Well what an amazing year 2012 has been, both in terms of reading and non-reading. Back in January and February, I was inspired to start my own book blog and I officially began in March 2012. Since then, I have (pretty much) kept this blog going even when I was very busy/not reading much, which I am proud of. I enjoyed holidays to Vienna, Majorca and of course the amazing Olympics. There was the French Open, Wimbledon, Euro 2012 along with the US Open which was definitely my favourite sporting event (aside from the Olympics) as Andy Murray finally won and Laura Robson exploded onto the professional women’s tennis scene. My exams and all the hard work really paid off when I got my results at the end of August and I have embraced sixth form life since I began in September as well. The Classics Club started and has grown massively and the book-blogosphere has continued to expand.
What a load of great things; 2013 has a lot to live up to!
I have several reading goals for 2013:
- 1: Better my 2012 books total. I read 34 books in 2012 so that means I need to read at least 3 books a month to better it. Ideally I would like to read 4 books a month, but that is not always possible, especially as many of the books I read are quite long and take me a while!
- 2: Better my 2012 pages total. I read 14070 pages in 2012 so that means I need to read an average of 1173 pages a month to better. Maybe I should aim for at least 1200 pages a month to make it a nice round
easytarget… - 3: Spend at least 30 minutes a day reading. Now this may seem quite a small amount, but during busy school time 30 minutes is very long! I want this to be 30 straight minutes with no checking the internet, watching TV etc at the same time.
- 4: Keep up my science reading. I get some science magazines through school, which I don’t blog about, but I have decided to try and read at least 1 science book every 2 months. Hopefully this target won’t be that hard to meet.
- 5: Keep up my classics reading. I have been pretty good this year about sticking to this (8 classics in 10 months) but I want to make sure I still read at least one classic every month, even though I know this can be hard with classics being so long and taking much longer than ‘normal’ books to read. Also, I need to do a Classics Club review very soon where I add some more titles to my list!
- 5: Stay an active blogger. By this I mean post about almost every book I read; continue to read other blogs; participate in challenges and events; reply to comments and comment myself. My main blogging goal however is to read some new blogs, as there are so many people signed up to The Classics Club now and I very rarely end up reading posts by people I don’t know!
I hope you agree with my goals (feel free to suggest more or prompt if you feel I am not fulfilling them)! I will probably look back over them as I do my monthly wrap-ups and hopefully I will find that I am sticking to them.
The next thing I need to talk about is the first Classics Club Readathon which is taking place this weekend. For us in the UK it is actually from 1.00 pm on Saturday to 1.00 pm on Sunday, but I am probably going to be reading on off all weekend as much as possible, as I am pretty busy with revision and other things at the moment! I really hope you can join us, as a whole load of bloggers all reading together at the same time is a pretty amazing experience. It’s times like these that we have to appreciate the internet and the international connections it allows us to make!
I think I will still chug away with Villette for the readathon, as I never really enjoy having more than one book on the go at once! I have been reading Villette since mid-December and I am about 2/3 of the way through. I would really like to get as much read as possible before I go back to school on Monday!
After Villette, I have planned The Hobbit, The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz and Pride and Prejudice for January. I feel this may be slightly ambitious if I don’t rush through all of these, but I can still hope! In December I only read 2 books and no classics, so I need to up my game if I am to stick to all my new goals!
I really hope you all have a great 2013 that is full of books and reading and feel free to link up your yearly wrap-up or 2013 goals posts in the comments here, as I would love to see what you have got planned, especially if you are reading this and you don’t think I have come across your blog yet!
Adam's Bibliomania 
Awesome plans! Demanding, but doable. Wishing you all the best with them. 🙂
Pride and Prejudice is amazingly easy to read. No, scratch that. It’s not that it’s easy to read, it’s that it’s ridiculously addictive and you’ll find yourself wanting to get your hands on the book and read at all times. So, if the other two are half as good, it’s entirely possible to read all three this month.
Thanks 🙂 Ah well that’s good; so many people/lists have it as the number one book of all time, so I guess it must be readable! Happy New Year 🙂
I read it and hated it, and abhorred Austen. Then I read Austen’s biography, and reread Pride & Prejudice — and now I consider it one of my favorite novels. I adore Austen and would call her my favorite author to-date, behind Margaret Mitchell. 🙂
(Sense & Sensibility is my favorite Austen.)
That is great! I mean, you’re such a great reader. I have problem with my time reading books. I tend to read in a marathon more than in scheduled way. That’s why it’s so hard to me to find a good quiet time to read.
Thanks 🙂 That’s me too; I figured this was a way to make my reading more consistent.
These are some terrific goals!! I’m also trying to read more classics this year. I love them but I often get side tracked by some quicker modern reads. Good luck!
I know what you mean; they take so long sometimes!
Sounds like you have some good–challenging but doable–plans for the coming year/month. The Hobbit is a pretty quick read, and I don’t think Pride and Prejudice should take too long (at least for a classic!), so I think it’s probably doable to get all those finished this month. Enjoy!
I really hope so, but if not I will just continue into February anyway! 🙂
Well, if you want a really short one, try the 48 page Xingu by Edith Wharton. It’s an Amazon free download. I learned of it from another TCC blogger and will be reading it tomorrow during the readathon.
With your active and busy schedule it sounds like you have pretty reasonable plans and that’s a good thing. I love that you read science books as I do, too.
I ended up writing a 2012 wrap-up post followed by 2013’s intentions. 🙂 The readathon tomorrow is great timing and a fantastic way to move forward with my Classics Club’s reading. To fun, this weekend.
I look forward to hearing from you during the readathon. In Sydney it starts at midnight and will be on a Sunday instead of a Saturday, but that works better for me anyway 🙂
I made the resolution to become more active in the blogging community last year. It has been a lot of work, but I love the results. Good luck
It should be great, although a bit weird with all the different time zones! That’s good; I really hope I get to come across lots more bloggers this year 🙂
I really like your reading goals for this year and your choices for the readathon. 🙂
Great goals! I like your goal of 30 min a day at least of reading. There’s another blogger, I can’t remember who, that said she reads at least 50 pages of each book she is reading per day. I make sure to do that, read at least 50 pages of each book I’m reading per day. It’s a good way to make sure I’m reading enough!
I wish I could read 50 pages a day!!
Sometimes it tough to find time if it’s a crazy busy day, but I like doing it! It works for me. It’s whatever works for you.
Looks like you had a great year in 2012, I really hope 2013 is as good if not better for you 🙂
Here’s my 2012 wrap-up post: http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/goodbye-2012-hello-2013/
How are you liking Villette? It’s at the very top of my reading list! Also, I can now wholeheartedly say that The Hobbit is one of the best books I’ve ever read, so go read it! 😉
Perfect choice for the readathon.
Oh and I saw that you bore up longer than most, so kudos for staying awake!
Woah it seems like we are swapping books then! I have definitely enjoyed it, but I can’t quite make up my mind on it…helpful I know! 😛 I am really looking forward to The Hobbit. Haha thanks, well done to you too 🙂