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Original poster

New year’s bookish resolutions

51 replies

Cherrypi · 13/12/2018 12:41

I know it’s a bit early.

I would like to pass the 50 book challenge for once.

Also I am going to read at least one translation, one classic and a graphic novel.

Generally I’m going to try and pick up a book more and my phone less.

What are yours?

OP posts:
Spieluhr · 13/12/2018 14:21

I have a lot of German books, (Books by German authors, Books set in Germany, about characters who are German or German history books.) I want to try to get through the 45 or so that I own.

I want to record all of the books that I've read on Goodreads. I'd lost track by March.

I want to have read all of the books that I currently own and haven't read, or at least as many as possible.

And finally I want to read at least 10 classics this year.

BeatriceJoanna · 13/12/2018 16:03

Good thread. I've been thinking about this over the past week or so and this is my (tentative!) plan:

i) Stop wasting so much time online and read more.

ii) I want to read a lot more poetry - Paradise Lost, The Faerie Queen, The Odyssey and The Wasteland are ones that I definitely want to get to.

iii) I would like to make a dent in the huge stack of unread plays that I have on my shelf.

iv) Also want to read some of the Dickens novels that I've been dodging for years.

That's as far as I've got for now.

SaraEl · 14/12/2018 19:09

Next year i'm going to try and build in some better life habits - setting my alarm 40 mins earlier and beating rush hour traffic into work (effectively saving me and extra 20 mins on top!) and using that time for self development. I've already started it, (but am now off work until Jan! yay!) and am finding it much easier to fit in reading.

My resolution is to read a book and pass it on - let's face it, who actually re-reads something more than once or twice. I feel so sad for those great books sat on my shelf.

I'd love some good book recommendations for the year (no doubt i'll get some gift vouchers for Christmas so I'd love to hear some top reads).

My most favourite books this year were : The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnolley (amzn.to/2QR1AXp) 4.6 /5 stars on Amazon - very cheap on Kindle and SO worth a read. I couldn't put it down. Action, romance, history, i just didn't want it to end.

My other recommendation would be Shantaram (amzn.to/2Ccmybc) over 1000 reviews averaging 4.6/5. Serious action and intrigue here! It was my summer read and was so gripping I couldn't put it down.

I'm buying more as both as gifts this Christmas :)

WaterBird · 14/12/2018 22:57

Mine is more around spending less time reading and more time writing, because I like to write but don't do it a lot.
I know this is slightly off-topic, but does anyone know if there's supposed to be a December book of the month on here? Checked that section and couldn't find it.

silentcrow · 14/12/2018 23:11

Gleefully not having any resolutions or challenges next year other than for the sheer joy of it. This year I did the Bookriot Read Harder challenge (complete bar one graphic novel), Read Around Europe challenge (failed miserably due to cost), two (or three?) Series Crackdowns (they were fun, I'd do those again) and one Dewey's 24hr readathon (exhausting but worthwhile). I more than doubled my usual reading rate due to working with books in my day job and my TBR is still utterly horrific.

Next year I solemnly swear not to request so many books from Netgalley and to have a better ratio of my books to books for work.

It'll never work, but I can try!

toffee1000 · 15/12/2018 04:14

Not spend so much damn time on YouTube and actually read!! 😂😂 I’m on the 15th book of the year. I’d like to do more like 20+ next year. I’m not a slow reader, I just read a bit, stop for the night, then don’t read for a few days as I’m doing other things (YouTube ahem). So it’s mainly reducing my time spent idly surfing the Internet. I could get lost on Wikipedia...

Original poster
Cherrypi · 15/12/2018 11:51

These posts are giving me more ideas. I also want to read more of the books I already own particularly physical books on shelves. I also want to limit myself to only reading four books at once. I need to finish more books before I start another new one.

OP posts:
WaterBird · 16/12/2018 07:01

I used to be able to read four books at once but don't have time for that now, so limit myself to one book and one short story collection at a time, mostly.
Can also get lost on Wikipedia. And TBF, YouTube has some great stuff.

Tumilnaughts · 16/12/2018 07:28

My goal is to actually read some of the books I've been collecting in my Amazon wish list. I've already been given a gift card which is sitting in the Christmas tree waiting to be spent but hoping to receive some books for Christmas and don't want duplicates. My wish list is mostly contemporary science fiction and non-fiction ( mainly heritage/history stuff).

tobee · 16/12/2018 14:51

For some reason Apple have decided to give users a weekly report about how they use their phone. It's totally shame making in my case. Which explains why I'm not getting through my books. How can I spend quite so much time on mumsnet? Blush

WaterBird · 17/12/2018 02:10

@Tobee
I believe you can turn screen time off.

southeastdweller · 17/12/2018 10:22

I say it every year but I'm really going to try hard this time to resist being swayed by marketing and read fewer 2018/9 books because invariably the books I choose are underwhelming. So I want to read one, maybe two, modern classics a month.

tobee · 18/12/2018 01:40

Thanks @WaterBird! I'll look into that.

CollyWombles · 18/12/2018 20:40

I would love to read 50 books in 2019, I can generally read an average size book in a day, but I go through real fits and starts with reading. I'm going to do my best. I don't like overhead lights at night, so could do with a new ereader that has a back light too.

marshmallowkittycat · 18/12/2018 20:55

I'd like to read 100 books. 2 years running I've tried and not managed it.

I also will make more use of local libraries, I can't afford to buy many books.

And I'll be doing the Bookriot Read Harder challenge too, if I don't finish it I don't mind, it helped to broaden my horizons reading wise and I hope to do this again.

FiveGoMadInDorset · 18/12/2018 21:04

Not to buy any more books! Have enough on my shelves to keep me going a few years

yaela123 · 19/12/2018 17:16

Last year I made the resolution to record all the books I read as I was fed up of looking at stuff and not remembering if I had read it or not, plus I thought it would be nice to look back on. For once I have actually managed to keep to my resolution. I've just recorded the dates, title, author, very brief note about what it was and a sentence about what I fought. It's been really nice to look back on and also see how my reading habits have changed over the year- both frequency (sometimes I'll get through a book every 2 days, other periods it takes 2 months) and type of book. So I am definitely going to try and keep that up.

I also started the 50 books challenge for the first time. To be honest, I didn't have much of a clue how big or small a challenge it would be because I'd never really recorded how many books I was reading, but I've just passed 50 (on to 56 I think now) and I don't think I have read much more than I usually would. So maybe 70 next year...

I think my main goal for 2019 is to stop borrowing from the library and buying new books and actually get through all the unread ones I already own. The pile seems to have grown every time I look away.

I hadn't heard of the Bookriot Read Harder challenge before but it looks really interesting so I might look into that more too!

yaela123 · 19/12/2018 17:19

There is a knitting term commonly used which is SABLE - stash acquired beyond life expectancy

I think this applies to books too Grin

babybythesea · 21/12/2018 10:07

Buy fewer books, read more.

A couple of years ago I read "Howard's End is on the Landing" by Susan Hill and thought 'what a good idea'. She basically goes looking for a book she knows she has somewhere, can't find it, but keeps coming across other books she'd forgotten about, hadn't read, wanted to re-read..... So she decided to have a year of not buying new books, but reading her way round the ones she already had. I tried it last year, and got to April without buying anything new. Then, once I'd broken it, I thought "oh well, in for a penny in for a pound" and now I've have loads more unread books. I stopped counting at 500...
So I'm reading more, and not buying, and will just be adding to the wish list if something strikes me as good and worth trying.

MorticiaAddamsIsMyStyleGuru · 21/12/2018 10:22

I'm being given a kindle for Christmas and my resolution is to read not surf. I love to read but I am abysmal with actual books. So 2019 is the year I'm going to rediscover my love of books.
I love autobiographies so I'm starting to make a list. Suggestions gladly received 😁
However, I have already downloaded A Christmas Carol. The one book I read every year. ❤️🎄🎅🏼

lastqueenofscotland · 21/12/2018 11:50

Spend less time on my phone
Keep a better log of what I’m reading

RangeRider · 21/12/2018 11:55

let's face it, who actually re-reads something more than once or twice
Shock Seriously??????? I have a lot of books that I've read so many times I practically know them off by heart! And I enjoy a book so much more after the first couple of reads because then I know what's coming and can anticipate and saviour it. If I'm only willing to read a book once or twice then it's not much of a book at all.
Sat here in shock at the thought Wink

RangeRider · 21/12/2018 11:58

I want to spend less time on Mumsnet and the pc generally and more time reading books, especially old favourites that I'd neglected in my mission to read all my books again (took me about 3 years even at about 5 books a week). And maybe buy fewer books so I can re-enjoy already owned ones more.

PhilODox · 21/12/2018 12:43

Oh yaela that is me

Read more, read better is my aim for 2019!

RisingGround · 21/12/2018 12:48

I started to count up the unread books around the house and on kindle. Lost count, felt v guilty and so my resolution is to read more books than I buy. I'm keeping a proper track of them in 2019 too.

And no more watching Booktube and thinking I must read that book. No I don't have to 😀