Elisabeth Ellington - A Year of Reading: A Month-By-Month Guide to Classics and Crowd-Pleasers for You or Your Book Group

Copyright 2016 by Elisabeth Ellington and Jane Freimiller

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

How to Make This Year
Your Best Year of Reading Ever

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.

ERASMUS (CA. 14661536)

People who are passionate about reading do not have to be convinced of its benefits. We know that reading opens our minds, challenges our beliefs, and expands our hearts. Books are there for us whether were celebrating or mourning. We bond with people over books, though we may have nothing else in common. Passionate readers easily agree with Erasmus in ranking books as foremost among the necessities of life.

But even committed readers run into problems. Which among the thousands of books published each year are worth reading? How can we navigate a course through all the millions of books available? How can we think more deeply about the reading choices we make? Wouldnt it be great to structure our choices in ways that build on and complement one another?

A Year of Reading is designed to help you see your way clearly through the myriad of choices available. In addition to suggesting books, we provide questions for thinking about what youve read. Sprinkled throughout the book are film recommendations, facts about authors and topics, and activities for book clubs. There are lots of ideas here, so readers and groups can pick and choose what works best for them.

For readers interested in starting a book group or improving the one theyre in, information in the back of the book covers the basics, from finding other members to choosing a meeting place, as well as more complex issues such as managing group dynamics and a variety of suggestions for making meetings more engaging and enjoyable.

Finally, we would love to hear about your reading. What books and advice would you give to other readers? Which of our suggestions worked well for you? Email us at , look for us on social media, and let us know about your reading!

LETS GET STARTED

Make a plan. What do you want to accomplish with your reading this year? Finally read Charles Dickens? Learn some world history? Spend some time reflecting on what you loved about your reading life last year and how you might build on that this year. Consider, too, where your reading life fell short. Set goals!

Join a challenge. Google reading challenges for adults and you wont be disappointed. Some of our favorites include:

Read more women authors. Books by women are still underrepresented among prestigious review sites and literary prizes.

Read authors of color. Books by authors of color are definitely underrepresented on the bestseller lists too!

Read harder books. Challenge yourself to read books that are long or seem difficult. You may be pleasantly surprised at how much you enjoy them.

Read your own damn books. Pick up books you already own but havent had time to read yet.

Read banned books. Somewhere, someone is banning a great book. Find out what those books are and support freedom of speech by reading them.

Track your reading. Keep a list of what youve read and what you want to read. Maybe add a mini-review or rating to remind yourself what you thought. We like to track our reading online at Goodreads.com, where you can build shelves for your books, rate books, post and read reviews, and join reading groups. LibraryThing.com and Shelfari.com are two more social media websites that allow you to track and organize your reading and connect with other readers.

Keep a reading journal. Many readers use writing to deepen their understanding of books. We read with a notebook nearby for taking notes, copying quotations we like, and writing down titles of books wed like to read next. Consider making entries as you read. Youll find many lists of excellent reading journal questions online, but we can usually push ourselves to think more deeply simply by focusing on basic questions: What do you like about the book so far? Dislike? What surprises you? What puzzles you?

Start a book blog. In under five minutes, your new book blog could be up and running. Wordpress and Blogger are two websites where you can sign up for a free blog. Post reviews of what you read, or participate in different weekly book blogging memes. Youll find a master list of popular book blogging memes at girlxoxo.com. Or search for three of our favorites:

Its Monday! What Are You Reading? Share what youve been reading and what you plan to read next.

Top Ten Tuesday. Create a weekly top-ten book list on different themes.

Friday Finds. Post your best book finds of the week.

Read more award-winning books. Even when we dont agree that a book deserves the award, we enjoy the debate. Some awards, such as the National Book Award and the Man Booker Prize, release long lists and short lists well in advance of the award announcement, which gives readers time to read the nominated books and be prepared with informed opinions.

Read outside your comfort zone. Challenges are great, but if you set yourself a challenge, make sure it is not simply a numerical one. If youre skittish about poetry, give it a try. Are you sure you hate science fiction? Weve put some accessible sci-fi titles in this book. Weve also included a number of graphic novels and young adult (YA) books here, which we are convinced you will adore once you give them a try.

Find a real-world community. As much as we love the Internet, we think nothing takes the place of getting together with other people and talking about books in person. If youre not already part of a book club, check with your local library, bookstores, continuing education programs, or community centers to find one. Or start one yourself! See our suggestions in the back of this book for how to do that.