those ubiquitous lists and a note on resolutions

[Since this is the second post in which I focus on wishes and other thoughts about the New Year, let’s just say, “It’s allowed!]

This is the time of year when lists seem to be everywhere. There are the ubiquitous “The 10 best …” “The 10 worst …” “The 20 most …” and so on. Never mind — I might surprise you with my own List … just wait. 🙂  I wasn’t surprised then when, as a Goodreads member, they sent me a link to my “Year in Books”. In that link Goodreads was good enough to let me know the shortest book I read in 2015 was Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name at 240 pages and the longest book I read during the year was Shantaram(excellent) at a whopping 936 pages. Interestingly, one of my top favourite novels of the year, All the Light We Cannot See, was also the most popular among Goodreads members. And one of my non-favourites, Home to Woefield, was also not exactly popular with other Goodreads members. If you are even a tiny bit interested in my Dislikes or top Favourites follow the appropriate link and then when you see a book you’re wondering why I included it in that category, click on that book’s cover to read my comments (which appear immediately below the publisher’s synopsis).  Does all this mean anything worthwhile? No, I wouldn’t say so.

Do you enjoy reading the end-of-year lists? Are there any favourite lists you especially like to read or watch for? Being a bit of a news hound I enjoy the end-of-year look-back list of top news stories.

One type of list that I still keep and follow is my to-do timeline when I’m planning a dinner party. This kind of list keeps me well organized and stress free. Do you have a list that always works for you?

As many of you know, I don’t make resolutions. I think they are destined to fail. In order to succeed, I have always needed to set goals — realistic and measurable — and a plan to follow through. I did this for years when I was working. That always worked best for me both at work and in my personal life. So since you won’t see resolutions here, you may see the occasional goal. My last post talked about plans I have for the coming year and in that list, one might be considered a goal: to knit a garment utilizing stranded knitting. Oh and I also plan to write more letters this year. I’m so used to decades of goal setting that planning to do something pretty much gets me there. What about you? Do you make resolutions? Do they work for you? Do you prefer to set goals?

“I love lists. Always have. when I was 14, I wrote down every dirty word I knew on file cards and placed them in alphabetical order. I have a thing about about collections, and a list is a collection with purchase. (Wired Magazine, “Step One: Make a List”, October 2012)” — Adam Savage.

Wishing you the best of days today.

PS: I’m considering changing my posting irregularity to weekly! This experiment could be unofficially dubbed, “Mail Mondays”. Therefore, I have a post already lined up for tomorrow to begin the Monday sequence.