Happy New Year!
Every year, thousands of us make New Year’s resolutions to improve our reading habits. For me, from the hodgepodge of wildly optimistic and unrealistic resolutions, those that focus on reading are the ones that are nearly always fully realised. So, to honour the season of giving, I’m sharing my Reading Resolutions for this year for anyone looking for inspiration from a fellow book lover.
My nephew turns two at the end of January. He really loves books (and I really love him) so read on to find out how my book-orientated resolutions for this year also feature little Joshua.
1. Keep a record
I have a terrible tendency to forget what I’ve read, from the title and author right through to key incidents in the story (although I always manage to recall whether I enjoyed a book or not). In an attempt to remedy this, I’m going to keep a little notebook with the title, author, date and a short sentence to remind me of the broad storyline of all the books I read. Hopefully, this will also help when friends ask for book recommendations!
2. Read myself green
I really care about green issues, but often find myself overwhelmed trying to keep up with all the figures and stats that appear in the news. I already have a few green titles lined up but I’ll be keeping an eye out for lots more in the coming year.
3. Learn a story by heart
When I was young, I remember my mum reciting stories, normally poetry, that she’d learned off by heart. I’d love to do the same for my nephew so I’m going to try and learn a few fun stories that I can share with him. My theory is that knowing something that well means you really get inside the story and can tell it with proper characters and voices!
4. Judge a book by it’s cover
I’ve always been careful to adhere to the advice “don’t judge a book by its cover”. However, for no particular reason, this year I’m going to try the opposite and choose a few books based purely on their design rather than reviews or recommendations! I have no real idea what this might achieve, but I’m sort of hoping that it will lead me to some new writers.
5. Don’t be selfish in bookshops
As soon as I get near anywhere that sells books, a great wave of selfishness overtakes me and I always forget to keep an eye out for reads that other people might enjoy. This year will see that shameful behaviour cast aside; I resolve to keep a particular eye out for children’s books that I think Joshua might enjoy.
6. Freshen up my bookshelf
This resolution has some similarity to number 5. It’s all about the new authors this year. I want to read stuff so fresh that no one has had the time to review it yet. To that end, I’ll be hanging out on websites like this a lot more, as well keeping up with debut novels here to try and pick up a few up and coming or ‘undiscovered’ names.
7. Read Children’s Books
Josh is only two so I’m definitely getting ahead of myself on this one, but I want to reread some of the classic children’s books I enjoyed as a child. Books like The Wishing Chair and The Chronicles of Narnia were so important to me growing up, it seems unfair to forget all about them just because a few years have passed. I’m also going to try and read a few classic tales that I somehow missed out on as a youngster. For example, I never read any Famous Five and I really don’t recall reading Where the Wild Things Are!
8. Self-publish a children’s story
This one’s a bit of biggy to be sneaking in at the end, but, as described in a post from a couple of weeks ago, I’d really love to write and self-publish a children’s story for a certain someone’s Christmas present next year. I already have a main character (he’s a much loved sock monkey with red and white stripes) and an idea for a plot, so I reckon it’s all systems go!
What about you? Do you have any literary minded resolutions for 2010 that you’d like to inspire others with? I’d love to hear them in the comments.
Tags: Children's books, new authors, new year, reading, resolutions