2014 Goals
Posted 3rd January 2014
Category: Chit-Chat Genres: N/A
17 Comments
In many ways I feel silly writing this post as I didn’t do very well with the goals I set for 2013, but it feels a good idea to have goals all the same. Here’s a summary of what my goals were and how I failed/changed.
- I did okay in the first Long-Awaited Reads Month Ana and Iris hosted, reading The Luminous Life Of Lilly Aphrodite and Shanghai Girls, but didn’t read Shogun or The Last Empress.
- I didn’t read anything from the specific list of classics I wrote as goals, nor did I read Anne Brontë or Collins, but I did read The Great Gatsby and Gone With The Wind and I did read Dickens.
- At the last moment – early December – I finally got around to reading a book by Elizabeth Chadwick. It was quite an epic at 467 pages. And I have acquired the entirety of her backlist (as it existed before To Deny A King). I specifically acquired the rest all at once because I like the old covers.
So really I’ve been a bit cheeky to myself, changing the ‘rules’ without really changing them, however this has taught me that I should make realistic goals for myself. Last year’s goals were realistic, it’s true, but as I found myself wishing to read more at random, they didn’t work. I forgot about them. I need something very different this year.
- Work further on my Classics Club list, no matter whether that’s one book or all of them.
- Accept that I enjoy historical romances and read more Sherry Thomas and Eloisa James.
- Read more of my own books.
- Read Neil Gaiman.
- Read more non-fiction, but don’t freak out if it doesn’t happen because fiction has its own intellectual merits.
- Take part in and finish the What’s In A Name challenge. (I hope I can do this – considering I’m hosting it this year it would be bad if I couldn’t!). For this challenge I wanted to read books I already had on my to be read pile so that I could get through some of my owned books in the process, and also because it’s just a lot easier to find books when you’ve placed a limitation on where you find them. I managed to find a book for every category without having to resort to the ones I’d used an an example in the sign up post – bonus! These books are The Undivided Past by David Cannadine, The Queen’s Promise by Lyn Andrews, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N K Jemisin, My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier, and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
And that’s it. Do-able, lazy-sounding, but far-more-likely-to-be-achieved goals.
Are you making reading goals for this year?
January 3, 2014, 5:19 am
I am usually pretty low-key about my goals because I suck at accomplishing them… Best of luck to you!
January 3, 2014, 6:17 am
Cloud Atlas! Great idea. I may read two for that category because I’d really like to read that book but I also already have Storm Front (Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher for that category.
January 3, 2014, 8:05 am
Wonderful goals for the New Year, Charlie! Hope you enjoy reading Neil Gaiman. I have enjoyed all his books that I have read. Happy reading!
January 3, 2014, 8:13 am
I’d like to use my university library more, as it does have a really impressive vintage fiction collection, and, of course, it would save a bit of cash to borrow not buy. We’ll see!
January 3, 2014, 9:59 am
Good luck with you 2014 goals Charlie. My only real goals are to continue working my way through my Classics Club list and hopefully keep my non-fiction reading up.
January 3, 2014, 10:54 am
Happy New Year! This year I’d like to read more in translation and in the different languages I’m able to (more or less successfully) tackle.
The biggest book-related challenge however is to get back to pre-baby blogging levels (a girl can dream!)
January 3, 2014, 12:07 pm
Good luck with your goals! I’ve still not read Anne Bronte, just can’t will myself to do it at the moment – not after putting myself through Northanger Abbey anyway.
I’m not making any, last year I was meant to do something in January and I never did. I’ll only break any rules I give myself, I’m too fickle.
January 3, 2014, 12:26 pm
Definitely not lazy sounding!! I think these are really great goals and ones that I have myself…though I don’t dare write them down. ;) Will this be your first Gaiman? I’m about to start The Ocean at the End of the Lane on audio–looking forward to it! Stardust is a great starting point for him.
January 3, 2014, 4:44 pm
Cheers for achievable, somewhat flexible goals — in order to keep reading enjoyable I think this is a perfect way to approach the new year. Good luck & happy reading!
January 3, 2014, 4:48 pm
P.S. I don’t know how I didn’t realize you were in the Classics Club too! I’m hoping to read more from my list this year as well. With a new house in 2013, I did not have the concentration or the time to tackle classics, but the more posts I read from fellow bloggers about classics they’ve read and enjoyed, the more excited I am to finally dive in. Will have to go check out your list :)
January 4, 2014, 6:51 pm
Good luck with your goals! I stopped setting goals for myself as I never met them. The only real one i had for 2013 was to read more diversely, and I DID get that one done! Which was exciting :-)
January 5, 2014, 2:15 am
I didn’t set any goals last year and got off track, so I am going to set a few this year. Yours seem pretty low key and realistic – I think I might be a bit ambitious with mine, but we’ll see how it goes!
January 5, 2014, 7:24 am
Best wishes for achieving your 2014 goals! I’ve tried a few challenges and failed miserably at them. I’d like to be a Kerouac completist this year and finish reading his entire oeuvre, but I doubt that I’ll get it done. Oh well. :)
January 5, 2014, 9:57 pm
Those aren’t lazy goals! They are good goals! I just have one, and it’s fairly ambitious given my reading history — I want to read twenty percent non-white authors. I am way behind for January, so I need to pick up the pace.
January 6, 2014, 11:06 pm
I think your goals for the year are great! Some easier than others, but definitely doable.
I have no real goals for the new year, although I would like to revisit authors whose books I have read and enjoyed in the past. Part of that includes reading books in my TBR stacks. :-)
Have a Happy New Year!
January 9, 2014, 1:47 pm
Alex: And to you, Alex! That sounds a good idea, and would surely patch up the gaps in your vocabulary which is always useful. That’s quite a challenge, though if you reckon it’s possible it just may be, or at least you’ll be able to make a very good go at it. Best of luck :)
Alice: Thank you! I don’t blame you, as is evident making reading goals is hit and miss here. I did wonder if I might be better off without them, hence the ‘laziness’ of them. Easy rules. I had to double-check I hadn’t missed a post – I take it you didn’t like Northanger? Whilst I loved it I can definitely see why others might not. I’d say it’s more particular than her others.
Trish: I feel better for you saying they’re not lazy! I want to say that yes, it is my first Gaiman, but I don’t know – I read his short story in Rags & Bones but nothing else, so it depends whether that counts or not (I’m thinking no, even if it did give me a good idea of what he’s about). Stardust will be my likely choice because I loved the film (I’ve heard it’s different but I’m guessing the humour is similar/the same), but I would really like to read Ocean, too.
Christine: That’s the plan. I will of course read other books, but I thinhk a mental focus on your own ‘library’ (how I wish I had a real one!) is a good one to have. I didn’t move last year, well, okay, I did, but at the end, but I find classics need a lot of time and concentration too which I also didn’t have. Best of luck to both of us? :)
Aarti: I can see myself going goal-less next year. I reckon these goals are do-able but as they are constantly in mind I wonder if I could do just as well not writing them down. You got that goal done and then some, I’d say!
Anbolyn: I’d like to say that knowing your goals are ambious can help – because for some reason I didn’t realise my past goals were too much and I think that ignorance makes it worse. Best of luck :)
Violet: Oh I’m rubbish with challenges generally – though I’m hoping (and do expect as it’s different to others I’ve joined) I’ll be okay with the challenge I’m hosting! That would be awesome if you did, and interesting to read about too, but just as good if it ends up being spread over a couple of years :)
Jenny: I will mentally amend my thoughts :) Ambious in general perhaps, but you can do it :)
Literary Feline: I hope so! That’s a good idea, it’s all to easy to forget to read backlists when you become a blogger. And I’d say that’s true whether you accept ARCs or not. You too!
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January 3, 2014, 2:14 am
I always do much better when my goals are do-able even though they don’t sound as grand. Which explains my own bookish intention this year – I just want to read something every day! And I’ll be adding more non-fiction to the mix, too.