Happy New Year everyone! Welcome 2017 -- I hope the new year will bring us all health and Peace and lots of reading time. I'm actually feeling pretty excited about this new year. Sort of refreshed and ready to start anew. It really helped to clean off my reading table (relatively speaking that is--'clean' for me).
On Friday I pulled out a notebook I bought several years ago but never quite got around to using and crossed off that old year and replaced it with 2017 and started jotting down ideas of where I want my reading to take me. Just a start mind you. A few ideas to send me down a first path, and where I turn and go off in a new direction is anyone's guess. But I can tell you where I am starting.
I do have a few plans, but they are more ideas of things I want to try and accomplish. Really my plans are not so different this year than any other year, but it is nice to think about them in a new and fresh way. The last few years prior 2016 were not the best reading years, but last year was an improvement and now I feel more contented. Considering what a mess the world seems to be in, it's a little curious really, but since so much is uncertain, my reading is going to be a refuge I think. A happy place I can always turn to for inspiration and escape and for knowledge and maybe even a little empowerment.
So, a few ideas. My nightstand is all set for January 2017. The top photo are my new current reads. The pile in the back are the chunky books that I had started and knew I would be reading well into this year, and there is a nifty new short story collection which I have started and am excited about. The pile in the front feels a little more restrained than last year's, but maybe that is just my imagination. Last year's pile had eleven books, of which I finished six. I'm hoping that the books in the front might even be finished this month. I have only started the top two books (and am enjoying them immensely at the moment) and the others are the books I 'think' I am going to read this month, but I might do a bit of switching about at the last minute.
As for the bottom photo, it contains a variety of books and other reading accoutrements including all my Persephone Biannuals, a few short story periodicals (that I periodically pull out and peruse), and I can finally fit the holdover books that I had wanted to finish reading last month, but I ran out of time and couldn't manage it. No more massive languishing partially read pile anywhere else. It seems a silly little thing, but to me it is refreshing to have them all together in one place and under control.
Where do I want my reading journey to take me? The usual enjoyable reading projects will continue--my monthly NYRB subscription will offer a dozen new and exciting books; I'll be reading as many of Caroline's choices for her Literature and War Readalong (you can see a book by N. Scott Momaday in the pile as a matter of fact); I already have set plans for little readalongs with Buried in Print and Stefanie at So Many Books (and a few other possibilities as well if a suitable book can be found). I let my short story reading go a little slack last year and this year I do hope to make a more concerted effort to write regularly about what I am reading and keep up with my New Yorker stories and Smithereens and I will continue on with our postal short story exchange. (As a matter of fact I just received two new ones in the mail on Friday which I cannot wait to read, have already read the first New Yorker story of 2017 and the Burnside is in progress!--post to follow soon).
That leaves two new reading ideas for the new year. I like to set little themes for myself (the most recent was 'Reading the 1970s'). I think my next two themes (I'll start with one and the other will follow) are going to be Colonial America and Solitude. And rather than create a list of books I want to read (and then never do), I am going to try monthly prompts. It sounds like it could be fun and if it ends up being a chore, then I will skip it. But here are my monthly prompts--a book for each month to be selected when the time comes).
January: A Fresh Start
February: An Affair to Remember
March: Irish Eyes are Smiling
April: Paris in April
May: How Does Your Garden Grow
June: Play Ball
July: Independence Day
August: Bon Voyage
September: Back to School
October: Ghosts and Hauntings
November: Giving Thanks
December: A Celebration
I chose pretty literal prompts according to month/season, but hopefully I will be more creative in choosing a book to express the theme--they might be literal and they might not. We shall see. January's book coming soon. Actually all sorts of interesting new bookishness coming soon.
May your reading year be as exciting and inspiring as I hope mine will be.
Happy New Year from South Carolina. HAve enjoyed reading your blog for over 5 years. MY main reading goal for the new year is to continue reading from my shelves. Starting off the year with London by Edward Rutherford - enjoyed his Saruman a few years back. ALso finishing up The Bone Tree by Greg iles loaded to me by someone at work and The Thousandth FLoor by Katherine McGee that I checked out from my local library online ebook. looking forward to another good year of reading recommendations.
Posted by: Judy Griffith | January 01, 2017 at 06:34 AM
A very happy new year to you and a year of good reading.
I'm just starting Mudbound for our book group, which is celebrating 29 years this month. Yikes!
Posted by: Penny | January 01, 2017 at 08:14 AM
I hope you get to all the books that you have planned. Happy New Year and Happy Reading in 2017!
Posted by: Kailana | January 01, 2017 at 08:16 AM
That's a great idea: monthly prompts. Before I ran away with the idea I realised it wouldn't be workable for me now that most of my books will be in storage for the next four to five months. I will try it out in the second half of the year I hope.
Posted by: cath | January 01, 2017 at 09:43 AM
Happy New Year, Danielle! I love your monthly prompts idea. What a great way to welcome each month. I hope you have a wonderful reading year and can't wait to see where your reading takes you. Like you, I'm excited about a new year and to see what I'll find in my reading.
Posted by: iliana | January 01, 2017 at 02:40 PM
Very organised for the New Year!
Sadly my reading plan is not to make a reading plan because sticking to it is always beyond me for various reasons! I will toddle along as usual although I will make more of an effort to keep away from online library requests and try and read more from my own shelves in a vague attempt to clear the backlog!
Posted by: LizF | January 01, 2017 at 06:39 PM
Happy New Year! What great ideas you have for a new year of reading. I love the idea of monthly prompts and will be curious to see where they take you in 2017. My resolutions are to read more from books I've got on hand ( or maybe I should say "in piles" ;), do some sorting out and in January, read books people have loaned me but I've never gotten to.
Posted by: Readerlane | January 02, 2017 at 05:55 AM
I love your monthly prompts! A very good idea. I can't wait to see what sorts of books turn up. I hope wherever your reading takes you in 2017 that you enjoy the journey! Happy New Year!
Posted by: Stefanie | January 02, 2017 at 12:35 PM
Happy New Year Judy! What a nice thing to hear you have been reading so long--I am flattered and very much always enjoy our bookish chats! I want to read mostly from my stacks, too, this year. I am hopeful especially that I can read more of my Viragos and Persephones that I have long been collecting. I have the Paris novel by Rutherford--I have never read him before but it seems his books are nice and juicy to sink your teeth into--Enjoy! Happy reading!
Posted by: Danielle | January 02, 2017 at 08:28 PM
Happy New Year Penny! I had to look up Mudbound as I had not heard of it--looks good, though quite sobering! How cool that your group has been together so long. Do you know how many books you have read over the course of all those years? It would be fun to look at your list!
Posted by: Danielle | January 02, 2017 at 08:30 PM
I hope so, too! I am always so very optimistic starting out. Happy New Year to you, too, Kailana!
Posted by: Danielle | January 02, 2017 at 08:31 PM
Now that is hard--to be separated from your books for almost the first half of the year. Are you pulling a stack out in anticipation of your reading? The upheaval of having work done on your home is really hard but it will be worth it when it is finished! I do hope you do the prompts later on--I think it will be fun and I am trying out my first book right now and will write about it this week.
Posted by: Danielle | January 02, 2017 at 08:33 PM
Happy New Year Iliana--I thought it would be a fun thing and something different than trying to read a set list of books. This way I can have a list but still be able to choose as my mood changes over the course of the year. I am reading a few new books for 2017 and it feels good to have a nice new stack to read from!
Posted by: Danielle | January 02, 2017 at 08:35 PM
It always starts this way--but can I keep it up as the year progresses? We'll see, but I am enjoying reading 'new' books. I am happy I managed to more or less tidy the big stack of in progress books from last year. It is hard avoiding all those new books at the library. I took a bunch back but kept a few that most appealed to me. And I still have a small backlog of books I could not quite face putting back on the shelves.
Posted by: Danielle | January 02, 2017 at 08:37 PM
I am curious, too! It will be fun looking through my shelves each month for suitable reads. I like your idea of reading the books that were given to you. I have a little pile of special books like that I should also give some attention to. It is fun looking at those shelves/piles and finding books you forgot you had but were so excited about. I do that all the time--at least to look....
Posted by: Danielle | January 02, 2017 at 08:40 PM
That wasn't really my first idea, but it morphed into a non-book list and now I am excited about it. It's usually about the journey, isn't it. Happy New Year to you, too, and Happy Reading in 2017--I am looking forward to reading together!
Posted by: Danielle | January 02, 2017 at 08:42 PM
I like your prompts plans, Danielle. Should make for an exciting reading year. And if you don't stick with them, oh, well--they're guidelines, not set-in-stone rules, right? Part of our pleasure comes from reading at whim. I wonder where our whims will take us this year?
Posted by: Kathy | January 03, 2017 at 05:36 PM
I think it will work well since the book I choose can be whatever I am in the mood for at that moment--no list here to worry about. Every time I make a list of particular books I end up wanting to read something else entirely! We really are the same when it comes to reading at whim! It is fun to meander the way through the reading year--and I am very much influenced by my friends's reading, too! ;)
Posted by: Danielle | January 04, 2017 at 03:32 PM
I remember absolutely loving Mudbound, gobbling it up in just a couple of days. There were some difficult moments, but the writing really swept me away into the story. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised!
Posted by: Buried In Print | January 05, 2017 at 05:40 PM
Onto my wishlist it goes. It looks a little heavy duty, so maybe not a January story, but it sounds really good. Good writing can make a difficult story so much easier to manage, too. You almost forget you are reading something really difficult!
Posted by: Danielle | January 06, 2017 at 10:43 PM
I love the idea of monthly prompts, and I'm sure you'll tell us how inspiring they are. My ideas for 2017 are all about weeding out my shelves and reading books I own. Happy reading to you!
Posted by: Smithereens | January 08, 2017 at 07:12 AM
One of our members has kept a list and shared it in the past, but, I have no idea where I put it. ha! I'd say about 225 books.
Mudbound moves quickly, is told in 6 voices, which works rather well. It is at times very dark, especially towards the end. The horrors of racism in the Mississippi Delta in the 1940's. Still-in-all, we had a very lively discussion.
Posted by: Penny | January 27, 2017 at 08:01 PM
Well said - and I agree.
I said, below, that there were six voice, but, actually there are 7 - if Pappy is included. Our book group had a great deal to say about him.
Posted by: Penny | January 27, 2017 at 08:03 PM
Those are the best books to read in a book club setting! I do miss having an in person group to go to--I went to one for a few years but it sort of disbanded. That is a very impressive number of books read! Too bad your list has went missing. I bet you remember certain books according to the discussions you had!
Posted by: Danielle | January 30, 2017 at 08:21 AM
I have been pretty good at reading from my own shelves, but not so good about weeding!! I am in the middle of my January prompt now, and am already half thinking ahead to next month's, too. Happy reading Smithereens!
Posted by: Danielle | January 30, 2017 at 08:22 AM