Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.
This week's topic is Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2015. I don't really like making New Year's resolutions; I almost always break them. But there are some things I'd like to do differently in the coming year:
10. Allow myself to DNF... even if I paid money for the book. I'm terrible with DNFing, especially if the book is one that I bought. I need to give myself permission to DNF. I just did it with two books; I was trying desperately to get through both, but after pushing myself to about the halfway point, I just couldn't go any further. I'm going to set my threshold at 25%; if a book hasn't grabbed my attention by then, it's probably not going to.
9. Avoid buying any new books... unless they're already on my want-to-read list. My TBR pile is ridiculous as it is; I don't really need any more books. But I'm not going to stop myself from reading some of the 2015 releases that I've been looking forward to!
8. Read one book from the TBR pile for every library or NetGalley book that I read. Otherwise, I'll never get through that TBR pile.
7. Write more blog posts that aren't memes. Hey, we all like memes, but sometimes the best posts out there are ones that are written off the top of a blogger's head.
6. Come up with a better review format. I think I need something a little more... structured. As it is, I feel like I fall into a pattern of listing everything that's wrong with a book and neglecting its good aspects.
5. Comment on other bloggers' blogs more... and leave thoughtful comments. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. We all like to know whether or not our thoughts have been read and appreciated. If I really like someone's blog post, I'm going to let them know!
4. Read more books outside of my comfort zone. Some of my favourite reads have been stumbled upon when I tried something outside of my preferred genre. Many of my recent favourites have been historical fiction... so maybe I should actively try to read more of it.
3. Keep non-novel reviews to Goodreads. While I have enjoyed reading and reviewing more picture books this past year, I think I'd like to keep my blog as a novel-only space from now on. I haven't decided yet whether I'll leave the existing picture-book reviews up or not.
2. Complete the 2015 challenges that I signed up for. As of right now, I've only signed up for two. If some of the books overlap, I'll have to read at least 11 books this year to complete both challenges.
1. Try to enjoy reading more. This ties in with #10. When reading a book becomes a chore, or makes me feel like I'm back in my high school English class, it's time to call it quits. Nobody's forcing me to read these books; I may need to remind myself of that from time to time.
What are your blogging/reading resolutions for 2015?
I really like your resolution no. 10! I feel the most guilty when I decide to DNF a review book I got from the publisher - I only did it once this year and I really hated it. I feel like I should be more mindful of requesting only the books I know I'll like (which is something I put on my own TTT this week: http://ofdragonsandhearts.com/2014/12/top-ten-tuesday-2015-book-resolutions/).
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time predicting which books I'll like... so I never really know if I'm going to DNF.
DeleteI've given not-so-great reviews to ARCs in the past. Maybe that's why NetGalley doesn't approve my requests very often!
Excellent list! It took me a long time before I could bring myself to not finish reading a book. I'm not sure why it's so hard, but there are so many other books out there to read so why waste time with a book that's not to your taste? I've been experimenting with my review format, but haven't come up with anything I really like. Guess it will be a work in progress for now. Good luck with your goals!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. I really shouldn't spend time reading books I'm not enjoying. That's the reason I don't re-read (Why spend time reading something I've already read -- no matter how much I've enjoyed it -- when there are so many other books to get to?) so I'm not sure why time-management doesn't play more of a role when I'm trying to decide whether to DNF something.
DeleteI think I might make some minor changes to my review format, but I haven't quite decided what those'll be yet. I've got a few more days before I'll have to figure it out, though; I just started my first read of 2015.
I hate making resolutions too. I like your 25% DNF rule. I might have to start that, because something big usually happens around there. I always mean to read outside of my comfort zone too, but... Good luck with your goals!
ReplyDeleteYeah... I hope I actually get to read a few books outside of my comfort zone! I signed up for the Fairytale Retelling Challenge, so most of those books are smack-dab in the middle of said comfort zone.
DeleteAlthough, I do have some Stephen King novels in my TBR pile, so maybe I'll end up reading one of those for my TBR Pile Challenge. (I've never read a Stephen King novel -- or much horror in general -- so I'd say that's probably outside of my comfort zone!)