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Reading Goals for 2014

It's time to set new reading goals!

Over on Goodreads, I've already challenged myself to read 100 books in 2014.  It sounds like a lot, but I think it's doable.  Being done with school has really freed up my evenings and weekends.  I no longer have to set aside time to read theory, research topics, or write out assignments of various length and difficulty. Another benefit of finally being done with school is that I am able to select my reading material based on whatever sounds good or catches my eye.  Unless I get a teaching job, there will be no syllabus demanding my attention. 

So, looking at 2014, I'd like to start out with revisiting last year's reading goals and focus on completing the books I had hoped to read in 2013.  There were both Kindle Books I'd Like to Read and  Books on the TBR shelf

I did an okay job with the Kindle books.  Of those listed, these are the only ones I did not attempt: 

Roanoke: The Lost Colony (Keepers of the Ring, #1)   The Heart of a Soiled Dove (Book #1)

However, they are downloaded to the device and ready to be accessed. I expect they will be read early this year.

The more traditional media did not fare as well. I definitely showed a preference for reading on the Kindle - I love the fact that when I'm done reading in bed, I can just turn it off and set it carefully on the night stand. No need to get out of bed and switch off the lights. Yes, I realize a lamp on the nightstand would likely serve me just as well, but there's no room for one. So, the Kindle wins. 

The Diary of a Young Girl  The Stepsister Scheme (Princess, #1)  The Illuminator  Watership Down
Kushiel's Scion (Imriel's Trilogy, #1) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy, #1)

Of the paper and glue variety books, this one made it off the TBR shelf and into my hands.  It's actually the one I've decided to start off my New Year.  It's been a long time since I've read a novel with twins as the protagonists.

Mortal Coils

I also have these four books at various stages of completion.  They're a bit more dense and not as much fun as the fiction, though, so they seem to be taking much longer.  That being said, I aim to finish at least two of the four. Ideally, though, all four would move from "in progress" to "completed" by December 31st of this year.  

The Wave in the Mind: Talks & Essays on the Writer, the Reader & the Imagination  The Order of Things: An Archaeology of Human Sciences  Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction  The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination

For good measure, and because I think it's a worthwhile goal to set for myself, I also want to read at least two classics.  I'm not sure which two classics I'll settle upon, but you may be sure neither option will be Moby Dick!



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