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.

New Year Goals

It's January 2013 and as the gyms fill up with everyone who's made a resolution to lose weight this year, it's time for me to take stock of my goals for the year.

1. Read 40 books
2. Read 3 non-fiction books
3. Enjoy goals 1 & 2 :)

I decided that I am not going to try for anything too ambitious, mostly because I really want to do goal 3 rather than pick up books based on some arbitrary criteria.

Here are 3 of the books that I would like to read in 2013:

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein - this is a YA novel that appeared on so many 2012 best lists that I am really curious to try it

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer - this also got a whole lot of rave reviews and sounds like a fun read.

Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny - I first read a review of this book on Carl's blog and it caught my interest. I am definitely expanding into mystery novels these days.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading. Best of 2012 lists definitely bolstered my to-read list and I am looking forward to some awesome books in the months to come.

Book Shopping and Goals for 2011

I went out today and splurged a bit to buy some books. The first I've got is Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. Since I enjoyed Against a Dark Background last year, I thought his first book in the Culture series would be worth checking out as well. I also picked up The Company by K.J. Parker, which had some all-around good reviews around in the past few years. Finally, I've got Old Man's War by John Scalzi. I enjoyed Agent to the Stars very much, so I hope this book would be a treat as well.

I've also been thinking about some reading goals for 2011. Here's what I decided to try for:
1. Read 48 books this year -- e.g. 4 books per month. I only hit 44 last year, so a stretch goal.
2. Read at least 20 books by authors I haven't read ever before
3. Finish at least 3 books in 7 different genres. I am thinking fantasy, sci-fi, urban fantasy, children, YA, mystery, historical fiction would likely to be the genres but I am not setting these particular ones as a goal necessarily.

I guess we'll see how that goes. I am reading Shadow's Edge by Brent Weeks right now, so you are likely to see the review for that pretty soon.

Reading Goals for 2010

It's the time of the year to set some reading goals.

1. Read 45 books this year

I didn't even come close to my 50 book goal last year. It seems I averaged about 3 books a month and could only pull off a higher number when I read shorter books or books I enjoyed so much that I read them nonstop. Going to try for 4 books/month this year.

2. Read at least 2 non-fiction books

I have a cookbook and several psychology-related non-fiction books that has been waiting for me to read them. Hoping to get through them this year. I have a lot of trouble sticking with non-fiction reading.

3. Read more science fiction, in particular classics

I am much more well-read in fantasy genre than in science fiction. I would really like to read some of the classics I've heard so much about but never gotten to. Larry Niven's Ringworld is probably going to be first since it's already sitting on my bookshelf.

4. Have fun

Yes expect more silly book reviews because sometimes it's fun to read something easy breezy cheesy :)