Fairy Revel

Every year I make a reading plan, and I rarely (if ever) complete it. In spite of that, I feel that I accomplish more with a plan than I would without one. My goals, however far beyond my reach, or however I flounder and fail, encourage me to do better than before, to keep working at achievements, even if I don’t meet with as much success as I hoped.

My reading plan for this year is:

Get a foundation in fairy tales and folk tales.
This may sound weird for someone into fantastic literature, but I have never enjoyed fairy tales, and I’ve read very few. I think it’s because I like my reading to be deeply personal and character-focused, and fairy tales are short on character development. However, I think it’s time I became familiar with more tales than just the ones that became Disney movies, and see if I can’t learn to love something about these stories. I’ll be posting a sort of “initial impressions” series on fairy tales in 2011, as much for a personal record as public discussion.

Then begin studying Japanese folk tales.
I’ve been reading Japanese Tales, translated by Royall Tyler, and I’m surprised to say I’m enjoying the stories more than I thought I would. Many of them are funny, in a sort of quirky, dry-humored way. Unfortunately, these are mostly courtly and religious stories rather than folk tales, so there aren’t a lot of the farmers, fishermen and kappa I hoped to read about. So part of my reading plan for this year is just to immerse myself in the Japanese folk tales translated so far into English.

Read 50 books.
This is my basic, bottom-line challenge every year, and every year I fail to meet it. But last year (2009) I raised the number of books I read in a year from about 10 to around 25, and this year it looks like I’ll come in somewhere just under 20, so I’m happy with my results and will continue to shoot for 50 books each year. I really hope to make it this year!

Read one-third of the books on my 100 Project list, half of them the “difficult” books.
I posted my 100 Project list not that long ago. I really need to work hard if I’m to finish all the books on the list by my end date (April 27th, 2014), and some of these books are doozies. I don’t know if I’ll make a list specifically of difficult ones to conquer, but it might help.

Read the unread books already on my shelves.
When I look up at my bookcases, I see rows of books unread. This makes me feel guilty, and then when I’m at the bookstore, I have this horrible thought: “I should not buy any more books until I read the ones I have.” This must not be. So in order to free myself from the chains of guilt, I should probably read as many of the books I own as possible.

Once again, I’m probably over-reaching, but I sort of don’t care. You can’t reach a goal you haven’t set.

Becky is hosting the Centuries Reading Challenge for 2010.

Centuries Reading Challenge
Host: Becky of Becky’s Book Reviews
Length: All of 2010 (finish at your own pace)
Required Books: 3 to 6

Your challenge is to read three (to six) books from at least three different centuries. The challenge is to read books written in different centuries, not just to read books set during different centuries. (If you choose to read more than three books, then you can double up on centuries. You can read as many as you like.)

The centuries do not need to be consecutive like the decades challenge.

Books can be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short stories, essays, plays, etc. Books do not have to be a required length. (Though I ask that poetry and short stories be within a larger collection. For example, a book of short stories as opposed to one solitary short story.)

I promised myself I would only participate in one challenge at a time this year, apart from my regular challenges I take every year. However, this one is a year-long challenge that fits very well into what I have planned for my reading anyway, so I thought I’d go ahead and give myself some much-needed encouragement to get those books read.

I’ve decided to read six books from six different centuries:

1. The Iliad of Homer. (8th c.)
2. The Complete Romances of Chrétien de Troyes by Chrétien de Troyes. (12th c.)
3. Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (15th c.)
4. The Cavalier Poets: An Anthology by Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling, Richard Lovelace. (17th c.)
5. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (19th c.)
6. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. (21st c.)