New Year's Resolutions, no problem

No problem? Hah. I suck at keeping New Year's resolutions. Except in one area - reading! I love to set goals with reading because they're not hard to keep, for me. And the wonderful team of bloggers at the Broke and the Bookish always have a Bookish Resolutions theme going on for their first Top Ten meme of the New Year.

A few of my bookish resolutions:
 (I'll have a separate post on writing resolutions tomorrow for Insecure Writer's Support Group).

1. Read at least 52 books in 2014, one book a week. This is my fourth year setting this goal, and I've always succeeded with this one easily. Guys, I could set this so much higher, I would love to read far more than merely one book a week average, but I have too many other responsibilities, not to mention writing, and some kids and a husband that would like me to surface from the pages or laptop once in a while and communicate with them. So this is actually a resolution NOT to go overboard with reading.

2. Read at least 2 classics. Okay, this one might be a little harder. In the past I've coasted through classics like Anna Karenina and Jane Eyre. But in 2013 I had a classics conundrum. I picked Crime and Punishment, and it took me all year to slowly wade through the first 80 pages of this book, because the beginning was so bleak.  I finally gave up in November, realizing I was running out of time, and switched to Robinson Crusoe, and was able to enjoy that one quite a bit more. (But I have a lot more to say about Crime and Punishment. It's an amazing book, but that's a whole other post).

3. Read at least 12 debuts (first books by new previously unpublished authors).  This one might be a little hard, too. So far I've only seen a few debuts that I'm really keen on, like Beholden by Martina Boone, Alienated by Melissa Landers, The Actual and Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher by Jessica Lawson (that's Becky Thatcher from Adventures of Tom Sawyer!!! - tell me it won't be fun to get her perspective on Tom's shenanigans!), and Elusion by Claudia Gabel and.... well so far that's all. Last year was SOOOO amazing with debuts, such as Pivot Point and Parallel and These Broken Stars and lots of others. 2014 is going to have to work hard to catch up!

4. Read at least 2 science fiction classics and 2 more recent Nebula or Hugo winners. This is separate from the non-science-fiction classics mentioned in #2. I've heard that the mentors at the famous Clarion workshop for science fiction and fantasy writers are horrified by hopeful science fiction writers who are unread and uneducated in the classics in their chosen genre. I've only read 8 of the SF classics (plus a couple more recent Nebula winners) so I have a long way to go.

5. Read at least two Printz winners or Printz honors (the most prestigious award for young adult lit). So far I've read the The Book Thief, Speak, A Northern Light, Shipbreaker, and Code Name Verity.

6. Read at least three Newberry winners or honors (the most prestigious award for middle grade kidlit).

And... that's enough I think!!! I'm starting to scare myself. But then, I think of how much easier these will be compared to OTHER kinds of resolutions...!

What are your thoughts on resolutions this year?