Welcome 2021! I hope you all had a nice New Year celebration and you are welcoming this year with lots of hope in your hearts. Our celebration consisted of watching some a show on Netflix (I highly recommend Undercover) and eating some good food.
Now though let’s talk about the first read of the year because I feel like every year I hope the first book will set me off on a great adventure and this year I picked up A Room with a View by E.M. Forster. A story set in Italy and that will allow our characters to look into a world far different from their own, a world unconcerned with convention and unfettered by social rituals.
I thought, this will be the perfect armchair travel book to take me beyond my world as we still can’t travel. We were in Italy in 2013 and although we were there for two weeks it wasn’t nearly enough.
After a bit of reading and lunch we then set off on another trail walk. I think this is now becoming our Christmas and/or New Year’s tradition. If the weather is good then there’s nothing like going out to greet the day and enjoy nature. There’s always something interesting to see.
Anyway, I hope your reading year has started off with a great read. I’m still bringing over a couple of books from December and no doubt I’ll add a few more books to the pile soon. Oh and I haven’t told you about my new bookish arrivals yet. I did get some books for Christmas and a B&N gift card so I’ll probably save all that for another post. Let me know what you’ve started reading and if you got any new books as gifts.
This one seems like a great choice for first book. I chose a slim book for my first book, Sleepless Nights, Hardwick, just 128pp, so I was able to finish it in one sitting. Very satisfying. I’ll post review in next day or so. Once again, have a great 2021.
A trail walk sounds perfect for New Year’s Day, Iliana. And it was very cool yesterday, but not raining, right? My first book was not all that perfect, but I’m on the hunt for the next. I read A Room With A View many years ago. Hope you enjoy it!
Diane – I was going to start off with a chunkster but I thought better of it 🙂 Really enjoying this one. Can’t wait to read your review of Sleepless Nights. The intro you posted sounded great!
Kay – It was a bit on the chilly side but we were doing a brisk walk so luckily we warmed up quickly. Hope your next book will be a better read! And, yes so far I think I chose the perfect book!
I chose and finished a true crime book about Israel Keyes – AMerican Predator – and right now I’m reading the first novel in the Mysterious Benedict Society books so that I can talk to my daughter about them!
Hope you enjoy A Room With a View. It’s one of my favorite books. Even the chapter headings make me smile. 😀
Sounds like a good choice! Enjoy!
Melissa A. Kowalewski – I hope you have a great year ahead and I haven’t heard of the Mysterious Benedict Society books so I had to look them up and they sound like a lot of fun!
Lark – I was not expecting the chapter headings but I like them. So far I’m really enjoying it and will probably want to re-watch the film.
Yvonne – I’m pretending I’m in Italy 🙂
Thanks for the recommendation for Undercover. Maybe we’ll watch it tonight. I’m glad you were able to get outside for a walk on New Year’s Day. Our weather has been too wet and windy, but it won’t last forever. We’ll get back outside and start looking for whales before long! I’m just finishing up my last book that I started in 2020 (which will count in my numbers for 2021, of course) and am eager to begin my first book of the year. It’s the most recent installment in Louise Penny’s series. I can’t wait!
Your New Year’s Eve and Day sound so pleasant and perfect, Iliana. I hope you are enjoying your first pick! I haven’t tried Forster before. I haven’t gotten too far into my first read of the year, but I am liking it so far. Wishing you all the best this new year.
Les in OR – I hope you guys check it out and let me know what you think. We’ve already watched both seasons and I’m hopeful there will be a third. And, you’re up to date on the Louise Penny series right? I need to get back to it. Hope you are able to get outside soon!
Literary Feline – I sort of put aside my first pick just because I’m about done with one of my carry-overs from 2020 and it’s so good that I want to see how it ends. Hope you are enjoying your first read too!
I still haven’t started a new book this year. I’m still working on a nonfiction book I carried over from December but I am picking up The Snow Child from the library tomorrow. Happy New Year!
Classic books are just the perfect books to start a year with! I feel that they do a good job of grounding you, exciting you, and also enhance your appreciation for the written word. You chose a great first book! Hope your new year has been exciting so far!
Jen at Introverted Reader – I’ve heard good things about The Snow Child so hope you enjoy that and perfect title for the season right?
Athira – I agree, I’ve done that a couple of years. I’m really enjoying this one and it’s one of those that make you think why did I wait so long to read it!
What a great choice for a new year’s reading. Forster is a favourite of mine and that one in particular. Such a quiet satisfying humour! (BTW, I guess I’m too late to reply to your statistics post, but I enjoyed reading it and I hope you’ve got lots of good reading ahead of you for 2021. Also, I think cataloguing is a great project, because you get reacquainted with the books you bought and which ones you still want to read or how you’ve changed as a reader…a nice way of reflecting, even though on the surface it seems like an administrative task!) I haven’t watched Undercover yet, but I have it on my TBR. And there’s a very interesting podcast of the same name! Have you watched the Criminal series? I’m watching the U.K. set now…very interesting (but not for my every viewing mood, only a certain mood).