I am a nerdy nerd who gets great pleasure out of thinking about what I will read next, planning out things to read, and making reading resolutions every year. Reading resolutions are, in fact, the only resolutions I stick with because they're the only ones I make. Of course I also want to do more yoga and keep my house clean, but reading resolutions are way more fun.
(Plus, they are good for my job!)
Last year, I set a few reading resolutions:
1. Read at least 50 teen books. Since I took over managing teen services last year, I definitely wanted to step up my reading of YA lit this year. I read 66 teen books this year, which more than meets my goal.
2. Read at least 25 adult books. Doing the Read Harder Challenge and participating in my book club definitely helped me with this one and I read 43 adult books this year.
I also participated in Book Riot's 2016 Read Harder Challenge, which definitely stretched me in some ways (I read a play!). I didn't put that down on last year's resolutions post because I wasn't sure that I would actually follow through with it, but I did and it was a lot of fun!
I'm proud of how I did this year, especially seeing how unsure I was going into the beginning of 2016 (and recovering from Newbery and planning a wedding). I read some GREAT books, including some that got me out of my comfort zone, and it was all great fun.
So, what to do this year?
I will definitely be participating in Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge and I've got a couple of my library colleagues doing it with me, so that should be a lot of fun.
I have a great love for nonfiction, but I realize that I haven't made it a priority this year like I have in the past, so I'd like to read more of that. And I still need to keep teen books at the forefront of my mind, I think. I think with doing Read Harder and my book club that I will have no problem incorporating adult books into my life this year. So my resolutions this year will be:
1. Finish the 2017 Read Harder Challenge. Some of these categories will be a stretch for me again (poetry! a micropress!), but it's fun to do a challenge with a group.
2. Read at least 30 children's or teen nonfiction books this year (that's a little more than 2 a month, definitely doable).
3. Read at least 50 teen books this year (and yes, nonfiction and fiction will count for this).
4. At least 25% of the books I read this year will be by authors of color. I started to track this and just tracking it really shifted my reading, so this *should* be a no-brainer for me. (Why would I track this? Read this post from Book Riot.)
AND I have one non-reading goal, which is to get more into Litsy this year. I am really enjoying that social media app for book lovers and I would like to be more active there. Are you on Litsy? Follow me @abbylibrarian or let me know your handle and I'll follow you. I would love to connect with more folks there!
What will YOUR reading resolutions be this year?
