New Year's Resolutions - Let's Get Real!

Welcome to Tutu's 2012 Goals.

Rather than get all frazzled by joining sixty-eleven bazillion challenges, I'm doing something a bit different this year. I'm not going to spazz on numbers or challenges. In fact, I suspect, I'll actually be reading fewer books this year for a number of reasons. I read 149 in 2011, but think it will be closer to 100 for 2012. After looking at where I want my reading to go this year, I've decided to set some goals to guide my reading choices, but, with one exception I'm going to concentrate on what my sister Cheli has christened BOMBS (Books On My BookShelves). 

I have several goals: 
1. Continue to read in the US Presidents Challenge group on LibraryThing. This is an open ended "challenge" so I don't have to read any specific number.  I've only finished 5 so far, but just got "The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness" (which I started last year but couldn't hold the dang book-too heavy), so it's now on my Nook.

2. I'll be reading at least 2 ARCs a week since I enjoy blogging about new books and publishers who grace me with review copies do have some expectation that I'll publish some reviews. I have a boatload of good ones on my Nook (many from NetGalley) and others as paper galleys to finish. I'm currently entranced by Elizabeth George's newest Inspector Lynley - "Believing the Lie" due for publication this month. 

3. In addition to the President's bios, I'm going to read lots of other biography---this genre (along with memoirs) is one of my favorites, and I'm hoping to read at least one bio/memoir per month.

4. I'' be reading lots of mysteries - in fact, I had almost decided to read only histories and mysteries for 2012, but I know myself too well to set myself up to have to refuse a good work of science, food writing or fiction.

6. Speaking of fiction, I'm going to be skimming a lot of it during the year. I just got invited  to participate in recommending the adult fiction selections for the state's Overdrive Consortium - both ebooks and audios, so I have to leave room for those wonderful tomes I'll discover that scream "read me, read me."

7. Also since I'm a Maine librarian, albeit a transplant "from away", I'm trying to do more reading of some of our great Maine authors like Elisabeth Ogilvie, Leah Wait, Sarah Orne Jewett, and many others. 

8. Book clubs and group reads will provide some great reading. Our library's first up is "Kehinde" in our Women's perspective series.

9. There'll be some miscellaneous non-fiction, particularly concerning food. 

10. And my only "challenge" is participating in a group called War Through the Generations where we'll be reading (fiction and non-fiction) focused on World War I. I already have over 14 stacked up to read in a variety of formats - audio, ebook, and good old fashioned print. My daughter was a history/german major  so she loaded me up with a ton of goodies while we were in Virginia last week. 

There's a great variety of formats available in this list and while many of these are available in audio,  many are already available sitting on my shelves (wooden or virtual) so I'll be able to keep up while I'm doing my 4x weekly water aerobics, waiting in line at the grocery or the blood lab  (e-readers are really great for this) or just sitting in front of the fire watching the snow fall. 

I think I'll be keeping busy, but I hope to stop by and visit you all during the year.  Instead of just lurking, I'll be dropping a comment, and letting you know I've been to visit. I think sometimes it gets discouraging when there are no comments on a blog, so I'm going to try to be a better member of the blogging community and speak up a bit more.