Monday, January 14, 2013

a year of themed reading...

Okay, so this sort-of/kind-of blogging schedule I made for myself tells me I'm supposed to post about books on Mondays and Thursdays. This was extremely short-sighted of me. Heck, it was just plain stupid of me...like I could ever keep up a steady pace of two books a week. In fact, I started reading Sarah Water's The Night Watch and Ben Goldacre's Bad Science after finishing my last book, and well, it just may be a while before I finish anything. (Can I add right here though that I am thoroughly *loving* both of those books!)

Anyway, since I have no specific book to blather on about, I thought I'd talk a bit more about my plans for themed reading this year. (I mentioned it back when I talked about my sort-of/kind-of goals for the year.) I have now come up with my themes for the entire year...

January: Ana's and Iris's Long-Awaited Reads Month, which I personalized a bit, making it my Long-Awaited-Reads-All-Because-of-Ana Month. So far, this is going splendidly, as I *knew* it would. Seriously, I had no doubt whatsoever that this was going to be an extremely rewarding month of reading! Only downside is that I simply can't read fast enough to fit in even more books.

February: Graphic Novels Month. A whole month of comics--ahhh, does that not sound freakin' heavenly?!!

March: Food and Gardening Month. Appropriate timing, as spring will be right around the corner. Well, around a couple corners. ;)

April: Once Upon a Time Month. Did you really think I would leave dear Carl's challenge out of the picture? Not a chance! And this year, I think I'd like to focus largely on fairy tales and folktales.

May: Medical and Psychological Issues Month. I actually have quite a large number of books I'd like to get to during this month.

June: GLBT Month. Again, so many books I've been eager to read and just haven't gotten to.

July: Finish-Some-Of-Those-Books-You-Started-And-Then-Set-Aside Month. I actually have a bigger stack for this theme than is reasonable for a month. Most of them are non-fiction. And they were never set aside because I wasn't enjoying them...if that were the case, I wouldn't go back to them but would give them away instead. No, for the most part, they ended up set aside because life got too crazy. Often because I just had too dang much to get read for homeschooling. But putting this month in the middle of the summer, I'm hoping that I can finally give these books their due. And yes, in many instances, it will mean I have to start over.

August: Nature and the Environment Month. No shortage of books in this house to choose from here. :)

September: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Month. In honor of Carl's RIP Challenge.

October: Gothic/Horror/Halloweeny Month. Again, RIP. Can't waste a second of RIP, after all!

November: Social Justice/Human Rights/Stuff-That-Really-Matters Month. Hopefully that's self-explanatory.

December: Wintery Reads Month. This one is largely inspired by this post by Ana about the books that set the perfect mood for her during this time of year.

I think I mentioned before that there will be exceptions during every month:

*I obviously have to read what I have to read for homeschooling.

*The books I read with the kids (though it's generally just Max these days) do not have to fit the monthly theme. I always let them pick the book anyway, though I sometimes make suggestions.

*And I am encouraged to read one off-theme book per month...you know to keep myself from turning this into a chore and so I can always read that new-and-shiny-simply-can't-resist book.

I'm excited to say that my darling Chris is going to join me for many of these themed months!!! :D And we'd love it if you should choose to jump in on any month as well. Though I totally understand not wanting to box yourself in that way.

So, which theme sounds the most fun to you?

8 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

That sounds like a divine year of reading! It really does. I hope you have loads of fun with all of them and am obviously thrilled to see that you'll be a part of OUaT and RIP. :)

chrisa511 said...

I am SO FREAKING EXCITED to do this with you :D :D :D Really, I can't even describe to you how excited I am! I just can't stop thinking of all the books to read for all of these months. My exceptions will be the books that are coming out this year that I'm already super excited about…and a few readalongs I'm doing like the year long War and Peace readalong and next months The Shining read along! Which you should do with me because the SEQUEl to the shinging is coming out this year Debi!!!

DesLily said...

wow that sounds great! I am bad at commiting so that is something I couldn't do but it's a great way to rid one of books from the shelves!!!!

I'm afraid I've gotten waay too many bio's and autobio's and memoirs and reality books that most of mine will most likely be those ..but I will never go without some good fantasy nor some good gothic mysteries so that about sums me up this year lol

Eva said...

Sounds like a fun year Debi!!!

Also, you could always just post about your reactions in the middle of whatever book you're reading. :)

Eva said...

Sounds like a fun year Debi!!!

Also, you could always just post about your reactions in the middle of whatever book you're reading. :)

Kailana said...

This sounds like a great reading year, Debi! I hope you have fun!!

John said...

What a great idea! Graphic Novel Month and Finish What You Started Month sound perfect for me.

Care said...

How SUPER cool! And Fire Season could fit for Psych Issues month because he talks about how weird he must be to sit all alone for months at a time. But of course, will work perfect for Nature month.

No, you do not have to witty if you don't want to be. But you can't help being charming...