Happy new reading year

Happy New Year and a Happy 2nd birthday for The Best Part of Ordinary.  I think it is fair to say on a book front I ran out of steam at the end of 2017 due to reading two long, detailed non fiction books at the same time.  It's been a struggle but I've enjoyed both Chasing The Sun and more so The Time Travelers Guide but my first New Year goal (not resolution) is to not repeat this type of book choices in 2018.  Thankfully the year ended on a high with the decision to park Chasing The Sun and pick up The Essex Serpent which was a fast paced, enjoyable read and a book I wouldn't normally pick up.
As a result I  ended up reading fewer books this year and this was also not helped by working quite a bit of overtime and getting absorbed in the world of Skyrim on the PS4, a game I have been meaning to play for years.  This also had a knock on effect on this site which I will do my best to address in 2018.

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But looking back I really enjoyed most of 2017 and here's a quick list of book highlights

1. Reading The Power with the sight and sound of the rowers in the sea in Corfu 
2. Being so completely surprised at how good The Rook was
3. Putting Derren Brown's stoic ideas from Happy into practice
4. Picturing Alexander von Humbolt on top of a mountain in South America
5. Homo Deus and The Undoing Project

There is a lot to be excited about in 2018 with the shelf already jam packed and the winner of the Royal Society book award Testerone Rex on its way.  So here are my reading goals for 2018

1. Be careful about the mix of books read at the same time to keep in flow
2. Read around 40 books but not to get too fixated on the number
3. Read more at home at the weekends
4. Find new interesting ways to update the site
5. Add to the How To Get Better part of the site as part of my Mental Health First Aider training

As always these are goals and not resolutions which I detest. Goals accept mistakes as just part of the process but a mistakes is a broken resolution.    

Life is always full of surprises and to finish this blog post a quick story that made me laugh at myself.

I was part of a secret santa at work this year and I wanted to buy a book which could be of real value.  So of all the amazing books on this site what did I spend my £10 on?  Did I buy Authentic Happiness my Book of 2016 or possibly Stumbling on Happiness one of my favorite books of all time?  No I ended up buying Mindset by Dr Carol Dweck which I ranked 22nd of 33 in the books of 2015!!  The reason.  Anitha has kids and despite everything else Dr Carol Dweck's research into the value of encouraging and rewarding hard work over results is something I would encourage every parent to take a look at, even if some of her examples like Alex Rodriguez are cringe worthy.  But I did chuckle to myself as I ordered it

Anyway a very Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope all your goals reading and otherwise go well and you that you can keep on trying throughout the year to make them a reality.