My new year’s reading resolutions for the year were to:

  • sort my reading list and stick to it
  • stop reading ‘worthy’ books unless they have other attractions
  • find better recommendation sources
  • strictly enforce an abandon-book policy
  • read favourite authors’ backlists
  • occasionally impulse-buy

…I’m doing really well on that last one.

I’m actually doing OK with the reading list, in terms of researching the existing titles and clearing some of them off. I’ve not done so well with adding new books to it, in that I haven’t really found a reliable source yet for recommendations. Since I’m only just now running short of books I’d already bought to read (three of which I gave up on as per the abandon-book policy), it hasn’t been a priority to add new ones. This 40-book list might help (I read and adored 28; I read and was so-so on 36; 39 is on my list).

In actual fact, I was going to start buying ebooks once I finished with that physical pile, which would have given me the perfect opportunity to get some books off my existing reading list and to work on the backlist resolution (since you tend not to be able to find older books in physical bookstores), while working out how best to find new reads to suit my specific tastes.

And then this happened:

My partner: Got anything I can read?
Me: You really liked that David Weber book from last year. I’ve got a bunch of his backlist from the Baen library. Try one of the Honor books.
My partner: Ewww, ebooks? Oh hey, this isn’t so bad. In fact, if I turn the brightness down in Stanza, my eyes get far less strained than when reading paper copies. I’ll spend every last spare moment on the Touch, reading David Weber, until my wrists get sore, and then I’ll just prop the Touch on a pillow and keep going.
Me: Are we taking the Touch to Thailand?
My partner: What did you say? I’m reading.
Me: Hey, that’s my line.

So, I was going to be finishing off my physical book pile and then reading ebooks while on holiday, but I quite thoughtlessly converted the other member of the household to ebooks even though we only have the one reading device. Which meant I was looking at two physical books left for a ten-day holiday, which we all know doesn’t cut it.

So it was back to the physical bookstore for me, one book off my list (Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones) and one impulse buy (Bees and Mist, not sure why — that’s why it’s impulse).

So far, my resolutions have been a success — I feel like I’m enjoying my reading much more at the moment than I have for some time. My physical pile is almost gone (oh wait, I just remembered I have about 8 books waiting for me when I get back to Australia — online book sales are a killer) and my reading list is becoming orderly. I still need to work out how to discover those less mainstream new books that would suit me immensely, but the freedom to let go of the books that aren’t doing it for me has helped immensely.

By the way, note to the big publishers: my partner? Reads maybe six books a year. He’s read two in the last week, thanks to them being on Stanza ie DRM-free ePub. Of course, you don’t care what people read, do you? You care what people buy. So, do you think he might go buy the next new Weber Honorverse book as soon as it comes out…as long as he can get the ePub version DRM-free and at a reasonable price?

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