Reading Resolutions

It’s January, and that means it’s time to make New Year’s resolutions! Sure, we all really want to start eating healthy and working out. But what about your reading resolutions?

We thought we’d kick off 2016 by sharing our own reading resolutions. Whether it’s picking up that classic we’ve always wanted to read, trying a new genre, or seeking out new authors, we’re planning on shaking up our reading habits this year. How about you? What are your reading resolutions?

Sarah Romeo, Ad/Promo Designer

The comic/graphic novel is a new genre for me, but I just finished reading Roz Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, which was a hilarious, heartbreaking, overall wonderful read. Now I’m hooked! I plan to read Over Easy by Mimi Pond next.

Mordicai Knode, Marketing & Publicity Manager, Tor.com Publishing

My reading resolution is: stop having reading resolutions! No, really! I’ve decided to recommit myself to reading just for fun. I’ve had a reading plate chock full of reading lists, book clubs, reader challenges and reviews, and I’m all tuckered out. I’m really looking forward to reading whatever I want, new or old, bestseller or forgotten gem. I’m breaking free of the shackles of my short pile, of the books I feel I “should” read. I’m going to read purely for fun, and whatever I want. Academic esoterica, YA heists, the Gene Wolfe short story collections I’ve been saving for a rainy day…anything I want.

Phyllis Azar, Director of Advertising and Promotions

I live on a reading diet of 99% fiction and 1% non-fiction—which I get from radio and television news programs. In the coming year, I resolve to read more book-length non-fiction, perhaps alternating every other read between fiction and non-fiction. The last non-fiction book I really enjoyed was about horse racing and all its glory and grit; it wasn’t Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, although that one is tempting me, but another title I can’t recall! Still, I remember how it brought me into a world I knew nothing about and made it come alive. On the fiction side, a good friend has been singing the praises of All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and I have it on my nightstand right now. As for trying something completely new, I’ve always wanted to get into mythology, but I’m not sure where to start. Would love some suggestions!

Lee Harris, Senior Editor, Tor.com Publishing

Free up some space.

Some time ago, in a semi-futile effort to free up valuable storage space, I disposed of all the books I wanted to read, and kept only the books that oh-my-god-I-have-to-read-RIGHT-NOW! But even after that Herculean effort, I still have more books that I could ever comfortably read in my lifetime.

And in the last year I’ve read precisely none of them, and only added to the pile. It’s a sickness. Most of my pleasure reading this year has been non-fiction, which I consume exclusively on my Kindle.

So, my Reading Resolution for 2016 is to end the year with fewer unread books on my To-Read shelves than I begin with. That way I can free up some more space for…well, books.

Mary Moates, Digital Marketing Assistant

My New Year’s reading resolution is to reacquaint myself with British Victorian classics, such as Elizabeth Gaskell and Thomas Hardy, and also drink a lot of tea in the process.

Theresa Delucci, Assistant Director of Advertising and Promotions

This will be the season I read The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin to completion. I’ve started and stopped it twice due to work-related reading constraints, but I really feel I’m missing out on a classic. This read will also be contingent upon if we get some snow, because right now December’s so warm, it feels like winter isn’t coming. I also want to read classics by Samuel Delaney (Dhalgren) and M. John Harrison (Viriconium.)

Finally, I’m going to try to curb my impulse e-book buying habit. I collect $2 anthologies like some people collect Star Wars toys; seriously, I even have a mushroom-themed anthology, that’s how big my collection is. It’s full of fungal goodness. But have I read more than a story or two in each? No, I have not.

Natalie Zutter, Staff Writer, Tor.com

I’m ashamed to say I have some gaps in my sci-fi knowledge, so I want to spend 2016 catching up on Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree, Jr., Arthur C. Clarke, and the like. But I’d also like to keep up this past year’s resolution of reading more recent SFF/speculative fiction I keep pushing lower on my TBR list, like Andy Weir’s The Martian and Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last.

Ksenia Winnicki, Senior Publicist

I have a massive backlog of comics and graphic novels that need to be read. I’m hoping to make some significant dents in that giant TBR pile before I head off to another comic con or comics arts festival and end up buying more comics!

Desirae Friesen, Associate Publicist

I have a confession: I’ve never read Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn. This is especially sad because I loved the movie when I was a kid, despite not knowing anybody else who had even heard of it. It was a lovely surprise to discover as an adult that it was based on a book, and the book itself is considered a classic. It’s time to hunt down the Last Unicorn and see if the book is better than the movie.

Diana Pho, Associate Editor

I’ve been meaning to get into more horror, and to (everyone’s, apparently) shock, the only Stephen King book I’ve read is The Dead Zone. So I’m going to pick up a couple others—I was told to start with Carrie—and see how it goes from there.

David G. Hartwell, Senior Editor

I really want to read Letters to Tiptree, a volume of letters composed recently addressed to the deceased writer, with an appendix of some real letters. I was Tiptree’s editor and remember her fondly. I find myself curious to discern who the writers think they are writing to.

Diana Griffin, Publicist

The release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has reminded me that I need to catch up on the works of Leigh Brackett, the Queen of Space Opera, who wrote the first draft of the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back. I’ll be reading a collection of her “planet tales,” The Solar System, and hope to dive deeper into her short stories in the new year.

Cassie Ammerman, Senior Digital Marketing Manager

I’ve always loved history and narrative non-fiction, but those categories tend to take a back seat to my beloved sci-fi and fantasy. Between reading for work and all the great stuff that has been coming out in the past few years, my TBR pile has leaned heavily toward speculative fiction. 2016 is going to be my year of non-fiction! I’m hoping to read at least one non-fiction book for every two fiction ones I read, as opposed to my current ratio of about five to one. Wish me luck!