This Year’s Resolutions and My 2023 Reading Goals

Hi Friends,

It’s January so it is the time of year where people make resolutions. I do not have any resolutions this year per se but I do have goals and things that I would like to do in the near future.

In terms of running, I signed up for the Hair of the Bear 15k which will be held at Shawnee on the Delaware on Sunday, April 2nd of the this year. I have been running a few times a week since my last race this past fall. For those of you who are interested, a 15k is 9.32 miles. I have not run more than 5 miles at a time since Thanksgiving but I am sure with a little training, I will be able to run the distance. Mr. Katie ran this race last year and said it was a good one.

Last year, I wrote a post about my running goals and my goal of reading the book A Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin. Here is the link if you want to check it out. I started a Winter’s Tale last January and ended up not really liking it so I stopped reading 250 pages or so in.

While I never did end up finishing A Winter’s Tale, I do feel like 2022 turned into a renaissance year for me in term of re-igniting my interest in reading. I had been worried when I started reading Winter’s Tale that I would not be able to finish the 769 page book by the time spring came. In the end, I didn’t finished it by the time spring came because I stopped reading it because I didn’t like it.

However, I ended up reading at least 19 books in 2022 (I didn’t resurrect my trusty Goodreads account until May, so there might have been more). Also three of the books that I read last year where part of the Outlander series and clocked in at 850, 752, and 1,059 pages each. I didn’t need to be worried about the 769 pages of A Winter’s Tale. So yes, I didn’t accomplish my New Year’s reading resolution in 2022, but I feel like I more than accomplished my reading goals.

This year my 2023 reading goal is 25 books. I have already finished one for this year. It was called Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon. It is a mystery starring Lord John Grey, a minor, fan-favorite character from the Outlander universe. I finished it this week. Diana Gabaldon has other 11 other John Grey stories available so I plan on reading more in the future. I found him to be a likable main character and it was fun to travel to 18th Century, upper class London.

Currently, I just started reading a book that has been highly recommended to me called Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. I read the first few pages thus far and I already am enjoying it. It seems to have a main character who does not take himself too seriously which is a fun change because while I enjoyed reading about Lord John, he seemed to take himself very seriously.

I still like to enjoy books in a variety of formats. I sometimes listen to one book on audio while doing housework or driving in my car and have a separate book that I like to read in my bed at night. I recently told Mr. Katie that I wouldn’t mind if I received a new pair of headphones for a gift giving holiday specifically for my audiobook enjoyment needs. I have never had my sights set headphones specifically for book listening, so I feel like a real e-audiobook library user now. Probably nobody else has ever had that phobia, but when I worked in the multi-media section of the Chester Country Library, I always felt like a poser because outside of memoirs, I wasn’t much of an audiobook listener.

What are your reading goals or regular goals in 2023?