More for my own amusement than anything else and a bit behind the times - 2022 Reading Plans
(note to self - find 2021 post of same, copy and paste, change dates and images, job done)
Ambitious or more likely ridiculous setting reading plans for a whole year, when I can't stay on track for more than a book, maybe two before getting my head turned by something else. Oh well..
I did actually achieve two of my aims in 2021, so there might be some hope for me.
1. Make decent progress on my USA State reading challenge. I've probably read more than half the states in the country but am too idle to keep things up to date. I would like to finish it in 2023. If I could be a bit proactive and get halfway that would be good
2. Catch up with my wife and son - I'm a list of books behind on the sidebar. So far behind I've not listed what they've read in the past couple of years that I haven't looked at.
3. Ditto - an author catch up list.... Charlie Stella, Anthony Neil Smith, Michael Connelly to mention a few...... probably 30 books to catch up on this sidebar irritation. I should probably add Dietrich Kalteis to the list.
4. Try and complete several book series I started running through some years ago, at a pace of one a month before getting distracted - Matt Scudder by Lawrence Block, Travis McGee by John D. MacDonald, Elvis Cole by Robert Crais, Quarry by Max Allan Collins and Nameless by Bill Pronzini.
5. There are a couple of other series I want to start from the beginning and read my way through. Garry Disher has two, Frank Zafiro's River City series, Colin Conway's 509 series, Mick Herron's Slough House series.
6. Complete the 2019 European Reading Challenge run by Rose City Reader, aiming for at least 12 countries in the year. If I count the UK as four separate countries, I could feasibly get to 24 different European venues. Possibly rolling over to 2023 then.
7. More blog related than reading - finish cataloguing my books - the physical ones at least. I've been a bit slack regarding this! When I get caught up on my blog posts - I'm about a month behind I'll have to get back on the horse.
I think I'm up to 86 tubs recorded with about 20 still to do - another 1000 books!
I might try and log the books on the kindle as well for a sense of completism. Plus I have another computer app that stores books on the laptop.
8. Try and keep on top of any freebies/review copies that might come my way. Probably not so many these days.
9. Stop browsing Net Galley and Edelweiss early reviewer sites. The world won't end if I don't get my hands on every new crime fiction book published! Try and get my percentage up on Net Galley from 39% to at least 50. Preferred feedback level is 80%.
10. Stop buying books or buy less books maybe.
11. Try and catch up on the TV and Film backlog listed.
12. I do have a somewhat ambitious goal of trying to read a complete Indie publishers output - All Due Respect. I bloody love them. I think since 2012/2013 they've published nearly 70 books. I've maybe read 20 of them give or take. I probably have 40 in the TBR pile. I just like what they do. So why not aim high?
I've created a page for All Due Respect so at least I have made a start.
I don't think they are publishing much going forward, but last year they put out more than I read, so I've still some catching up to do.
13. 120 yearly reading target as per usual. I read about 220 last year, so maybe I ought to set my sights a bit higher. I'll see if I can maintain that for 2022, then aim for 200 a year in future.
14. Read more female authors than in 2019/2021/2022 - I might need to actually find out how many that was first. I suppose I could at least aim to make one book in every three I read a female author.
15. Enjoy the books. I did last year and I'm liking what I've read this year so far.
I really do admire you for making reading plans, Col, whether or not they end up happening. You can't reach a goal that you haven't set. That said, though, I think your last is the most important: enjoy what you read. And I'd add: life is short. If a book isn't drawing you in, if it's not for you, don't finish it.
ReplyDeleteMargot, thanks. I like making plans, writing lists, setting targets etc and I suppose whether I meet them or not is incidental. The world isn't going to stop spinning on its axis because I didn't read x,y or z before an arbitrary deadline.
DeleteI get the life is short thing and discard a book if you aren't vibing it, but I don't know that I'll ever be able to do that. I suppose the number of books I've felt like hurling at the wall is quite low, because I kind of know what I'll like and maybe I don't push my reading boundaries too hard. I have a strategy for slow books which works for me. And despite my sometimes glass half empty outlook, I do always remain positive that a book will get better as I read it.
I always have a fuzzy idea of what I want to read, but like you, I always get distracted by something new and shiny. If you haven't read a book set in Utah (my home state) you could try Gary Stewart (The Tenth Virgin, The Zarahemla Vision), John Farris's Solar Eclipse, or Robert Irvine's first Moroni Traveler book, Baptism for the Dead, or -- last one, I promise -- Andrew Hunt's City of the Saints.
ReplyDeleteI really dig Garry Disher's work. If I hadn't already read his Wyatt novels more than once I would start the series today. I like his Inspector Challis books, too. Chain of Evidence is the best, I think.
Anyway, here's to a great year of reading.
Ben, good to know I'm not the only one who gets side-tracked. Thanks for the suggestions for Utah, I'll bear them in mind.
DeleteDisher is great isn't he. The Challis books I haven't got to. The Wyatt's I've maybe read 3, but want to start again. It's not like I have a gazillion books waiting that I can't spare the time to re-read some!