a home between pages

It’s a new year. It’s also a new day, a new week, and a new month.  (Did you get that memo?)

Which also supposedly means a wrap up post for 2011. I posted my Top Five at Book Riot in mid-December, and for the most part they haven’t changed much. The Art of Fielding maintained it’s spot even after I finished it – and I ended up buying it for my dad for Christmas. I set a few goals as part of Reading Deliberately at the beginning of 2011: read more Chunksters, Classics, TBR List, and Non-fiction and Blog more. Ugh. I already feel the shame creeping in of what I didn’t accomplish. Ah well, new year, new goals, right?

Let’s break it down a bit though.

I didn’t reach my goal of 60 books, but I did read 53, finishing the last one (What Alice Forgot), just before I had to jump in the shower to get ready for a New Year’s Eve party. I’m actually pretty happy about that because it’s still an average of more than one book a week. Of course, I’d like to read more this year, but I would be happy with meeting the same number. Grad school for the entire year this year will do a number on my pleasure reading, so this is the best I can reach for.

I also read 19,046 pages, which I’m also very happy about. The longest book I read in 2011 was actually the first book I read: Gone with the Wind. At over a thousand pages, it beat out anything else I read by far. Not as many chunksters as I’d hoped though – only a total of five books over 500 pages.  I also completely failed at reading more Classics this year too. And only six of my books were non-fiction. And that whole “blog more” thing – that didn’t so much happen.

But out with the old, in with the new!

I’m vowing this year – okay, maybe not vowing, because that’s awfully strong language – I’ll be trying this year to keep some of those same goals in mind. I’m still going to be Reading Deliberately, if for no other reason than the fact that my personal reading time is going to be precise and limited. In that vein, I’m also going to try to read more books that have been heavily recommended by friends or fellow book bloggers, like for example Mr. Peanut which Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog has been pushing forever.

Blogging more – I really want to do that. I really do, but I’m going to have to balance my commitments a little more strictly this year. That means at least one blog a week here, and at least one a week over at Book Riot. If I can do more, I will, but that’s what I’m shooting for, for now.

As part of my running 30 for 30 list, I’m going to work on Jane Austen, and Harry Potter, though I don’t know if I can take another crack at Anna Karenina until I get a different translation.

I’m also starting my “Take a photo every day for a year” task, which you can follow on Tumblr and on Flickr.

It’s going to be a great year. What are your reading goals? And resolutions?

I can see you doing the math in your head. One week? Until what?? Christmas is in less than a week. New Year’s is more than a week away. That countdown is one week until I move. I’m not really moving that far away, just one floor up, from my room to my roommate’s Master bedroom, but I still have to pack all of my books. And while I’m about halfway down, I think I might have finally reached my breaking point.

This morning, I packed 14 boxes worth of books. And in the process of doing so, I realized how many I have that I really and truly will never, ever read. In the last several years – actually since the beginning of this blog – my reading tastes have changed, fairly dramatically. Not too many traditional chick lit novels for me anymore; my guilty pleasures are now purely YA. I just don’t have the patience for chick lit anymore, they’re no where close to being anything I can relate to anymore, but I own so very many of them, and most of them in hardcover.

But that’s just one category! I had a realization this morning that I really do not need to own so many books, that I likely will never re-read most of the ones I have read, and that space in an urban apartment is at a premium. There are only so many ways to squeeze one more bookshelf into a room. I think one of my projects as I unpack will be to not only sort my books and actually develop some kind of system where now there is none, but also to set aside two piles: one to donate to my local library book sale (which I’ve posted about before), and one to sale to my local used book store for store credit.

As we approach the end of the year, I’m listening more and more to those Christmas wishes I listed and thinking about what they really mean. It’s not the physical book that matters so much anymore; it’s the act of reading, the experience of enjoying it, and then the ability to share that in any way I can. And downsizing is a big part of that.

So as I’m packing up this week, I’m mentally keeping track of books I’m okay with moving onto another home, and pulling aside a handful of books I want to read before 2011 is done.

Somewhere in the middle of all this packing is Christmas, and then right after the move (I mean the day OF the move), I’m flying to Boston for New Year’s. Which means I’ve got a lot of reading time between now and midnight on Dec. 31st. Keep an eye out for my Best of 2011 sometime after Jan. 1st.

Thanksgiving is in 8 days. EIGHT. DAYS. Where on Earth has this year gone? This Fall? It feels like I was just gearing up to start my Master’s and now my first semester is just about over. My mom is slightly incapacitated because of a bike accident and a dislocated thumb, so it’s quite possible that I will be responsible for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Which is fine and dandy except that I work until 9pm the night before. So I’m likely going to be very busy on Turkey Day itself, but I’d like to try to get as much reading in as possible, since one of my rare holidays off includes the post-Thanksgiving Friday.

Jenn at Jenn’s Bookshelves is hosting the third annual Thankfully Reading Weekend, which has the simple goal of reading as much as possible during the four-day weekend of Thanksgiving. That is a challenge I can get behind! Especially with all the books I’d like to finish before the end of the year, a weekend devoted to reading, food, football, and family is one I can absolutely support.

With this holiday approaching quickly though, I’ve started to think about my Christmas lists – both what I would like and what I want to give. You would think that, as a book lover, my wishlist would be full of new books and book-related accessories, maybe even a new eReader. But I find that my wishlist is going to be impossible to fulfill. Blame it on maturity, blame it on not having another inch of space to devote to any new things – let alone more books, I’m all about the intangibles this holiday season.

I wish not for new books, but for all the time in the world to read them. And review them.

I wish not for an iPad, but for the modesty to be happy with the gadgets I’ve already got and the patience to use them most efficiently.

I wish not for new PJs, but for a calm mind and peaceful thoughts to sleep better.

I wish not for a new party dress, but for an occasion to wear it proudly.

I wish not for bottles of good wine, but for schedules and lives that allow me to drink with my girlfriends.

I wish not for plane tickets, but for the excellent company on the other end.

I wish not for gift certificates to restaurants, but for the right guy to ask me on a date to one of them.

I wish not for a new book bag or school supplies, but for the ability to budget my time well.

I wish not for a massage at a spa, but for the ability to find stress relief in my everyday life.

I wish not for new running shoes or workout gear, but the motivation and energy to make exercise a priority.

I have a feeling Santa’s going to struggle stuffing my stocking this year…

What are you wishing for?