I don’t have a lot of reading plans for this year, but I’ve got a couple of things I want to tackle.
First, I’m going to finally read Tom Jones (more on this tomorrow).
Secondly, I’m going to re-read the first twelve Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker—I’ve been wanting to re-read the series for a while now, and I’m going to force it this year. I used to read the entire series over a three-day weekend each year, but once I got married, my wife seemed to want me to interact with her for those 3+ days, and I only sporadically read individual volumes since then. It should actually work out pretty well this way, I do one a month (should have no problem fitting that in) which allows me to cover the best of the series, ending with a transition point to the series.
Thirdly, I’m part of the Book Blogger Novel of the Year Award Panel. You’ll hear more about that later.
And that’s about it—otherwise, it’s just read whatever seems interesting that I can get to.
I’m tweaking my approach to Reading Challenges this year. Bookstooge asked in a comment section a few months ago why I did these things* and it got me thinking about it—I’m tired of just doing the “How Much of X Have You Read?” Challenges—they really don’t do anything for me other than getting me to track stuff that I don’t need to. I prefer the ones that make me think of book selection differently than I usually do—preferably the ones that have some sort of interaction between participants.
* Yeah, it may take me longer than it should, but I do try to respond to everything.
The two exceptions to this are the Goodreads Challenge, which takes no effort at all and the Library Love Challenge—yeah, it’s largely a “how much” challenge, but there’s good interaction over on Goodreads, and I like the idea of celebrating Libraries anyway.
So, here’s what I’m going to be up to:
The Fourth Annual Library Love Challenge
Hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures & Books of My Heart.
The Third Annual While I Was Reading Challenge
Ramona Mead’s got some great categories this year, and while the Facebook group isn’t super-active, it’s an interesting little group. I’ve had plenty of fun with this challenge the last two years and figure I’ll keep it going.
I saw this one while blog hopping recently, and it looked like fun. Similar to the above, but it’ll stretch me in different ways.
I’m supposed to tag 5 people to go along with this…hmmm….Okay, I challenge kerrimcbooknerd, Witty & Sarcastic Book Club, happytonic, Kelly Curtis, and brainyjaney. You all should give this a shot.
Similarly, I saw this on Twitter a week or so ago and it also struck a chord.
So, some fun ways to track reading and think about what I’ll read, and some moderate goals. Leaving 2020 for a lot of “whatever seems like a good idea at the time” kind of reading.
All this needs to be taken with a grain of salt, obviously. Maybe a salt lick. Remembering all too well the poet’s lines:
| But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy! |
Robert Germaux
Happy New Year, HC,
First, 275 books last year? Apparently, you’ve gone beyond speed reading and somehow mastered warp speed reading:)
As for the Spenser books, I’ve read all of them multiple times. I love them all, but I think Parker really hit his stride with numbers 6, 7 and 8 in the series: “Looking for Rachel Wallace,” “Early Autumn” and “A Savage Place.”
Keep on reading (and reviewing), HC
Bob Germaux
HCNewton
Thanks, Bob! Yeah, those number are a little ridiculous, aren’t they? (but I know I’m a slow=poke compared to some).
I’m looking forward to those Spensers in particular (well, maybe not the end of A Savage Place…), been too long since I’ve revisited them.
Just wondering–is there a new Germaux book on the horizon?
Robert Germaux
Yeah, HC, I agree about the end of “A Savage Place.”
Thanks for asking about my books. I recently released another “Small Bytes,” another Jeremy Barnes novel, in which I give my readers the back story about how JB, Laura and Denny. I’ll have two more JB books out over the next six or so months, and at the moment, I’m working on another love story. Again, thanks for asking.
Bob
Amazon Author Page
Bookstooge
Better late than never! I’ll take what I can get from you, considering all 😀
Good luck with the challenges you do. My reading style is simply incompatible with reading challenges and since my style has kept me from ANY reading slumps in the last 2 years, I figure why mess with what works, right? 😀
So power on through those Challenges and feel accomplished!
HCNewton
You’re right, don’t fix what ain’t broke!
Robert Germaux
Quick comment on my post a minute ago. I made a couple of errors (not deleting the word “another” after “released” and not putting the word “met” after “Denny.” I wish I could explain those mistakes away with something other than “I screwed up,” but, well, there it is:)