The Year of Reading Deliberately

2009 was the year of trying to read 100 books.  2010 will be the year of “reading deliberately.”  The concept was born out of a Twitter conversation I had with Vasilly of 1330v, Jennifer of The Literate Housewife, and Michelle of GalleySmith about how I wanted to re-focus my reading for 2010.

Reading time is precious and limited, and I want to maximize its impact in my life. I set the goal to read 100 books in 2009 because I just wanted to see if I could do it, but I feel like I sacrificed quality a few times along the way, and when it comes down to it, I’d rather read fewer books and have them all be really fantastic than the other way around.

So, what does “the year of reading deliberately” mean for The Book Lady?    

• Classics: Because I like them, because they’re important, and because a familiarity with them makes one a better reader of contemporary novels, which often refer or allude to them.

• Chunksters: In my quest to read 100 books, I put a handful of big, meaty books on the back burner because I knew they’d slow me down. They’re time-consuming, and they need to be read carefully, and I knew I’d end up rushing through them and not doing myself any favors in the process. So it’s time to rescue them and get down to business!

• Award Winners: The books we select as the best of the best say something about our society and our culture. I don’t always agree with the selections, but I sure like being able to talk about them intelligently. This year, I’ll target Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and Nobel Prize winners (and nominees), along with other award winning books that catch my eye.

• Tackling the TBR pile: I bought the books on the pile because I wanted to read them, but I allowed them to be preempted by ARCs, new releases, and books for which I imposed some arbitrary deadline far too often. I still want to read these books, so damnit, I’m going to read them!

• Rereading old favorites.

• Reading more from favorite authors and those with whom I want to be better acquainted.

• Getting picky about ARCs, review books, blog tours, etc. I love free books as much as anybody, and I’m always flattered when an author or publicist reaches out to me and thinks The Book Lady’s Blog is a good fit for their book, but I need to become even more selective about what I accept for review. I cracked down during the second part of 2009, and it’s been rather nice to have more flexibility and freedom in my reading. Who wouldn’t want more of that?

• Balancing new releases with backlist titles: As a blogger, it’s fun to read new releases and be in on the conversations on blogs and Twitter, and when I was working as a bookseller, it was vitally important to be familiar with the hot new titles (because they’re hot and new and also because hardcovers have the highest profit margin), but I don’t want to read new releases to the exclusion of everything else, and I feel like I swung further in that direction than I intended to this year. After all, there are books on my TBR pile that have been there since they were new releases and are now out in paperback, and that’s just ridiculous.

These are the basic principles that will guide my reading in 2010, but the bottom line is that I want to be more mindful of how I select reading material. I read because I want to be a well-rounded, informed, intelligent citizen of the world. I read to have my boundaries stretched and to explore new ways of thinking and being and to see the world through someone else’s eyes. I read to learn and be challenged. And I want to keep these purposes in mind each and every time I walk to my shelves or into my favorite indie bookstore or click through an online retailer in 2010.

So, here’s what I’ve been reading in 2010, with a brief note about how it fits in with my goal to read deliberately.           

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters: Award nominees (Booker Prize 2009); from the TBR pile (how’s two-birds-with-one-stone for my first completed book of the year?)

The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris: Review copy by an author I’ve been wanting to read.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova: Second novel by an author I previously enjoyed, from the TBR pile

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: Classics, LOST Books Challenge

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell: From the TBR

Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom: From LibraryThing Early Reviewers; author I’ve been wanting to read

Searching for Whitopia by Rich Benjamin: Review copy unearthed from the bottom of the TBR about 3 months behind schedule

Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles: From the TBR

A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell: Review copy

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: From the TBR: unfinished

In the Land of Believers by Gina Welch: Review copy

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin: From the TBR

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake: Review copy

Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim: Review copy

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell: Re-read of an old favorite

Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell: Review copy

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley: From the TBR

Just Don’t Fall by Josh Sundquist: Review copy

Winging It by Jenny Gardiner: Review copy

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel: Review copy from the TBR

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman: Review copy from LibraryThing Early Reviewers

The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors by Michele Young-Stone: From the TBR

The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni: From the TBR

Chow Hounds Ernie Ward, DVM: Blog tour review copy

Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-In-Training by Tom Jokinen: Review copy

Day for Night by Frederick Reiken: Review copy from the TBR

The Singer’s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel:From the TBR (gift)

The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin: Blog tour review copy; did not finish

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes: From the TBR

Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists edited by Courtney E. Martin & J. Courtney Sullivan: Review copy

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann: From the TBR

How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley Review copy

The City and The City by China Mieville: From the TBR

Queer Questions Straight Talk by Abby Dees: Review copy

Salvation on Sand Mountain by Dennis Covington: From the TBR

Taroko Gorge by Jacob Ritari: Review copy

American Music by Jane Mendelsohn: From the TBR

Where’s My Wand? by Eric Poole: Review copy

Mattaponi Queen by Belle Boggs: From the TBR

Finny by Justin Kramon: Review copy

Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons: Review copy

The Typist by Michael Knight: Review copy

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross: From the TBR

The Game On Diet by Krista Vernoff & Az Ferguson: From the TBR

Packing for Mars: by Mary Roach: Review copy

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan: From the TBR

Nothing Left to Burn by Jay Varner: Review copy

The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore: Review copy for event

Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky: From the TBR

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie: From the TBR

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen: From the TBR

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell: From the TBR

Down Around Midnight by Robert Sabbag: From the TBR

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray: From the TBR

Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye: Review copy

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson: From the TBR

What’s Up Down There? by Lissa Rankin, MD: Review copy

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin: From the TBR

The Undertaking by Thomas Lynch:From the TBR

You Had Me at Woof by Julie Klam: Review copy

The Heroine’s Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore: Review copy

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee: Review copy

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer: Review copy

The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan: From the TBR

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King: Review copy

All About Lulu by Jonathan Evison: From the TBR

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu: From the TBR

Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood by Ellen F. Brown & John Wiley, Jr.: Review copy

You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know by Heather Sellers: Review copy

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest: From the TBR

Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor: From the TBR

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: From the TBR

Perfect Birds by Michele Young-Stone (manuscript)

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: From the TBR

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison: From the TBR