Looking forward: 2015

Hello and a happy new year to you all. I hope you've had a lovely night, whether you were out partying or, like me, having a quiet evening in with TV, books or internet. I had made great plans to have a big Back to the Future marathon with all my friends, lots of pizza and nibbles - and then December 30th came around and I'd organised nothing. So instead, I just put the second and third films on (I saw the first one quite recently) and watched with my parents. I'm quite disappointed with how many people in the real world don't instantly associate the year 2015 with Back to the Future part 2: hoverboards, flying cars, etc.

My New Year's resolution this year is simply to try to be kinder and less self-centred. But I've also taken the time to reorganise my reading and writing life and plan some excursions.

Books:

Last year I set myself a read one/buy one rule regarding my book collection, but that did not have the desired effect of shrinking my to-read pile, as I did not take into account rereads or books that were already in the house, ie borrowed from parents. This year the rule is read three, buy two - and only books from the pile count. I know some bloggers are imposing a 3:1 or 5:1 rule on themselves, but I don't have the willpower to do that.

I intend to carry on filling in the gaps in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which should not be too much of a challenge as here are only about six I haven't read now. But I want to have read those six by the end of the year.

A more long-term plan is to read or watch all of Shakespeare's plays in the next five years. Will I stick with this? Who knows! I read a few last year, and have studied some in school and uni, so that's at least ten down already.

Writing:

After throwing off my writer's block last November and managing to succeed in NaNoWriMo, I intend to continue with my novel in progress, and finish the first draft this year. I took a break in December but now we're into the new year, I'd like to get that finished.

I plan to take the Rilla of Ingleside book-to-script adaptation out of the mothballs and get that finished this year, for my own satisfaction.

And I would like to have another bash at NaNoWriMo in November, see if I can match and beat last year's success.

Getting organised:

I have had to admit defeat. I have no more bookshelf space. Not that that's going to stop me - my first big purchase of this year is going to be replacing my six-shelf bookcase with an extra-deep six-shelf bookcase so I can fit twice as many books on the shelves. (Admittedly having two layers of books is not ideal, but it must be better than the shelf balanced on my to-read pile under my desk.)

When this arrives, I will reorganise my books and get rid of any I don't intend to read again. Likewise, I will be sorting through my clothes, CDs and DVDs - many of the latter I bought just to watch once, thanks to there being no Blockbuster any more, and the films not being available through Netflix or the library.

Travel

This year I may be able to go on holiday to America. I've not done this before because it's hard to ask friends to go with you when you're all poor and single and don't drive - it's a big expense - but when I grumbled about this to a friend who is a bit older than me, she suggested going with me. I'm thinking Boston.
I'd also like to go to York, which I've been meaning to visit for years (and which Hanna tells me is very good for book shopping.)

I'd like to go to see friends living in Liverpool, Bath and Cardiff, who I don't get to see much, and one of whom I've not seen in years. And I plan to return to Coventry and shop at the Big Comfy Bookshop once more.

When I visit my sister in London, I will seek out new bookshops on each trip, not just returning to Foyle's every time.

Finally, I'd like to meet up with some of YOU lovely bloggers in person! I've made some great friends through blogging, but have only met Ellie in person, two years ago. So, what about it? Who would be up for a book blogger meet-up to invade the bookshops for a day?

Bout of Books 8.0: Monday

It seems that no sooner has one readathon finished than another has begun. Bout of Books is back with another week-long readathon, and as it so happens, this falls on a week in which I'm working only three days, leaving me plenty of time to do nothing but read ALL the books and blog about it. Or at least, that was the plan. At 8PM on day 1, I have managed to read a single longish short story.

My goals:

As usual, I'm not going to set any strict rules for myself, but I do intend to significantly reduce my to-read pile (pictured on my blog sidebar to the left.) I also intend to visit other bloggers, participate in a few challenges, and to write a bit of a reading journal, with a new post each day tracking my progress. I also hope to take this opportunity to finish off the 15-Day Book Bloggers' Challenge.

At the moment, the most likely books I plan to read are:

A Cuckoo's Calling: Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

Reconstructing Amelia: Kimberley McCreight

In One Person: John Irving

Necropolis: Catharine Arnold

I also hope to start China Mieville's epic Perdido Street Station, and to finish Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu. (Just one story left to go; should be done by this evening.)

Monday.

Bout of Books week began for me in a hotel in Southsea. I woke late (not having got to sleep until 2AM, for Neil Gaiman-related reasons which I will write about in a separate post) and took my book on a little walk around the town: to the Southsea Coffee Co. for breakfast and then to the beach. 

I've been reading H. P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales for two weeks now, and was down to the last two stories. Lately, so much of my reading has led back to Lovecraft, and it felt compulsory to fill in this gap in my literary knowledge. It took me a while to get used to Lovecraft's particular brand of writing: descriptive, verbose, and quite stodgy, yet often leaving only a vague and nebulous impression of Something Very Not Right Here. I grew frustrated with "indescribable horrors." You're a writer, man, I grumbled, you're being paid to describe things. Still, his tales are creepy and evocative, and today's story is perhaps the best I've read so far. "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" paints a vivid picture of a dilapidated fishing town, once a thriving dwelling, now delaying and filled with hostile, reclusive and uncanny residents. If you read one Lovecraft story, make it this one: a classic work of American gothic literature (and not a vampire in sight.)