This week’s theme is ‘Top Ten Books I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read From X Genre’. I’m going to go for a bit of a twist and give you the top ten books my mother can’t believe I haven’t read from the classics, particularly because I’ve got English lit degrees… It’s also my mother’s birthday today! (She does read this blog, so stick your head in and say hi.)

1. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, Laurie Lee. 
2. Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad.
3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain.
4. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens.
5. Tess of the D’Ubervilles, Thomas Hardy.
6. The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde.
7. The History of the Decline Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon.
8. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill.
9. Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift.
10. Ulysses, James Joyce.

So if you’re feeling bad about not reading the classics, neither have I… (I’m also missing out on The Count of Monte Cristo and other such classics!)

Today’s prompt from The Broke and the Bookish is “Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2014” — which don’t have to be to do with books. Still, most of mine probably will be to do with books. Let’s see what I can do…

1. Never impulse-buy a book. Always always wait a day or two, or make sure it’s been on the wishlist for a while, etc. I mean, geez, self: it’s very rare you’re ever going to come across a book where this is the only copy you ever have access to.
2. Read every day. Even if it’s just five minutes before bed. I always feel better when I do, more like myself, and yet often I don’t make the time for it.
3. Bed before midnight. I was starting to get into this habit, and then I stayed up reading. Which doesn’t contradict #2, I swear.
4. Up before ten. Up before eight, preferably, but I figure I can stick to ten even when I wanna give myself a lie in.
5. Buy only one book from a series at a time. Even if I know I’m gonna love it. See also #1!
6. Post something to the blog every day. I’m already pretty much achieving that, but I’d like to get better at having a buffer of posts ready to go live as well.
7. Comment on at least one other blog every day. It’s a nice low bar to set, and it encourages me to be social.
8. Tithe 10% every month. I did this in 2014, too. It wasn’t always easy to keep up, especially when my earnings were pathetic, but it’s something I’m proud of doing.
9. Do 100 hours volunteering. I should manage this easily, if I volunteer the same amount as I did in 2014, especially now I’m a committee member for the library and not just a volunteer librarian. But it’s good to pledge a solid number; makes it easier for me to keep rolling out of bed on a cold Friday morning, or walk into the clinic on a warm sunny day. If it’s not meeting the target, it’s by how much can I beat it?
10. Review all new books from Netgalley/bookbridgr/Edelweiss within a month of receiving access. I’m still struggling to catch up with books I was approved for over a year ago; obviously, I’ve lost access to a lot of them, so I’m borrowing them from libraries or buying them so I can fulfil my promise of reviewing them. It would be better all round if I just reviewed them in time, though!

An odd mix of book, blog and general life, I know, but if I have a secret eleventh goal it might be “stop being so obsessive about lists”. I love lists, goodness knows, and they’re helpful, great, fun, etc, etc. But sometimes I let myself get a little too caught up in organising a list and not in doing what’s on it, or I get so obsessed about getting a list done that I neglect everything else.

Maybe the by-word for this entry should be “happy mediums”?

As for how I’m going to stick to it, I’m planning to figure out a way to fit the ten resolutions above into the habits/dailies sections of HabitRPG. It’s a great way of gameifying your life and making yourself accountable, and it’s pretty flexible for whatever goals you need to set. It’s pretty much trained me to remember to floss every day, from never flossing at all, for example — and it keeps track of when my library books are due back. There’s nothing like the cute pixel art for a reward for getting stuff done, for me, and you can set up custom rewards too. If anyone’s on the site already and interested in figuring out some kind of book related challenge, let’s put our heads together and come up with something!

Anyway, I’d love to see everyone else’s goals and resolutions, so please leave me a comment — I’ll visit everyone who comments, and leave comments back as long as technology permits.

This week’s prompt from The Broke and the Bookish is “Top Ten Books You Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing”. Which is a little awkward, as I know almost exactly what Santa’s bringing me — so I’ll have to try and think of books I didn’t put on my list, to make this a bit more fun.

Italics added to ones that I’ve been bought since I made this list!

1. Two Serpents Rise, Max Gladstone. I really need to read more of this series. I enjoyed the first book, and people have been pretty enthusiastic. (Aaaand my partner’s buying me this.)
2. Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie. As of typing this, I haven’t read Ancillary Justice yet. But I’m still reasonably sure I’m going to enjoy it…
3. The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Patricia A. McKillip. Or, in fact, anything I haven’t already got by McKillip.
4. Dreamer’s Pool, Juliet Marillier. It sounds like one of her books that I might well enjoy.
5. Mélusine, Sarah Monette. Since I adored her book as Katherine Addison. (And partner’s getting me this one too.)
6. Faery Tales, Carol Ann Duffy. It’s Carol Ann Duffy! ’nuff said. (Though my aunt may be getting me this one.)
7. Beowulf, trans. J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve read it, but I don’t have my own print copy to go on my shelf.
8. The Gift, Alison Croggon. Since a friend talked a lot about this series.
9. Those Who Hunt the Night, Barbara Hambly. For some reason, I’m seeing people recommend this a lot lately. And somehow I still haven’t tried reading anything of Hambly’s.
10. Mindscape, Andrea Hairston. I can’t remember much about this, but it’s been bookmarked for ages in my ‘looks interesting’ queue, and I remember being veeeery tempted to buy it at the time.

Now I’m thinking maybe I should’ve let this go live way before 23rd Dec, to give people a chance to maybe make some of my wishes come true… Ah well, I’m being spoilt enough already!