Now that my coursework for the first time is out of the way, I guess it’s a good time to talk about past resolutions and the making of new ones. Last year my goal was to take more time to read English classics. The reason for this, was mainly because I missed some of the days when I used to study English Literature at A Level and a major component of the course was discussion books and their meanings with other people. I think I enjoyed doing this at the time, a lot more than I had perhaps realised. As well as this, books often come up in all areas of life (particularly the classics), so as someone born and brought up in Britain, I ought to have at least basic knowledge of some of them. So what have I read? These are the ones that I can remember:

  • 1984 – George Orwell
  • Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
  • Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
  • To Kill a Mocking Bird – Harper Lee
  • Lord of the Flies – William Golding
  • The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
  • Mort – Terry Pratchett
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time – Mark Haddon

I also read One Day by David Nicholls, since it seemed everyone else was too. As I’ve already read a fair amount of contemporary such as the various works of Ian McEwan, and have also covered much of the Gothic such as, Brontë sisters’ work, Edgar Allen Poe and Henry James I decided to steer clear of these. However my resolution will continue into this year as I have yet to read:

  • Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
  • The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger
  • Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
  • The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Starting with, Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

But I’m also going to add a new resolution, to start reading some books on Behavioural Economics, so when I find the time to buy them, I’ll be looking for some books by Dan Ariely, and Barry Schwartz. And I’m writing this down, because… Don’t they say that by writing your resolutions down or telling them to someone, you’re more likely to do them?