Well, it’s a new year, and besides giving away books, it’s time to break bad habits and face new challenges with a grin and finish up books that have been gathering dust on shelves.  So, while I’m echoing Kristie’s and Sayuri’s “Read More, Buy Less” ethos, naggings from the DH and my own eco-conscious friends have prompted me to start seriously consider switching to digital.

While I’m pondering that, here are 10 things related to reading and blogging that I told myself I’ll do in 2010:

1. Finish up the backlog of reviews before the first quarter of the year.
2. Limit buying of print books to collector’s and special editions.
3. Visit the local library more often.
4. Switch to electronic book formats whenever possible.
5. Resolve to remain UNPLUGGED at least one weekend per month at home. (Huge thanks to Jen and Candace for the idea).
6. Bring back the WebWatch series, it’s one of the reasons I started blogging, so no reason to stop now.
7. Do better at the TBR Challenge.
8. Finish reading the few BIG BOOKS* that I’ve been postponing for months, eh, years actually, before the end of 2010.  (BIG, BIG thanks to Orannia for this challenge).
9. Read the Bible from cover to cover, no slacking this year round!
10. Last but not least, be more disciplined about posting.

* A BIG is one with more than 500 pages. There’re several I’ve been avoiding, at the top of the list is Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien.
Other big books in my TBR pile include:

Chronicles of Narnia (an omnibus) by C S Lewis

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Return to Troy by Lindsay Clarke

Chronicles of the Celts by Peter Berresford Ellis

Yes, yours truly has finally succumbed and become Twitter-pated.  It’s the best solution under the circumstances and breathless pace of life.  So …. follow me if you would care.

It’s been my longest hiatus so far, but with my recent bout of ill health over, hectic real life settling down a bit, not to mention work travel slowing dow, I reckon it’s time to catch up on review posts and updates with fellow reader bloggers.

The last two months were spent finishing up Seth Godin’s Purple Cow, new-to-me authors Kate Furnivall’s The Russian Concubine, Eva Ibbotson’s A Countess Below Stairs and James Patterson’s Sundays at Tiffany’s as well as the long awaited 4th instalment of Noami Novik’s Temeraire series Empire of Ivory, and Madeline Hunter’s The Sins of Lord Easterbrook.

Also caught up on some movies onboard flights on business trips: He’s Not That Into You, Sex and the Big City, Confessions of a Shopaholic and on video – Rachel Getting Married, Inkheart and Night at the Museum, which I won’t review.

Will attempt to share photos from my travels, but first let’s get the backlog of book reviews up. More later …

I’ve been listening so often to this song I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me I thought I’d share it here with you.  Enjoy!

And the words to go with the music …

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

Am taking a break between Olympic watch and reading Blue Dragon – that’s right, I finally tracked down a much awaited copy of this book — to bring you this lil’ catch-up post.

Let’s see now … on the way up, I popped into Harris books, it was the only shop open at 5am in the morning, so of course, my hands got itchy. I ended up adding three more books to my carry-on, namely Tangled Up in You by Rachel Gibson, An Offer You Can’t Refuse by Jill Mansell, both editions published by Little Black Dress and a rather forgettable Temptation of the Warrior by Margo Maguire. 

I was rather intrigued by the synopsis of the third book, but the Temptation of the Warrior turned out to be a dud with me.  I won’t be reviewing that book as it warrants at most a 2.5 rating.  I didn’t like it enough.  Let’s just say the fantasy and magic angle of the story was a little contrived, and really could have been better developed.

Disappointing book aside, the upside of visiting Sydney was the opportunity to hunt down the elusive next instalment of Aussie author Kylie Chan’s Dark Heavens trilogy. I mean, where else would I have a much greater chance of finding the sensational fantasy writer’s book than on her own turf, so to speak, right? 

And I wasn’t disappointed … found it waiting for me on the bookshelf of Timeslink at the Kingsford Smith Airport.  And not a moment too soon … as I was rushing for my return flight home, and having had no chance to go sightseeing at night, I was banking on finding a copy there.  And now, I simply have to get back to the story of Emma and John … Kylie Chan simply gets better.

Am off to Sydney, New South Wales early tomorrow morning for work. Be back to fill you in on the loads of books read  since last post (yeah, there’s a whole backlog of reviews) … and maybe, just maybe, Kylie Chan’s last instalment of Dark Heavens trilogy, which I despair of ever finding in local stores and on Amazon.

p.s. Fingers crossed.

p.p.s Let’s see if I could get some bookcrossing done while I’m there.