(image taken from the book cover for The Best Fantasy and Science Fiction,
Seventh Series, copyright 1956, that I picked up for almost nothing at a used bookstore
yesterday. Isn’t it wonderful?!?)

“New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.”
~Hamilton Wright Mabie

The rapid passage of time has once again brought us to the beginning of a new year. Though a seemingly arbitrary thing–after all, it is just another day–the act of closing the door on the previous year and stepping through to the new one brings with it a sense of regeneration and renewal. Hope springs eternal, and whether 2009 was a wonderful year for you or not, we can all agree that we have hope that 2010 will be a much better year in every area of our lives.

Please be safe as you bid 2009 farewell.

My wishes for each and every one of you for 2010 are the same:

May your life, and the lives of those you love, be filled with health and free of tragedy.

May you rise above the economic circumstances of the present age and have more than enough to put food on the table, pay your bills, cloth your family, have a bit of fun, and have some left over to give to those less fortunate.

May you have peace, regardless of the circumstances. May you have joy on the good days and the bad.

May you have happiness, and even more important, contentment.

May 2010 be filled with unexpected treasures, un-looked-for surprises, and moments where you are struck with awe and wonder.

May you have all the love you need and more.

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.”
~G. K. Chesterton

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For those of us who take pleasure in the art of reading, a new year opens up endless possibilities. Where will our reading journeys take us? I, for one, positively quiver with excitement thinking about it. As I start a new year, I have all sorts of ideas and plans about what I am going to try to read, which new authors I may finally sample, which books I have planned to read year after year that I might just get to this year. I make all manner of secret reading promises to myself, some that I keep, others that get usurped by wild whims and literary desires. In the end it is just one more reason that reading is one of the best things about being alive.

As many of you know, I host three reading events during the year but I rarely participate in other reading events, mostly because I have not always practiced what I preach, which is not to be concerned about starting something and not finishing it, but instead to enjoy the community aspect of reading challenges. While I have no intention of joining them all, there are some that I have read about recently that I find irresistible. I warn you, this part of the post is long. For those of you who feel the need to skim on past, please do with my blessing. You’ll see a bold line near the end of the post wherein I offer my final ‘Happy New Year’ thoughts.

These then are the reading events I hope to participate in this year:

Mind Voyages

Robin, of My Two Blessings, is hosting the Mind Voyages Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Challenge.

Science fiction and fantasy books have always been my one true love ever since I read my first sci fi book back in the 70’s. Whether it was Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arthur Clark, Ray Bradbury, Larry Niven, Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey or Robert Silverberg who captured me first, I don’t remember. When I recently came across the Hugo Award Web site, the list of winners made my mouth water and tickled my imagination. All the books on the list looked so good that I decided to read through the list, starting with the oldest. But all those who were nominated looked too good to pass up, so decide okay, will take some side trips and read some of the nominees. Other ideas started popping up in my brain. That’s what the sci-fi and fantasy genre does to you – expands your mind and gives you ideas.

Science Fiction and Fantasy – what do you think of when you hear those words? I think of books with adventure, exploration, mind altering worlds, knights, dragons, cool space ships, alternate realities, magical quests, new technology, evil villains and heroes. Books that entertain and enlighten, books that take you away, books that take you on a voyage – a mind voyage.

So come take a mind voyage with me – explore the Hugo and Nebula winners, take side trips through the different decades reading the nominees, check out Philip K. Dick and Robert Heinlein. Plus, since I like a wide variety of books and like to explore, can’t possibly imagine a reading challenge without exploring new releases that come out in 2010.

Robin offers a number of different ‘voyages’ that one can sign up for and they all sound quite fun. I am unsure which voyage, or voyages, I will embark on, but rest assured the journey will be a satisfying one.
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42 Challenge 2010

Becky is hosting her second 42 Challenge:

Your mission–if you choose to accept it–is to read, watch, listen, and (possibly) review 42 sci-fi related items.

What counts? Short stories, novellas, novels, radio show episodes, television show episodes, movies, graphic novels, comic books, audio books, essays about science fiction, biographies about sci-fi authors, etc. Adapted or abridged works are okay as well.

I only managed to participate in 20 or 21 SF related activities that I reviewed either on my site or on the 42 Challenge site. I hope to do even more this year.

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2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge

J. Kaye is hosting an event that challenges us all to be more vigilant in using our local library system. This is something I have personally challenged myself to do the past few years and every year I’ve seen my library usage increase. I love the library, it has been such a big part of my life since childhood. Adulthood and the means to purchase my own books helped me to ignore the library for many years. A call for fiscal responsibility on top of a wave of nostalgia for using the library has helped fuel my desire to spend more time at the library. There is always something exciting to discover at the library. J. Kaye has four levels to her challenge:

The Mini – Check out and read 25 library books.

Just My Size – Check out and read 50 library books.

Stepping It Up – Check out and read 75 library books.

Super Size Me – Check out and read 100 library books

I am going to attempt The Mini, as this would be more than my usual library reads for the year.

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Graphic Novels Challenge 2010

Chris and Nymeth will be hosting this year’s Graphic Novels Challenge. The levels of participation are:

You can be a Beginner (3 Comics or Graphic Novels), Intermediate (3-10) or an Expert (10+). You’re more than free to adjust your level of participation after the challenge has begun.

There will be mini-challenges! Look for a post with more info on that soon.

I feel like I am almost cheating with this one since I generally read graphic novels throughout the year. I plan to at least due Intermediate, but we’ll see if I can crack into the Expert level.

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2010 Reading Challenge

And finally, Bart is hosting this challenge that just sounded way too fun to pass up.

The categories (and their explanations) for the 2010 Reading Challenge are:

1. Young Adult

Any book classified as young adult or featuring a teenage protagonist counts for this category.

2. T.B.R.

Intended to help reduce the old T.B.R. pile. Books for this category must be already residents of your bookshelves as of 1/11/09.

3. Shiny & New

Bought a book NEW during 2010 from a bookstore, online, or a supermarket? Then it counts for this category. Second-hand books do not count for this one, but, for those on book-buying bans, books bought for you as gifts or won in a giveaway also count!

4. Bad Blogger’s

Books in this category, should be ones you’ve picked up purely on the recommendation of another blogger count for this category (any reviews you post should also link to the post that convinced you give the book ago).

5. Charity

Support your local charity shops with this category, by picking up books from one of their shops. Again, for those on book-buying bans, books bought for you as gifts also count, as long as they were bought from a charity shop.

6. New in 2010

This category is for those books newly published in 2010 (whether it be the first time it is has been released, or you had to wait for it to be published in your country, it counts for this one!)

7. Older Than You

Read two books that were published before you were born, whether that be the day before or 100 years prior!

8. Win! Win!

Have a couple of books you need to read for another challenge? Then this is the category to use, as long that is, you don’t break the rules of the other challenge by doing so! 😉

9. Who Are You Again?

This one isn’t just for authors you’ve never read before, this is for those authors you have never even heard of before!

10. Up to You!

The requirements for this category are up to you! Want to challenge yourself to read some graphic novels? A genre outside your comfort zone? Something completely wild and wacky? Then this is the category to you. The only requirement is that you state it in your sign-up post.

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Tonya is hosting a Short Story Challenge that looks really fun. It is focused on reading short collections rather than individual stories. I am going to shoot for the Silver level, because I have too many short story collections published before 2010 that I want to read. Silver may be a stretch, but I should be able to manage a little better than Wimpy. 😉

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There is also a Lord of the Rings Read Along that I would like to participate in. Shelf Love is hosting, the details of which can be found here. I am not sure I’ll be participating in January or February since I plan on being immersed in Science Fiction and not Fantasy during those months, but the March and April readings of The Two Towers and The Return of the King should fit right in with the Once Upon a Time IV Challenge.

And if Bellezza hosts a new Japanese Literature Challenge I hope to do a much better job than this year and be a more active participant!

And of course I’ll be hosting Once Upon a Time IV beginning March 21st and R.I.P. V, beginning September 1st.

Finally, lest you forget, my own non-challenge, the Sci Fi Experience 2010 begins January 1st and ends February 28th.

There is going to be a lot of glorious reading this year, I can feel it!!!
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I generally do not do resolutions, per se, but one thing I do want to strive to do a better job of is reviewing all of the books that I read. I did a much better job of that this year and yet I still left roughly a third of the books I read in 2009 without reviews. Bad me!

I wholeheartedly welcome a new year spent with all of the wonderful people in the blogging community, and yes, that means you!

Happy New Year everyone! Here we go!