The idea of planning for this year makes me giggle because I’ve never mis-predicted a year’s activities to the extent that Me-looking-ahead-to-2021 did. Me-looking-back-at-2021 isn’t sure what to do with that development!
But I had a fantastic reading year last year, even if it didn’t take the kind of shape I’d anticipated. So Me-looking-ahead-to-2022 is going to make plans, knowing that Me-looking-back-at-2022 might be giggling a year from now again.
My goals are there to keep the idea of reaching and stretching front-of-mind. If my plans don’t match my reality, I re-think. Not in the moments when I’m thinking about setting the goals, which feel clear-headed and directed, but in the days and months that follow; if I want to spend less time doing one thing, more time doing another, that’s more to do with my thinking in May and August than it is about my thinking earlier on.
Stories
Usually I read a couple of collections each month, around 20-25 collections a year. This year, I always had a collection of stories on the go and, if the authors’ styles were disparate, I sometimes had a morning collection and an evening collection. Which worked out to 42 collections during the year.
So I’m not looking to change how many stories I read; I’d like to change how I explore them. Collections, yes, including the final seven stories in my Alistair MacLeod project, maybe some anthologies too (a couple of those work their way naturally into the mix), but I have lost the habit of reading standalone stories, from magazines and journals. Not travelling on public transit has definitely impacted this habit and I’ve missed the sense of encountering a story in the literary wild.
Poems
I’m not a confident poetry reader. When I started reading short stories, it was by reading the stories written by novelists I enjoyed: in time, with familiarity, I came to genuinely love reading stories. That’s worked for me with poetry, to some extent, like with Margaret Atwood and Michael Crummey, writers whose view of the world intrigues me, so form matters less. That, and some random discoveries while browsing, sparks interest.
Then, a couple of years ago, I discovered Reginald Dwayne Betts’ poetry: a poet first (memoirist next). And that’s the kind of voice I’d like to seek out more deliberately this year, by looking to the poetry shelves. I’m not sure I’ll be a more confident poetry reader on the other side of more deliberate explorations. But maybe that’s how it happens, or at least how it might begin to happen…by spending more time.
Drawings
Periodically, I revisit this intention. Beginning a couple of decades ago, when graphic novels were just emerging on the scene, when nobody knew where to shelve them. (I borrowed Maus from the children’s library: that’s where the graphic novels lived, behind the counter, available on request.) At another point, after discovering Kiyohiko Azuma’s Yotsuba&! series (14+ volumes), I declared that I’d be reading more illustrated stories including more manga.
Every few years I recognise that I’ve read fewer books with pictures (2021 was a slim year, definitely) and I remember how much I enjoy them and aim for more. So I’d like to finish a couple of the manga series that I’ve been dabbling in (Rachel always has great rec’s), I’d like to read the ones I’ve shelved on my library “saved” shelf, and I’d like to make more of an effort with some established figures I’ve either neglected or overlooked completely.
Because I read SO many books in 2021, I listened to fewer albums and fewer podcasts; I watched TV fewer series and films; I played fewer board games and video games; I did fewer puzzles and even shortened my exercise sessions as the year waned; I experimented with fewer recipes (but at-home fare 99% of the time translates into more recipes in general, so that’s not been too noticeable); and, I ignored most of my other interests completely.
As a writer, I expect I will always spend more time with words and books than most, but there are plenty of other narrative-driven pastimes I’ve been neglecting (particularly watching and playing)–let alone other ways of being (tending the plants on the balcony in the finer weather, for instance, or bench-sitting in a wilder space)–so I want to rediscover some of these pleasures in the days and evenings ahead.
Do you have any recommendations that you think would fit with Me-looking-ahead-to-2022’s ideas?
Are there any habits you’re looking to reestablish in the coming year? Bookish or otherwise?
Reading Plans are fun to make but less fun to actually do. So I’m trying to make this a year without specific projects, just general directions. Even these haven’t really fit off the ground so I suspect my 2023 self will be joining you in a giggle
Hah, even just a few weeks into the year, we seem to have a lot of advance-gigglers preparing to be underwhelmed. Hee hee Agreed that the planning is the BEST part…so many possibilities.
Loved your post, Marcie! Hope you are able to accomplish all that you plan for, this year. I loved this sentence from your post – “I’ve missed the sense of encountering a story in the literary wild.” That is the best way of discovering a short story, I think – in the literary wild. I discovered one of my favourite contemporary Russian stories that way. I want to read more comics and graphic novels too this year. I haven’t made any concrete reading plans this year. I just want to read the books that I got in the recent past, which I had postponed reading for one reason or another. I read a few books recently that I had long wanted to, and I felt very happy about that. Happy reading!
Wanting to “catch up” (a little! Heheh) with the books that have recently been invited into your home (or who have invited themselves, in some cases? :winks:) is a good plan. When one has a lot of favourite writers (as I know you do, too) it is easy to just settle into reading what one knows, which is not an unhappy way to read, not at all, but, as you’ve mentioned, at one point we hadn’t read any of our current favourite writers, and we stumbled upon them somewhere and somehow, so if we’re never looking out for those random encounters, we might never “meet” a new favourite! So far, my ideas about 2022 have been slow to take hold. I think I read so much in 2021 that I needed to recover a little.
Loose plans or meaningful intentions sounds like a good way to choose what you indulge in 2022. I tend not to make plans, except as you may have noticed in my recent post, I noticed I have a few little piles of backlisted authors like Buchi Emecheta and Janet Frame that I might like to get into this year.
It’s been a slow/no start, I don’t think I’ve ever got this far into January without reading, but I had a very important visitor and so I put my paper companions aside for a few weeks and used my other voice for a while. 🙂
I look forward to following your reading and thank you for visiting me at Word by Word. I’m happy that my Top 10 nonfiction reads inspired you!
Those will be such great choices. Though Frame’s backlist is quite extensive, IIRC. I wish Emecheta’s was longer…
My year has been very slow too. Just two books for a review a single comic, and a bunch of disorganized browsing, false starts, and stories. Somehow the weeks have trickled by! Life happens…
I haven’t made any firm plans for 2022. My reading has slowed down a lot, and so I am just trying to enjoy what I read, and the act of reading. I think working full time and struggling with an autoimmune disease and poor mobility has taken it’s toll. I watch lots more TV these days as I am often too tired to read when I first get home from work. I would like to equal last year’s total ofv110 books, but I am already behind. *sigh*
January is usually a slow month for me too, even under the best of circumstances and (here at least) the cold can aggravate existing health conditions (if only because it takes so much more energy to do everything, including shivering LOL). Winter is now my favourite season, so I’m not complaining about that, especially not with a beautiful snowscape outside the window just now. But there’s a reason the bears hibernate in all of this!
BIP, when I finished reading this post, I realised I hadn’t breathed the whole time I read the blog because I was so worried that you would accept a project that would entail reading a lot of important yet worrisome books like the ones you read for your Climate Crisis project. I hope you would find more time to read less urgent books. I am so glad to know that there will be some poems and drawings and some shows and movies. For 2022, I haven’t made any proper plans, but I am consciously trying to read more, ration my screen time, and respect my own boundaries to make more time for life and less time for work. I can hear my 2023-self sniggering; one can be hopeful though. 🙂
Thanks for your concern, Deepika. Heheh You know it! The disadvantage of all the climate reading in a burst was how overwhelming it felt at times, but that’s also the advantage, because now I just really need to “keep up” which will be much more sustainable now. It’s going to be a much more manageable reading year in many ways. I hope your screen-time resolutions are going well. And I agree, it’s hard to make yourself to listen to yourself. She’s a bit of a pushover at times. And she can be readily bribed with treats and cuddles. We will snigger and lament together, in a year’s time.
I always feel as though I just plow through the end of December and early January, reading as usual, continuing to get through the books I want to read the same as any other time of year. Except that I take a little bit of time to write an end-of-year post. But I’ve noticed that this post has gotten smaller and quicker for me every year. And Later. It’s still not up, but it is almost done.
I like reading other people’s goals, though, because they give me ideas – some of which I seriously consider. You were talking about “whimsy” with Andrew and that’s the “project” I’ve been thinking about the most lately. In my head I call it my “library shelf project.” I don’t know how long I’ll think about it before trying it. It feels kind of like deciding to have a baby – it just never seems to be the right time. I might just have to dive in. But, then again, I’ve been saying that (to myself) for months now.
I used to be very late (at least one year was in February I think LOL) but have gotten more prompt in recent years (partly, at least, due to shifts in family-related responsibilities). If you’re almost done and it’s not yet February, I’d say, Yay! And, actually, peeking at other people’s ideas is helpful: I agree. Especially when you have a million reading ideas, sometimes just knowing that someone else (or a few someones) is taking on a particular book or topic can be all the incentive you didn’t know you were looking for! So, browsing the stacks and making discoveries? That sounds great! I’ve got a writing project underway that is kind of like that; I will bore you with all the details under separate cover! If you’ve missed the new year and like the idea of a starting date, what about this spring Equinox? Still not NOW but not too far away…either. Time to clear your stacks and obligations somewhat…
Ohhhh… I would LOVE to hear more about that writing project! And, I will fill you in on my “Library Shelf Project”!
I need to hear more about the Library Shelf Project, too 😉
I will fill you both in! (Once I find a way to take it from my head and put it into words.) You and Marcie would both be so good at it, because you read more than I do. My biggest hesitation is that I don’t want it to take away from my other reading.
If it feels like it’s taking away from your regular reading, maybe it’s just not the right time? Shouldn’t a good project, even if it’s a big project, be exciting rather than burdensome? There are SO many other things in life we can stress about. LOL
I don’t know how much time it will take until I do it. So, really, I should just dive in and see what happens!
Ready.
Set.
…
🙂
I heartily endorse reading more poetry! I love poetry! Find yourself a good collection of nature-y poems like Mary Oliver, Jane Hirshfield, Joy Harjo, of Linda Hogan, or someone else–there are so many!–and take it with you while you bench sit. Read a poem, look up and around, listen and see, breathe, then read another poem.
Love your phrase, “literary wild”!
I knew you’d have some ideas about this part. I do have a Hirshfield in my stack and quite a few single volumes by new-to-meIndigenous poets…but no Harjo…why do I keep “forgetting” about her?!?!)
You’re quite right: poetry does lend itself to bench-sits. Bench reading is always interrupted more anyway, so taking a break between stanzas might even work…
I love how you put it “not a confident poetry reader” because I feel the same way. The poetry I do love however is Lorna Crozier’s. She was introduced to me in Carolyn Smart’s Canlit class when I was in school, and she is a close second to my fav author David Sedaris. I’m just reading her book about Patrick Lane’s death and its beautiful.
Lorna Crozier is amazing. And of course the fact that she loves cats secures my devotion. Yours too, I’m sure! I don’t think I’ve missed any of her books, but maybe I should take the opportunity to reread some: thanks for the reminder. Also, how fortunate that you were able to study Canlit with Carolyn Smart: she’s pretty great too!
Have you read the latest collection of his diaries? I always love it when he’s on tour, so many good interviews for listening while I’m doing the dishes or folding laundry.
So Speaking of David, I bought tickets for his Februrary show here in Calgary, and I’ve been saving his latest book to read just before that show. But! I’m thinking with cases being so high it may be cancelled? I don’t know, it’s supposed to be end of Februrary and he’s going to a few places in Canada so I’m sure I’ll find out soon. If that show is cancelled I’m just going to read those stories at the end of February anyway, I’m too excited to read them and hold off any longer!
He was still doing tours in December, I think, after Omicron was surging in the U.S. so it probably depends on the specific city. Given Kenney’s outlook over there, you probably have a good chance. You mean the diary?
It’s the book that came out last year (2021) that I have a copy of, but I see he has a new one coming in the spring -eek!!! I’m so excited.
I love your loose plans for 2022. Stories, poems, and drawings seem like wonderful directions to point yourself toward. I read a lot of poetry in 2021 (for me) and I hope to continue doing so this year.
My main goal is reading as many of the classics from my Classics Club list as I can, which means I will need to delve into some chunky books and not be afraid to linger with them. So I’m not going to stress about reading pace or number or anything like that. I want to take my time – as much as my voracious appetite for books allows!
I remember you read 12 collections! That seemed like a lot when I always think of you reading novels and memoirs (mostly?), two genres I love, too, obvs. Do you find your poetry via browsing in the library?
What, you mean you’re going to log the books you read and not…oh, what whazzit…think of “dental appointments” and be a “masochist”? (Was that it?!) you’re just gonna look at the number and live your life. No way! (Hee hee)
I’m not a big planner – things tend to get off track for me very quickly sometimes, with writing and freelancing and (hopefully, again) travel, so I’ve given up planning. I like the freedom of reading a book I’ve just come across anyway. So aside from a couple of challenges I’ve signed up for (Japanese Literary Challenge and Reading Indies Month), it’s all a big unknown right now. I do want to diversify my reading more (on multiple levels: race, gender, sexual identity, language, nationality, etc.), so that’s something I’ll try to stay aware of as I’m choosing books this year. And I’d like to try some more climate fiction too. Anyway, hope your plans work out! I like the non-reading plans too, the resumption of other neglected activities. Hope it’s a great year for you.
I admire the element of whimsy that occasionally surfaces in your reading; I wish that I would more often simply pursue and select a book in the moment. (I like to think it happens sometimes, but the fact that I could probably list the books I’ve approached like that suggests it’s a rare occurrence indeed. Heheh) Given some chaotic elements in my life too, I think I depend upon the structure of my reading plan even more than I otherwise might and it’s a natural (and affordable, therefore consistent, given the ups and downs of freelance life) escape and inspiration. Alongside your whimsy you still remain attentive to representation in your stacks, which is where I’ve added so many NF titles to my TBR from your posts; I’m always trying to rework my stack into a reflection of how I want to imagine/view the world, but I don’t read enough books about animals and nature for that to be accurate (yet)! Happy 2022 to you too!
Ah, I’m glad I’ve added some to your TBR list too—you’ve certainly added loads to mine! I like that way of putting it: “to rework my stack into a reflection of how I want to imagine/view the world”. I’d like to do that too, although I do also want to keep that element of whimsy.
I’ve been thinking about this off and on today; I’m going to try to include some whimsical selections in my reading this year too.
It makes me a little nervous just thinking about it: can I even BE a whimsical reader? Time will tell… *scribbles in readolution notebook*
Oh, wait, it IS kinda whimsical to just make a new read-o-lution midway through January, eh? Maybe there’s hope for me yet!
I’ve gone with having fewer plans also and my reading always veers off in unexpected directions anyway. I usually have a poetry book on the go and read one poem a day, but read it first thing in the morning then again in the evening and sometimes if it’s one that really strikes a chord, will carry it over to another day. Good luck with your plans!
That’s the kind of relationship I remember having with poetry (the morning part having been a habit that occasionally bled into an evening too): it feels perfect, doesn’t it?
Sounds like you have flexibility built in there, which I think is a Good Thing. I’m definitely going to keep things as loose as I can – lots of plans just don’t work for me!!
Yup, same here: the only reason I do yoga is to maintain my flexibility as a reader! *insert downward dog PLUS book GIF*
My reading will be as unplanned as ever but I’m longing to travel so perhaps I’ll do a little less of it. That, of course, depends on how covid behaves.
I think I saw that the new issue of Granta is dedicated to travel writing, which seems delightfully ironic.
I read 18 story collections last year, mostly concentrated in September. A 1.5/month rate felt pretty good for me, though I have a feeling I’ll smash that record this year because I’m currently reading 3 collections, 2 of them for review, and have another lined up for February plus a couple more plucked from the library shelves.
You seem like a confident poetry reader to me! I’m still an amateur but I absolutely love it and am pretty much never without a collection on my stack. I recently treated myself to a few new ones with a Christmas gift card. Shelf Awareness has been a good way of getting access to pre-release stuff by new-to-me poets. I’m still not great at predicting what I’ll like, though I figure out quickly what I don’t like. When I get sent an offer of a collection for review, I’ve taken to looking for a couple stand-alone poems by that poet online, and my reaction to them is usually a pretty good sign. Reviewing poetry regularly (on my blog if not for SA, Foreword, or Wasafiri) helps me to think about how the poems are constructed and why they work. If you have any favourites and want me to send some readalike ideas your way, I’d be glad to.
Chi’s Sweet Home, Vol. 4 is a new acquisition at my library that I spied and swiftly borrowed today. (I thought perhaps I’d seen it on your blog, and I do see it referenced in your critters post.) A graphic novel with a grey kitty is perfect for me! Curiously, they only bought Vols. 2-3 at the same time, but I’m in the hold queue for them. I expect it’s not the sort of story I have to read in order?
Sounds like you’re off to a great start with the stories. I’ve been dabbling in a couple of collections so far, not yet getting this goal into practice. Are you back to volunteering then? If there’s plucking from shelves?
Confident enough to borrow it and read it and to say what I like (we both really liked Pilgrim Bell last year, I recall) and buy some favoured collections, but I haven’t read enough to feel I have something to contribute to a conversation. I once had a habit of beginning every day by reading a poem or two, and I’ve missed that for years now. I’m hoping to reignite that, but add some intentionality, so I’m reading it in my daytime PJs not sleepwear. Hah.
Some of the poetry books on my library list are probably there because you’ve mentioned them (I save rec info in GR but it’s not easy to add that note in my library’s “list” feature, so I might end up requesting something and only discover when I log it on GR that you rec’d it) and I’m looking forward to getting more rec’s from you as the year unfolds (your rec of Natasha Trethewey was spot-on last year), but I’m concentrating on backlisted stuff for awhile (my library branch is completely closed, for a few weeks at least) and what comes in a couple of mag’s I’ve subbed to recently. I’ll probably start posting about them in March, so maybe what I’ve discovered will inspired you to share some readalikes then.
I wondered if Chi was there because of me! I have that problem with graphic series in the library regularly: the first volume is always hardest (sometimes impossible) to find. It doesn’t matter what order, not really. (And you know I obsess about ordering!) They are very simple and episodic. If you try to “read” very much in one sitting, they’ll likely be annoying, they’re *so* simple. Younger-step-kid was especially smitten with that kitten, even before she was able to enjoy reading.
Oh yes, the library’s been back open full time since October (before that it was closed, just for a matter of weeks, for a new lighting system to be put in). I’m enjoying picking books up at whim; my reservation queue is down to a very sensible 5!
Is that a deliberate act of restraint, or have they reduced the number of holds you’re allowed? *wicked grin*
I cleared my account almost down to zero before I left for the States, and apart from a few pre-release books on order my holds list hasn’t built back up yet. At some point I’m sure I’ll be maxing out my account + Chris’s (so 30 reservations in total).
It’s nice to think that tidy moments like that can last, but the sprawling always resumes for me too. Enjoy it while you can! Hee hee
I’m just aiming to keep reading like I did at the end of 2021, so I can clear the TBR shelf to the state I’ve seen on some of my older posts recently! Happy reading!
It’s a blessing and a curse to have records like this, so we can despair or be inspired.
I am not going to read, not intentionally anyway, any stories, poems or drawings. The (Early) Australian Women Writers site will publish at least one story a month so that’s a habit I hope you get into – we’ll be publishing reviews, essays, or stories once a week.
Hahahaha, it hadn’t occurred to me that this particular set of priorities would be terrifically off-putting for you, given your reading taste!
I’ll continue to ration my screen-time but I do hope to put more Australian reading into this year, cuz last year was just TWO. *hangs head*