2015 Resolutions with books

I feel as though I am still catching up on 2014 and I'm not ready for the year to end. There were more books I wanted to read, I wanted to learn a language, loose 5 pounds, pray more, learn more about saints, write more, cook more, figure out my life. Meh. However I did do things I didn't plan to do and did them well. I brushed the cats each week. Hey, this is a big one, especially when you own two ancient fluffies that are too old to have the strength to hack up a hairball. So helping the cats by brushing them. I went to the gym almost everyday, drank lots of water, read (not the best books) but read, and I made it a point to be kinder to the people I work with even if they were outrageously anxious and annoying. But I wasn't ready for 2014 to end. My New Year's Resolutions are still lingering and waiting for me to write them. I will make this year's short and simple to follow:

1. Curse less...I have no excuse. Let's start there. Oh, and use more adjectives when speaking out loud.
2. Remind myself that God is in control
3. Try to make the right decision for each thing that passes my way. Doughnuts and cream cheese included.
4. Get an idea of what colors match with what. I stress over what to wear each day because it needs to be: appropriate for work, appropriate for violent weather, and fast to get out and in when I go to the gym during my lunch hour.
5. Read more "real" books


Ok, so my ascendant in Virgo is taking over here. I feel that I need to be precise about this because there are two types of reading for me.

1. Read to enjoy while getting sleepy. No disturbing books that induce crazy dreams.
2. Read to learn something

Both are important for me. Without a book, I can't sleep. The book needs to be the right kind of book too and that usually means something dumb or easy to read. However, I need to keep my mind sharp and I want to keep learning and not go on the slow downhill path of ignorance. I want to read classics but actually know things about the historical period, author, contemporary issues etc.


Here we go.

 First: Bedtime Stories

 January (already read) Roz Chast "Can We Talk About Something More Pleasant?" I want to buy this book for every woman I love. And "Miss Marple: the Complete Short Stories" by Agatha Christie. It turns out that Miss Marple is fantastic.
 February (just because I already started reading it.) "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie
 March: " The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
 April: " The Secret Garden"
 May-June: "Anna Karenina"
July: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
August: "My Antonia" by Willa Cather
September: "Rebecca"
October "Peter Pan"
November: "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"
December "The Wind in the Willows"

Books I want to read to learn something:

January:  "Cubed" (Still reading this book)

February: Some biography of Dolly Parton. Dolly fascinates and scares me: she is sort of robotic but nice and influenced so much of country music and American identity. 

March: Short Stories by Jack London

April: "Arabian Nights"

May: Lord Alfred Tennyson's poems. Memorize two by heart. Yes, like Anne Shirley :)

June: "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl"

July "Cherokee Memorials"

August: "Candide" by Virgil

September: "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin

October: The biography of Mussolini. The buildings created during his "reign" are incredible. I want to know more about the man who people either  love or hate. 

November - December: Not sure yet. 

This should keep me on the right track for a while. And I think I will let myself switch titles if I feel the urge to read one book before another one. I'm not sure how I will go a full year, after February, without reading an Agatha Christie book....so I will let myself read her book if I finish one on my "to-read" shelf early.