The Buzz...About Books

According to the Toronto Star, only about half of the Canadians who made a New Year's resolution for 2012 made it a whole month. Around 20% kept committed the full year. Although we can hope our resolve has grown a bit stronger, it's probably safe to say a lot of our resolutions made this year will fall by the wayside too (sorry, glass-half-full folks…) If you're looking for ways to keep some of your well-intended resolutions, check out some posts from other library bloggers:

New Year's Resolutions – from the Albert Campbell District Blog

Why I Did (Not) Make a Resolution This Year – from the Health and Wellness Blog

But if you're here to read about how the things we resolve to do often go awry, you're in the right place.

Here are five of the most common New Year's resolutions and some books about characters that probably didn't quite keep them…

1. Lose Weight

How to Be Cool
by Johanna Edwards

Losing weight is probably one of the most frequently mentioned resolutions that people set. It's also one of the most unsuccessful.
Kylie Chase would know.

Even after losing 75 pounds and reinventing herself as a chic image consultant, she still feels like the overweight girl she was.
When she is forced to move back in with her paren'ts and the pounds start to pack on again, Kylie must learn what it really takes to feel good in your own skin.
 

2. Quit Smoking

The Butt
by Will Self

I'm not sure if Tom Brodzinksi ever really made an effort to quit smoking, but maybe he should have. After all, it's when he carelessly flicks his cigarette ash off a balcony that his life starts to take a turn for the worst.

In this experimental novel, Will Self sends us on a journey with Tom to right his wrongs in a strange, dystopian world.

3. Spend more time with family

The Other Way Around
by Sashi Kaufman
Teen fiction

The holidays are a time to eat, drink and be merry with your family. But for Andrew West, he'll do just about anything to escape his overbearing paren'ts and relatives.

Instead of joining his family for Thanksgiving, he decides to run away and join the circus…kind of. What starts out as a care-free way of living turns out to be a whole lot more complicated when he meets a band of street performer 'Freegans'.

4. Get out of debt

Ravens
by George Dawes Green

Shaw and Romeo didn't have a whole lot going for them. They were just looking for something to take them far away from their mind-numbing tech jobs in Ohio. When they stop at a small convenience store somewhere in Georgia, they discover that a multi-million dollar lottery ticket was just sold there — and they just found who the big winners are. Shaw and Romeo might just get rich a whole lot faster…if their plan works.

5. Get more organized

Objects of my Affection
by Jill Smolinski

Lucy Bloom may be going through a rough time, but she's determined to start fresh. When she's offered a high-paying job as a personal organizer for an eccentric painter, she's confident that this will help her get her life back on track.

But the reclusive Marva is on a whole new level of disorganization: she's a compulsive hoarder who refuses to let go of the items that have accumulated in her home over the years. Lucy and Marva must work together if they're ever going to get Marva out from under. 

If you've already started to abandon some of your resolutions for 2015, remember that it's not too late to try again if it's something you really want to do. (I consider all of January a grace period for resolutions anyway.) If you haven't made any just yet, here's a simple one to start: read five books you haven't read before…