Thinning the herd

I must admit, that I feel rather nervous about this post. With a reading list as long as mine though, I really do look forward to my yearly culling of the list. There's just not enough time in the world to read everything that I'd like to! Or sometimes, I'll hear something vaguely good about a new book... and then when the reviews start rolling in, it's obvious that it won't be something that appeals to me after all. Of course, sometimes a bad review will make me want to read a book even more. I'm perverse like that. My normal attitude could be summed up thusly:

So, as you can imagine, this is a very hard task for me! Last year, I posted about all the books I was striking from my to-be-read list... and unfortunately, the awards committee that I had applied to took note that several of the books I was ready to give up on, were in fact, required reading for them that year. Needless to say, I did not win a coveted award committee spot that year. :(

All I can say in my defense is: I promise you, I am an avid reader! I really am. I have some wonderful reviews I'm looking forward to posting in the next few weeks. Please don't shut me out of all your reindeer games, committee heads. I am notoriously easy to convince to add a book right back on the list. I feel bad enough giving up on some of these beauties as it is!

Okay, here's the list. Brace yourselves. It's a doozy.

	Dark Companion	Acosta, Marta	Why am I eliminating this book? It seems right up my alley. I don't know. Maybe it's a little too scary for me.
	Bad Girls Don't Die (Bad Girls Don't Die, #1)	Alender, Katie	This book might be too scary for me. Look at that cover! Yikes. Lace curtains have never looked so scary.
	Ultraviolet (Ultraviolet, #1)	Anderson, R.J.	Might be too scary.
	Keeper	Appelt, Kathi	Started this book, but could not finish. I thought there would be more magical mermaids straight off. Instead, it just seemed too sad. I bet readers who loved The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron would love it. I'm sorry, Kathi Appelt! I still love you, I promise!
	Pure (Pure, #1)	Baggott, Julianna	I started reading this, but could not finish. The main character has been in a terrible accident and has a doll that has been fused to her hand. So, she has a doll for a hand. A. Doll. For. A. Hand. That grossed me out so much, and I just couldn't get over it. Did not finish.
	Return to the Hundred Acre Wood	Benedictus, David	Everyone was just so excited when this first came out, because it's so historic and momentous. I thought I would love it (and I've even loved some quotes from this book) but I just couldn't finish it. In all fairness, I loved Winnie-the-Pooh as a kid, but if I was only reading it for the first time as an adult, it probably wouldn't have grabbed me.
	The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June	Benway, Robin	Started reading this and couldn't get into it. I love Robin Benway! I'm sorry, I thought it would be more magical, sooner.
	Small Persons with Wings	Booraem, Ellen	Started reading this one, and couldn't get into it.
	Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings (Real Mermaids, #1)	Boudreau, Helene	I added a whole bunch of mermaid books to my tbr list about a year and a half ago, but a lot of them, I didn't get to.
	Plain Kate	Bow, Erin	Started reading this and couldn't get into it.
	Selkie Girl	Brooks, Laurie	One from the mermaid list that I'm culling.
	A Curse Dark As Gold	Bunce, Elizabeth C.	Maybe I should read this after all? I don't know. It's been on my list a long time, it seems like, and I've never gotten around to it.
	Shadowcry (Wintercraft, #1)	Burtenshaw, Jenna	I bet readers of Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon would love this. I'm not in the mood for Gothic lately.
	Pathfinder (Pathfinder, #1)	Card, Orson Scott	Everytime I start reading this, I remember what a jerk Orson Scott Card is in real life, and I can't go on. Does anybody else have that problem?
	The Siren	Cass, Kiera	Goodbye, mermaid book.
	Stolen: A Letter to My Captor	Christopher, Lucy	Just couldn't get into it.
	Notes from the Blender	Cook, Trish	This book has come so highly recommended! But I'm not sure if I'll ever get to it.
	Nevermore (Nevermore, #1)	Creagh, Kelly	It's based on Poe, right? I don't think I can get into it.
	Give Up the Ghost	Crewe, Megan	Too scary?
	The Body Finder (The Body Finder, #1)	Derting, Kimberly	Too scary.
	The Dark Divine (The Dark Divine, #1)	Despain, Bree	I am in love with the cover, but I started reading it, and it is way too scary for me!
	Low Red Moon	Devlin, Ivy	I don't know if I'll ever get around to this one.
	Bewitching Season (Leland Sisters, #1)	Doyle, Marissa	Giving up on this one.
	The Girl with the Mermaid Hair	Ephron, Delia	I thought this was a mermaid book, but I was wrong.
	Brain Jack	Falkner, Brian	No thanks.
	Jessica Rules the Dark Side (Jessica, #2)	Fantaskey, Beth	I liked the first book, Jessica's Rules for Dating on the Dark Side. But I don't think I'll get around to this one.
	The Year the Swallows Came Early	Fitzmaurice, Kathryn	I meant to read this because it's short, and takes place in California, but I never got around to it.
	Beastly (Kendra Chronicles #1)	Flinn, Alex	I was on an Alex Flinn reading jag for a while, but I don't think I'll read this one after all.
	The Patron Saint of Butterflies	Galante, Cecilia	I can't remember why I added this book.
	The Martian Child: A Novel About a Single Father Adopting a Son	Gerrold, David	I thought this was a memoir. How did I miss the word "novel" in the subtitle? I was excited to read this book by David Gerrold (of Star Trek Trouble with Tribbles fame) but now that I see it's fiction, I think I'll give it a pass.
	Gigged	Gibson, Heath	I added this to my list on someone's recommendation that I read more fiction with guy appeal, but I never got around to it.
	The Other Side of the Island	Goodman, Allegra	Can't remember why I added this one.
	Mr. Darcy's Diary (Jane Austen Heroes, #1)	Grange, Amanda	I was on a Jane Austen spin-off kick for a while. But I've read some iffy reviews of this one, so I guess I'll skip it.
	Paper Towns	Green, John	John Green! I love his internet videos sooooo much, but I can't say I've ever enjoyed his books. I know! Dangerous words... I'm anticipating a frenzied mob of Greenites ready to knock down my door and demand that I recant this blasphemy, even as I type this. I have picked up and started to read this book so many times. I just can't finish it. I'm sorry, John Green fans. I just can't.
	The Secret Society of the Pink Crystal Ball	Green, Risa	Can't remember why I added this.
	My Life in Pink & Green	Greenwald, Lisa	I like the cover. I added this book so long ago. I just don't think I'll get to it.
	The White Queen (The Cousins' War, #1)	Gregory, Philippa	I loved The Other Boleyn Girl, and part of me wants to read ALL the Philippa Gregory, but I think I'm actually going to give myself permission not to.
	Claim to Fame	Haddix, Margaret Peterson	Margaret Peterson Haddix is one of my longtime favorite authors. But her last couple of novels, I couldn't get into and this was one of them.
	Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories	Hall, Megan Kelley	Everyone was so excited when this book came out, including me. But then I remembered that I don't actually like anthologies very much. I'm sorry. Bullying is still wrong!
	Tyger Tyger (Goblin Wars, #1)	Hamilton, Kersten	Can't remember why I added this one.
	Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line	Hamper, Ben	I added this book because I loved Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. But I don't think I'll get to it.
	Fly by Night	Hardinge, Frances	I think I'll skip this one.
	Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, #1)	Harrison, Kim	Started this, but couldn't get into it.
	The Thirteen Treasures (Thirteen Treasures, #1)	Harrison, Michelle	Skipping it.
	Hearts at Stake (The Drake Chronicles, #1)	Harvey, Alyxandra	I'm kind of tired of vampires.
	Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith	Heiligman, Deborah	Started this one, but couldn't get into it. Pity.
	Vampire Rising (Alex Van Helsing, #1)	Henderson, Jason	Tired of vampires.
	Turtle in Paradise	Holm, Jennifer L.	Jennifer L. Holm, of Babymouse fame, I love you so much! But I just couldn't get into this book, I'm sorry.
	The Everafter	Huntley, Amy	Might be too scary.
	Five Flavors of Dumb	John, Antony	I've heard great things about this book, but I just couldn't get into it.
	The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate	Kelly, Jacqueline	I thought I would love that this book was set in Texas, but I didn't.
	The Clockwork Three	Kirby, Matthew J.	I thought this book would be more steampunkish.
	The Red Queen's Daughter	Kolosov, Jacqueline	Now that I've read The Other Boleyn Girl, I feel like I don't need to read this one. Is that weird?
	The Average American Male	Kultgen, Chad	In my quest for "guy books" I added this one, but I think I'll skip it after all.
	Gothic Lolita	Lane, Dakota	Been meaning to read this one FOREVER, but I don't think it's going to happen.
	Mercy (Mercy, #1)	Lim, Rebecca	Can't remember why I added this one.
	I Hunt Killers (Jasper Dent, #1)	Lyga, Barry	Potentially too scary.
	Rot & Ruin	Maberry, Jonathan	Way too scary.
	Gamer Girl	Mancusi, Mari	Started reading this, but couldn't get into it. I used to be way more into video games, but don't play much anymore.
	Girl Wonder	Martin, Alexa	I guess I'll skip this one.
	Mermaid Park	Mayall, Beth	Goodbye, mermaids.
	Luminous	Metcalf, Dawn	Started reading this one, but the main character didn't appeal to me.
	The Wager	Napoli, Donna Jo	Too gross.
	The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking, #2)	Ness, Patrick	I loved the first book in this series, and meant to read them all, but never got around to it.
	A Monster Calls	Ness, Patrick	Too scary.
	The Forbidden Sea	Nielson, Sheila A.	Can't remember why I added this one.
	The Map of Time	Palma, Félix J.	Deleting this one.
	Siren's Storm (Siren's Storm, #1)	Papademetriou, Lisa	Thinning the mermaid herd.
	Bamboo People	Perkins, Mitali	Can't get into it.
	Vintage Veronica	Perl, Erica S.	I did not like the main character. Could not finish.
	The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg	Philbrick, Rodman	I thought I should read this one, because it takes place in the south and I loved Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run by Michael Hemphill and Sam Riddleburger, but I've had it on my list for so long, I think I'll delete it.
	Burn Bright (Night Creatures, #1)	Pierres, Marianne de	Might be too scary.
	Silver Phoenix (Kingdom of Xia, #1)	Pon, Cindy	On the list for a long time, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I guess this one can go.
	Past Midnight (Past Midnight, #1)	Purnhagen, Mara	I liked One Hundred Candles (the sequel) and I thought I'd go back to read the first one, but I never got around to it.
	Siren (Siren, #1)	Rayburn, Tricia	Hasta la vista, mermaid.
	The Fool's Girl	Rees, Celia	I thought I would love this, because I'm a huge Shakespeare fan, but I started it and couldn't get into it.
	Ninth Ward	Rhodes, Jewell Parker	I meant to read this one, but never got around to it. I feel so bad about it! I love New Orleans. But I just can't read this book.
	Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict	Rigler, Laurie Viera	I loved Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict (the sequel) and thought I'd go back and read this one, but it's been a while, so I think it's time to eliminate this one from the list instead.
	Reign or Shine (Demon Princess, #1)	Rowen, Michelle	This just felt too upbeat and silly for me. I couldn't get into it.
	The Casual Vacancy	Rowling, J.K.	Is it possible that this book is the opposite of Harry Potter in every way? I almost wish J.K. Rowling had released this under a new pen name. You know what it reminded me of, a bit? That movie, American Beauty, where the main character dies right away, and it is all sad and horrible and sordid and you have to find out who and how and why it happened. I was hoping for some good indictments of welfare naysayers, but I didn't get that far and I couldn't finish it.
	Dead Rules	Russell, Randy	Too scary.
	Song Of The Sparrow	Sandell, Lisa Ann	I meant to read more adult novels. But I started this one and couldn't get into it.
	Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem	Schanzer, Rosalyn	I think I put this on my list because it was highly recommended. But, I've read a lot of nonfiction on the Salem Witch trials, so I think I'll just take their word for it.
	As I Wake	Scott, Elizabeth	Too scary looking.
	Immortal (Immortal, #1)	Shields, Gillian	I love boarding school stories, but I'm not in the mood for Gothic right now.
	Intertwined (Intertwined, #1)	Showalter, Gena	This should totally be up my alley! But I started it and couldn't get into it. I figure readers who liked Paranormalcy by Kiersten White or White Cat by Holly Black will like it.
	Darkborn (Darkborn Trilogy, #1)	Sinclair, Alison	Could be too gothic.
	Tantalize (Tantalize, #1)	Smith, Cynthia Leitich	Started reading this one, and I thought I would love it, but I might be all vampire'd out right now. I bet readers who liked Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel would like it.
	How To Say Goodbye In Robot	Standiford, Natalie	Started it, but couldn't finish.
	She Smells the Dead (Spirit Guide, #1)	Stevens, E.J.	Too scary.
	Famous	Strasser, Todd	Started this one, but there's a kind of breathless amazement for Hollywood that I couldn't get into. (Note: I lived in Los Angeles for 15 years.)
	Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do	Thompson, Gabriel	Another, "If you Liked Nickel and Dimed..." recommendation.
	Toads and Diamonds	Tomlinson, Heather	Normally, I love fairy tale retellings, but I couldn't get into this one.
	Breadcrumbs	Ursu, Anne	Heard very mixed reviews on this one. I've heard that it's for kids, but not for kids. Ultimately, the folks who told me they loooooved it, were also the same kind of people who usually have very different taste in books than me, so I'm guessing I might not like it.
	Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets	Venkatesh, Sudhir	Another, "If you Liked Nickel and Dimed..." recommendation.
	Pod	Wallenfels, Stephen	I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of this one. So, I think I'll give up on it.
	Numbers (Numbers, #1)	Ward, Rachel	I started reading this one, and it felt too scary.
	The Black Prism (Lightbringer, #1)	Weeks, Brent	Can't remember why I added this one.
	Extraordinary	Werlin, Nancy	I've been meaning to read more adult fiction, and I LOVE the cover for this one, but it's been on my list for such a long time, I think it's time to give up.
	Behemoth (Leviathan, #2)	Westerfeld, Scott	I read Leviathan, and I liked it okay, but I didn't LOVE it the way some readers did. I do love Scott Westerfeld sooooo much. This just isn't my favorite series of his.
	Fray	Whedon, Joss	I love Joss Whedon so much, but graphic novels are actually really difficult for me to read because it takes so long to look at the pictures, instead of just breezing through the text. I think I'm going to take this one off the list.
	The Mockingbirds (The Mockingbirds, #1)	Whitney, Daisy	I started this one, and I thought I would love it, but I couldn't get into it. It's a long book, too!
	Flora Segunda (Flora Trilogy, #1)	Wilce, Ysabeau S.	This has been on my list for a while. I don't think I'm going to get around to it.
	Fatal Alliance (Star Wars: The Old Republic, #1)	Williams, Sean	I really like Star Wars, but I don't read very many of the Star Wars novels. I can't imagine why I put this on my to-be-read list. Actually... now that I think of it... I might have put it on accidentally, while I was demo'ing e-books and social networking tools for a class I was teaching.
	Feathers	Woodson, Jacqueline	I thought I would love this one, and it's pretty short too, but I couldn't finish it.
	Elsewhere	Zevin, Gabrielle	Too depressing. Couldn't finish it.

Chime review

Chime
by Franny Billingsley
Dial
March 2011

First line: "I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged."

Seventeen year old Briony Larkin lives in a remote English village haunted by Old Ones. Supernatural creatures that only people with the Second Sight (such as herself) can see. Saddled with the responsibility of caring for her mentally ill twin sister Rose, Briony hates herself because of the secrets that she must hide. Believing herself to be a witch, she walks a fine line between trying to hide her abilities from the townfolk who will surely hang her if they knew the truth, and using her powers to try to protect her family from the swamp sickness that has infected the countryside. When handsome Eldric moves to town, Briony can't help her selfish feelings from coming through at last. When it comes right down to it, maybe she does want what normal girls all seem to want after all - a nice boyfriend, and to feel loved and cared for, instead of abused by her recently deceased Stepmother and abandoned by her always absent father.

I found this book difficult to slog through. Briony's constant litany of self-disgust was fairly hard to take. Much of the book feels like an exercise in stream-of-conciousness as Briony's thoughts skitter from one guilty or sad thought to the next. Rose is supposed to be the crazy one - she screams at hours for apparently no reason, she cuts things up to make collages, she has the odd habit of insisting that Briony doesn't have a birthday and hates to hear a clock chime twelve. But, I wondered if the twist of the story would be that Briony was the mentally ill one after all. Maybe all of the legends about Old Ones were all simply in Briony's imagination?

I also think that there's something terribly self indulgent about a book about how a character must discover themselves as a writer. Briony used to write stories, under the encouragement of her Stepmother, but hasn't done so for about three years, following a fire that destroyed their library.

I have loved Franny Billingsly's other books: Well Wished and The Folk Keeper. This is the same kind of world, with ancient magic that is malevolent and foreboding, boiling just beneath the surface of everything. This book is definitely more young adult in feeling and tone: there are some scary events, including the death of a baby, a near-rape, a public execution of an innocent girl, the loss of one of the character's hands.

There is a twist at the end - one that I didn't quite see coming, and I was glad to see Briony finally start to come out of her shell a little bit and start to like herself again. Eldric is still a bit too wonderful to be believed - he's a dreamboat and as much as he proclaims himself a ne'er-do-well bad boy, it's his essential goodness that finally allows Briony to feel like she's allowed to join the human race again.

Compare to:
A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
Beautiful Creatures - Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Sabriel - Garth Nix
The Replacement - Brenna Yovanoff

I borrowed this book from my library.

Read in 2012

This year I set a goal of "only" reading 12 books. Obviously, I way overdid that. I'm a little surprised that I didn't clear 100 books read this year though! But, I'm rather firmly not allowing myself to be disappointed - and that's because my official "goal" was 12 books, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Here's the complete list:

January

1 The Silver Bowl - Diane Stanley
2 Crave - Melissa Darnell
3 Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet - Heather Poole
4 Boyfriend Season: Cali Boys - Kelli London
5 Glow - Amy Kathleen Ryan
6 Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore


February

7 May B. - Caroline Rose Starr
8 Nice Shot, Cupid! - Kate McMullan
9 The Everneath - Brodi Ashton
10 Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor
11 The Pregnancy Project - Gaby Rodriguez & Jenna Glatzer
12 The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls - Julie Schumacher

13 The Mighty Miss Malone - Christopher Paul Curtis

14 Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi


March

15 Spoiled - Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
16 Birthmarked - Caragh O'Brien
17 A Million Suns - Beth Revis


April

18 Hallowed - Cynthia Hand
19 Prized - Caragh M. O'Brien

20 Children of Open Adoption and Their Families - Kathleen Silber
21 The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant - Dan Savage
22 The Wizard Heir - Cinda Williams Chima
23 Zeus: King of the Gods - George O'Connor
24 Shades of Milk and Honey - Mary Robinette Kowal


May

25 Dragonswood - Janet Lee Carey
26 A Long Way From You - Gwendolyn Heasley
27 Black Heart - Holly Black
28 Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua

29 Of Poseidon - Anna Banks
30 The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister - Charlotte Agell


June

31 Goddess Interrupted - Aimee Carter
32 A Hero for WondLA - Tony DiTerlizzi
33 The Iron Duke - Meljean Brook
34 Dust Girl - Sarah Zettel


July

35 Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo
36 The Charm School - Susan Wiggs
37 Library Management Tips That Work - Carol Smallwood
38 Bringing Up Bebe - Pamela Druckerman
39 Blood Red Road - Moira Young
40 Jane Austen Ruined My Life - Beth Patillo

41 Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains - Laurel Snyder


August

42 Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma
43 Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom - Brendan Halpin
44 Angel Fire - L.A. Weatherly
45 Balthazar - Claudia Gray
46 More Short and Sweet Skits for Student Actors - Maggie Scriven
47 Audition Monologues for Young Women - Gerald Lee Ratcliff
48 Amulet #1: The Stonekeeper - Kazu Kibuishi
49 Amulet #2: The Cloud Searchers - Kazu Kibuishi
50 Amulet #3: The Stonekeeper's Curse - Kazu Kibuishi

September

51 House of Night: Legacy - P.C. Cast
52 Austenland - Shannon Hale
53 Forgiven - Jana Oliver
54 Ordinary Beauty - Laura Weiss
55 The False Prince - Jennifer A. Nielsen

56 Onstage: Theater Games and Activities for Kids - Lisa Bany-Winters


October

57 Supernaturally - Kiersten White
58 The Willoughbys - Lois Lowry
59 Mad Love - Suzanne Selfors
60 Centauriad #1: Daughter of the Centaurs - Kate Klimo
61 Legacy - Cayla Kluber
62 Seraphina - Rachel Hartman
63 Lies Beneath - Anne Greenwood Brown
64 Beta - Rachel Cohn
65 The Diviners - Libba Bray
66 Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite - Barry Deutsch


November

67 Mystic City - Theo Lawrence
68 50 Shades of Grey - E.L. James
69 So You Wanna Be a Superstar: The Ultimate Audition Guide - Ted Michael
70 The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater
71 Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading - Nina Sankovitch
72 The Third Wheel - Jeff Kinney
73 The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
74 The Fox Inheritance - Mary Pearson
75 Amulet #4: The Last Council - Kazu Kibuishi
76 The List - Siobhan Vivian


December

77  Chime - Franny Billingsley
78 Witch Eyes - Scott Tracey
79 Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone - Kat Rosenfield
80 Spark - Amy Kathleen Ryan
81 Incarnate - Jodi Meadows
82 Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver
83 Better Nate Than Ever - Tim Federle
84 Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder
85 The Magicians - Lev Grossman
86 How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You - Matthew Inman
87 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
88 It's the Little Things - Lena Williams
89 The Other Normals - Ned Vizzini

New Year's Resolutions 2013

Wow! Moving into year four on the blog. It's kind of amazing to me. Looking back, it's really  interesting to see my prior New Years' Resolutions. And, of course, I'm thinking a lot about where I'd like to be in the coming year. Right now, I know that I have a ton of YA reviews to catch up on.

Let's take a quick look at the numbers:
In 2009, I reviewed 13 picture books
In 2010, I reviewed 24 picture books
2011, equalled 54 picture books
2012, I managed to review 98 picture books

As the blog currently stands, I don't know if I'm giving the impression of someone who is a voracious reader of YA books (even though I am.) So, I think in the coming year, I'll definitely slow way down on picture book reviews. It's not that I don't love them. (I absolutely do!) But, trying to review all the picture books and easy readers that cross my way has meant that I'm actually writing a lot of very negative reviews. And that bums me out. It's depressing to pan a book that might have represented weeks, if not months or the better part of a year of effort from a whole team of people: authors, illustrators, editors. Don't get me wrong, I do like the occasional negative review - only if it's well deserved, of course. It keeps me honest and proves that I'm not a glad-happy yea-sayer, ready to gush over every single book that comes my way. But, lately I've been feeling in my effort to exhaustively cover the picture book market, I'm robbing myself of opportunities to read, review and share books for older kids that I have really enjoyed.

How much to post? That a question that I usually ask myself around this time of year. I started with a pledge to post 1-3 times a week, amped that up to every single day, and then scaled back down to 3x per week. I'm pretty comfortable with that routine. Three posts a week feels about right. Though, of course, if I think of more things to say, I'll be sure to post more!

And, how many books to read this year? In the past, I've set my sights quite high and been so disappointed when I feel just short. Last year, I set myself the silly and nonsensical goal of a book a month - 12 books total, knowing that I would certainly make it, and it would just be interesting to see how many books I'd read with the shackles totally off.

I feel like 100 is still a pretty easy goal. This next year I'd like to read a little more than that. 104 is a nice number - that's two books a week. If I can read 104+ books this year I'll be pretty pleased with myself.

What are your New Years' Resolutions?