *shrugs* Happy reading, everyone!

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Let’s chat! What kind of books are on your list this year? Have you read or are planning to read any of these? Are there any books I didn’t list that I should consider reading?

Sunday, January 5, 2020

2020 Reading Resolutions

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2020!

I don’t know about you, but these have become one of my favorite posts to write, and I actually use them as reference points throughout the year. Last year I actually met my goal of book types, so I’m excited to be starting even more reading!

1 Book 700+ pages

I’m a huge overachiever.

On my To-Be-Read list:

Words of Radiance (Stormlight, book 2) by Brandon Sanderson—at 1,087 pages, I’m mainly putting this one off because The Way of Kings (Stormlight, book 1) was just so depressing, and I don’t want to see Kaladin or Dalinar hurt any more than they were!
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas—at 1,276 pages this book made it to my TBR for reasons unknown. It’s been there at least since 2012.

I’m not going to read them both this year. Probably…

3 Classics

They’re classics for a reason, and I need a little extra motivation to check some out.

On my list:

From the Earth to the Moon and Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Sea Wolf by Jack London

5 Books from Places I’ve Been

I’ve been to so many places, so this should be interesting! The only problem is that it also makes me an intense critic. I didn’t like several books because I had been to certain places and they didn’t make me recall the setting. At all. So sad. I like it when settings are like a well-developed character!

On my list:

Nottingham by Nathan Makaryk
This Is Paradise: Stories by Kristiana Kahakauwila (Hawai’i)
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (Venice)
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (Paris)

5 Graphic Novels

I’m going to get a little specific with this category and count either a standalone or one from a series rather than the entire series. In other words, instead of reading five in a series and calling it done, I’ll have to pick up a new book to reach my goal. I don’t want my limit myself to only one series.

On my list:

Divinity by Matt Kindt
Erased by Kei Sanbe
A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima
Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki by Mamoru Hosoda

Why yes, I enjoy Manga, thank you very much. And art. All the ART!

5 Novels in Verse

I like poetry, but I lean more toward novels in verse when it comes to poetry types. Something about the free verse and the narrative is just so entrancing!

On my list:

The Language of Fire: Joan of Arc Reimagined by Stephanie Hemphill
Toffee by Sarah Crossan
Unbound by Ann E. Burg

1 Book Published Before 1800

For some reason, I like to fight against this goal. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the excitement of new releases or the subconscious idea that older books are much harder to read, which can be the case. But all the same, each time I pick up an older book, I find myself enjoying it more than I expected. So far anyway.

On my list:

Something old. I’ve never followed the ones I list here.

Total books: 20

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Let’s chat! What’s on your TBR for 2020? Do you have any particular goals? What books are you most looking forward to reading?

Sunday, January 13, 2019

2019 Reading Resolution

Last year, instead of setting my typical Goodreads goal of 52 or 100 books, I decided to read types of books. For example, I chose categories I enjoy but might not necessarily pick up on a whim, like classics or rereads. And I had so much fun! It was a challenge, with a bit of the pressure I felt when I studied for my undergrad but with the freedom to stop reading a particular book or read more in a certain category as I saw fit.

This year, I’ll be taking a similar approach, with some changes of course, as I learned a lot from 2018. The books listed are just a few I want to read, though it’s not guaranteed that I will read those ones specifically. Without further ado, here are the types of books I plan on reading!

1 Book 700+ Pages

1,000 pages feels like too much right now, and I totally didn’t read a 1,000-page book in 2018 like I had planned. Whoops…

What are some books on my TBR that fit the criteria?

Middlemarch by George Elliot—an American classic. I’ve had this one on my shelf for a while now, since I bought a George Elliot collection during my undergrad. I enjoyed Silas Marner, and I’m curious about this one.

The Betrothed by Allesandro Manzoni—an Italian classic. Can’t remember what it’s about, but it’s on my list. I’m so good at this…

2 Novels that were Adapted into Movies

I may be from a family of avid movie fans, but I lean more toward the books. Though I will watch movies to spend time with my family members, have something to talk about, and see characters brought to life on screen (see Why This Bookworm Gets Excited about Book-to-Movie Adaptations). Why wouldn’t I want to read more books adapted into films?

What am I most looking forward to reading?

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery—Does this one need an explanation? Anne of Green Gables is an excellent book, film, and audio drama. I’m a little skeptical about the latest Netflix series having heard mixed reviews, but I look forward to the next book!

The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley—The original story of Zorro. Apparently, it’s a collection of short stories!

3 Classics

Once again, contemporary books are great, but so are classics. I need to read more of them than I do.

What’s on my list?

1984 by George Orwell—This one has been on my list forever. Okay, not forever. Since 2015.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank—How have I not read this yet? Yep, I’m still living under a rock.

5 Books I Own

I will probably read more, but five seems like a good place to start. I’m also not going to limit myself to books I haven’t read. Rereads are perfectly fine and deserve attention too (see The Joys of Rereading).

What’s on my shelf?

The Best of Jack London—As I kid, I was obsessed with the audio book of White Fang, so it’s no surprise I bought a collection later on. I just haven’t read them all yet.

5 Books Published in 2019

As a reader, I’m constantly distracted by all the shiny new books. As a writer, I call it a strategy to find out what’s been released recently, how it affects the reading collective, and whether or not I like it. That and I like the pretty new covers.

What am I most looking forward to this year?

An Anatomy of Beasts (Faloiv, book 2) by Olivia A. Cole—Have I not ranted enough about how much I enjoyed A Conspiracy of Stars? (See book review). I can’t wait to read the next book. I’d pre-order it, but I have no idea where I’ll be living when it comes out.

The Boy Who Steals Houses by C. G. Drews—From one of my favorite bloggers comes yet another contemporary YA novel! I thoroughly enjoyed A Thousand Perfect Notes (see book review), and I’m eager to see what Drews has written in her next book.

The Clockwork Ghost (York, book 2) by Laura Ruby—I was so curious when I saw The Shadow Cipher (York, book 1) at my library that I just scooped it up. But I’m still waiting for a release date for book 2. I sure hope it comes out before I move…

1 Book Published Before 1800

Out with the new and in with the old. Wait…

There is a plethora of books published before 1800 that I have yet to read.

What’s on my list?

The Faerie Queene, Book 2 by Edmund Spenser—Again, I haven’t read this one yet. I wrote my dissertation on Book 1, but why haven’t I picked up Book 2? Okay, I have technically picked it up. My copy’s an anthology.

3 Nonfiction Books

I’m going to broaden this one to include collections of poems, even though poetry can sometimes be fictional. I also learned that I tend to shy away from longer books when it comes to nonfiction, probably because I’m still learning what I like in the genre.

What am I most interested in reading?

God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis—When I visited Oxford on the C. S. Lewis trip, we read one of the essays, and I want to read more.

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass—This is a book I own and have read sections of before, but I’d like to delve into the whole thing.

The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho—My mom and I are planning on hiking the El Camino trail across Spain this spring. What better way to prepare than to read a book about it?

Total goal: 20 Types of Books

I’ll probably read more, but hey, this’ll be fun!

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Let’s chat! What are you planning on reading in 2019? Do you set goals for yourself? What new releases are you looking forward to?