A Toast to a New Year!

Happy New Year!

2014.. I'm still getting used to that number. Whenever I see that year popping up somewhere, it feels weird for an instant, making me wonder but where is 2013 before I realize it's the new year now. I am supposed to be back at work today but the husband and I took the rest of the week off, so we are still enjoying a long cozy holiday.

Two days back, we set up a reading nook near our patio. I've been lamenting to the husband that I don't have a cozy corner where I can escape to with my books and although I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted, it wasn't exactly easy to find something to match the picture within a reasonable budget. After months of hemming and hawing, we finally got the nook almost-done. We got a nice push-back recliner with a lovely faux sheepskin rug set up next to the patio door. There would be enough daylight in that area to let me read until the evening. The only item missing is a tall lamp. I have my eyes on a few arc lamps, which are currently exorbitantly pricey but I plan to snatch one when a sale comes along.

Yesterday, I started reading The Time Regulation Institute by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar, a book considered to be a classic in Turkey for its tongue-in-cheek references to the cultural turmoil the country has suffered over the last century. I am not very far in, but part of me wonders whether some of that impact gets lost in translation. But we'll see. It's a very different kind of read from what I've been reading last year, when I've found myself reading quick or fun reads for the most of the year because I didn't want to push myself through any book that requires me to put it down after every chapter. The Time Regulation Institute is the kind of book that does require me to take frequent books but I am persisting this time. Something about the optimism of a new year is to blame for that.

For this year,

1. I'm hoping to not shy away from such long or time-consuming reads.


2. I want to read more books from around the world. I did better on this the year before the last, but last year was more about guilt-reading.


3. Read at least five books from my PIE list. These are books I've had for ages and haven't gotten around to. 5's healthy right? 5's doable.


4. I've been getting The New Yorker subscription since the middle of last year but haven't kept up with it. Although I enjoyed the few articles I read, I'm not great with magazines. I need to find a way to read it off my PC or on my iPad.


5. In 2012, I used to read a short story a week but later the rigidity of that schedule got me lazy about it. I want to change it a little bit so that I read one short story for each book I finish. Or at least read them more often, whenever I want to. I don't want there to be rules for this, but I enjoy reading stories a lot.

That should be a simple enough list with no big requirements. The less the number of bullet-points, the better.