I’m not much on making resolutions, and I’m learning that an extensive TBR list does nothing but make me feel guilty. However, I do like to think as I type here at Hope Is the Word so bear with me. I’m numbering these not because they’re prioritized (well, except for the first couple!), but just because I like to keep this manageable.
- I am attempting (once again! for the who-knows-how-many-times this makes!) to read the Bible through. I was inspired by Candace and her plan to read it in 90 days (!!!) and was even tempted a little to join her (!!!), but I quickly realized the futility of such an attempt at this point in my life. Instead, I opted to explore a some links in this post on Kendra’s blog and decided to go with this particular plan. I like how it mixes up the Old and New Testaments and also gives a day for reflection every week. (Admittedly, this will probably be a catch-up day for me!) I’ve already gotten off a little bit, but not behind. Last night I had to read the flood account in Genesis, and after having a particularly harrowing, nearly apocalyptic dream involving a flood, I told Steady Eddie this morning that now I know why the actual assignment is to read a passage from the wisdom/poetry books of the Old Testmant or Isaiah each night. 😉
- I’m not sure how to manage this, exactly, but I also want to make more in-depth Bible study and meditation a priority. I was blessed to be able to attend Community Bible Study for several years, and I loved the focused study of one book of the Bible a year. However, my schedule (and having school-aged children now) will no longer permit me to do this, but I miss it.
I’ve been attempting to read Kay Arthur’s How to Study Your Bible for a while now, but my most recent attempt has been to read it and apply it to the book of James for potential Sunday School lesson teaching material. How to find the time to do this and keep up with #1 still sort of eludes me, but maybe I can somehow work it out since I have the day for reflection built in to #1. - The L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge. See this post for my plans.
- I plan to finish some things I started in 2009, namely Les Miserables and A Tale of Two Cities. I hope to do this in a timely way so as to participate in the Classics Bookclub at 5 Minutes for Books, as I detailed here. Other classics will also be involved. 🙂
- I’m very excited about participating in the Children’s Classics Mystery Challenge, also at 5 Minutes for Books.
I’ll save the details for their very own post, but suffice it to say that I was a Trixie Belden junkie as a young teen. 🙂 - My own Reading My Library challenge (inspired by Carrie’s, of course) barely got off the ground last year, but I hope to pick up with the Cs ASAP.
- I know other challenges will come up as the year progresses (like the Narnia Challenge!), and I will participate in them as time (and sense–by then I could have a newborn!) permit.
- I want to read at least one book by Wendell Berry this year.
He was on my list last year, but I failed to get to him. Nathan Coulter should be arrived on my front porch one day this week
- 8. Leif Enger’s So Young, Brave, and Handsome ( or is it So Brave, Young, and Handsome ?) has been a must-read for me since I read Peace Like a River, but I still haven’t gotten around to it. I hope this is the year.
- 9. As I mentioned in my Top Ten Picks of 2009, there are a several books I would like to either re-read or read the sequels of.
I know there are other titles and projects I want to tackle, but for now, this is enough. I like flexibility and the freedom to read what suits my fancy at the time, so challenges work better for me than a hard and fast TBR list.
Filed under: Bookish Thoughts, Challenges, Memes, and Carnivals, To Be Read |
Hope Is the Word 
AHHH! I can’t WAIT to get the Children’s Classics Carnival off the ground! I’ve got so many posts lined up already. There’s so much to talk about! Where to start?! Can’t wait to hear your Trixie Belden tales! 😉
I heard of a 31 day reading the New Testament Challenge and I’m considering that. That seems more like something I could handle. But I can certainly see the appeal of reading the whole Bible through in 90 days. Makes you focus and DO it!
I tried to read the Bible in chronological order…but with my ladies’ Bible study and also CBS…it got put on the back burner. I was pretty pathetic at it.
CBS is wonderful. I couldn’t attend last year due to a move and them not having room for my children…so I was put on the waiting list and am happy to be back.
I may also take part in the children’s mystery challenge…at least once! It’s been too long since I read Nancy Drew!
Anyway, it looks like we have a lot in common. I look forward to visiting again soon!
I’ll pray for you to stick to whatever plan you choose. 🙂 I am not totally brave in choosing the 90 day plan…it seems that i can’t stick to those year long plans because it’s just tooooo long of a commitment I think. (or too long in leviticus and deuteronomy.) LOL! This way I”m only in the “harder to read” books for 2-3 day. It actually hasn’t been too bad…I’m hopeful.
Thanks for sharing your lists of books that you have read…I always enjoy checking out your recommendations for “mom reads.” I’m checking my library for a few of your favorite 2010 list.
Reading the poetical books a chapter a day has a nice way of relaxing the difficulty of the rest of your OT reading. My church does a straight read-through, so by the time they get to Psalms, I’m a month ahead.
For me, the tougher the material, the faster I try to blow through it. That way I can slow down and savor the more interesting stuff.
You can do it!
I’m not a fortune teller, but I foresee a lot of reading in your future! 🙂
I wish you well on reading the Bible through, and I hope you make that goal above all the others. The first church I was in after becoming a Christian as a teen-ager had that emphasis, and I am so glad. I still read the Bible through, but not in a year’s time any more. I needed that structure and plan in the beginning, but now I like to take my time, if I want to, pondering over a passage without feeling I need to keep “on schedule,” or sometimes I lay it aside for a while to do a word study or go through a Bible study book. But I think reading the Bible through does help us get “the big picture” and helps us keep balanced and in context.
Sounds like some great goals. I, too, want to read Wendell Berry this year. Kay Arthur has many levels of Bible study books from almost no “homework” to an hour a day. I hope you find what works best for you. I’ve learned to dig a lot deeper in the Bible since I’ve used the inductive Bible study method.