It is the first of January 2021 and as the new year begins I spend time reflecting on my past reading habits, and forward planning for the year ahead.
As someone who always plans ahead, I even develop a plan for my reading. But if I learned anything from 2020 it is how agile one needs to be to respond to whatever happens on a daily basis. While I have pre-ordered some new releases from the library (like Joan Didion and Joyce Carol Oates), and have acquired a bunch of new books I am keen to sink my teeth in, my plan is not to plan and just see where my moods and interests take me.
I seem to consistently be able to read 30 books each year, but given the uncertainty this pandemic brings, I do not want to increase the volume. Instead I will continue to explore new authors, genres and subject matters. To diversify my reading and to challenge myself to read more fiction, I have created a new Bingo board to add some fun to the challenge.| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set during Wartime | Retelling of another story* | Novel in Translation* | Poetry Collection | Women's Prize Longlister |
| Lesser known book by a Famous Author | Essay Collection | Set in the Future | Booker Prize Longlister | About a non-Western world leader* |
| Debut Novel* | 19th Century Classic | Published in 2021 | Biography or Memoir | Set in Space or at Sea |
| Short Story Collection | Australian Literary Prize Longlister | Current Affairs / Politics | Protagonist is over 50* | Coming of Age Story* |
| Pre-19th Century Classic | First Novel in a Series | Book on the 1001 List | Fiction Based on a True Story | Written by a male author* |
Bingo rules: Books can only be used once, even if they fall into multiple categories.
*New categories 2021
My cousin Graham and I have been joking about how I only read books by women in 2020. He suggested that 2021 could be my year of reading books by men. That ain't gonna happen, but to overcome the gender bias in my reading, I have added a new category this year: Written by a male author. I do have a few books that I have put aside for 2021 so will just have to decide which one it will be - perhaps Richard Flanagan's Living Sea of Waking Dreams, Philip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth, Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain or Barack Obama's A Promised Land.
Happy reading everyone!