"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'" ~ C. S. Lewis

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Bookish Resolutions: 2015 Review, 2016 Plans

2015 is over! I can't believe we're into a new year already.
Here's a look back at how I did on my resolutions for last year and a quick look at what I want to do in 2016.

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
DONE WON
I read 230 books and hit about 52,000 words, which was a little less than last year (even though I read more books), but close enough to make me satisfied.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (preferably 1 a month):
DONE WON
Topped this off at 19 for the year. Finished December strong with It's Too Late Now: The Autobiography of a Writer by A. A. Milne. Really pleased with myself for how well I did on this goal, since I have a tendency to stick with non-fiction. I have a couple of books slated already for next year that I'm really excited about.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
DONE WON

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):
DONE WON
In December I read Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid, The Key to Midnight by Dean Koontz, and The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. I'll be weeding the Koontz book - enjoyed it, but don't need to keep it - so a successful month. Overall this year I read 38 books from my shelves and weeded 13 of them. I consider this goal a rousing success.

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I own each month:
In December I read A. W. Hartoin's A Fairy's Guide to Disaster, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, The Green Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang, the first volume of Batman by Bill Finger, The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Soul for Trouble by Crista McHugh, and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey. I've eased into the B's in eBooks. Can't believe it took me an entire year to get through one letter of the alphabet. At that rate, I've got a good 25 years worth of books waiting for me just on my eReader. But, I read a lot of books I wouldn't have by doing it this way, many of which I thoroughly enjoyed! That means that over the course of 2015 I read 73 (though this did include a few short stories, novellas, and comic issues). I'm very pleased with the success of this goal as well.

For next year I've been thinking about what I would like to do and I've got the following goals in place:
  • Read 200 books in 2016 (at least 52,000 pages) - I'm keeping this the same, but adding a page count goal as well.
  • Read 12 non-fiction books (1 a month) - I think aiming for 12 works for me. I'd like to go above that, but I'm setting the goal at 1 a month.
  • Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding) - There were a couple of months where I barely squeaked by with this, so I'm keeping it at 2/month.
  • Read at least 2 eBooks I own each month - as I head into the B's maybe I can scoot through more than just one letter this year.
  • Read at least 1 book off my GoodReads TBR list - since I cleared out my Currently Reading list, I thought it would be good to attack the TBR list. The thing about my GoodReads TBR list, is that it doesn't include any books I own. I keep it strictly for books I read or hear about that I don't own. But the list keeps getting longer and longer, so I'd like to take a stab at trying to whittle it down just a little bit.
  • Read at least 2 academic articles each month (1 library related/1 literature related) - I read articles pretty regularly as part of my job, so I'm thinking of articles above and beyond those - things I've been curious about or that I just want to read more on. I figure if I add it as a goal, I'll have to force myself to go looking for things to read and will branch out a bit more.
So those are my goals. Any bookish plans you have for the next year? I'd love to hear about them!

No comments: