2024 ALU Bookish Resolutions

Lauren’s Resolution: Go Deep!

My New Year’s reading resolution is to go deep—I think that’s a sports thing, right? Specifically, go deep into the catalogues of authors I admire. I used to be a vociferous reader of authors I liked, snatching up anything they’d ever put out. In the last decade I’ve become somewhat of a readerly butterfly – and yes, it’s good to read widely—but it means I sometimes miss the next book from an already-favourite writer. I’m going to kick off the new year with Sam Shelstad’s The Cobra and the Key (TouchWood Editions), after LOVING his novel Citizens of Light (Touchwood Editions) last year, and will make space for Cop House (Nightwood Editions), his short story collection, sometime in 2024 too.

Tan’s Resolution: Complete the Calendar of Crime

For 2024, my reading resolution is to participate in the Calendar of Crime challenge. I love a good mystery, and the monthly prompts are varied enough to lead to an interesting to-be-read pile! 

Julebord by David Øybo (Guernica Editions) is my pick for January (though it would serve for next December too!). In it, a holiday party at a small hospital ends with a dead body and a group of doctors as suspects. A classic whodunit mystery with elements of Nordic noir, Julebord is laced with details about what life is like in a rural hospital nestled where a fjord meets the North Sea.

Barb’s Resolution: Create a Cozy Book Nook

My New Year’s resolution is to set up a cozy book nook in my new home, with a comfy chair, new bookshelves and lots of light. I recently relocated, and have not had a chance to unpack my books (due to an unforeseen flooding incident), so I’m really looking forward to getting that fixed up and creating a reading space for myself. I’ll be starting off my year with Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah (Véhicule Press), as I purchased it in the summer and my mom immediately snagged it for some recovery reading, but I’ve got it back now!

Happy Reading, All Lit Uppers!

Mandy’s Resolution: More Genre Diversity

In 2023, fiction reigned supreme in my reading pile but 2024 is a new year with a new TBR. More genre diversity was a reading intention I’ve made before—it’s a mindful one that helps to vary my reading. So, let’s go! One of my January reads is Imagining Imagining (Wolsak & Wynn), personal essays by the multi-talented writer Gary Barwin. As if a sign from the universe, I’ve been seeing this book almost everywhere—and its premise is so intriguing: “Barwin thinks deeply about big ideas: story and identity; art and death; how we communicate and why we dream.” 

N’Kysha’s Resolution: Read More Books!

My book resolution for 2024 is simply to read more books! As a new graduate, it has been difficult to read as widely as I’d like with so much assigned reading over the last few years! However, not anymore! I’m taking the new year as a fresh start to fall back in love with the types of titles that made me love reading in the first place, and to explore as many new authors and genres as possible. Starting off the year I’ll be diving into The Alchemists’ Council by Cynthea Masson (ECW Press)! Happy reading everyone! 

Laura’s Resolution: Read More Poetry

My resolution is to read more poetry in 2024.

Poetry is a balm for our time and all times. In 2024 I want to read more widely in poetry and make more space and time for it in my reading life. 

I am starting off the year with Bottom Rail on Top by D.M. Bradford (Brick Books). (And my other 2024 startup book, because I always have more than one on the go, is The Clarion, Nina Dunic’s debut novel (Invisible Publishing).