Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2013

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

1. Read at least 60 books

2. Read more nineteenth century novels to fill in the gaps in my "Read at least one work of fiction from each year, 1800-2013" project: I've actually already read at least one book 1900-2013, so really I just need to read fiction 1800-1899.

3. Finish Institutes of the Christian Religion: It's long and dense and difficult and I'm not sure I've got the clearest translation, although it's likely the most literal. But it's a good exercise in thinking and I agree with a good portion of Calvin's theology, so I am enjoying myself, after I figure out what exactly he's saying in a given passage.

4. Reread some childhood favorites: Mostly stuff by L. M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Elizabeth Enright, Elizabeth George Speare, and Jules Verne

5. Read some of the books I own but have never read: According to my catalog on LibraryThing, I own 83 unread books.

6. Post something about every book I read: I may not post a review of every book (some books are too meaningful for one of my simple reviews while others are over-written-about already--I love Harry Potter, but does the world really need another Sorcerer's Stone review?), but I would like to say something about each book, even if it's just "Hey world, I read this book."

7. Read more often: I tend to read in fits and starts, reading three books in one day and then not reading anything for two weeks. But I've found my brain runs more smoothly when I spend more time reading quality literature and less time piddling around the internet, so I need to read more... and somehow make this work with Goal #6.

8. Read more non-fiction: (including cookbooks)

9. Read more poetry: For years I thought I didn't like poetry; it turned out I just didn't like the poetry I was reading. I'd like to read more T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden in particular, although I may pick up some Edgar Lee Masters, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and William Stafford along the way.

10. Read the six books assigned to me by my best friend in our "must-read book list exhange": Essentially, we each picked six books we'd read that the other hadn't that we each thought the other would like. I'm to read the following:
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Descent into Hell by Charles Williams
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
Adam and Eve after the Pill by Mary Eberstadt

2 comments:

  1. W.H. Auden is my favorite! I just scored a copy of his collected poems at a used bookstore. I also really liked The End of the Affair.

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  2. I've got Auden's The Shield of Achilles out from the library, but I need to finish my Harry Potter reread before I move on to my library books.

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