I was talking with my colleague and good friend E. about New Years reading goals/resolutions, and thinking about how they intertwine with the question of what I want to do with this blog. I definitely want to talk about what I read but I’m not interested in doing reviews-as-such anymore*. I want to engage thoughtfully with my reading, I want to weave it into my writing, and I want to do more life writing. How do I tie that all together?
For a few weeks now I’ve been posting on the #TBRPile tag on Instagram on Fridays, and I think I’m going to start putting the previous week’s post up here and talking about what I got through and how I reacted to it. I’m curious to see how that affects my reading experience.
In 2020 I signed up for Beat the Backlist and although the blog tanked and I didn’t keep up with sharing, I did maintain a #btb2020 tag on Goodreads and as of December 16 I’m at 35 books, with five more either checked out or on hold and slated for up-next reading. The oldest book remaining on my to-read list is Genesis by Eduardo Galeano, which I added on September 8, 2016. I had set my original goal at 20 and clearing the 2015 items, so I’m pretty pleased with that.
I certainly expect 2021 to look a little different, but I have no idea how it will look different – in terms of house, work, time doing art and SCA, mental health stuff (always, and especially this year, a rollercoaster) and the possibility post-COVID travel. But I do definitely want to continue chipping away at the stuff that languished during the years I was in grad school and not reading . I think right now it’s best to just keep it open and fluid, and get a feel for what targets make sense as I get into the new year.
So, watch this space! Something will be happening! What? Who knows?
*I’ve been chewing on a separate post about the story behind that for a while now. I’d like to get my thoughts on the subject written out, and I think I’ll probably get a post up sometime early in the new year.