This is always a tricky post for me, because I don’t see reading as something that I need to set goals for. I do it because I love learning, I love stepping out of my own mind for a while, I love learning about other lives and cultures, and I love the chance to look at the world through someone else’s eyes. I also enjoy when language is used beautifully, when words are put together just right and manage to touch something in my heart and stay with me. Reading, for me, isn’t about the stats, number of pages or books read in a month or a year, being the among the first to review a new release, or getting views on my blog. All of this is just about the pure love of the written word, and the desire to share that love with others.
All that said, I will try to come up with a few loose ideas of what I’d like my reading year to be like, and what I don’t want.
- I’d like to find some new books that will stick with me and become part of my internal landscape
- I want to learn about some of the topics that interest me – people’s experiences in different cultures and parts of the world, their accounts of living through difficult times, and the parts of our society that need to be considered and worked on
- Not feel pressured to read more, or read certain books
- Read some physical books
- Read some books that have been on my physical or digital shelves for a while
- Participate in the BookTube Prize judging again this year if I can
- Engage more in commenting back and forth on other blogs – something I’m struggling to do
- As part of the above, I’d like to chat with some of the other bloggers I’ve been interacting with over the past few years, and maybe find some new blogger friends
- Continue participating in the blog link-ups I do weekly
- Work on writing reviews of books as I finish them – I’ve gotten very behind!
That’s all I can think of for now, but it’s plenty to be getting on with I think. What about you guys? Do you have any goals for your reading in the new year?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.
Commenting more is one of my informal blogging goals for this year, too. I’m awesome at commenting on everyone’s TTT posts, but not so much their regular ones. I need to be better at that. Good luck to both of us!
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Oh man, I’m not even good at that! I just forget or get distracted or my kid needs something or it’s time to start dinner…. and then I don’t. Even though I mean to and want to! I’m very grateful for those of you who continue to stop by and leave me comments even when I’m so crap at reciprocating – one day when there’s less to do I’ll get back to it!
I was just thinking about your #1 goal about finding books that become part of the internal landscape…it is so rare to find a book which actually does that, huh? I wish I knew how to pick the ones that do that. Often I am shocked by the ones that stick and ones that don’t.
Happy New Year and good luck on your bookish goals. My 2024 Bookish Goals
-Anne
Yes, I fully agree. Another thing I’ve noticed is that it’s about timing, too. I could read a book as a teenager and be deeply affected by it, but read the same book a couple of decades later and not get what made such an impact. The right book at the right time is so key, and yes, so hard to find! Thank you and to you as well!
Good luck! Commenting on blogs is a constant struggle. It always seems to get procrastinated.
Yes, I rarely actually sit down at my computer, and it’s hard to manage on my phone. I am trying to sit down at least once every week or so and find a few posts to comment on, but I don’t know if that will last! Thank you for your comment here!
I don’t like to put too much pressure on my reading goals either. I just want to enjoy reading! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Exactly! The more I pile on the pressure, the less I want to actually follow through. I’ve learned that some short-term commitments and goals are okay, but year-long fiascoes just don’t work for me!
Good luck with your goals!
Thank you – to you as well, and happy new year!