Reading Resolutions

 Happy 2021! It's definitely a year like no other. Maybe you feel like this is a year to give yourself some grace and take it easy. Maybe you feel optimistic about changes you want to make. Are you planning on making some reading resolutions this year? 

As you can see, I'm already late to the game, but part of my plan for the year is to practice grace for myself. If 2020 taught me anything it's that being uber-focused on productivity and optimization is not the best. Sometimes you need some space to take a breath, to rest, to refocus, or just to get through your day.

That said, I do have some reading goals for myself this year, and I'm curious what yours are (if you have any - it's totally fine if you do not!). 

But first... deep breath and let's look back at last year's reading resolutions...

40% of the books I read will be own-voices by diverse authors. 

Okay, as far as I tracked, I read 122 books by diverse authors, which is only about 23%. Part of this resolution was to be more intentional about tracking and I absolutely did not do that. If I had tracked and checked on myself each month like I had intended, I bet I would have done better with this.

500 books read and tracked on GoodReads this year.

Yes! I did this! I started tracking picture books to help with my NoveList work and even though I got super way behind in the spring, I caught back up by the end of the year and finished with 529 books tracked in GoodReads. 

Continue my romance project for another year. 

Okay, I did read nine romance books in 2020, most of them romcoms. I did not do anything to track them or log them or really review them (outside GoodReads), but I read a bunch of books I really enjoyed. I'm calling that success. And I may revisit the romance project in 2021. 

Read at least two pre-pub titles each month. 

Hahahaha, no way. I've been really bad at this. I absolutely did not make this goal. I miiiight have read 24 pre-pub titles over the course of the year, but honestly probably not. 

So, let's look ahead to 2021 (as scared as we might be about that...)

My biggest thing this year is giving myself grace. I realized what it's like to live through trauma this year (very privileged trauma, yes). And although I love reading, it's not important enough to be something to stress out about. I'm going to set some goals for myself because I like to have projects to work on, but I also have some non-reading projects going on this year and we're striving for balance and reasonable expectations. I have already hit library book bankruptcy where I just return ALL my checked out books and start over with a clean slate once this year. 

Read more teen books. 

Now that I have turned over adult collection responsibilities to my new collection development librarian, I can let myself more fully concentrate on youth materials. And one area that I know I need to step it up is teen literature. According to GoodReads, I read 28 teen books in 2020 and I'd like to do better this year. Let's try to read at least 36 teen books in 2021. 

Try the Read Native Challenge from the American Indian Library Association. 

It's been a minute since I attempted a reading challenge that gives specific categories for titles, but when I saw this one pop up, I wanted to give it a try. It dovetails with my always-goal to read diversely and I've been trying to add more Native writers into my reading life over the past few years. I'm not sure if I'll be able to complete the adult challenge with adult titles, so I may shoot for some kind of hybrid or use the adult challenge prompts but with teen and children's titles. I'm sure I won't be eligible for any prizes, but that's okay since I have intrinsic motivation for wanting to do this challenge. 

Read and track at least 500 books in GoodReads again. 

I did find tracking picture books and logging everything in GoodReads to be helpful. It was surprisingly helpful when I went to compose my 12 Days of Giving book lists this year. So I think that's a good goal and my hope is that I will easily be able to hit 500 books logged (including lots of picture books!). Of course, that's counting on no trauma-inducing shut-down work-from-home months to put me behind again. WE'LL SEE. 

And other areas that I may not make "official" goals, but you may see some blog posts about this year... I have enjoyed reading romance and I'm going to embrace that and encourage it. You may see some romance project updates from me this year since I think that would be fun. And one of my non-reading goals is to cook 50 new recipes this year, so of course I started out the year by checking out a ton of cookbooks. It might be fun to blog about some of the cookbooks I'm discovering and trying out. No promises, but maybe! 

And that's it for 2021 Reading Resolutions. How about you? Are you setting any reading resolutions? Or even just casual goals for yourself (if resolutions maybe feel like a bit much coming off of 2020)? 

Reading Resolutions for 2020

I was kind of dreading writing this post because I feel like I have not done very well on my reading resolutions. But then I started looking back at past years and it seems like nearly every year I have failed to meet at least some of my resolutions. So I guess we are par for the course! And the important thing is to be checking in and thinking critically about what (if anything) we want to achieve with our reading and how we want to get there. And if the answer to that is that we just want to read for fun, that's a-okay with me! 

So, let's look at last year's resolutions. 

I set a GoodReads goal of reading 100 books and increased that to 250 books when I started tracking picture books this summer. I'm clocking in at over 300 books tracked on GoodReads this year, so I managed that one. 

I didn't attempt Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge last year, but I did intend to make some book lists for it that I never got around to. I had a long blog hiatus while I was trying to figure out the scope of this space. I do love figuring out children's and teen options for the categories, so maybe that could be something I'll try this year? 

I set a goal that at least 40% of the books I read would be by authors of color. As of this writing, I have logged 319 books and 97 of those were by authors of color, which is 30%. Adding picture books to the mix threw me off my game a bit this year! 

I set a goal to nominate at least 15 books by authors of color for LibraryReads. Although this is something that remains important to me, I did not manage to submit that many nominations for LibraryReads. In fact, I hardly nominated any books at all for LibraryReads this year! 

I wanted to focus on romance this year and I didn't set a numeric goal, but I read 13 adult romance novels this year. I really enjoyed my foray into the romance genre and discovered a particular love for contemporary rom-coms. 

Let's look ahead to 2020!

Reading diversely and inclusively is very important to me, so again I want at least 40% of the books I read to be by own-voices diverse authors. This includes authors of color, LGBTQ authors, and authors with disabilities. I know I need to be better about picking up own-voices picture books, so I can definitely work on that this year. And I need to be better about tracking it and being intentional, particularly with picture books. 

Since I am doing some work for NoveList, it's become really handy to document the picture books I read on GoodReads, so I'm going to continue tracking those and aim for 500 books read and tracked this year. 

I loved focusing on romance this year! I had thought about different genres that I could attempt this year to round out my reading, but to tell the truth I'm hopeful that I'll be getting another collection development staff member in my department this year and planning to delegate adult selecting if/when that happens. Since I'll be concentrating on youth materials, I'm just going to say that I'll continue my romance project for another year. 

I have loved participating in the Early Word Galley Chat and the Middle Grade/YA Early Word Galley Chat each month and it's the most fun when I have some recommendations to contribute. So I'd like to try to have at least two pre-pub titles read each month to share at the chats. I know I'm better at this with youth books than with adult, so I'm giving myself flexibility by saying two each month rather than one for each chat. :) 

And I think that's really it. I'm looking forward to another great year of reading! 

And how about you? What are your goals to read better this year? 

Reading Resolutions for 2019

Reading Resolutions, it's that time again!

Last year, I made a bunch of goals. And I did not really complete many of them. But that's okay! I'll still take a look back at what I aimed to do last year and then think about what I'd like to do next year. 

I attempted Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder challenge and did not make it all the way through. My priorities changed this year and rather than struggle through reading books that I was really having trouble getting excited about, I gave up on the challenge. 

I wanted to focus on authors Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich this year, but I also didn't make my goal of reading two books by each of them, either. To be honest, stuff came to light about Sherman Alexie's alleged sexual harassment and it kinda put me off. So I shifted my focus a little to Native American authors in general and I read several fabulous ones (here are a few that I wrote about for my library's blog). 

I wanted to focus on short story collections this year. I did read a couple, including one of my top books of the year (All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva), but I did not read 6, which was my goal. 

I wanted at least 40% of my reading to be authors of color this year. According to GoodReads, I read 152 books this year, 68 of which were by authors of color. That's 45%, so one goal met. And this is my favorite goal, so I'm definitely setting this one again. 

Let's look ahead to 2019.

It really worked well for me not setting a numerical goal for reading in 2018. I did set a GoodReads goal of reading 50 books (later expanded to 100 books), which I did to remind myself that it's not the number that matters. I'll probably do that again this year. 

I love Book Riot's Read Harder challenge, but I know that I probably will not make it a priority. I would like to craft some middle grade / YA book lists around some of the categories for families reading along, so look out for that in coming months.

As mentioned above, setting a goal for inclusive reading really enriched my life and I'm doing that again. At least 40% of the books I read will be by authors of color. 

One of the ways that my priorities have changed this year is that I have been getting involved in nominating books for Library Reads, and in particular seeking out diverse books and authors of color to submit to Library Reads. I would like to make this a priority this year and vote for at least 15 books by authors of color for Library Reads. Of course, this means I will probably read more than 15 eligible titles to find 15 that I love enough to nominate. 

I would like to focus on romance this year. It's a genre that I haven't read too much of and that comes under constant criticism. I don't have a specific number in mind, but I've already started a list of books I'd like to read in 2019. I welcome suggestions! What are your must-read romance titles? 

I really enjoyed participating in Middle Grade May this year and I'd like to do that again. I don't know if anyone cared, but I loved doing the video booktalks each week that went along with that. I'm not turning into a BookTuber, but I'd like to play around with more video booktalks and Instagram stories.

What about you? What are your goals to read better this year? 

Reading Resolutions for 2018

I posted last month about how I failed all my reading goals. Well, it's the very end of the year and time to look back and see if that's true and see what we want to do for next year.

Last year, I set a few reading resolutions, as I have done for many years.

I wanted to finish the 2017 Read Harder Challenge. NOPE. Not even close! I started it, but due to developing circumstances throughout the year, I had way less time for reading this year. So when I wanted to read, I wanted to read what I wanted to read, not what a challenge told me I should be reading. So, yeah. I gave up pretty early on. Ah, well.

I wanted to read at least 30 children's or teen nonfiction books this year. Well, nope. I read 23 children's or teen nonfiction books. But I also read a bunch of adult nonfiction books.

I wanted to read at least 50 teen books this year. Again, nope! I read 42 teen books this year.

I wanted at least 25% of the books I read to be by people of color. As of Dec. 23, I had read 172 books total, according to my GoodReads page. 71 of those books were written by authors of color, which is 41%. Yay! A goal I met! And probably the most important goal to me, so we'll call this year good.

I had set a goal of reading 201 books this year and that didn't happen. It was partly because I had less time to read and partly because I read way more adult books, which just generally take longer to read than youth books.

Let's look ahead to 2018.

I'm not going to set a GoodReads goal because at this point in my life and career, reading more just isn't my goal. I have looked at Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge and many of the categories fit with personal goals for my reading this year (particularly to read more adult genre fiction). So I'm going to attempt it this year and we'll see how it goes.

I have a number of ideas for reading projects that I want to try this year.

I want to focus on a couple of authors that I always mean to read more of: Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich are my picks for this year. So I'm going to attempt to read at least two books by each of them this year.

I find myself drawn to short stories and that's a genre that I have not picked up much lately! So I'm doing a Short Story Project and aiming to read at least 6 collections of short stories this year.

I need to expand my genre reading and I'm hoping to get Reading Wildly back off the ground this year, but I'm not sure what it's going to look like yet, so no official goal on that one (yet?).

And I loved concentrating on reading diverse voices this year, so I'm going to up the ante and say that I want at least 40% of my reading this year to be books by people of color.

And I'm super geekily excited about trying out this detailed Reading Log created by Book Rioter Rachel Manwill. I love all the things it tracks and that it automatically calculates percentages for you (arg, another goal for myself this year should be to learn about spreadsheets!). So I will be putting that to good use this year.

What are your reading goals for 2018? How are you going to read better this year?

Reading Resolutions

It's that time of year again: time to reflect on our reading for the year and look ahead to what we hope to read in 2017.

I am a nerdy nerd who gets great pleasure out of thinking about what I will read next, planning out things to read, and making reading resolutions every year. Reading resolutions are, in fact, the only resolutions I stick with because they're the only ones I make. Of course I also want to do more yoga and keep my house clean, but reading resolutions are way more fun.

(Plus, they are good for my job!)

Last year, I set a few reading resolutions:

1. Read at least 50 teen books. Since I took over managing teen services last year, I definitely wanted to step up my reading of YA lit this year. I read 66 teen books this year, which more than meets my goal.

2. Read at least 25 adult books. Doing the Read Harder Challenge and participating in my book club definitely helped me with this one and I read 43 adult books this year.

I also participated in Book Riot's 2016 Read Harder Challenge, which definitely stretched me in some ways (I read a play!). I didn't put that down on last year's resolutions post because I wasn't sure that I would actually follow through with it, but I did and it was a lot of fun!

I'm proud of how I did this year, especially seeing how unsure I was going into the beginning of 2016 (and recovering from Newbery and planning a wedding). I read some GREAT books, including some that got me out of my comfort zone, and it was all great fun.

So, what to do this year?

I will definitely be participating in Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge and I've got a couple of my library colleagues doing it with me, so that should be a lot of fun.

I have a great love for nonfiction, but I realize that I haven't made it a priority this year like I have in the past, so I'd like to read more of that. And I still need to keep teen books at the forefront of my mind, I think. I think with doing Read Harder and my book club that I will have no problem incorporating adult books into my life this year. So my resolutions this year will be:

1. Finish the 2017 Read Harder Challenge. Some of these categories will be a stretch for me again (poetry! a micropress!), but it's fun to do a challenge with a group.

2. Read at least 30 children's or teen nonfiction books this year (that's a little more than 2 a month, definitely doable).

3. Read at least 50 teen books this year (and yes, nonfiction and fiction will count for this).

4. At least 25% of the books I read this year will be by authors of color. I started to track this and just tracking it really shifted my reading, so this *should* be a no-brainer for me. (Why would I track this? Read this post from Book Riot.)

AND I have one non-reading goal, which is to get more into Litsy this year. I am really enjoying that social media app for book lovers and I would like to be more active there. Are you on Litsy? Follow me @abbylibrarian or let me know your handle and I'll follow you. I would love to connect with more folks there!

What will YOUR reading resolutions be this year? 

#ReadHarder Challenge 2016

After discovering the amazing site Book Riot last year, I jumped in to participate in the Read Harder Challenge this year and it was so, so fun. It stretched me to pick up some books I had been meaning to get to, books I wouldn't have otherwise picked up, and to be thoughtful about some of my reading without giving up control of ALL of my reading this year. I took advantage of the ability to find books that matched more than one category, although at the end of the challenge I realized that for some categories I had read several books that would fit. 

Here's what I read for the 2016 Read Harder Challenge. I am already looking forward to next year's challenge!!!

Read a horror book: Pressure by Brian Keene (also: Bird Box by Josh Malerman, which I enjoyed more)

Read a nonfiction book about science: Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt

Read a collection of essays: Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living by Jes Baker        

Read a book out loud to someone else: Olivia by Ian Falconer (read to my husband, though I read books out loud at work pretty much every week at least)

Read a middle grade novel: It Ain't So Awful Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas (also so, so many others this year)

Read a biography (not memoir or autobiography): Jim Thorpe: Original All-American by Joseph Bruchac (also Some Writer: The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet and Ten Days a Madwoman by Deborah Noyes and maybe more?)     

Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel: Plus One by Elizabeth Fama (also The Handmaid's Tale would fit here)  

Read a book originally published in the decade you were born: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1980s)      

Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, narrated by Claire Danes (won the 2013 Audie for the Fiction category)     

Read a book over 500 pages long: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (also Roots by Alex Haley and Well of Witches by J.A. White)

Read a book under 100 pages: We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Read a book by or about a person who identifies as transgender: Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Love, Identity and So Much More by Janet Mock (also If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo and Being Jazz by Jazz Jennings) 

Read a book that is set in the Middle East: When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi 

Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia: In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar (Philippines) 

Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900: The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe (also Roots by Alex Haley and The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich and maybe more?)

Read the first book in a series by a person of color: Spirit Week Showdown by Crystal Allen (also The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich and Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes and maybe more?)

Read a non-superhero comic that debuted in the last three years: The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie. Debate which is better: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (I liked both, but I think I liked the book better)

Read a nonfiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes:  The Rise of the Rocket Girls by Nathalia Holt

Read a book about religion (fiction or nonfiction): Ask Me How I Got Here by Christine Heppermann

Read a book about politics, in your country or another (fiction or nonfiction): Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

Read a food memoir: Love, Loss, and What We Ate by Padma Lakshmi

Read a play: Fences by August Wilson

Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness: When We Collided by Emery Lord (also History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera and Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall)

Reading Resolutions

I LOVE to make Reading Resolutions.

I am not the type of person who needs or wants to make a huge list of New Year Resolutions - I just feel guilty if I don't stick to them and it's hard for me to keep track.

But I love making Reading Resolutions. I love taking a little bit of time to look at what books I have read this year and how I feel about it. I think it's a great professional thing to do to decide where I need to expand my horizons and make some reading goals for the year.

In 2015, coming off my Newbery year, I did not make any Reading Resolutions. I didn't know how I would feel or what I would even be capable of reading after such an intense reading year. I ended up reading quite a bit more than I thought I would, although it definitely still sometimes felt like work.

As 2016 nears, I have been thinking about what kind of reading goals I might want to set for myself this year. In the past I have resolved to read more nonfiction (a habit that definitely stuck with me, as I now love reading nonfiction!), to read more books that I picked up through browsing rather that recommendations or reviews, and it seems like almost every year I resolve to read more adult books.

Our monthly Reading Wildly program helps kick me out of my comfort zone every now and then, so that will definitely continue. Here are the genres we're tackling in 2016.

I have a little bit of a sinking feeling about setting Reading Resolutions for myself this year. Life and work have been so busy lately that I feel like I've been neglecting this blog. I'm guessing and hoping that I'm in one of those fallow field periods that Donalyn Miller so eloquently wrote about. Lately I like the idea of reading and writing, but when it comes down to it I don't always pick up a book or log in to Blogger even when I have the time.

So we'll see what happens, but here are the reading resolutions I'm setting for 2016:

1. I'd like to read more Teen books. Now that our department is Youth Services, I'm working more directly with teens than I ever have and I got out of the habit of reading YA stuff with Newbery and all the elementary school booktalks we've been doing. In 2015 I read 38 books that I would consider teen and that didn't feel like enough, so in 2016 I'd like to read at least 50 teen books.

2. I sometimes have trouble picking up adult books since those are almost always purely for pleasure or my own interests and don't directly help me in my work. But since I'm trying to think of reading as entertainment, I'd like to read at least 25 adult books this year.

And I think that's going to be it for me this year. We'll keep it pretty loose and try to concentrate on having fun reading.

What are your reading resolutions??

Reading Resolutions

Photo by tourist_on_earth

To finish out the year, I'm over at the ASLC Blog talking about reading resolutions. Setting reading resolutions can be a great way to build and strengthen your arsenal when it comes to reader's advisory and professional knowledge!

Click on through and share your reading resolutions in the comments! Since I am just finishing up my Newbery year, my resolution is to be easy on myself about setting reading goals this year. I would love to know what YOUR reading resolutions are for this year!

Reading Resolutions

2012's been quite a reading year! As we wind down the year, many of us start thinking about the year to come. The bookish among us might set some nerdy reading resolutions... but first, we'd have to look at how we did on our resolutions last year. 

Last year, I made three reading/blog-related resolutions: 

1. READ LESS. I am happy to say that I accomplished this goal and that it actually came about very naturally. I have been doing more for ME this year and thinking less about work and this blog, and that's been a welcome and necessary change. So, yes, I read less this year. I blogged less this year. I stressed about work this year. But I've been much happier this year than I have in a long time. 

2. Read at least 20 adult books this year. This one was a fail for me. Part of that is because I moved closer to work and I'm no longer making time for audiobooks. I miss audiobooks, but right now I'm having trouble figuring out where to fit them in. 

3. Blog more about preschool storytimes and librarianship. I feel like I have done that this year and I've loved the results. I'm building a wider network of supportive colleagues and my posts about librarianship and programs tend to get the most feedback and discussion, which is gratifying. 

Now that my staff at the library has stabilized somewhat (we hired both a new teen librarian and a new children's librarian and had a long-time staff member retire from my department), I'm really looking forward to this work year. And I'm looking forward to the reading year, too!

This year, I'm only really going to set one goal: to read at least 20 adult books. I will do a reading goal on GoodReads again (probably 150 books again). I have missed reading adult books and I did not make time for them this year.

Things other than reading have made me happy in 2012 and I am hopeful that will continue. :) 

Did you set any reading goals for 2013? 

Reading Resolutions

Now's the time to be making reading goals for 2012. First, let's take a look at last year's reading goals...

1. The Debut Authors Challenge. I did not do as well with this in 2011 as I did in 2010. I read a lot of debuts, but I didn't review all of them. I ended up reading & reviewing 11 debut titles in 2011, short of the challenge goal of 12 and way short of my personal goal of 25! 

2. Reading more adult books. I am very pleased to say that I succeeded with this goal!! My unspoken goal was 20 adult books and I read 29 this year. I owe a lot of that success to audiobooks. 

3. Less pressure on myself about blogging. I think I succeeded with this goal as well. I definitely didn't review as many titles in 2011 as I had in previous years, which kinda bums me out, but it was a necessary cutback with all the other stuff that's been going on this year. 

I also set a GoodReads goal of reading 200 books in 2011, which I met but just barely.

2011 was super busy with Emerging Leaders, work on various committees, one of my full-time employees out for a couple of months on maternity leave, and now our teen librarian has been out for the past couple of months on medical leave. Frankly, I'm exhausted! But I do have some goals for 2012: 

1. READ LESS. Or, well, set a smaller GoodReads goal for myself. I'm going to set a goal of 150 books and try to surpass it. I aim to feel good about reading, not pressured to blitz through books to meet a goal. 

2. Read at least 20 adult books again this year. I'll also continue reading debuts, but I'm not going to set a numerical goal for that this year. 

3. This isn't a reading resolution, but a blogging resolution: I've loved blogging about our preschool storytimes this year and I will continue that. I'd also like to post more about general thoughts about and experiences with librarianship, so look for more of that to come this year. 

How about you? Are you setting any reading goals for yourself in 2012? 

Reading Resolutions

Photo used under Creative Commons license

As 2010 is winding down, I know I'm not alone in thinking about some goals for 2011.  And I do have three reading resolutions for this coming year!

1.  I've signed up again for the Debut Authors Challenge, as hosted by The Story Siren.  I had such fun participating last year that I signed up right away for this year.  The goal of the challenge is to read and review twelve 2011 YA or Middle Grade debut novels, but my personal goal is 25.  (I know, I said 20 in my sign-up post, but I think I can do 25!)

2.  I'd like to read more adult books this year.  I said that last year and it didn't really end up happening, but I'm saying it again this year.  Sarah at GreenBean TeenQueen sent out a plea for book recommendations for adult titles and going through my LibraryThing records reminded me many of the great adult titles I've read.  I don't want to miss them!  So even though there's constant pressure to be reading something I can blog about, I need to make time for adult books, too.  And that leads us to...

3.  I'm resolving to remember that this blog is a hobby, not a job and that I read and blog because I love it, not because publishers/authors/blog readers are expecting me to post reviews.  That's not to say that I don't enjoy working with publishers and authors (I do!  Y'all rock!), but just to say that when I am stressed out and I want to read an adult book instead of a bloggable book or - gasp - even reread a book, it's okay.  And, also, to remember that these reading resolutions are for fun, too.  So if I don't end up reading a ton of adult books, that's okay, too. :)

There are my reading resolutions!  What about you?  Anyone have any reading resolutions this year?  Or blogging resolutions?

2009 Reading Resolutions

Last year I posted about my reading resolutions. I had two reading resolutions for 2008: to read more non-fiction and to read & review all of the Rebecca Caudill nominees. I'm happy to say that both resolutions were a success! I've made reading non-fiction part of my regular reading habits. I enjoy it and I'm able to pick out non-fiction titles that I like. And that was the whole point!

ANYhoo, I've got a couple reading resolutions for 2009:

1. I'd like to read & review the 2010 Rebecca Caudill nominees for sure. I'd also like to include a little something more, like discussion questions, readalikes, and/or booktalks. If I get really brave, I just might attempt video booktalks for these titles. Time will tell... but I'll definitely read & review all 20 Caudill nominees.

2. This is kind of a strange one, perhaps. It's occurred to me recently that I almost never read books that someone hasn't recommended to me. Either I've heard about them on a blog, read a review of them, or they're by an author I've enjoyed in the past. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I'd like to take a few more risks with my reading. One of the most rewarding things about being on a Cybils nominating panel is that I've picked up books I knew nothing about, books I never would have picked up on my own.

In 2009 I'd like to read at least one book a month that I don't know anything about. A book that I'll find from browsing my library's collection. Or maybe a cool cover will catch my eye and the blurb will sound interesting. Or maybe some kind person will send me a review copy.

So, there you have my reading resolutions for 2009. I think I've proven to myself that I am no good at challenges (I joined two last year and didn't complete either one...). But having my own personal reading resolutions gives me a little more motivation. I invite you to come up with a reading resolution (or several!), too.

Feel free to share in the comments. What are your reading resolutions? Or, if you prefer formal challenges, what challenges are you joining this year? Which are you really looking forward to? Which do you think will be the most challenging?

My Reading Resolutions

I generally don't make New Year's Resolutions because I think that if there's something you really want to change, there's no time like the present! But, as 2007 is coming rapidly to a close, there are a couple of reading resolutions that I'd like to keep in mind for 2008.

1. I want to read more non-fiction. The great majority of what I read is fiction, but I'd really like to branch out and read some really great non-fiction titles this year. New and old, kids and adults... My goal is 2 a month, but I'm hoping that I can surpass that. I'm off to a good start because I'm doing booktalks in March on Women's History Month, so I already have a big list of history and biography books to get to. Let's hope I can keep it up all year! (And, of course, the Cybils lists are an awesome resource for suggestions...) (I am not the only one with this resolution... and check out an awesome list of appealing non-fiction for YAs over at The YA YA YAs.)

2. I want to read and review all the Caudill nominees. I read 15 of the 20 nominees for 2008. I want to be 20 for 20 in 2009. And, if possible, I'd like to be done with them by the start of summer so I can give recommendations to the kids and (hopefully) teachers who will be hounding after them this summer. (Last summer, our local school district gave a continuing education credit to any teacher who read a certain number of the nominees, so they were in high, high demand all summer. Woot!)

There is a slight possibility that I might be on the next Caudill committee, which would give me a third reading resolution... but we won't count chickens before they hatch, so we'll forget about that one for now. And, of course, I'm doing the Printz Award Challenge and the Expanding Horizons Challenge (so excited about both of those!).

So, you've heard my 2008 reading resolutions... do you have any of your own??