2010 Reading Resolutions

I’m finding it hard to develop reading resolutions for 2010 because reading is such a passion for me and I do it mostly for enjoyment; I do not want to restrict or limit myself on how or what I read. However, having started a blog that (hopefully) people are reading, I thought that I should think about my reading habits and put down some sort of path for the coming year. So here is what I’m planning for 2010:

1. Become an active reader. I have always been interested in reading about current affairs but have not done well in taking action upon what I’ve read and feel strongly about. As a recently naturalized U.S. citizen I now have the right and privilege to vote in elections, but I know that I can and should do more. I have signed up for The Social Justice Challenge and plan to be involved as much as possible in issues most important to me and learn more about others that are just as critical to the United States and to the world at large.
Related to this, I am also going to make an effort to read more works by people with opposing viewpoints to my own. I believe that a lot of problems with our political system exist because most of us can’t or won’t listen to what the other side is trying to say and as a result common ground is rarely if ever found to reach solutions. I realize that I may be a bit naïve in my thinking, but I would like to have more understanding of both sides of issues.

2. Use the library more, bookstores less. I am already an active patron of my local library, but I also buy a lot of books, most of which are impulse purchases that linger on the to-read pile for months (or even years) before I think to read them. At least at the library, I can act upon my impulses without it costing me a dime, and the book can only stay on my to-read pile for three weeks before returning or renewing it. I have signed up for the 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge and have committed to reading 75 books from the library.
I do love wandering through bookstores, though, so it will be a challenge for me to limit my book purchases. Since I don’t smoke, and rarely drink, I call book buying my lonely vice.

3. Read more literary classics. In 2009 I read In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, what I have read to be the longest novel in the English language. The online discussions I had about this book (definitely a mix of love and hate) and the references to it that I have picked up in other reading has inspired me to read more classic works of literature.
I guess my hesitancy to read classics has been resulted from not wanting to attempt them alone. To that end I have joined a Classics Reading Group at my library organized by Rebecca of Rebecca Reads, which in our few meetings so far have prompted some great discussions; and in February I will be participating in The Classics Circuit – also co-hosted by Rebecca – with a post on the Harlem Renaissance.

So that’s the mini-plan for the year. In 2009 I had set a goal to read 100 books during the year (and reached), but I don’t think I’m going to concern myself with the quantity of books I read in 2010; I am going to focus on the quality of what I am reading instead.