Sparrow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sweet_sparrow) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
books2010-01-03 04:51 pm
sweet_sparrow) wrote in books2010-01-03 04:51 pm
2010 Reading Goals
Does anybody have any speficic reading goals for 2010? Big, small, if it's something you're aiming to do, it goes. Or am I just the weird one out? ^-~ (Hope the question doesn't break any rules, but it is book-related.)
I've set myself a few goals this year, though they're not particularly spectacular.
- read Corvus by Esther Woolfson
- read my coursebooks before term starts
- read more non-native English books
Not too many goals and most should be easy to accomplish, but... Well, they might not be. The last is going to be the most problematic. While I'm not a native speaker, I do read solely in English. Most of the books I have/want are, thus, by native speakers of English and I'd love to have a little more variety in my reading. Broaden my horizons and all. I'm not aiming to make a large chunk of my reading English translations, though, just to make that chunk larger than it is at the moment. ^-^
So. Anybody else have reading goals for 2010? ^-^
(Also, hi! I'm new to the community. ^-^ A really short intro of me/my tastes would be: "I read fantasy and I try to stay as far away from horror as I can. I like my night's rest. I'm trying to branch out my reading into other genres a little more. Other than that, I'm a student of English, focusing my courses on - surprise! - literature." Nice to meet you all!)
I've set myself a few goals this year, though they're not particularly spectacular.
- read Corvus by Esther Woolfson
- read my coursebooks before term starts
- read more non-native English books
Not too many goals and most should be easy to accomplish, but... Well, they might not be. The last is going to be the most problematic. While I'm not a native speaker, I do read solely in English. Most of the books I have/want are, thus, by native speakers of English and I'd love to have a little more variety in my reading. Broaden my horizons and all. I'm not aiming to make a large chunk of my reading English translations, though, just to make that chunk larger than it is at the moment. ^-^
So. Anybody else have reading goals for 2010? ^-^
(Also, hi! I'm new to the community. ^-^ A really short intro of me/my tastes would be: "I read fantasy and I try to stay as far away from horror as I can. I like my night's rest. I'm trying to branch out my reading into other genres a little more. Other than that, I'm a student of English, focusing my courses on - surprise! - literature." Nice to meet you all!)
no subject
Be very, very grateful. It's one of those books that got saved from the slushpile purely because the author had long since established a name as one who sells. I may have remembered some of it to be worse than it is, but not by a whole lot.
I suppose it's possible the book actually refers to another type of water-horse altogether, but that'd be some really sloppy research. The good news is that the book gave me my own kelpies to write about. ^-^
no subject
*winces* Ouch. But yeah, I think that happens more when you're well enough known. One of her books that I enjoy has a couple of errors that simple editing would have fixed and they make me wince every time I read it. :(
I love when that happens. Even if a book isn't that great it can sometimes inspire some really fun stuff to write about.
no subject
Ow. It's sad that it happens, though. Call me an idealist, but I don't think 'well-known' should be a free ticket to publishing bad books. I'm sure the book could've been at least average with some decent sense whacked into its plot.
Oh, definitely. ^-^ I'm having way too much fun with all the legend/folktale/fairytale inspired stuff my muse has come up with.
no subject
Oh, I didn't mean to imply that it should, more like sometimes it does. And makes me wonder if she was pulling a Laurel Hamilton and plain not bothering with an editor. :/
I love mythology, although I don't know nearly enough about it as I'd like to. I've still got books by Joseph Campbell from my first year at uni that I've never finished. *sighs*
no subject
I know. ^-^ But the book itself implies it. That's the sad thing. I hope she did the no-editor thing, then. I like my idealised vision of the publishing industry as an industry that cares about quality as much as it does sales. (I never mentioned this in my comments on Marten Toonder, but the second story in the anthology ends up with a machine that can calculate the value of everything and there's a scene where he demonstrates it with books "only the bestsellers will remain!". I was appalled.)
Mmmm, same here. Pesky memory. I have loads of mythology and folklore books, but I wish some of the details would stick better. :(
no subject
I kind of hope she did as well. Otherwise it just depresses me that an editor looked over it and didn't spot the glaringly obvious mistakes. D: And agh, that scene sounds horrible. :/ Just because a book isn't a 'bestseller' doesn't mean it's not good. Sometimes really crap books are bestsellers. :/
Agreed. I have books on Celtic and Norse mythology and I'd like to add Eastern mythology to those but they're really hard to find in mainstream shops. :(
no subject
I think the idea of the story was to show people just how preposterous some material ideas/values are, but I'm still appalled at the senseless book violence.
Likewise, some really great books go out of print because they're not bestsellers. :( I'm not sure which is sadder.
Ooooh! Those are sorely lacking from my shelves as well. (Heck, I need more mythology/folklore books, period.)
no subject
*nods* I think it's a point definitely worth making but the execution of it makes me wince.
I think both are equally sad. :( It pains me to see celebrity autobiographies hitting the bestsellers list when really great books don't even get a chance because of the genre they're in.
See, it's this kind of thinking that led to the state of my room as it currently stands. Books everywhere and piled on top of each other. :D
no subject
*winces* Ow. That is bad. Sometimes it makes me sad that some books which I really loved are out of print and I, thus, can't go off and get everyone I know a copy.
Mine sounds similar. (Soon I'll have to put my clothes on the floor so I have shelf space again...)
no subject
*nods* I hate that. It can be hard enough finding one copy let alone multiple ones and half the time they're ridiculously expensive. :(
*grins* I... have clothes piled on a chair so they don't take up space I could use for books. I'm not a naturally tidy person anyway, which I suppose doesn't help.
no subject
*nods* And then you have the question of what condition they're in and everything as well. Some books I can't even imagine why they're out of print. They're really good books by good-selling authors.
Mmm, no, it tends not to. *should really clean her shelf spaces and desk again* My books have even flowed over onto my parents' shelves now. Not many, and chiefly because I want my mum to read them, thinking she'll enjoy them, but even so. They're my books.
no subject
*nods* It confuses the hell out of me sometimes. :(
*grins* My books do tend to sprawl, as well. They've even incorporated some - okay, a lot - of my mom's books as well. >.> Well, I read David Eddings more than she does, she doesn't need them in her room. >.>
no subject
*chuckles* I'd say that sounds like a sensible reason for book-migration. Mum and I have completely different reading tastes, so our stacks don't flow into one another well. I keep trying to get her to read some of my books, but so far she's only read the one. (She said she liked it, so why can't she trust my taste on these other books? My shelves miss them!)
no subject
See, we share similar tastes sometimes: she's the one who got me into Eddings and Pratchett for example, so sometimes she borrows the books back. She's more likely to enjoy Asimov than I am, though. :)