Tuesday, January 10, 2012

On Reading Goals

I'm not planning on going Challenge crazy this year.

Well, I wasn't planning on it at least.  Turns out, I'm simply not going crazy on signing up for challenges.  I've still got plenty of personal goals.  I've updated my Current Challenges page to reflect my hopes and dreams, (go there to look at specific title lists,) but here's the overview:

Willa Cather Chronologically:
I hope to read 4 more books in 2012, which will put me at a total of 8 out of 19.

Newbery Medal Books:
I'm currently at 33/90, and I want to read at least another 5 in 2012.

Pulitzer Prize Winners:
I've read 14 of the 85 Pulitzers in the Fiction category, and I want to up by another 5 this year.  This may be a stretch.

Reading from my To Be Read Shelf:
Meaning books that I've owned for over a year and still haven't read...I want to read 10 books, excluding those that qualify for other challenges.  That certainly ought to be doable, right?

Reading Short Stories and Poetry:
Since this is something I want to put a conscious effort towards, I may as well keep track of it.  My goal is to complete 3 collections of each type.

Reading From my Wishlist:
Since I've been whining about not getting to read books on my wishlist, what better way to make sure I do it than to challenge myself to do it?  Lucky for me, then, that just such a challenge is being hosted over at Leeswammes' Blog!  This challenge is for 12 books, 1 each month (the list is on my current challenges page.)

The Back to the Classics Challenge:
I wasn't going to do this for 2012, but there are some books that I want to read that seem to fit into the categories, (plus, I love how Sarah has set up the Linky posts for this year!) so I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. (again, categories and tentative choices are on my current challenges page.)
Spring into Junior Fiction Challenge:
I have a lot of Junior Fiction that I'd like to get read, and since The Art of the Novella Challenge worked so well for me last year, I thought I'd do a month-long Junior Fiction challenge this year.  It'll likely be in March or April, I'll keep you updated.

Art of the Novella Challenge:
In August I'm going to attempt to complete the remaining 14 titles in the collection, and perhaps the 5 new titles as well.  This was a great experience last year, let's hope it's great again!

New Features:
It's become obvious to me this year that I need to find a way to streamline how I write reviews.  There are SO many books (brilliant ones, even!) that I read in 2011 and never talked about. (pout*)  Here's the plan:
  • It's Not You, It's Me will be a new monthly feature where I get to chat about all those books that I can't bring myself to write a complete review of for reasons of ambivalence or general ennui.  They may be perfectly lovely books, but for one reason or another a complete review is beyond me.
  • Reading Roundup will be a place for me to collect mini-reviews...mostly of Junior/Teen Fiction or Nonfiction, although it is perfectly possible that other genres will need to be contained here as well.  This may happen at irregular intervals, just depending on how my reading goes.
Now, FINALLY, let the New Year begin!  Happy Resolutions, everyone!

11 comments:

  1. I like your ideas for new features! I'm looking forward to them :) Especially the It's Not You, It's Me. I might have to incorporate something like that into my own blog at some point.

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  2. Thanks for doing the Classics Challenge this year. I do hope the way I set up the Linky lists this year work better than last year!

    I love your idea for the Its Not You, Its Me feature. It is so hard to write a meaningful review of a book that I am blah about, but I'm sure others will rave about.

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  3. I love your idea for the It's Not You, It's Me, feature. What a great way to deal with the books that just didn't move you. :-) Also, reading off your wish list is a great goal!

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  4. You are such a fun reader girl!

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  5. Wow! You have grand ambitions! I'm doing Back to the Classics and several other challenges. I just hope I stick with it...

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  6. honeychile, that's a *whole* lot of challenges! but i look forward to reading your thoughts on all of them as you knock 'em out, one by one.

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  7. WHEW! That's a whole lotta goals, but I can't say I'm much different. I don't plan a lot of goals, but somehow they multiply like bunnies.

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  8. L.L., feel free to steal/borrow the idea. :) I needed to do something for those books--there's no way I'll catch up in my book-talk if I feel like I have to write full reviews for every book, you know?

    Sarah, thanks for hosting the challenge! I like the categories, but what really won me over was the organization...it'll be nice to have an easy way to see what everyone has read for each category. I'm looking forward to it!

    Jillian, thanks! By adding the wish list books into the challenges I'm hoping to keep it light and fun. We'll see! :)

    Belle, aww...I love you too. :D

    bibliophiliac, you described me perfectly! Grand ambitions and the hope that I'll stick with it. We can cheer each other on. :)

    as the crowe...I know, right? 80 some odd books? Chances are I won't complete them, but it's a direction to aim for--better than no direction. Wish me luck. ;)

    Andi, I seriously thought I was only going to do 2 personal challenges: Willa Cather and the Pulitzers...and then I started drafting this post. It seems to have exploded, leaving challenge shrapnel everywhere. :)

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  9. Good for you for setting ambitious goals! I'm looking forward to your "I'ts Not You, It's Me" meme, but I think with some books, it should be vice versa :D

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  10. I like your ideas about how to capture the books that don't get full reviews. I need to think about doing something like that! Some books just aren't worth detailed reviews, and for others there just isn't time.

    Good luck with the challenges! I've been thinking about a Newberry challenge; my niece is doing one for school and there are so many wonderful books on the list.

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  11. Teacher/Learner, that's what'll make it fun--there's always those breakups when you know that, in truth, it actually is the other way around. :)

    thebookstop, I'm trying to not feel pressure with these challenges, I just want to have something to aim for! I've enjoyed so many of the Newbery's...wouldn't it be nice to have a shelf full of them (and have read them all?)

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