I only entered one book challenge last year: the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge. I set — and met — a goal of reading 140 books during the year, though I met it in part by re-reading some old favorites. My personal, unstated goals were to read more “new” books (not necessarily new, but books I hadn’t read before), and to read some nonfiction. My part-time job is creating back-of-the-book indexes for soon-to-be-published books, but I wanted to read some nonfiction of my own choosing.
So how did I do?
I read more new-to-me fiction than in previous years. I discovered a number of writers whose work I’ll be following in the future: fantasy authors Jim C. Hines (Libriomancer), Rachel Hartman (Seraphina), Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind), Jennifer Nielsen (The False Prince) Kristen Britain (Green Rider, First Rider’s Call), and Kevin Hearne (Hounded); mystery writers G. M. Malliet (Wicked Autumn) and Susan Elia MacNeil (Princess Elizabeth’s Spy); and romance authors Sherryl Woods, Susan Mallery, and Susan Wiggs. I read several new (or previously unread) books by some familiar authors as well; some were wonderful (Laurie King’s Garment of Shadows, which I haven’t quite finished, jumps to mind) and some merely OK (like Mercedes Lackey’s Home From the Sea.)
I also read (and listened to) more nonfiction for pleasure than I have in previous years, in a smattering of subject areas. I particularly enjoyed Bill Bryon’s reading of his history At Home and Julia Cameron’s The Sound of Paper. The Science of Kissing was interesting, too.
For 2013, I’m setting similar goals, but I’m going to be a little more specific. For the Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge, I’m aiming for a total of 140 books by the end of the year, the same as last year. This year, I’d like at least 52 of them to be books I’ve never read before — in other words, about one new-to-me book per week. I also want to read at least 12 nonfiction books, or about one per month; these can count toward the 52 new books. (If you’re interested, you can follow my progress in the Goodreads 2013 challenge by looking at the widget in the right sidebar. You can also check out my “Read” and “To Read” lists on Goodreads; just search for “The Bookwyrm’s Hoard”.)
I would also like to blog more consistently. While there were months in 2012 when I put up new posts fairly frequently, there were also weeks, including much of this last month, when I posted very little. Much of that has to do with my indexing; when I have a project, particularly a complicated or long one, it’s hard to find time for the blog. This year, I hope to organize my time a little better, and perhaps prepare a few reviews of “older” books so I have something to pull out when work and life pressures leave me with little time to read and review.
And finally, here’s my list of books I vow to read in 2013:
- The rest of Deborah Crombie’s James & Kincaid series (I’m about 5 books behind, I think)
- the 3rd and 4th books in Kristen Britain’s Green Rider series
- Cinder, which I’ve been meaning to read for a year
- Codex Born, the sequel to Jim Hines’ Libriomancer
- Drachomachia, the sequel to Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina
- The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle (it’s been so long, I barely remember it)
- Wildwood Dancing and at least the first of Juliet Marillier’s Sevenwaters books
- The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss (I’m a little over half-way through the audiobook)
- The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale (my daughter insists it’s time I read this, and she’s right)
- and, if we’re very lucky and they come out in 2013, the third books in Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle and Deborah Harkness’s All Souls trilogy. (Though my bet is that neither will come out before 2014.)
What are your reading goals for 2013?
