Reading In 2013

I'm not much one for New Year's resolutions; they never seem to work for me and then, failing them, I feel both guilty and disappointed. That's no kind of way to start the year! I prefer to think in terms of goals - an end point I'm shooting for. While I may not reach the goal and still be a bit disappointed, goals still allow me to look back and see how far along I got striving to reach the goal.

I like to do the same thing with  my reading. Some of my reading goals for 2013 are carry overs from previous years, things I would like to continue trying to improve on or maintain; others will be new for 2013.

1. Read More Non-Fiction: I did a great job with non-fiction in 2011 but kind of lost speed in 2012. In the coming year I'll be trying to read at least one non-fiction book a month.

2. Read Books Set In Other Countries or Translations: I do a pretty good job of reading books from around the world (my love of books set in the Middle East helps) but I'd like to expand my reading to new countries and to read more translations.

3. Join In More Readalongs: It's always fun to be able to discuss a book you're reading with other people and readalongs nudge me to read books I may have been putting off.

4. Listen To More Audio Books: I'm still working on getting audio downloaded to my iPod which will allow me to listen to books while I'm doing other things. Having discovered that my library sale has audio books, I'll continue to listen to books on CD in my car. Speaking of which, do any of you have experience with "Playaway?" I was surprised to open the audio I bought of John Green's Paper Towns and find that it was a self-contained player and not CDs as I had anticipated.

5. Complete My Challenges: I've signed up for a number of challenges but really tried to pick challenges that fit in with my other goals and my reading patterns. I've also signed up for the lowest level of most of the challenges. I suppose this means I haven't really challenged myself by signing up for these challenges but given  my inability to complete all of the challenges I sign up for each year, I still think I'll be racing at the end for 2013 to finish up.

6. Read More Classics: I joined the Classics Club in 2012, essentially committing myself to reading a classic a month. I promptly fell ten books behind. What? I always read a lot of classics. How could that even happen? So, to get myself back on track, I really need to shoot for 22 classics in 2013.

7. Have Fun: Reading was much more relaxed in the fall after I quit accepting so many review books and started reading for me. My number one goal for the coming year is to continue to read what I want, when I want and to enjoy my reading!

How about you? Do you make plans for your reading?