Time to try again?

So since the original Bunch of Authors reading project, I've gone quiet. Well...quiet on here, I mean. But perhaps 2013 is the year I try again?

The Choose Your Book Adventure was a good idea, but I feel like leaving the selection entirely up to other people was a bad idea. It felt a bit too random. Perhaps the problem was I just took the first suggestions, whereas it'd be better to select from offers. Maybe I shouldn't decide the whole year in advance? I could theme each month, perhaps?

Or I could find another list. Yet I have so many books here on shelves I've not yet read. I have two on the go at the moment - I'm almost finished The Hobbit (my first re-read of it in at least 20 years), and I'm also planning to finish George R. R. Martin's A Clash of Kings before the next season of A Game of Thrones appears.

I don't think I can manage to go back and write up the books I read in the interim (I kept a list of stuff I read but hadn't blogged, right up until it had about ten things on it), and there were some great ones in the last two years; some highlights include all three Hunger Games books (loved them right to the end), Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey, and (finally!) a new Pirates! book from Gideon Defoe. I've tried to keep track of most of them over at Goodreads (which almost makes this blog redundant), but there's something I like about the theme and the freer experiential writing about the books I do here.

Let's say I count The Hobbit for January; then I can start writing about at least one book a month after that. As for what they will be... Maybe I will give you a few options, and you can vote to decide? That's more like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, anyway. Hmmm...perhaps I will choose two random books from my "not yet read" pile, and get you to pick which one I read next. That's getting a bit reality television...it'll need a new name. Watch this space! (For now posts for it are tagged "2013 project", but I'll come up with something better.)

In the meantime, so you know I've not been idle (even if I have neglected this blog), you might like to check out my new Doctor Who podcast, Splendid Chaps. It's my main year-long project for 2013: a series of eleven live shows discussing Doctor Who with my friend John Richards (creator of ABC gay sci-fi fan club sitcom Outland) and special guests. Each show covers a specific Doctor, and also a broader theme. They'll be released on the 23rd of each month, January through November.