Monday, January 20, 2014

2014: Goals and Releases

The new year is well underway and has been keeping me quite busy so far. I've made a number of resolutions this year -- a lot of them have to do with fitness (I know, so cliche!), but a few also to do with reading. I am mostly keeping the goals that I had last year because they worked out quite well for me.

Goal 1: Read 40 books.
I just barely made it to 40 books last year (the number was 32 in 2012 and 36 in 2011) and I think just staying at this level will keep me quite busy in the year to come.

Goal 2: Read one technical book.
This is an educational goal -- I would like to read a book in my field. Sometimes these types of books bog me down for months, but it's almost always worth it as long as I pick carefully.

Goal 3: Read one popular non-fiction book.
This is similar to the goal above, but more broad to include any sort of non-fiction. I will probably try to read Genome by Scott Ridley; it's been sitting on my bookshelf for quite some time now.

And that's all! The rest of the time I am just going to enjoy whatever book crosses my field of vision. Among those are some 2014 publications that I am looking forward to. In particular,

1. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley (Jan 2014)
This is the latest installment of Flavia's adventures that I am totally looking forward to. The book is already on my Kindle, waiting to be read.

2. What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton (Jan 2014)
I very much enjoyed Walton's fiction because she talks about sci-fi novels in her writing. This is a collection of essays about speculative fiction and I think it will be pretty interesting to read, though I might wait to see other folks' reviews before purchasing this one.

3. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Mar 2014)
I really liked everything I've read by Lockhart so far. She writes awesome YA fiction, so I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

4. Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon (June 2014)
This is going to be the latest installment of the Outlander series. And I am still hooked, so definitely a buy.

Also if Louise Penny and Scott Lynch manage to release their next books in 2014, that would be lovely.

2 comments:

  1. Walton's book seems very appropriate. I'd be willing to bet she does a book of that sort very well.

    I'm so out of touch with current publishing: what's new, and interesting and why. The only book that I know that's coming out this year that I'm looking forward to is The Magicians Land by Lev Grossman.

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    1. Oh, The Magicians Land is coming out this year? That should make my list too! Now, who's out touch? :)

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