Reading and blogging goals in the new year

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Happy New Year, everyone! I hope this year will bring you joy, as we all continue to work through very great challenges.

This month, I’m closing down my seven-year adventure at The Emerald City Book Review and moving all my blogging activity over to the Enchanted Castle. So as I’ve done each year, I’d like to share some of my reading and blogging plans for the months ahead, with a focus on the challenges I’m planning to take part in.

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One project that I definitely want to continue with is Reading All Around the World. I’ve learned so much from reading books representing many different countries, and I want to keep going on this journey. Last year my goal was one book per month, and I exceeded that number. I think if I add at least ten this year, I’ll be happy.

A new project I just discovered comes from Adam of Roof Beam Reader, who is making World Religions his 2021 reading focus. He’s come up with a list of six texts to work through during the year, and I’d love to join in with all of them. I’ve been meaning to read several for some time (the Tao te Ching, the Qur’an, the Talmud) and it will be much more interesting and enjoyable to do it along with others. Care to join us?

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I’d like to join in with the Back to the Classics Challenge again, as finding books to fit the categories chosen by Karen of Books and Chocolate always adds a bit more spice to my classics reading. And I also plan to join the Book Blogger Discussion Challenge once more. Bookish discussion posts are some of my favorites to write and to read. I’m going to take a plunge into something new and read along with Chris Wolak’s Willa Cather short story project, at least some of the time.

I want to keep reading nonfiction books and I have some ideas about specific topics I’d like to learn about. I may share those in another post. And I’m also planning to post thoughts about language learning and other things that interest me, on a more or less monthly basis.

I also have some ideas for new events and reading projects to be hosted here at the Castle … I’ll be sharing one of these next week!

What are your plans for the year? I hope you’ll share them in the comments, or link up your post if you have one.

Linked in the Book Blog Discussion Challenge hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts At Midnight.

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15 thoughts on “Reading and blogging goals in the new year

  1. Happy New Year! Sounds like some great plans for 2021. I enjoy your Reading All Around the World reviews, so I’m happy to read you’re keeping at that. I don’t think I’ll be signing up for any challenges this year. For the past month or so, I’ve been enjoying picking up whatever whenever, and I’m curious to see where that might take me in 2021…

  2. Happy New Year Lory! I am looking forward to reading your 2021 posts, what ever you end up reading. For sure I will be participating in Karen’s Back to the Classics challenge again. I like my reading to be a good mix of contemporary and classic and the challenge helps me achieve that balance.

    1. Thank you Ruthiella. A mix of classic and contemporary sounds great to me and I look forward to reading your posts too.

  3. One door closes, another gateway opens, huzzah! With your moves from Emerald City (both physical and literary) via stages to Switzerland, will you be doing a feature on Swiss castles, legends, fairytales etc? I know so little about the country except for the usual clichés, and the closest I’ve come is from skiing nearby or camping in Chamonix. Pretty please!

    Interesting plans coming up — don’t forget Witch Week, though, you may find a request heading your way in due course about this… 😁

    1. That is a super idea. When we are more able to get about and visit things I’d love to feature some Swiss castles! I do have some pictures from the town of Neuchatel that I could post…

      Witch Week is certainly still on my calendar. I didn’t post about those short-term events here but I’m hoping to join in Daphne Du Maurier week and some others as well. Plus, I have a new idea for March … stay tuned.

    1. I’m afraid there are more and bigger challenges ahead, but I only hope we can try to not let them turn us into egotistical monsters. If reading helps to make us more empathetic, read on! Thanks for being there, as always, inspiring me with your reading superpowers.

  4. I like the variety of your goals for the year. We share one about reading more broadly around the world though we have called our projects by slightly different names. I’ve joined the European Reading Challenge to give me a bit of a prod in this direction…

    1. Yes, I took my inspiration from Jean at Howling Frog Books, but whatever you call it I think it’s a wonderful challenge.

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