For a very long time I avoid New Year´s Resolutions - I may better fancy Revolutions as I randomly mispelled the word in the first draft of this post. I am mostly inclined to open up to the wonder of the every day, and enjoy their 24 hours of blessing again and again. It works with coping with life, definitely.
But, when talking about books, some library loans may get expired or some downloaded versions may be no more available. Or some events happening in real life may be highly traumatic, as it happened to me the last year, when the first months of the year took place under the sign of mourning. Reading lists may not always work with real life encounters, but books as such are always helpful. I may be very unsure about many things in life, except that reading is life saving.
The last year was extremely successful in terms of reaching my reading goals - hello 250 books on Goodreads - and taking part to excellent book tours and sharing different types of bookish content on at least three online blogs. Although most of the books were written in or translate into English, special features of French and German-language books were a constant presence. No matter what and when, I built my safety belt made of words, in as many as possible languages.
What I plan for 2024? One of the most important things I do want to do this year is, not surprisingly, reading: discovering new authors in new languages, new styles and, definitely, as much poetry as possible. I want to continue discovering new short story authors. I do have a modest - as for now - plan of reading as many books as possible in original languages, more than German and French, with some good Spanish, Italian and Portuguese titles waiting for me, as well as Romanian - in the last days of 2023 I purchased online a couple of books I hope to have time to read them slowly - and Hungarian - I don´t know exactly how to start but I wish I can read and review at least 3 books in this beloved language in the coming months.
At the same time, another serious plan for the next 12 months, and hopefully for more, is never giving up from learning new languages - I promised myself for a long time to learn Turkish and my time has finally come - and improving some old ones - like Arabic who was very much neglected. Hope to be able to share some of my my language learning progress soon, as my other language-related activities. as my language learning portfolio is also expanding slowly - in addition to French and German that I am teaching constantly.
Geographically, I hope that in the next 12 months will be able to share more interesting fresh voices outside the classical, mostly Western-oriented realm. I am curious to expand my knowledge in literary terms, and sharing with my readers the fantastic literary talents less known only due to less favorized geographies.
In terms of topics, I may be tempted to give more chances to fantasy fiction and even have a good taste of some science fiction, but will take some time until will delve into some titles.
Another dream of mine this year is to shorten my shelves lists on various versions of NetGalley and Edelweiss. I am blessed to use this ARC approval system for around eight years and I feel ungrateful for not being able to properly share my reviews. More reading discipline comes into question, and I am right now trying to set up different lists and incentives to follow a certain reading plan, altough it may be easier to say than do.
As in the previous years, I am planning to continue my book tours, featuring beautiful titles and authors, with a special focus on crime and thrillers of the highest calibre. I don´t have any notworthy book festival planned (yet) and no bookish travel in the making, but would definitely take the chance if occurs.
One of the areas that would be more than happy to develop this year is writing. Except blog posts, learning content and some random articles for random clients, I´ve hardly wrote anything last year. I will take a chance - or two - on writing this year, and hopefully I will find the time and inspiration to explore some writing projects in the making for half a decade at least.
As for now, getting ready to spend a quiently 2nd of January evening, busy with finishing some books and spending one hour doing some Portuguese language exercises. Time flies fast, so I better use wisely every single minute.
See you soon, one book review at a time!
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