Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Reading (and Other) Resolutions/Hopes for a New Year


Resolutions/Hopes for 2021 

1. Finish all the half-read books started in 2019 and 2020.

2. Keep up with writing a review of every single book I read this year.

3. Re-read two classics. I think my choices will be: Richard Llewelyn's How Green Was My Valley and Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. It's been 30 years since I have read either of those. How will my perspective differ in my 50s than in my 20s? Will I still consider them two of my favorites books ever?

4. Memorize a poem. When Randy and I are hiking, we often quote fragments of poetry and immediately say, "I wish I could recite a whole poem!" My parents, who grew up in a generation where memorization was emphasized, can both recite—in their 90s— at least a few poems in their entirety. I so wish I could do this! I think I will choose Wendell Berry's "The Peace of Wild Things."

5. Read all the books for book club—on time. Our book club has been really sporadic and disorganized since COVID hit. I hope we get our feet back on the ground and find a regular meeting time again!

6. Read at least two autobiographies or memoirs. I loved the ones I read lats year: Michelle Obama's Becoming, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, and Carole King's Natural Woman. Suggestions welcome!

7. Blog more! I'm doing better here at my reading blog; now I need to be more consistent with SmallWorld at Home! I love link-ups, so suggestions for "regular" blog link-ups are appreciated.

8. Carve out more time for reading. I primarily read my pleasure book (as opposed to newspaper articles and work-related materials) only at night, as part of my going-to-sleep ritual. I'd like to dedicate an hour each day to reading for pleasure.

9. Have more gatherings. Some of this is wishful thinking, imagining that day when we can have indoor parties again, but in the meantime, I'd love to have a a few friends over to sit around the bonfire every couple of weeks instead of just now and then.

10. Keep participating in the book blogging community regularly!

Linked up with Top Ten Tuesday at Artsy Reader Girl

4 comments:

Lydia said...

What wonderful goals. I hope you accomplish all of them.

My post.

Sammie @ The Bookwyrm's Den said...

I love the idea of reciting poetry on hikes! You chose a good poem to memorize, too. I've memorized several when I was a teen that I can still recite, which makes me laugh, since I can't even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but I can remember that one poem I memorized two decades ago. xD Oops. Good luck with your goals!

Here's my TTT post.

Susan said...

Memorizing a poem you love sounds like a great goal! I had a few memorized when I was a kid, but I'm too old to remember them (or anything, really) now. LOL.

Happy TTT!

Susan
www.blogginboutbooks.com

collettakay said...

I know very little about poetry (just what I learned in school) but being able to recite an entire poem sound very cool :) I hope you can stop by:

https://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2021/01/2021-goals-update-1.html

Colletta

P.S. I'm a new follower :)