A reading resolution

Is anybody else a tad depressed with all the resolutions this time of year? Honestly, I am probably not going to lose that five pounds around my middle, lower my cholesterol, or get up an hour earlier to exercise.

What I can do is resolve to read.

As librarians, I think it's our responsibility to read. Yes, we want to be experts in many areas, but we're likely the best and only reader's advisor in our schools. And a reader's advisor can't just talk about reading, we need to read.

So I propose a resolution that's fairly realistic. Resolve to read 100 books in 2012.

How can we reach this goal? Read a book a week and listen to a book a week.

At two books per week that's about 98 books per year. During holidays and long weekends we can likely read a couple extra books to put us at the 100 mark.

If you always have a book on your smartphone and soak up those wasted minutes in the grocery store line and at soccer practice, a book a week is pretty attainable. Listen to a book while you commute, fold clothes, and walk the dog. Two books a week--done!

Remember to keep a reader's list (see previous post), and at the end of the year it will be great to have actually kept a resolution, and especially one that helps kids by helping you be a great reader's advisor.

Keeping a reader's list

As you're reading, I hope that you'll consider keeping a Reader's List.  A reader's list is just that--a list of the titles and authors of every book you read. 

I wish I would have started my Reader's List as a child, or even the first year I became a librarian.  I didn't think to start it until my first year on the Lone Star committee, but even so, I love my list.  It would rank up there with the Top Five Things I'd Save in a Fire.  I tell my boys it's my legacy and have asked them not give it to Goodwill when I'm dead.  They, of course, roll their eyes.

When I started my Reader's List, I didn't think about my legacy, so for years I simply used little red notebooks that I'd get at the dollar store.  I fell in love with a leather journal and recopied ten years of titles into the new book.  After I'd finished, I found the beautiful brown journal with the alphabet on the front and recopied the titles yet again.  Now I don't look at new journals.

Here are a few tips to get you started...

1.  List only the title and author of each book read.
2.  Ditch the temptation to give a rating, write a summary, or keep track of the genre.
3.  At the top of each page, list the month and year.
4.  Number the books you read chronologically from 1 to infinity. 
     Don't start over each month or year.  This way you'll always know your running total.
5.  Personally, I use the exact same type of pen every time.  Black roller ball, medium ink.
      (But you're probably more well adjusted than I am).
6.  Feel free to mix adult titles in with the zillions of children's or YA books you read.
7.  Remember to include audiobooks on your list.  Audiobooks are books too!