New Years Reading Resolutions

At the end of each year, I set a reading goal for the following year.  It is, in fact, the only New Years resolution I make, believing that if I want to make a life change I should do it now; waiting for the New Year is not going to help that change stick.  (My husband is now mocking me and my continuous promise to once again give up refined sugar . . . "after the New Year.") 

My goal for 2013 was to read 52 books in the year.  I hit my goal--barely.  But in looking back at my Goodreads book montage, I noticed a lot of fluff books that I enjoyed at the time but did not stick with me.  To be sure, there is a time and a place for fluff books.  I had a new baby in January 2013 and went back to a crazy work schedule in July of 2013, so fluff was exactly what I needed this year. 

But going into 2014 I have a new goal: quality over quantity.  You know the books I am talking about.  The ones that may take a few weeks or even a month to get through.  The ones you think about when you are not reading them.  And when the book ends, you feel as if you have made a new friend.  Books like The Book Thief, Empire Falls, and A Prayer for Owen Meany come to mind.

So this year, on by Goodreads goals list, I am going to make a list of books I want to read in 2014.  I will add 12 to that number (to account for the book club picks) and that will be my numerical goal for the year.  Granted, I will still read some fluff (I still need to read Allegient, and the new Debra Geary book, of course), but my focus will be on more reputationally sound books.

And to make things interesting, I have a second goal for 2014: every other book I read has to be a paper book rather than on my beautiful, lovely new Kindle Paperwhite.  The merits of Kindle reading versus paper reading can fill a separate post, but suffice to say, there is a place for both in my life and I want to embrace that this year.  The biggest factor in my decision is my 3-year old daughter, who gets very excited when she sees me reading a "real" book and comes to join me.  A Kindle is just another device to her, but a book is a book.  Going into the early reading years with her there is no better way to set an example than through good old paper and ink.

What are your 2014 reading goals?

~WMc

Super Why! Improving Literacy or Facist Propaganda?

I've been meaning to write this post for a while. Just note, I don't mean this entirely seriously because I know this is one step shy of wrapping tinfoil around my head, but it is slightly off-putting.

On the surface Super Why! seems like a great educational kids show. It's all about reading, learning letters, sounds, even rhyming. However, while watching the show with my 5 year old son I began to realize something very disturbing about the program.

This is a clip of the song the Super Readers sing when they complete their mission. See if you can spot the problem.


The mission of these Super Readers is to "change the story" and equates the original intention of the author as a "problem." The message being sent to children is that censorship is something to be encouraged and something that should be actively pursued. That if you do not like the story, you simply change it until it conforms with your personal ideology rather than try to learn from and about the author's original intent.

I tried to overlook this and focus on the reading skills being taught, so we watched another episode. Looking at this show with a new lense, I caught something more disturbing in the opening song. Pay close attention 23 seconds in.



Tsk, tsk, tsk PBS kids.

2013 Book of the Year Awards

While the Pleasant Hill Book Club has yet to vote on its book of the year, other sites have started releasing their lists.

Check out NPR's Best Books of 2013, which includes one of our book club books from this year: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

Goodreads 2013 Choice Awards also includes a book club pick from this year, Inferno by Dan Brown.

And the New York Times' Best 10 Books of 2013

Many books from these lists are on my ever-growing to-read list including:

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
• The Circle by Dave Eggers
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• I Hate To Leave This Beautiful Place by Howard Norman

What are some of your favorites for 2013? What about must-reads for 2014?

~WMc

December Book of the Month

We are going with a holiday-themed murder mystery

Bakery owner Hannah Swensen feels a little stuffed in her elf costume-but it's too late to count calories. Lake Eden's annual Christmas gala is upon her and eager children are waiting. Wayne Bergstrom, owner of Bergstrom's Department Store, happily ho-ho-hos his way through the festivities in his Santa suit. But when a trail of candy canes leads to his corpse in a snow bank, Hannah must find Kris Kringle's killer.