2015 reading goals
Mar. 14th, 2015 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI have figured out how I want to describe my real media goals. They are not mutually exclusive.
1. Experience media recommended by friends.
2. Read both fiction and nonfiction books.
3. Read some books in Spanish.
4. Experience media from multiple countries outside the US (and outside of England, plus I already have experienced a lot of media from Japan and movies from Hong Kong).
And less importantly:
5. Experience media from multiple US states.
6. Experience media about multiple real life forms besides humans.
7. Experience media about multiple subcultures or populations (within the US or elsewhere).
8. Experience media about multiple jobs.
9. Experience media from multiple periods in history before I was born. (By "history" I mean any time before I was born, not only times and places when there was writing.)
I've already explained that I'm not like those people who want to read a book from every country within one year, though I would like to eventually reach every country.
When I'm actually traveling, I've learned that I prefer to go to an exotic location and then just stay there or take day trips from there over going to multiple locations.
For example, one time I went to a Thursday-Friday-Saturday math teacher conference in Albuquerque and decided to show up the previous Saturday, rent a car, and do some exploring in the area. I basically drove in a (topological) circle around northwestern New Mexico and saw a lot of cool things. I saw ancient cave dwellings. I saw grafitti from earlier centuries. I saw black lava and the plants that could grow in that. I stayed in the cheapest hotel of my life (which was perfectly fine and surprisingly large). But I spent most of my time driving which, even in gorgeous New Mexico (where even the dirt comes in multiple colors), is not the funnest.
For another example, I visited my sister twice while she lived in Belgium. I prefered the first time when we went to all different places in Belgium including places like her favorite local bakery. Okay, we also had a weekend trip to Paris, which was totally worth it. The second time we went to multiple locations in Germany to see castles, mansions, and Bavaria, and to taste the best soup in a bowl ever, etc., but we spent most of the time waking up late, then driving, then getting someplace when it was about to close.
It turns out it's the same with books. I have been captured by The Democratic Republic of Congo and am enjoying reading multiple books about that country. (It turns out there are two Congos--one of which I think of as Belgian Congo or Zaire but which is now The Democratic Republic of Congo and one which was once French Congo and is now called Congo or Republic of Congo.)
And once I had read one detective mystery from a Swedish author new to me, I wanted to read all of them. Thus so far I've read books about only two countries, and I'm okay with that. In other media, I have also seen a movie from India ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel") and yet another TV show from Great Britain ("The Great British Bake-Off").
I've also experienced media:
* in Spanish (Un dia diferente para el senor Amos)
* about another species [bonobo (Bonobo Handshake)]
* about other populations [blacks (My Black Year) and a person with a speech disability (The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear)]
* about multiple professions [even besides the ever-popular police detective (Nesser's books) and private investigator ("The Rockford Files"), I've also experienced media about an animal behavior researcher (Bonobo Handshake) and a hotel owner/manager ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel") and I'm in the middle of one about a missionary (The Poisonwood Bible)]
1. Experience media recommended by friends.
2. Read both fiction and nonfiction books.
3. Read some books in Spanish.
4. Experience media from multiple countries outside the US (and outside of England, plus I already have experienced a lot of media from Japan and movies from Hong Kong).
And less importantly:
5. Experience media from multiple US states.
6. Experience media about multiple real life forms besides humans.
7. Experience media about multiple subcultures or populations (within the US or elsewhere).
8. Experience media about multiple jobs.
9. Experience media from multiple periods in history before I was born. (By "history" I mean any time before I was born, not only times and places when there was writing.)
I've already explained that I'm not like those people who want to read a book from every country within one year, though I would like to eventually reach every country.
When I'm actually traveling, I've learned that I prefer to go to an exotic location and then just stay there or take day trips from there over going to multiple locations.
For example, one time I went to a Thursday-Friday-Saturday math teacher conference in Albuquerque and decided to show up the previous Saturday, rent a car, and do some exploring in the area. I basically drove in a (topological) circle around northwestern New Mexico and saw a lot of cool things. I saw ancient cave dwellings. I saw grafitti from earlier centuries. I saw black lava and the plants that could grow in that. I stayed in the cheapest hotel of my life (which was perfectly fine and surprisingly large). But I spent most of my time driving which, even in gorgeous New Mexico (where even the dirt comes in multiple colors), is not the funnest.
For another example, I visited my sister twice while she lived in Belgium. I prefered the first time when we went to all different places in Belgium including places like her favorite local bakery. Okay, we also had a weekend trip to Paris, which was totally worth it. The second time we went to multiple locations in Germany to see castles, mansions, and Bavaria, and to taste the best soup in a bowl ever, etc., but we spent most of the time waking up late, then driving, then getting someplace when it was about to close.
It turns out it's the same with books. I have been captured by The Democratic Republic of Congo and am enjoying reading multiple books about that country. (It turns out there are two Congos--one of which I think of as Belgian Congo or Zaire but which is now The Democratic Republic of Congo and one which was once French Congo and is now called Congo or Republic of Congo.)
And once I had read one detective mystery from a Swedish author new to me, I wanted to read all of them. Thus so far I've read books about only two countries, and I'm okay with that. In other media, I have also seen a movie from India ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel") and yet another TV show from Great Britain ("The Great British Bake-Off").
I've also experienced media:
* in Spanish (Un dia diferente para el senor Amos)
* about another species [bonobo (Bonobo Handshake)]
* about other populations [blacks (My Black Year) and a person with a speech disability (The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear)]
* about multiple professions [even besides the ever-popular police detective (Nesser's books) and private investigator ("The Rockford Files"), I've also experienced media about an animal behavior researcher (Bonobo Handshake) and a hotel owner/manager ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel") and I'm in the middle of one about a missionary (The Poisonwood Bible)]