It’s always nice on the first day of a new year to look ahead and think of the possibilities for the coming months. My 2009 reading plan was pretty simple, read some good books. And I did. But I found in the middle of summer that I felt completely without direction and a bit unmoored. I assembled a quick short list of books from several of your suggestions and had a string of marvelous reads (Enchanted April and Rebecca among them). It is clear to me that I need a plan more specific than read some good books but maybe not as specific as these are the books I am going to read this year.
The pile I assembled for the TBR Challenge and my vacation reading binge has turned out to be working wonderfully for the past month. There is enough variety of material in it that I don’t feel constrained, but there is not so much that I feel overwhelmed with choice. So here is my plan. I will continue reading from the pile until I have read all of the books in it with allowances for whims of course. Then, when the pile is read or almost completely read, I will assemble another pile of 20 or so books, and so on throughout the year. In this way the year will get divided into smaller reading chunks that will provide a loose plan coupled with variety so I don’t feel as though I am forcing myself to read from a particular list and then feel guilty when I don’t.
As for blogging, I am still mulling over the things I wrote about back in October when I was thinking about blogging and reading and writing. I am not completely certain what being a better reader means and how that translates to blogging. I had hoped to have some inspiration from the How to Read Literature Like a Professor book but that didn’t work out. I don’t want to read like a professor, I want to figure out what it means to be a thoughtful reader. Is there a book called How to Read Literature Thoughtfully and Then Blog About It?
Then there is library school which always has to get figured into the picture. I started one class at a time in September of 2007 and the end of it all is just appearing on the very edge of the horizon. 2010 will be my last full year of school. Saying I graduate in May of 2011 doesn’t seem as far away anymore, why it’s next year! What a relief. This year I will get to take some elective classes instead of only required classes that I hope will prove useful and a little more relaxing than the required classes I’ve been having to take.
Monday I start a required course for my Digital Libraries concentration. It is called Human-Computer Interaction. I’ve had the professor before and he was great, one of those professors that really makes you think deeply about a subject. So I am expecting this one to be challenging but ever so fascinating. I will definitely share things I learn that you also might find interesting.
Welcome 2010! I hope it is a year of good books, good reading, and other good things for everyone.
I like the idea of working from a limited list and then making a new one each time it runs out. Limitation and variety, both.
Good luck with your newest class, it does sound intriguing and will be looking forward to your comments about it. Best of everything for 2010!
I like your 20-book list idea too. I can see myself reading through the list and then getting to the end of it and realizing I don’t really want to read the last couple and so chucking them and starting over with a new list, at which point compiling a new list would be really fun. Not a bad system at all! I suspect that you are very well qualified to write the How to Read Literature Thoughtfully and Then Blog About It book, although perhaps that’s not exactly what you want to hear because it would be nice to have someone tell us things we haven’t heard before. But seriously, that would be a cool book to write.
Stefanie, as always, a thoughtful blog, and musable [<-- should be a word] inaugural address to the New Year.
This was a great thought:
I don’t want to read like a professor, I want to figure out what it means to be a thoughtful reader.
You make me realize that neither do I want to read like a professor, but [it would be great] to figure out what it means to be a thoughtful reader.
Maybe you can write “How to Read Literature Thoughtfully and Then Blog About It.” I, for one, would really appreciate it because I’ve tried books like the one you mention and have come away with nothing but boredom and a lack of respect for the pretentious people who write them.
I think most of us are probably getting to be better readers than we realize, though…surely all those pages read have to do some good?
My plan is usually just “read good books”
I would like to have a bit more structure and variety and so that’s why I join challenges but my track record with those isn’t always that great…. Still I’m always hopeful.
Happy New Year, Stefanie. I hope your semester starts of great and that you will have a lot of good books ahead of you!
Funnily enough I did something similar towards the end of 2009, in that I made a list of 25 books I was really keen to read and picked and chose from it. I probably still have ten left on it, but now I find my taste has moved on and I will make a new list in a bit. I do love to leave room for spontaneity and caprice.
And I look forward very much to your thoughts on how to blog about books – that’s another topic dear to my own heart. But I do believe that just thinking about it brings the problem into better focus and then it can only be a matter of time before the epiphanies start…..
Hope you have a truly wonderful 2010, dear Stefanie, full of inspirational books, marvellous classes and delightful blogging.
Have you tried How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren? I haven’t read it yet, but it was highly recommended to me by a professor. Though I suspect that you are already a thoughtful reader. Maybe what you need is to take your time reading a book or take more of a break between books.
A very Happy New Year to you too! Your list idea is great, but if there is one thing I learnt blogging last year, that is that list-making never works out for me
I am a very random reader, and I find that random works for me.
Melanie, we’ll see how the limited list goes. I’ve not tried anything like it before. And thanks for the good wishes! Happy New Year to you too!
Dorothy, hopefully my little system will work. A how to read book would be cool to write, perhaps it would make a good collaboration
Cip, here’s to figuring out how to be a thoughtful reader in 2010! When you get some ideas let me know and I will do the same
Sam, I hope all those pages read make a difference, but then I also know I am lazy sometimes and don’t read with as much care and attention as I’d like. I think a how to read book would make a great collaborative project.
Iliana, challenges do help provide structure and variety for sure and sometimes bump you out into something new and that’s always a good thing. Happy New Year to you too and thanks for the good wishes!
Litlove, we must be on a similar wavelength or something
Your optimism and confidence about blogging about books is heartening because I’ve been thinking but nothing has happened yet. The best ideas need time to ferment, right? And thanks for the good wishes!
Juanita, I have not tried the Adler book but I know enough about it that I am hesitant to give it try because it seems a bit too regimented for my taste. But, who knows? Perhaps I will break down and read sometime anyway.
Hazra, long lists don’t work for me and this last year’s randomness didn’t work, so I’m trying short lists this year. We’ll see how it goes! if you know what works for you, then I’d stick with it!
Where did the break go?? Back to work and school tomorrow and it’s so cold. Sorry–I had to complain as I know you can relate. My binge pile has been partially disbanded. I’ve read or am reading some of them, but will see what I’m in the mood for when I finish these. I do like your idea of reading from your pile. I have sort of done the same with a list I made earlier. I’m notorious for not always sticking with things and that’s okay, too. It’s fun just thinking about them. The piles and lists tend to be a starting point and then I meander from there. Good luck figuring out about wanting to be a better reader and how to go about it through blogging. I’d like to do the same thing and will watch for your insights!
Stay warm and Happy 2010!
Stefanie,
I’ve just started reading Reading Like a Writer, A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them, by Francine Prose. Now, that may just be the closest to what you’re looking for. Have you read it? I’m not too far into it, but it’s quite good up to this point. Maybe you’d like to add it to your list
? Have a Happy book Year!
I’d love to read that book about reading thoughtfully and then blogging about it. Let me know if you find it. Or maybe you can write it? After all, you’ve been blogging for SIX YEARS. That makes you an expert in the field.
Danielle, I know, didn’t it zoom by? Lists and piles do make a good starting point. I think I tend to feel too guilty about not reading the lists I make but for some reason the pile has not yet had that sort of effect on me. You stay warm too!
Arti, yes, I’ve actually read Reading Like a Writer. A Good book but I wasn’t completely thrilled by it. Thank you for the suggestion. I hope you are enjoying it. And happy New Year to you too!
Rebecca, you flatter me
At the moment I wouldn’t know where to start in writing such a book, that’s why I look for someone else to do it for me!
Stefanie,
I agree with Sam… the book needs to be written, either by you or as a collaborative effort. The best books are those which fill an identified need. So many book bloggers would devour it, hot off the press!
Ellyn, hopefully the book will get written someday no matter who writes it
I really like The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer for advice on reading more thoughtfully. It has specific suggestions by type of work, an annotated bibliography, and overviews of different types of books and how they developed. I doubt anyone reads using all of her suggestions because they are so in-depth and practically require reading a book twice, but she does have a lot of great suggestons. I reviewed it here if you want more info: http://lindseysparks.blogspot.com/2010/01/well-educated-mind.html.