Books are uniquely Portable Magic

— Stephen King.

The New Year is fast approaching as well as a new decade. We are now entering our second chance at the “Roaring Twenties” and I couldn’t be more excited to start some New Year’s Resolutions of my own.

Over the past year I had noticed the amount that I read was exponentially less than in previous years. With work, school and life, reading feel into the background. I decided that it is time to regain my love of reading and what better time to make a change than at the start of the decade?

As far as reading goes, I have several goals in mind. First of all, I want to start branching out from the stories that I read. For years I loved to read Young Adult novels – rightly so as I was, in fact, a young adult. Now that I’m in my mid-twenties, I find those stories don’t hold my attention as well. Characters aren’t as well-rounded and plots are predictable. Now, as I walk through the bookstore, I feel a little lost. I’m not sure what I like to read anymore or what aisle I should bolt for as soon as I enter through the doors.

That being said, I’m going to expand myself to different genres. I want to try mysteries, biographies, self-help, science-fiction, informational, etc. I’m going to take recommendations and try new things. If I always read the same thing as a reader, then I’m never going to grow as a reader or a writer. That’s the whole point of this – to grow.

Secondly, I want to read at least forty novels in the year 2020. Part of me feels like this should be easy – only a little more than three novels a month – but the other part of me can see how life can easily get in the way. That is why I also want to make sure I read at least one chapter a day. In fact, I want reading to be the last thing I do before I go to bed each night. Hopefully reading a little bit each day will seem like much less daunting of a task than trying to read a book in one sitting (something I’m infamous for doing).

Those are my goals for 2020. What are yours? How many books do you want to read? What book are you going to start the year off with?