I have been having internet connection problems all day today (twice I have been on the phone to my internet provider--the last time for well over an hour), so I feel like I better type fast while I can! I can't decide whether the internet is having an off day or if I should blame IE7! I am still having mixed feelings about that upgrade, but I am warming up to certain aspects of the whole tabs way of doing things. In any case the jury is still out, so I guess I will keep on thinking about my reading goals for next year instead.
I have been thinking a lot about how I read now and how I used to read. I have a little blank book that I started using about 1995 where I write down the date I finish a book, the title and the author. In looking back over what I have read, in some cases I haven't a clue what the book was even about. January 8, 1996 I finished Ariel Dorfman's Konfidenz. Ask me what it was about...I couldn't tell you now. I recognize the author, but I have never read anything else by him. Somewhere in 1998 I decided I wanted to take graduate classes and try and get my MLS, but after perhaps two classes I fizzled (this was mainly due to the program I would need to follow,which was really geared to education, and I knew I didn't want to get a teaching certificate to work in a school library--now we have distance programs for proper MLS degrees, but I have yet to decide if that is indeed what I want to do after all--but I digress). One was a YA literature class that I really enjoyed and I a good chunk of books I read that year were YA books. In other cases, however, seeing when I read a particular book I might have loved brings back fond memories. In the last few years you can really see a difference in what I chose to read and how many books I completed (particularly this year).
So if in an average year I can read between 50-60 books (I think this year was a bit abnormal for me with over 70, and I am not sure I can expect to match that again later), that means I have that many slots to fill with books. If that is the case I do not need to buy a single book in 2007 (as I know I have many more than 50 unread books on my shelves). I could even check that many books out from the library, not spend a penny and still read brand new releases. The question is how am I going to fill those slots? I never, ever used to think this way, and I am not sure if it is good, bad, or really doesn't matter. I used to read whatever sounded good at that particular moment--whether it was the talked about book of the moment, a well known classic, or a book that might be entertaining but was destined to a future of obscurity (long out of print and forgotten even by me who had read it with relish oh so long ago). In the last few years, though, I find that I am far more selective about my reading choices than I ever was in the past. I might still read some potboiler, but I also want to read books that have been around or will have lasting impact. Of course deciding what those books are is another story altogether!
So, I am going to try and not set many goals with numbers attached--that will be doomed to failure I think (too much pressure as reading ultimately for me is supposed to be pleasure not work). And it is likely that many of these are things I want to do every year, but maybe this is going to be the year that some of them actually happen? In no particular order here are my reading plans for 2007:
- On my nightstand shelf sit books that I started to read, but for whatever reason set aside. In between the Alice Munro book and the Dorothy Dunnetts sit my personal failures from 2006. Four nonfictions (always I have this problem with NF), one mystery, two novels and the latest Harry Potter. I would like to pull those out and dust them off and finish them, or if I really just can't get into them send them on their merry way to someone who can!
- I want to have a few "long term" reads. I am not sure what else to call them. These are books like the Diaries of Virginia Woolf, or that massive book of essays and especially I want to read more short stories. I know other readers will have books like these (or poetry collections) that they just read from now and then (which is where I have gotten the idea)--no rush to complete them. It might be asking too much to read an essay and short story a week, but if I have these books sitting by my bedside, perhaps I will grab them more often than I have in the past. I have thought about taking The Art of the Personal Essay by Philip Lopate and just working my way through it from beginning to end--I'm not sure this will happen, but this seems to be a perfect book to choose essays from during the year. I also want to read more short story collections. Alice Munro can be my first victim. Rather than trying and reading the book straight through, I might just read a story a week or whenever the mood hits me.
- I want to continue reading more classics, so perhaps this challenge will help me.
- I want to read more from The Modern Library List, so like this year, I hope next year to read between 8-10 once again. Next year, however, I will just choose whichever strikes my fancy rather than working my way up from the bottom.
- While I don't think I am going to attempt to fill those reading slots with particular titles, there are a few sitting high up on the TBR pile that I wouldn't mind finally getting to (and Dorothy Dunnett is even waiting for me on my nightstand shelf).
- And just for good measure...and I say this every year...I would like to read more nonfiction, poetry, maybe one science fiction novel, and even one lone play! (I really like Dorothy's well rounded reading selections--so perhaps a little variety for me in 2007 would be good, too).
Most importantly I just want to enjoy some really good books! Anyone else set goals?