Book List: January

January first, a day for new beginnings and resolutions and dreaming big. There has always been something that draws me to fresh starts, whether it's the start of a new month, a new week, or even a new day. But when a new day also occurs on the first day of a new month, which also occurs on the first day of a new year? Well, my friends, then anything can happen.

So to kick off 2013 on my little slice of the Internet, we shall begin with a list of books. Now let's be clear: I am not promising, resolving, or in any other way making a concrete goal to read the following books this month (way too many and I'm not remotely that ambitious) or even this year. If I'm going to be making resolutions (which I'm usually a little dubious about to begin with), they will be few in number, well thought out, and serious enough to become true priorities in my life. (And you may, or may not, hear about them later!)

This is merely a compendium of titles I'm interested in reading, recorded here for posterity my own benefit, and yours if you like to see what other people are interested in reading and/or get inspired by such lists. Plus, recording the books I'm going to possibly read this year if I feel like it/get around to it (but no guarantees) makes me feel all organized* and kind of like I'm back in school again with a list of titles I have to get through. Except, without all the icky stress and pressure that went along with a for-credit course, and I don't actually have to get through them all. Way to avoid commitment, Kate!

The one thing I do plan to do with this list is "update" it every month. Some titles will get crossed off as I read them, others will be added, others will probably be dropped as I lose interest, and others will most likely stay on the list for the whole year and never get read. Which is totally fine. Maybe I should call this Kate's Non-committal Book List for 2013. Because doesn't that just roll off the tongue?

Kate's Non-committal Book List for 2012: January

[in no particular order]

The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy (J.R.R. Tolkien)
In Defense of Food (Michael Pollan)
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (Deb Perelman)
The Edible Woman (Margaret Atwood)
Les Misérables (Victor Hugo)
The Narnia series (C.S. Lewis)
Seeing with New Eyes (David Powlison)
Speaking the Truth in Love (David Powlison)
The Meaning of Marriage (Tim Keller)
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (Julie Andrews)
This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence (John Piper)
Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking (Susan Cain)
Casino Royale (Ian Fleming)
Still Alice (Lisa Genova)
The Hiding Place (Corrie ten Boom)
Fear of Food (Harvey A. Levenstein)
Yours, Plum: the Letters of P.G. Wodehouse (P.G. Wodehouse)
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)



*As you can see, given that this is a completely haphazard list that will be constantly changing and could ultimately be considered meaningless seeing as how I am not actually stating any intention of reading through these titles but instead reserving my right to follow every capricious whim and flight of fancy I may (or may not) have in regards to the quantity of books I plan to read this year, my standards for organization are not at an all-time high right now. Maybe check back in a year or two. Or ten. (Give or take).