I’d feel weird if I didn’t do these posts at all, but I’m not primarily, or at least solely, a reader of new books. So themes like the one for this week aren’t really geared at me… that theme being “Top Ten 2017 Debuts I’m Excited For”.
So, going off on an entirely unexpected tangent (/sarcasm font), here’s…
My ten bookish resolutions:
- Read for joy. If I’m dreading reading a book, I’m not going to read it. If I’m dying to reread an old favourite, I’ll reread it. If I get halfway through and I can’t bear a minute more, I’ll DNF.
- I’ll honestly review books I don’t finish. I think it can still be useful to know why someone didn’t get along with a book, even if they didn’t finish it. So I’ll be reviewing and rating books, even if I don’t finish ’em.
- I will strive to remember that my ratings are wholly personal. I think The Goblin Emperor is the most five-star book of all the five-star books. Buuut, that’s just me, and I know it. I rate based on enjoyment, which is why I feel that I can give an honest rating to a book I don’t finish. I need to keep making it totally clear that’s how I rate and review, though. And, especially, not act like a book is bad just because I disliked it.
- Read more than I buy. I have a whole spreadsheet for this, which tracks interesting-to-me reading stats. Like the amount I paid for the books I’ve read, and how much I’ve spent on new books, for example. I plan for the former number to be higher than the latter, at all times. We’ll, uh, see.
- Spare time? Read! Why do I end up wasting time so often? My plan is to get good at just picking a book up and reading.
- I’ll boost books I love. In whatever way I can — reviews, giveaways, etc.
- I’ll boost older books too. You never know what might be someone’s gateway drug, or whatever. There are some older books that you don’t see around the blogosphere. A lot of them are amazing!
- I’ll read more audiobooks or cancel my Audible subscription. Really, self. More crochet, more walking, more audiobooks.
- I’ll comment on at least one other blog every single day. I did this in 2016, and I enjoyed getting out there and interacting.
- I’ll comment on at least one new blog every week. Who knows what gems I’ll find, right?
And of course, my usual ones like replying to and returning all comments still stand.
What’re your bookish resolutions?
“Read more than I buy,” has been a standing goal for years; if you exclude textbooks, which I don’t count, I seem to have been approximately breaking even for the last few years.
I have got better at abandoning books I am not enjoying but I think there might still be room for improvement.
I have been too, but I’m now very specifically tracking in terms of money, not just quantities of books. This might be quite disheartening…
I certainly agree with you that about reviewing books we don’t finish. I’ve got a discussion post on DNF that I’ll be putting up shortly and that’s one of the things I talk about. I stop with a book as soon as I’m not enjoying. Like you say, reading should be fun! There is no right or wrong opinion of a book-it’s just opinions and I hate it when people start questioning my opinion because it doesn’t match theirs! I also have to find more reading time during the day so at night I can watch TV series or dvds sometimes and not feel bad that I’m not reading! Great list!
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I was thinking of doing a discussion post on DNFing too! I’ll wait and see what you have to say; maybe you’ll say everything I was thinking anyway!
I find DNF reviews to be entirely legitimate so long as the fact of not having finished is made clear. It’s also handy to know roughly at what stage the abandonment occurred.
This is really interesting. I never review books I’ve failed to finish, but maybe I am too scrupulous?
From my own point of view as a writer, obviously if readers fails to finish then as far as they are concerned I have failed, or the satire of romantic cliches hurts their feelings, or some such thing. I don’t mind if someone reviews a book having reached halfway and go in for skim reading form then on. That means the reader has to find out what happened,and the way I see it is I have succeeded in engaging the interest at least partially.
I don’t personally think people should leave a low star review after reading about three pages, though, as that doesn’t really give the book a chance. I think we should battle through three chapters at least to be fair. I have read books where I was really bored by the beginning,but then fascinated later on. In fact, some of my favourites have come into this category.
When reviewing books myself, I tend to be over scrupulous, even with dead authors, and read every word if I’m to review it. I forced myself to read through to the end of ‘The Bull From the Sea’ by Mary Renault (the sequel to ‘The King Must Die’ in her Theseus novels). I hated it, but I only tend to give one star reviews to books with rapist or would be rapist heroes, or ones who are really abusive to women.
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Oh, agreed; I don’t abandon a book until I’m good and sure it’s not going to pick up, and sometimes I’ll keep going because I knew going in I wouldn’t be the biggest fan (Austen, for example). I figure as long as I make it clear when I gave up, though, writing a review and giving a rating doesn’t do the book harm; someone’s pet peeves are another’s treasure, after all.
That’s very fair, Nikki. I might even adopt that policy myself, from now on.
Actually, just thinking about that hateful Theseus and his contemplating raping the matriarchal Queen in ‘The King Must Die’ and his slow throttling of poor Phaedra in ‘The Bull From the Sea’,he IS an abuser and a would be rapist and I should probably lower my star rating! (I remember we met through my reading your review of TKMD on Goodeads).
Lucinda Elliot recently posted…WordPress.com in 2016: A Year in Review
I think I’ve blocked out all memories of those books! I really didn’t like them…
Nice list of resolutions! I also I want to boost books I love, and also boost the book BLOGGERS I love. I think number 10 is such a great idea 🙂
And there’s so many good opportunities to do so!
I love your boosting and interaction goals. I’ve been trying to start the year by being better at interacting at least – whether it will survive the Monster Project kicking off at work in a week’s time remains to be seen!
You can always let it hibernate while the Monster Project gets into the swing of things!
Love these goals! I have to say, I’m honestly considering trying to get into audiobooks, especially since I just bought myself a treadmill and need options for things to do while on it. I had an Audible subscription a while back, but I never really listened to any of the books that I got, so I do have a few to catch up on, too!
Also, I have the same problem with just picking up a book in my spare time lately…I’ve just been sitting around, playing on the internet or my phone or whatever, and losing so much valuable reading time!
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Audiobooks are very good while on a treadmill! It adds a bit more interest, and I prefer it to music.