It’s that time of year: resolutions, resolves and….reading?
With the holiday blaze behind us, we’re all turning our sights on improvement. Diet, decluttering, and self-betterment goals tend to get the bulk of the attention this time of year, but what about some resolutions that are a little more….well, fun!
I’m talking of course about reading resolutions (why make any other kind?) Many people like to set a goal for the total number of books they’ll read, but for a more fulfilling 2016 twist, what about setting a goal for getting outside of your reading comfort zone?
To save you the brainstorming time, below are some ideas on how you can branch out in your reading. Why not set a goal to try one (or more!) of a new-to-you category in 2016? Prizes include a sense of self-satisfaction, a broadened reading perspective, and for a select group of subwinners, some new favorites!
- Choose a book based solely on its cover. Forget the old adage, and happy browsing!
- Learn a new skill from a book. Some ideas: running, a language (we have Spanish, German, French, and Russian to name just a few), knitting, or home-brewing.
- Read a translation. You could go traditional with something like Anne Frank: the diary of a young girl or Anna Karenina, or contemporary with the mystery The shadow of the wind.
- Read a book of poetry. Anthologies like the Good Poems series are a great place to find a variety of poets and styles to figure out your own favorites. Past Poets Laureate like Billy Collins or Louise Glück are another option to try (and bonus! The volumes are often very slim).
- Read a book set in another country. The sky is the limit on this one. Is there somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit? Why not go? Is there a part of the world you’d like to understand better?
- Try an audiobook. This is a great way to experience a dense classic (Austen, Dickens, Twain, to name a few), some non-fiction (Jim Gaffigan’s Food: a love story), a hot bestseller like The Martian, or any title that you might not get around to in print.
- Read a book from the staff recommendations shelf. Each library has a staff recommendations shelf near the entrance. Check this out for an eclectic and ever-changing selection of books!
- Read a Colorado author. We have so much talent in our state! From Todd Mitchell and Lauren Myracle right here in Fort Collins to James Michener and Connie Willis from nearby Greeley, you don’t have to go much beyond Northern Colorado. But if you want to, there’s also Sandra Dallas, Kent Haruf, Hunter S. Thompson and Helen Thorpe, to name a few.
Do you have any reading resolutions? We’d love to hear about them!