I realize that given we are already a week into February this post is probably a bit behind the times since “goal” posts are often made in the first few days of a new year, but I had to take the time to really think about what I wanted to accomplish with my reading this year. It’s not too much longer until I’ll have reached the one year mark for 20four12 and so I’m looking to find ways to expand my reading in 2013 so that the blog will become more interesting and dynamic as a result.
So, here are some goals I’ve got so far for this year:
1) Read some biographies and autobiographies.
I’ve been telling myself for months, if not years, that I want to start reading biographies and autobiographies of the people I find interesting. Near the top of my list are ones about Steve Jobs, Rob Lowe, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Benjamin Franklin, and I’m pretty sure a few other historic figures from the past I can’t remember at this point. I’m sure if I asked around there are plenty of great ones that others could recommend at the drop of a hat.
2) Read Harry Potter and The Twilight Saga again.
There are probably a lot of people who would wonder about my sanity regarding a re-read of the second series on that list, but I have my reasons. I’ve read the books of both these series’ exactly once, when they came out, and never again. That means they were all at least four or five years ago and I’ll be honest, I don’t remember exactly why I thought they were good or bad. And, now that I’m into the whole reviewing aspect of books I think it would be interesting to read them again and see what I think knowing I’m going to be reviewing them this time around.
3) Read at least one new epic fantasy series I haven’t read before.
Right now The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson is the leading candidate to take this goal by storm. I’ve heard a lot about it both good and bad and I think I really want to see what it’s all about. However, these books are long. Super long. Fitting the entire series into this year with everything else might be difficult. The other series I have in mind for meeting this goal is The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Those aren’t quite as long which would make it easier, but we’ll see what happens.
4) Learn to write better reviews.
Granted, this goal isn’t exactly reading related, but it is a by-product of the amount of reading that I do. I feel like I write reviews that are about average. Sometimes I feel they don’t turn out all that great, sometimes they turn out pretty well, and most of the time they fall somewhere in the middle. I think there are a lot of things I could learn/do that would improve the overall quality of the reviews and as a result, 20four12 as a whole. I need to start seriously reading more book reviewing blogs on a regular basis to see what I’m missing out on in that regard.
5) Actually read and review at least 104 books during the year.
As is already fairly clear I’m trying to not just read, but review 104 books during 2013 as part of a challenge issued by a fellow book blogger. I’m on track so far to make the goal, but last year in about August I fell off the bandwagon a little bit. I’ll need to watch for that this time around and stay strong all the way through to the end. This one is a big goal, but I think I can pull it off.
Your reviews are already good! Personally, I like to extract one ‘thought’ from each book I read and make that the focus of my review. That’s because summaries and synopses of books are so easy to find on the internet that I feel I should add something that isn’t going to end up being just a coincidental paraphrasing of what’s already out there. In terms of reviewing style, I get a huge amount of inspiration from other blogs—there’s a list of over 30 fellow book reviewers on http://carrieslager.wordpress.com/. Keep up the good work
I think your reviews are awesome already! Short, sweet, and your reviews of books you like make me want to go out and get a copy straight away.
Like you, I’m planning to embark on an epic fantasy series I haven’t read (which is…just about everything, except for the Mistborn series, which isn’t really all that long). Any suggestions? I’ve gotten a set of the Wheel of Time books but I’m scared it’ll be too overwhelming for a fantasy epic noob like me.
Wheel of Time is superb, but it is long, and it takes some serious dedication to make it all the way through. If you’ve never read something that lengthy you might want to work up to it.
Check out the Shannara books by Terry Brooks. There are plenty of them (all in sets of three or four book arcs) and are pretty good.
Ah, thanks so much! All the best for your resolutions!