The Sunday Question

What are your New Year's resolutions?

Well, it's a new year, and time for new resolutions.

I like to make resolutions each year. I like to have goals which I sometimes accomplish then can feel righteous about. Even more fun is making lists of the books I need to read in order to accomplish said resolutions. For me, the two go hand in hand. Resolutions and books, like love and marriage. Of course, Sparky would say that everything I do requires the reading of books. I have to read the book before I see the movie. I have to consult three or four cookbooks before I boil an egg. When I discovered I had a Border collie, I was compelled to read all the books about Border collies in existence (thank you, Jon Katz). I'll have to ask my mum, but I think I even remember poring over a book about tying one's shoes before I undertook to learn that art.

So, here are my New Year's resolutions, and their accompanying books:

1) Learn to sew. Sparky bought me my first sewing machine for Christmas, a sparkling green Hello Kitty Janome (really). I have no idea how to even begin sewing, but thankfully there are LOTS of wonderful books about sewing, including:

A book I've been eyeing at work for a while now.

2) Start feeding myself, for a change. I used to be a farm girl, had horses and ducks, milked cows, tended a big garden. I am lucky enough to have a little land available to me again, and I've resolved not to be so bone idle and do something about it (goats). Thankfully, we now have a great new selection of books on sustainability published by Chelsea Green.

And then there are books very well-suited to dabblers like myself:

Which has how-to's for the farming newbie with a little land (or not): gardening, beekeeping, making natural cleaning products, (goats).

Of course, some people take a more direct route and admit their book addiction, proudly proclaiming they will read 200 books in 2011 (our own Emily Crowe). Or all of Proust

(John Palmer).

What about you? Let us know your New Year's resolutions (and the books you will thus have to read, if applicable).

~Chrysler