Welcome to The Sunday Salon – list edition.  In my haste to be lazy this weekend I did not get several individual posts that I wanted to published.  I wanted to talk about reading deliberately, what I loved, and what my goals for 2010 are. Instead, what you’re going to get is an amped up version of my first official Sunday Salon post of the year.

I’m talkin’ ’bout lists y’all.

10 Favorite Reads of 2009

I read quite a bit last year, a lot of which I really enjoyed, sadly I can’t include everything on a list only those that really reached out and stuck with me.  Below is a list of the books that I’ve read in the time I’ve been blogging that did just that.  I debated including my 10 least favorite reads of the year but then thought since I’m trying my new positive attitude on for size I’d forego.  Besides, what didn’t work for me doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t work for you.

Without further ado here’s what I really adored in 2009 (in no specific order):

Beautiful Creatures
Catching Fire (I’d also include Hunger Games but it was published in 2008)
Shiver
Hate List
Forest of Hands & Teeth
If I Stay
Italian for Beginners
Hush, Hush
Food, Girls & Other Things I Can’t Have
Candor
The Maze Runner

If you haven’t read these wonderful books I encourage you to do so.  Well, if they suit your reading preferences that is ;)

10 Blog goals for 2010

Much talk has been made about how to go about reading and blogging in 2010 and I admit as part of that conversation I too have given a great deal of thought about how I’ll go approach my selection process this year.  The goals I list are my attempt to do just that.

1.  Diversify – I want to open my reading up to different genres (historical fiction, classics, literary fiction).  Once I discovered YA this year I pretty much dropped everything else.  I’d like to get back to more diversity but don’t worry YA and MG will still be my primary focus and true love.

2.  Engage -  I’d like to be able to engage in more conversation and be an active participant in the larger book blogging community.  Broadening my horizons (see goal #1) and reading choices will allow me to do that.

3.  Participate - There are so many wonderful events, clubs and initiatives in this huge community to get involved in.  I’d like to continue to play a role in encouraging the book blogging community and having fun. Coming up in 2010 I’ll be working on many awesome projects including The Book Blogger Convention, Nerds Heart YA Tournament, and The Classics Book Club.  I’ve got some other irons in the fire too but they aren’t quite at the stage for public knowledge ;)   Needless to say I’m very excited for the potential 2010 brings with it and plan to embrace it as fully as I can.

4.  Reviews – I want to be far more timely in writing and posting my reviews.  Right now I’ve got a total of 26 books I’ve read that need to be reviewed here.  I feel strongly about reviewing all the books I read so I’d like to master some sort of process by which I can do so without things piling up to the extent they currently have.  As part of the process, readers will see me start to utilize mini-reviews for some books.

5.  Whittle the TBR Down -  I have 379 books in my TBR pile (not including the books I recently purchased for my new e-reader that I haven’t cataloged). I’d like to read at least half, if not more, of these over the year.

6.  Learn the Art of No – I think it’s clear, I love books.  I want to read lots and lots of books. I love to be part of the larger community.  Part of that means that people offer me things.  Things I want.  Then I accept them, I accept them all.  Where’s the problem in all of that?  Well, I get overwhelmed with the awesomeness.  I’ve got to learn to say no more often. To take on only those books and tours that really draw me in the most.  Keep the offers coming all, just know that I may not be able to take everything on.

7.  Challenges – I almost want to dub 2010 the year of the challenge!  I love the community that challenges build, it’s such a great way to meet new people and find new blogs.  It also goes a long way to helping diversify reading and have fun.

As it relates to challenges I have two separate goals: (1) I want to be better about focusing on challenges I’m participating in by being better organized and participating in the communities.  Last year I signed up and then things kinda just hung there — I didn’t update progress, didn’t check in on challenge blogs, etc.  I want to change that; (2) Be a better challenge host. I’ve got two challenges running right now (Harry Potter and now the Cybils Reading Challenge) I want to be more present in those and create a better experience for participants.

8.  Features – I have some fun features that I’ve created that I’d like to get more active on my blog. Literary Road Trip is flourishing but I’ve got to get back to business with Inside the Bloggers Studio.  I’ve got some ideas for new features that I’ve got to flesh out and implement as well.  In the end, I want to provide fun, unique content to my readers!

9.  Comment, Comment, Comment – I know much debate occurs about the benefit of commenting vs not.  It’s a personal choice and I for one love to visit blogs and let people know that I’m there.  In 2010 I want to continue with this effort but find a way to do so without letting my feed reader build up to 1000 posts before I do so.  I also want to get better about acknowledging the comments made on my blog.  I likely won’t reply to everyone who makes a comment but I’m going to make the concerted effort to go in and gab with the people who take time to read what I’m saying.

10. Have Fun – The whole point of blogging, at least for me, is to have fun.  Read great books, meet great people, have great conversation.

So there you have it all.  My expectations of myself for 2010.  It will be interesting to see where I go with all of it.

Once again, I thank you all for taking time out of your day to come and visit me. I wish you all a happy new year and much success in all of your endeavors in 2010.