2012 was, in general, not a great year for reading for me. I read a lot of books that I enjoyed but most of them were in the mystery genre (not that there is anything wrong with that) and I feel that I really limited myself too much to that one genre.
Part of the reason was that I was so goshdarn busy at work that when I got home I really wanted comfort reading and not challenging reading. The other reason is that I started reading more on my ipad Nook app and I find the Barnes and Noble online site hard to browse, except for mysteries. I don't know why this is - I used to order literary fiction from them all the time. But last year I kept looking for new literary fiction to read and not much of anything they were pushing appealed to me. Maybe that was them, maybe that was me, or maybe that was just publishing in 2012.
One of my plans for 2013 is to go back to reading more books in "real book" form. The first challenge for that plan is that my favorite independent bookstore just closed, which is very sad. There is another independent bookstore downtown that I like, but it isn't close to my office and by the time I hike over there I don't have much time to browse. The obvious solution is the public library which I haven't visited much in the last year or so. My local branch doesn't get much new fiction and they hide it in a poorly lit corner, so I think I'm going to try out other branches this year.
As far as what to read, I don't really have many specific books that are goals. I plan to read the new Louise Erdrich novel next. Other than that, I don't have any set goals. I thought maybe I would just pick a few authors and try to find books by them that appealed to me. I know I want to re-read some Robertson Davies. I've been meaning to read something by Henry James, I don't think I've ever read any of his novels except Turn of the Screw. I've had Dostoevsky in my plans for three years now, maybe this is the year. I want to read more novels by Penelope Lively and Elizabeth Taylor. I'd like to read another novel by Hilary Mantel.
