CanadianContent discussion

A place to share your reading resolutions

2019 is here and I am keeping my reading goals simple for the new year and adding a column to my tracking spreadsheet to increase the reading from my shelf!

Goals:
- read 100 books
- exceed 50% Canadian (including a focus on diversity)
- read 50% of books from my shelf
- increase my audio book consumption to 18
- read ALL the Canada Reads short-list (and attend the finale)
- read ALL the Giller Prize short-list (and attend the Toronto Between the Pages Event)

Mine is simple

Read 104 books (2 per week)
Read more International literature
Read Ulysses and Middlemarch
Support small indie presses with subscriptions

MY 2019 GOALS


1. Read 100 books, including:
- 10 classic novels
- 30 by Canadian authors
- 20 by diverse authors (POC, LGBTQ)
- 10 nonfiction

2. Complete CanadianContent Bingo Challenge with all Canadian books

3. Complete Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

4. Read the Canada Reads shortlist

5. Read the Giller shortlist

I'm giving up on reading goals of sorts. It's been a busy and difficult year. I didn't manage to finish CanLit Bingo. I overworked myself with other goals.

So I'm making goals to only read books I enjoy and to not purchase any books (unless I receive a gift card). I have so many books on my shelves and a robust library system to take advantage of.

Rather than getting caught up in reading challenges and books I 'should' be reading, I just want to read books that interest me and that I love.

I've got some new books on the go and I'm very excited about this year. It's so relaxing to let go.

Shvaugn wrote: "So I'm making goals to only read books I enjoy and to not purchase any books (unless I receive a gift card). I have so many books on my shelves and a robust library system to take advantage of..."

Hear! Hear! This is my goal too. We all have too many 'shoulds' in our lives, IMHO.

Louise it’s interesting you mention wanting to read Middlemarch this year. I have a book a day devotional and today’s recommendation was Middlemarch. I had to read it over three days when I was an undergrad,something I don’t recommend and I’d like to read it again.

I can't remember who the author was but I do remember her saying in an interview that she re-reads Middlemarch every year! I figure I should read it at least once.

I believe it may have been Rebecca Mead. I never understand why people would want to do that. Once every ten years but every year? I don’t think I’ve ever read the same book twice in my entire life.

I know some people who make it a point to do some re-reads every year. It is quite rare that I will re-read a book; I've got too many unread books to read.

I'm with Susan Sontag when she says " No book is worth reading that isn't worth re-reading.”

At least 10-15% of the books I read each year are re-reads. I find something new in them each time and many of them bring me great happiness and comfort.

This year, I re-read Margaret Drabble's The Radiant Way trilogy for perhaps the 7th time with a dear friend and we were amazed at how rich the experience was and how deep the resulting conversation we had about it was. (Without exaggeration, one of the best conversations I've had in years.)

We'd first read it in our twenties when the main characters seemed like wise guides to live. But now we are older than those characters and had a very different point of view on the story. So for me anyway re-reading is a valuable activity.

I do a bit of rereading too... sometimes old favourites (Anne of Green Gables) which I continue to enjoy but a couple of times this has backfired and I have a total different perspective like reading all the racist comments of the day in Mrs. Mike and being disappointed with a reread of The World According to Garp for its' recent 40th anniversary.

@Storyheart - great to think of you rereading a book 7x with a friend!

Thanks Susan. I've had the 'new perspective' experience too, seeing previously unnoticed sexist and racist attitudes in books I once loved. But even that is good learning.

My 2019 Reading Goals

Read 50 books
- 25 CanLit books (Bingo)
- 10 Non-Fiction
- 10 Non North-American
- 6 Translated

Hopefully there will be some overlap, or it is actually 51. LOL!

My reading goals are pretty simple as well.
- read what I currently own
- not to buy a book, just because I saw the author
-if I am not enjoying a book, then it is okay not to finish
-read more those genres I enjoy the most
-meet or exceed my reading challenge goal for 2019

Kim wrote: "-if I am not enjoying a book, then it is okay not to finish..."

Love this one! It's a lesson I'm trying to learn as well. There are just too many great books out there to spend time with those that don't speak to you.

My reading resolutions are modest, but important tome this year. I want to finish the BINGO 2019 challenge, and I want to read an author from every province and territory, or a book set in every province or territory.

I will also aim to feel less beholden to "required reading" from the avalanche of book lists that are available to us as the year progresses unless I am interested in the book.

I will also read to boost my mood and energy, and for pure joy.

Can you believe there are just a couple of weeks left in 2019? How are you doing with this year's reading resolutions?

MY 2019 GOALS


1. Read 100 books, including: - 103/100 ✔
- 10 classic novels - 10/10 ✔
- 30 by Canadian authors - 33/30 ✔
- 20 by diverse authors (POC, LGBTQ) - 18/20 POC but hoping to complete! I didn't track LGBTQ so I'm not sure.
- 10 nonfiction - 9/10 but hoping to finish this one too!

2. Complete CanadianContent Bingo Challenge with all Canadian books - managed that one ✔

3. Complete Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge - scrapped this idea lol

4. Read the Canada Reads shortlist - 4/5 - oh well

5. Read the Giller shortlist - 3/6 - not great!

Thanks for reminding us @Allison!

✔ although i have missed most of my goals, i have had a great reading year. I will read the final book for BINGO (Christmas at the Vinyl Cafe, one story each day until Christmas and have just 6 more books to read for my goal of 100.

Goals:
✔ read 100 books - made it!!! Finished 104 books this year with December being a terrific reading month.

✔ exceed 50% Canadian (including a focus on diversity) - was exactly 50% Canadian Content this year!

- read 50% of books from my shelf - failed on this but I have bought less books in 2019 and borrowed more on my kobo than previous years.

- increase my audio book consumption to 18 - missed this one but have listened to 12 books; being off work since the end of September, i have not listened to any audio books. I will make this a goal for 2020 too!

✔read ALL the Canada Reads short-list (and attend the finale) - loved this!!

- read ALL the Giller Prize short-list (and attend the Toronto Between the Pages Event) - have only read 2 including the winner; missed the event as i had been recuperating.

I'm not one for resolutions, but I did have a few goals I hoped to achieve this year.
- read 50 books (I'm now at 58, and will probably manage 60!)
- complete Bingo (done)
- complete Cross Canada (done)
- complete the BA level of the Historical Fictionistas University challenge (done)
-spend less time on social media and more time reading (not sure I accomplished this one...sometimes maybe???)

My goodness!

I am pretty happy with my reading for the year.
I accomplished my goal of 200 books. I read books from a lot of countries I haven't read books from before (I am trying, over time, to read a book from every country). Lots of authors of color and LGBTQ authors. I probably could have read more non-fiction but that is always a weaker spot for me. It has been a blast though! Oh, I am one novel short for completing my entire Bingo card. I may be able to squeak it in but things are getting pretty crazy.
Great job folks!

I didn't make any strict resolutions this year, after a few years of too many resolutions. My loose goals were:

- Read whatever I want (achieved! LOL)
- Complete bingo (working on finishing this up)
- Choose less soul-destroying nonfiction reads (I did a pretty good job with this overall)
- Read a complete series or linked books (I like to do this every year; I read the two Killing Eve books by Luke Jennings - that's not what I had planned on, but see "read whatever I want" above!)

So impressed with all your goals and resolutions.

@ Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺, I applaud the diversity of your goals.

@Susan, reading 50% Canadian is admirable.

@Gail, the Historical Fictionistas University challenge sounds interesting. What books were your favourites from it?

@Barbara, love your goal of trying, over time, to read a book from every country. Any favs from that goal for this year?

I had two goals for this year--to read at least 100 books by women authors (currently at 108/100 with a few more to come) and to read more women in translation (I didn't set a number goal but I did complete 14 with one more to come.)

I loved Things We Lost in the Fire which is by an Argentinian author. Other stand outs this year were Our Sister Killjoy (Ghana) and I'll Sell You a Dog(Mexico). Love getting some international flavour. I travel while staying home, lol!
Great women in translation goal. I also love women in translation. I LOVED Vita Nostra if you are up for an unusual read.

@Storyheart...Historical Fictionistas University always pushes me out of my comfort zone a bit, and some of the books are things I would never pick for myself. Some of the gems I found:
- The Frog Lake Reader and The Temptations of Big Bear...I can now say that I know a fair bit about the Frog Lake Massacre.
-The Bookish Life of Nina Hill...had to read a book about books, and this one was very good.
-A Gentleman in Moscow
-The Woolgrower’s Companion...an Australian novel that I really enjoyed. I must read the sequel.

Barbara, I loved I'll Sell You a Dog! Will check out the other ones.

Gail, really interesting choices there. I'll see which ones my library has. Are you moving on to the MA level this year with the challenge?

Storyheart, I am already working on the MA, but probably won't do the PhD challenge. They have done this challenge several times over the past few years, and I think I have done 3 BA's. This is the second time I have done the MA, and I did one PhD. This challenge looks like a big commitment, but it isn't that bad, and it makes sure that I don't just read trash all the time!

Wow, good for you, Gail! Reading stimulating books can really add a lot of meaning to our lives, though I'm a big advocate of reading trash sometimes if it brings pleasure :)