Comments on eclectic / eccentric: 2012 Reading Goals

Culling will be a big project but will likely help...

2012-01-19T17:10:45.277-06:00

Culling will be a big project but will likely help with the shelf organization! I organized only the already read books on my Kindle, it works pretty good. Good luck with all of your goals!

Akilah - thanks for letting me know. I had no ide...

2012-01-06T22:40:05.843-06:00

Akilah - thanks for letting me know. I had no idea. Must get book.

Bree - Revenge is based on The Count of Monte Cris...

2012-01-03T22:44:38.255-06:00

Bree - Revenge is based on The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I'm reading it now; that is some good stuff.

Sounds to me like someone might be nesting!! Love ...

2012-01-03T15:21:57.446-06:00

Sounds to me like someone might be nesting!! Love all the organizing stuff. That is one of my favorite things to do . And 74 series???!!! And 1000 books???? You've got a problem lady!! : )

REVENGE IS A BOOK? By who? I love that show. I ...

2012-01-02T23:12:11.753-06:00

REVENGE IS A BOOK? By who? I love that show.

I vote for East of Eden. Great book to savor and reread. I'm planning on reading 100 Years of Solitude in February, hopefully as a group read, if you want to join us.

74 series! That's amazing. 2000 books! That's a lot. Good luck culling your stacks.

Not a sin at all, says the girl with over 500 unre...

2012-01-02T19:20:50.501-06:00

Not a sin at all, says the girl with over 500 unread books in her house. My classics book club defines a classic as a book published over 25 years ago as the simple definition.

Good luck with your goals! I think you'll be surprised how much you are able to read even with the Floppy Aliennette.

Yikes that is a lot of series reading! I've o...

2012-01-02T17:04:18.928-06:00

Yikes that is a lot of series reading! I've often shied away from overt series but in looking back I find that I'm reading several books, like the Flavia de Luce books, that turn out to be a series though they aren't initially marketed that way like some SFF book series are.

Again, these goals are similar to mine: the series...

2012-01-02T08:19:35.325-06:00

Again, these goals are similar to mine: the series, my shelves, etc. This is why I don't own a Nook. It would be full of more unread books!

Great list! I have over 1000 books on Mount TBR a...

2012-01-02T03:01:45.676-06:00

Great list! I have over 1000 books on Mount TBR and should really get stuck in. My shelves are nice but a total mishmash of everything (which is getting a bit unruly now), I've hit a new low of ONE classic novella this year (unbelievable for me) and I too have a bit of a series problem. I'm trying to read, say, one vampire series at a time, one dystopian series at a time, and so on, so I don't get in a muddle, but it doesn't always work out that way!

I hadn't really thought about making blog and reading goals for the year, but actually I think it would be a good idea to have something to go back to and think 'Oh yes, I wanted to do that this year...'

Some of mine might include:

1. Making an effort to bring back regular bookshop mini-posts with funny customer quotes, requests and horror stories. Also, writing more editorial bookish pieces for the blog, like I did over the summer.

2. Getting on top of my review reading by using a planner to note publication dates and tour deadlines.

3. Holding more giveaways - I tend to forget, a bit - and maybe joining my first giveaway hop.

4. Not always reaching for an easy read. I've got some wonderful classics, non-fiction and literary fiction on my shelves and love most of the ones I read, but often I'll get lazy and just pick something quicker.

5. Balancing new and backlist reads. I tend to buy books that sound amazing, then feel guilty and go back to my TBR shelves, leaving the new books to settle in and fester for five years before I actually read them.

I'm sure there'll be more yet - but thanks for getting me thinking!

It's really hard for me to cull books, but it&...

2012-01-01T22:56:34.909-06:00

It's really hard for me to cull books, but it's something I need to do frequently, as I just don't have the room for all of them. I'm afraid that I'll get rid of a book and end up wanting it back, and spending money to buy a new copy isn't always feasible.

I've found that what helps is this: I go through my shelves and pull books that I haven't read in awhile, or read once and doubt I'll read again. Then I put them all in a big plastic bin (with lid tightly closed to keep out dust, moisture, and bugs), and store them in my little side-porch storage room. If I don't touch the box for a few months (to fish out a book that I really want), then I know it's okay to sell them or give them away. I'd much rather they go to someone who will read them, rather than languishing on the shelf or in storage.

You've got some great goals for the new year. Hope they serve you well, and congrats again on the baby!

My reading goals are to MAINTAIN. To keep on read...

2012-01-01T22:52:50.477-06:00

My reading goals are to MAINTAIN.

To keep on reading NO LESS than one good book a month.

It's the only want to get better, to enjoy more, to learn more, to grow mentally and spiritually.

READ BOOKS.

I tell my children that all the time, like a crazy woman.

Want to change your life? READ A GOOD BOOK.

Love meeting you, lady, and best wishes for a fantastic 2012!!

I've just decided to give away all the books t...

2012-01-01T22:07:51.320-06:00

I've just decided to give away all the books that have been cluttering my shelves. If I haven't read them after a year....

My new philosophy!

Here are my Reading Resolutions for 2012.

It is not a sin!! (says the fellow book hoarder) ...

2012-01-01T21:12:32.986-06:00

It is not a sin!! (says the fellow book hoarder)

And Little Women and Agnes Grey have my vote. But only because they're on my list to read this year (LW will be a re-read, though).

Good luck with everything and Happy 2012!!

I have 70-some-odd books on my Nook and they'r...

2012-01-01T20:21:19.971-06:00

I have 70-some-odd books on my Nook and they're minimally organized. I have an "A List" shelf of contemporary books and a "Classics" shelf for classics, obviously, and a "Freebies" shelf for the free content I download in-store.

Good luck with all your goals!!! Babies do change a lot, but you'll be great. :)

Thank you everyone for the suggestions for the cla...

2012-01-01T17:25:08.088-06:00

Thank you everyone for the suggestions for the classics to read first! I'm totally setting up a spreadsheet to track recommendations. :)

To those who want to know how I'm tracking the series, send me an email if you really want to know, and I'll send you access to my spreadsheet. :)

Jenny - I actually do have a spreadsheet for all my books; although I think I'm really behind on my nook books for it.

Akilah - I had no idea Revenge was based off that book! I will definitely have to start reading it soon.

Amanda, Trish, and Sandy - I'm really interested to see how having a baby changes things. I can totally see how humor, ereaders, and maybe no reading at all are possibilities.

The series are totally OUT OF CONTROL. I am actu...

2012-01-01T17:01:20.619-06:00

The series are totally OUT OF CONTROL. I am actually impressed that you know how many of them you are invested in. Plus I hear of like five more a day I want to read. Totally crazy. As far as the baby goes, I think when my kids were born, I didn't read for like four or five years. Of course my kids were 20 months apart, so there was a very long stretch of pregnancy, diapers, sleepless nights, and exhaustion. I was doing good to get a shower. So don't beat yourself up if you have a hard time getting through a book. Just blog about FA instead.

Read The Count of Monte Cristo because I am. Also:...

2012-01-01T15:38:15.296-06:00

Read The Count of Monte Cristo because I am. Also: Revenge. (Are you watching that? If so, the show is based on the book, so there you go. Double incentive!)

I tried managing my series a few years ago, but ye...

2012-01-01T15:37:12.734-06:00

I tried managing my series a few years ago, but yeah, that didn't work out so well and in the end I gave up altogether :P It seems everything is a series these days. Beat of luck to you!

I need to organize my shelves and nook as well. Do...

2012-01-01T14:19:29.036-06:00

I need to organize my shelves and nook as well. Do you keep a list/spreadsheet of all your books? I am considering doing that..

74 series to manage?! I think it'll take your ...

2012-01-01T12:38:25.228-06:00

74 series to manage?! I think it'll take your lifetime, (or at least the next 20 years), to get through all of them! That's a lot!

I looked over your Classics Reading Project. I think you should start with To Kill a Mockingbird. After that, hit up The Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden. EoE and TKAM are two of my favorite books.

When it comes to culling your bookshelves, this is what I suggest: if you can get it from the library, get rid of it. If you know you are never going to read it, get rid of it. If there are thousands of copies out in the world of the same book and you know you can probably buy it back really cheap if you ever think of reading it, get rid of it.

Good luck on your goals. Happy New Year!

You might find reading easier with the e-reader on...

2012-01-01T12:03:37.838-06:00

You might find reading easier with the e-reader once FA comes. I personally just don't have the attention span but I've heard many new mothers say they're reading more because they can read on the ereader while holding baby.

I'm a book glutton as well. I know I need to cull my shelves but now I have this paranoia that paper books will eventually one day be less common and I'll wish that I kept mine. Even the stupid books I know I'll never read. It's a sickness. Also need to organize my shelves as I haven't done it since I moved two years ago. Thinking of doing by genre.

2012 is going to be such an exciting year for you! I can't wait for you. ;)

New to your blog and love it! I had to quite read...

2012-01-01T10:01:41.164-06:00

New to your blog and love it! I had to quite reading several series as I just could not keep up. Now I think long and hard before I start a new one.

As for the classics, Little Women is super fun, anything by Gaskell is amazingly readable, Wilkie Collins tells a great story and totally makes you forget you're reading a classic. Austen is my favorite (I, too, love Emma) and Wharton is a genius (loved by Age of Innocence and House of Mirth). Good luck!

Classics: Any of the Austen, Villette (marvelous!)...

2012-01-01T09:05:16.165-06:00

Classics: Any of the Austen, Villette (marvelous!), The Woman in White (this one will suck you in), Count of Monte Cristo (long, but one of my favorite books), Mill on the Floss (AMAZING), Portrait of a Lady (my favorite read from 2011), Moby-Dick (not as scary as everyone thinks), To Kill a Mockingbird, Gulliver's Travels (so funny), House of Mirth (my favorite book. ever), and Germinal (this one is just SO GOOD).

I'm with Christina up there. If you figure out how to track series, let me know. I love a good series, but it is hard to know when a new book comes out, etc. I generally only try to read series if the entire series is published. That way, I can zip right through them one after the other and I don't have to do that whole waiting game thing. Of course there are exceptions to this, but it is a good rule of thumb. :)

I think I'm the only one who favors Emma out o...

2012-01-01T08:50:51.693-06:00

I think I'm the only one who favors Emma out of the Austen collection. :D

And seriously, when you figure out a way to track your series will you write a post (or email me?) I need to figure something out as well. I'm freakin' here. So many out there!!

I think that sounds like a really good solid set o...

2012-01-01T06:46:53.854-06:00

I think that sounds like a really good solid set of goals, Trisha! Especially with the alienette coming. As for your classics, I went through the list and picked out books I've read that I thought YOU would enjoy, not necessarily ones I enjoyed myself. Though many of those, too.

Northhanger Abbey, Lady Audley's Secret, Catch-22, Of Human Bondage, Lolita (maybe - I highly recommend Jeremy Iron's audio version, which makes it amillion times better), Saint Joan, Grapes of Wrath, Vanity Fair, Candide, The IMportance of Being Ernest, and Germinal.

I included several quite humorous books in there. I remember needing humor after having babies. :D