Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a great time over the festive period whatever you were able to do to celebrate. This year, as well as the usual good intentions to eat more healthily and do more exercise, I decided to make a few reading resolutions. I’m much more likely to stick to them I’m sure!
Resolution number 1 –Read more poetry
I got this lovely book of Scottish poetry from a friend for my Christmas. My intention is to read the relevant poem for the date each morning. The book includes poems from Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Mackay Brown, Sir Walter Scott, Liz Lochhead, Nan Shepherd, Kathleen Jamie, John Rice, Muriel Spark, Iain Crichton Smith, Julia Donaldson, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay – even Mary Queen of Scots! There are poems about the seasons, the landscape, history and important dates in the Scottish calendar such as Burns Night and Hogmanay. I think this will be a great way for me to discover more Scottish poets as many of those included are new to me.
Resolution number 2 – read more from my own to-be-read pile
One of the great things about blogging is that I get offered the chance to read lots of lovely new books. It’s sometimes very hard to say no! But it does mean that books I have bought myself or been given as gifts sometimes sit on the to-be-read pile, whether at the side of the bed or on my Kindle, for quite some time. I want to try to read at least two books a month which are not ones I have committed to read for a review. I’ll still review them of course – that’s really important for authors – and hopefully I’ll make a dent in my personal tbr. This week, two of my reviews are from my own reading pile.
Resolution number 3 – don’t take on too many reading commitments!
See above! If I can just have some self-control when agreeing which books I will take on for review, then I might not find myself reading frantically to deadlines…
Resolution number 4 – complete my GoodReads challenge
This isn’t really a new resolution as I do a GoodReads reading challenge every year. I find it’s a good way to keep track of what I’m reading. This year I have set myself a target of 100 books, which is what I do every year. That averages out at around 2 books a week and is something I usually achieve quite easily. I don’t want to increase it though as I don’t want to put pressure on myself. Plus it’s always nice to feel you have achieved a goal isn’t it?
Have you made any reading resolutions? Do let me know if you have.
Portobello Book Blog 
Managing review commitments can be tricky!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh definitely, it’s a struggle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I want to be able to see the reading table. Currently it has several piles on it – and I know they are all *excellent*. Which won’t stop more books from arriving…
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a never ending problem isn’t it? If only the authors would stop writing such good books for a while… 🙂
LikeLike
I’ve decided not to make any hard and fast resolutions – I’ve not done well over the last few years.
I’m doing one reading challenge this year, can be found on twitter under #beatTheBacklog, where I do what I can to get rid of my backlog of books (there are loads!). If I can make a dent in those on the sofa, all the better!
My Goodreads Challenge this year is (again) stupidly low at 20 (used to be 100+) as I am now focussing on quality over quantity
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the sound of the #beatthebacklog challenge. It’s one of the perils of being a bookworm isn’t it. All these authors will insist on keeping writing more fabulous books!
LikeLike
I’ve got a GR target of 78, I want to read at least one nonfiction book a month and I want to reduce my Netgalley shelf 🤞🤞
LikeLiked by 1 person
My Netgalley shelf is quite empty but I like the idea of reading more non-fiction. I don’t read a lot of that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I used to love nonfiction and stopped reading it but kept buying it so set myself the challenge last year of 1 a month which I really enjoyed so I’m continuing this year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not many commitments is also on my list! Great resolution!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let’s hope we can stick to it! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
I want to read more of my own books this year too. I did a huge sort out of all of my books at the end of 2021 and it’s made me keen to read some of the books I’ve owned for ages and forgotten about so I want to focus on those more. Happy New Year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy New Year to you too Hayley. Hope you find a forgotten treasure in your pile.
LikeLike
Good luck with your goals Joanne. My main one is to reduce my tbr pile, as I don’t get sent books, I’m the only one responsible for adding to it, so in theory that should be do-able, somehow I’m not so sure! Happy New Year and Happy reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s bottomless the tbr pile isn’t it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
it is!
LikeLiked by 1 person