Monday, January 01, 2007

My 2007 reading resolutions

It's that time of year. Who knows if I'll actually keep any of these, but it's my intention to do so, anyway, as of this first day of 2007...

1) To read more books, period. I've become a slower reader over the years, and to some degree this is unavoidable (and American Idol begins again in two weeks, so this will be a challenge)... but there are a number of great-sounding books from 2006 (and earlier) that I've yet to read, and really should have.

2) To buy fewer books that don't immediately rank highly in the TBR pile. My shelves are already overfull. Note to self to be a good librarian and borrow more books from my workplace.

3) To break bad reviewing habits, i.e., waiting too long after finishing a novel before beginning the review, because this entails re-reading the novel, or at least skimming, and I don't have time for this - for reasons above.

4) To read at least one classic novel that's new to me, for my own edification. (No, there's no unspoken "if it kills me" in there... or, well, maybe there is.) But it was embarrassing last year, perusing the library's copy of 1000 Great Books to Read Before You Die and realizing how few I'd read, and even worse, that there were some I hadn't heard of. Suggestions welcome.

5) To keep an ongoing reading list. I always know if I've read a given book or not, but my attempt to develop a Top 10 list for 2006 made me realize that I should have been noting these titles all along. I'll be doing so on this blog's sidebar, somewhere.

I'll be posting the interview tomorrow morning. I tried twice to get a draft version going today, but Blogger kept eating it, and I've no desire to fight with it any longer. Given this, I further resolve to do all composition of lengthy blog posts in MS Word rather than here, lest this happen again.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:15 PM

    Classic novel suggestions: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, Vanity Fair by William Thackeray, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. As I recall, they're all pretty easy to get into.

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  2. Thanks for the ideas! I've read Tess of the d'Urbervilles but not Mayor of Casterbridge, and others by Wharton but not Age of Innocence (seeing the movie doesn't count, I know). All sound like ones I might enjoy.

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