One of my new years resolutions every year is to read a certain amount of books. It's usually one of my best kept resolutions.
This year I want to change things up a bit because I found that last year I was either reading garbage (please see any of the books I read that were penned- or co-penned- by a reality tv star). I don't have any issue with reading "just for fun" books but I also realized that most of the books I was reading were from points of view very close to my own. I wasn't learning anything. I want to spend this year reading from authors unlike me, or at least those who have things to teach me. I wan't to read classics, or cult fiction, or non-fiction novels. I want to read about people and events that I know very little about. I want to learn things about Canada's Indigenous peoples (a group I'm sad to say I have never done my research on). I want to read novels that are said to be the greats. I want to learn.
Also, can you believe I've never read the Harry Potter books? Those will be some of my fun books I'd like to sprinkle throughout.
2017 is going to be a year of learning for me. I'd like to take this time to understand different people, different lives, and events, and grow as a person.
My list below is a group of books I'd like to read. I think each one has something to teach me in some way or another. Let me know if there's any you'd add to my list!
Into the Wild- Jon Krakauer
A Wrinkle In Time- Madeleine L'Engle
Harry Potter (all of them!)- J.K Rowling
The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath
The Inconvenient Indian- Thomas King
The Hobbit- J.R.R Tolkien
I Feel Bad About My Neck- Nora Ephron
Catcher in the Rye- J.D Salinger
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams
Tropic of Cancer- Henry Miller
The Diary of a Young Girl-Anne Frank
Ham and Rye- Charles Bukowsky
Books on Social Work and Mental Illness I've currently purchased:
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat and Other Clinical Tales- Oliver Sacks
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry- Jon Ronson
I Never Told Anyone:Writings By Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse- Ellen Bass
Where to Start and What to Ask: An Assessment Handbook- Susan Lukas
I think a big theme of this year will be social work, mental illness, and addictions, feminism, required readings, and race.
I'm also trying to work through this bad boy:
It's a poster featuring 100 essential novels. Shauna and Erika bought this for me for my birthday. When you read each one you scratch off the gold foil. I will scratch them all one day. Not one day this year, but one day!
So if you have any suggestions to broaden my horizons let me know.
Read on, readers and remember:
From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
Soon to be Well Read, Soon to be a Dangerous Creature
