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TSS: Joining in on reading deliberately

tssbadge1Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken a step back from blogging and focused more on my other interests.  I had a fairly quiet Christmas with hubby’s mother and brother, and though I didn’t receive any books as gifts, I did receive some cash and I am deliberating over my potential acquisitions.  It’s also almost my birthday, so I have more potential for bookish gifts.  These days I try to only buy what I can’t get from the library as I really don’t have space for all the books I’d like to own and I’m finding that I actually don’t want to reread all that many books.  So I’ve been spending time comparing lists and contemplating!  My mother-in-law also gifted me with a knitting project, so I’ve been learning to knit.  Although I’m not very good yet, I am excited by all the projects I can now contemplate, and it’s really not as hard as I remembered from when I was a little kid.

That, and my newly revived interest in video games (perhaps not the most worthwhile of hobbies, but I’ve been feeling low lately and it really helps), has shown me that I’ve maybe been spending a little too much time reading and blogging this year.  I’ve enjoyed diversifying my activities and it’s much easier to spend time with someone doing something that isn’t sticking my nose in a book.  I have no intentions to stop reading, but I think I want to read less, and to read more specific books.  I mentioned some of this in my 2009 wrap-up post, but here is an outline of my goals:

  • Read more classics. I love classics and I’m finding them so much easier to read these days, I think because I have 4 years of literary theory behind me.  I want to get to more of the ones I own in particular.
  • Read more non-fiction.  I feel such a lack of learning in my life right now, and while I’m still unemployed and have the mental concentration, I should seize this opportunity to learn about other subjects, cultures, and people.
  • Stick to a reading plan. I want to read 1/3 of my own books, 1/3 review copies until I can cut that number down, and 1/3 library books, so that I can diminish my TBR pile but also feel like I’m reading something new with the library and review books.
  • Read one longer and/or more difficult book per month.  I saw this on another blog and I love this idea.  I want to read one huge chunkster or longer classic a month.  I’ve had A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth sitting at me from the top of my immediate TBR pile for at least a month now.  It’s my January project and I want to start it as soon as I’ve finished my current read.
  • Don’t feel guilty. This is my most important goal.  I don’t want to feel guilty for not reading every day, for not blogging every day, for doing something else with my time.  I don’t want to beat 2009’s total of 283 books.

If I don’t achieve these goals, that’s okay too.  They’re just outlines.  And if all I want to do is read in my free time, that’s okay too, especially after I get a job and my time is more limited.  I’ve seen a lot of similar posts to mine this week, and I wish everyone success with their 2010 goals.

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