A brand new bookshelf
Own an E-reader
I read most of my eBooks on my laptop and I’ve adapted to it to the point that I actually like it. However, I plan to buy myself an e-reader in February. I’m just confused whether I should buy a full-fledged tablet like Google Nexus 2 or just buy the new Kindle Paperwhite. Any suggestions?
Read a hundred books
I want to read 100 books this year because I’ve been trying to do this for four years now and each time I fail. Miserably.
Recap more
Yes, I plan to save series. It’s only my job which fits nicely with my next goal. I’m starting with Everneath recaps this month and it’s all going pretty well.
Get serie-ous
I’ve issues with letting go which I finally want to put a stop to. Owing to the fact that I’ve finished less than ten series in my lifetime, I joined Octavia’s 2014 Series Challenge. Now I just need to finish as many series as I can in 2014. Or at least seven.
Comment once daily
I actually got this idea from Asti‘s 2014 challenges post the other day and I think it’s good enough. This is my minimum because I do comment on other blogs but some days I completely put it off. I need to stop doing that like yesterday.
Manga myself
I’ve been wanting to start reading manga for the last six months. So this year, I shall. I think I’ll start with Fruits Basket or Naruto. What do I choose? Ancient-curse-stuff or ninja-in-training? Enlighten me.
Get my classis on
The last classic I read was Emma by Jane Austen which I’ve actually abandoned and haven’t finished yet. So along with finishing Emma, I want to read at least two more classics this year. I’m thinking Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Adult it like you mean it
I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn last year and loved it. Sadly, it was the only adult book I read. So I think I can read some this year if I go ahead with the ones I really want to read. A couple of which are Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and Night Film by Marisha Pessl.
Non-fiction it up
Yes, I want to non-fiction up my reading. I’ve even decided the books: Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Quiet by Susan Cain, Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh and Bad Science by Ben Goldacre.
Not too hard or too easy, right?
Awesome goals, Sana! We share a few for sure!
– Re: the ereader: I personally have just the most simple Kindle and I enjoy it. If I had a tablet thing I would get even MORE distracted whilst reading soooo not a good idea for me personally but I do look at them all lusty eyed..won't lie.
– Love Recaptains! Saves my life so often esp since I am the queen of not reading series in a timely manner and forgetting. I really should try to contribute on occasion!
– I also have the series problem and that's one of my resolutions! I seriously SUCK at series. I have barely finished any either. It's a problem. And I keep starting new ones. STOP IT SELF.
– I also want to read more adult fiction and non-fiction. I used to read mostly that before blogging and I'd love to have a better balance again after reading almost exclusively YA for the past 3.5 years of blogging.
– Also on board with the reading classics! I have so many on my shelves and I'm like I WANT TO BUT…insert million excuses.
Awesome list and I wish you the best with your goals! 🙂
My resolutions!
I love these goals! I totally need to read more adult and classics book, I also can't wait to hear what you think of manga! I've never read anything in that genre before so I'm eager to read your opinion! That recap site is SO cool! I'll definitely be using it from now on too, I really need to catch up on series this year as well. Can't wait to see your bookshelf and ereader in the future! It sounds like you have an awesome book-filled 2014 Sana! 🙂
I need to get an e-reader too and am debating the same thing. I highly recommend the Great Gatsby and my husband loved Freakonomics.
Also, if you get a custom bookshelf, pictures please! I think I want to go the custom route too some day.
Great goals, Sana!
Regarding the e-reader, I'd go with the Kindle Paperwhite because the tablet's backlight starts to strain my eyes after a while. Also, I need a bookshelf too but living in a dorm has made that a very low possibility. For now, I guess I'll have to stick with having stacks of books on my desk and other places.
Emma was probably my least favorite Austen novel. Have you tried Mansfield Park or Sense and Sensibility yet? Better yet, have you watched The LIzzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube? Hilarious stuff and I think it's a great adaption of P&P.
Both Fruits Basket and Naruto are great, but it depends on what you're looking for. Fruits Basket makes me in a fluffy and happy mood while Naruto is more action based.
Also, if you do end up getting a custom bookshelf, I'd like to see it as well! 🙂
Great goals! I love your images with the goals. Very creative!
Check out our resolutions for this year – OUaT TTT
Leydy @ OUaT & Redcarpetendings
I like that you already have your nonfiction reads picked out. I read a lot of great nonfiction last year and hope to repeat it this year. My favorites were The Power of Habit and The Eighty-Dollar Champion. I plan to check out more Bill Bryson this year. He does great nonfiction! Good luck with all your goals! ~Megan
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Love the list! good luck with all your resolutions 🙂
Good luck with your resolutions, Sana! They're all definitely achievable. I really like that a lot of them are about expanding your reading horizons. I ought to start doing that…
Oh, I used to read quite a bit of manga but I've not done so for a while. Fruits Basket was one of my favourites. It differs from Naruto quite differently so it really depends on what you're looking for. Naruto is very much an action series, while Fruits Basket is quite cute and fluffy but it definitely has its very, very dark moments. Oh, and another thing to consider: the Fruits Basket manga is complete (it has 23 volumes total), while Naruto is currently only 66 volumes — and is still ongoing!
In my opinion, an e-Ink ereader is infinitely better than a tablet. Like Jamie says, tablets can be quite distracting! It's so easy to nip onto Twitter in the middle of a book. An ereader like the Kindle Paperwhite doesn't stop you picking up your phone but it does make it a little harder to get distracted. Plus, the e-Ink screen is fabulous! It is pretty much like reading paper. If you get a model with a backlight, they hardly strain your eyes too, unlike backlit tablets. I can't attest to the Kindle Paperwhite (I chose not to support Amazon) but I own a Kobo Aura (not the HD version) and before that had a Kobo Touch (which my boyfriend now has!), and I have never had any problems with them!
I already have bookshelves, but I definitely could use a new one.. I really, really suggest getting an e-Ink e-reader with a light function build into it! I use the Kobo Glo and I absolutely love it 🙂 I'm planning to save my first series this year for the Recaptains!
Great picks!
No bookshelf?! LE GASP, that's a crime! 😀 Fix that 😛
As for Kindle or any other e-reader… I only have it for books. No apps, not even twitter, though I can use it for it. I don't even buy books on it! I just read, and it's more than enough for me. Battery lasts much longer, too.
My goal is 100 books, too. Hope we manage 🙂
And Recaps… I should have used it, too. Been slacking off lately.
I have to read more adults and classics as well. I need to get out of YA because I am growing sick of it. :L
As for manga, I am not a fan, or rather, it doesn't even appeal to me, never read a thing and probably never will. :L
Good luck!
Fruits Basket! <3333 I v. strongly recommend it. (Could never get into Naruto…) And buy a Kindle! They are the best for reading purposes, imo 🙂 Oh, I actually really "enjoyed" Crime and Punishment. Hope you'll too 😉 The Great Gatsby is a solid choice as well.
Oh, getting bookshelves is on my list too! I'd also love to finish some of the series I've started and abandoned. Maybe 2014 will be our year!
Also, way to go on making achievable goals. Sometimes you just need things that you can imagine crossing off in a reasonable time frame!
I wanna get a bookshelf too except I already have one that's holding a plethora of things and I have no space for another. DAMN IT.
I also highly recommend Fruits Basket over Naruto (I'm on the same page as Cayce for this one, lol).
I think Kindle Paperwhite has a backlight? I think that works if you just wanna read and are not interested in having nice coloured covers to look at. I have a Kindle (not the Paperwhite, just the older version) and it's pretty much gathering dust after I got the Kindle app onto my iPad because there's coloured covers (plus I have a comics app too so…) and I don't have to press buttons (I read while I eat so swiping is a better option). BUT battery life is also another issue. 🙂
With the manga, Naruto's probably not the best manga to start off with (especially because it's got a billion chapters and is actually still ongoing and appears to have no end). But then again, Fruits Basket was probably only really an "okay" manga for me (although quite a lot of people really enjoy it, so I suppose it's not a bad one to start with).
I really really really recommend this one manga called Iris Zero. It's a monthly and is still ongoing (only about 30 chapters out so far), but it's amazing. It's about an alternate society where the people all have "Irises" which are abilities which help them see particular things e.g. someone's love interest, when someone will die, when someone is lying, but our main character is an "Iris Zero" which means they don't have an Iris and ahhh it's so good 😀
YOU LIED. YOU DO OWN A BOOKSHELF. You just don’t have it in your room anymore. MISLEADING. I demand a rewrite! ;D
I agree with Alice-Jane on the e-reader. I think you should just get an e-reader. You want to read, but with a tablet, you will most likely get distracted by the apps and such in it. (I know I do. :P) I want to get my own e-reader since reading from a iPod touch isn’t extremely ideal since it strains my eyes. I want to get a Kobo, but moneeyyyy.
I hope you achieve your goal of reading 100 books. That’s always my goal, and I always achieve. (Not to brag or anything. ;D) Muahahaha.
I need to get my Classic on as well. I haven’t read any since I graduated college. I think it’s because reading them totally exhausted me and it never really kept my interest like YA and romance books did. 😛
I hope you achieve all these goals!
That's an awesome list. I know I really need to read some adult books and non-fiction. Manga is still way down on my list. I do want to get into graphic novels, though.
Amazing graphics for this post! Really creative!
FRUITS BASKET. Gah, it's my favorite manga out of the hundreds I've read. I tried to read Naruto, but I prefer the animes for shonen stuff, though I may try again at some point.
Like you, I'm hoping to close out more series, because, while I've finished 50 or so, I've started over 400, so yeah….I'm not doing so hot either. X_X
I'd start with Fruits Basket! I've not read the manga, but I watched the anime. I thought it was absolutely charming.
– Jackie
I need another book shelf. Mine is tiny, and only three shelves, and currently double rowed. And then I have the bags and piles of books that are sitting around, possibly being DISFIGURED because I don’t have another bookshelf. So this year I want to do a major cleanout of my room and get rid of stuff that is taking up space that could be used for a bookshelf. And, an L-shaped shelf sounds weird, and annoying.
EW NO, KAI, NO. You need to buy a legit ereader. They are so easy to use, and the screen makes the book look like paper, rather than a shiny screen. And you can read in the sunlight without glare – hurrah!
Well, I commented on your survey about our mutual 100 book goal. 😀
I have never recapped. I usually just reread or go in blind and try to remember everything that has happened previously.
I understand the fear of finishing series. My favourite childhood series still sits unfinished. I just don’t want to let go of all the love and happiness it brought me.
Yay for commenting. I comment a bunch every day, but then I realise that there are still a whole heap of my favourite blogs that I haven’t commented on in ages. And then I make the rounds and find buried posts which I somehow missed and spam comment. Like now! <3
FRUITS BASKET. It’s adorable, even thought the ending was really annoying and ticked me off. And if you ever need more suggestions, come to me, young grasshopper. I can show you the ways of manga.
Uhm, ew. Emma is seriously like the most boring classic out there. I read about two thirds of it three years ago, and have never looked at it again. *shudders* I want to read more classics this year, as well. I do not think I read one last year D: By the way, I highly suggest reading Frankenstein. It’s one of my all time favourite books EVER, and a classic.
I, too, abandon adult fiction in preference of young adult. Although, I did read a few adult fiction books last year. I just didn’t like them as much as my YA ones.
EW, NON-FICTION.
Nice goals, I am trying to read 100 books this tear too, I also failed last year and I was quite annoyed with myself, there is no reason why I cannot read that many in a year. I love my kindle and do not know what I would do without it. I think you should go for the kindle, I like having a electronic book, and that's it's only purpose. Hope you manage them all 🙂