Generally I’m against New Year’s Resolutions. They’re all-too-often vague and, as a result, impossible to take direct action on. Still, I can’t help but reflect on stuff I wish I’d done better or that I wish I’d done at all over the past year. To try and resolve all my shortcomings would be a nearly insurmountable task, so I’ve decided to just focus on one thing over the next year:
Read more books.
I used to read every day. A year and a half ago, you could’ve asked what I’d read lately and get a laundry list of titles that I was in the middle of devouring. But life is more hectic now and the odds of me keeping more than one book going at a time are slim. But I know I can, at the very least, commit to one book per month. Not a lofty goal, to be sure, but a solid, achievable one. The problem is I have no clue what books I want to read. This is where you come in.
Suggest books to me. You can comment on this post, email me (cwatkins at gmail dot com), IM me (capstinence on AIM), @reply me or DM me.
Feel free to suggest anything you want: Fiction or Non-Fiction. In a few days, I’ll pick (as randomly as I can) twelve books to commit to for the next year and post the order of them as soon as the list is ready, so anyone who wants can read along as well. Each month I’ll write a report on the book I read and let you know whether or not I’d recommend the book to anyone else and why.
Thanks in advance for helping me out 
I’ll be sure to also post the full list of everyone’s suggestions.
I’m only good at recommendations if I know what you like! Can we do this: name 3-5 movies or movie characters you’ve enjoyed. They don’t have to be your Absolute Favorites, just movies/characters you like. I can deliver tailored recommendations that way. Hopefully.
Jon, 5 Movies I enjoy:
American Beauty
Star Wars (the original trilogy, let’s not get crazy)
Life is Beautiful
Almost Famous
Avatar (for something more recent)
Last year I committed to reading more books, stuck with it and I’m really happy about it. I read quite a bit; here are some of my recent favorites:
* The Theory of Fun for Game Design by Ralph Koster. It’s a nice book that I think any designer, game or otherwise, would enjoy.
* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Anything by Gaiman is great. This is a kind-of kids book and an homage to The Jungle Book. Fun read.
* Peter & Max by Bill Willingham. Willingham is the author of the amazing Fables series of comics and this is a novel set in that universe. Really well written, unique and engaging. A fairly easy read too.
* The Gates by John Connolly. A very silly/funny book about how the Large Hadron Collider broke open the gates of Hell.
* The Creative License by Danny Gregory. Classic book on being more creative. Another great one for designers.
I also made a list of good fiction (mostly sifi/fantasy) books over at Readernaut: http://readernaut.com/dkr/lists/1017/fun-stuff-ive-read-lately-oct-2009/ If you don’t have an account there, you should set one up. It’s pretty fun to keep track of your reading, especially if you’re trying to read more.
I recommend the following:
/Infinite Typewriters/ and /The Corndog Imperative/ by Jonathan Rosenberg (A rocket-paced sci fi comedy on acid that isn’t done yet, but is being nicely collected)
/Old Man’s War/, /The Ghost Brigades/, and /The Last Colony/ by John Scalzi (Imagine /The Forever War/ and /Starship Troopers/ mashed together and updated for our times, but also fun)