What do you want to accomplish in the New Year? Will reading a book help you reach your goal, keep your resolution, or complete your project? Start the year off right by reading books that support your goals, resolutions, and projects — join the New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge!

Have you selected goals, resolutions, or projects for 2017 yet? What books have you started to help you reach your goals? Record your progress on your blog and use the link list below. Or, report your progress in the comments on this post so that we can all cheer you along.

Here’s my progress — including a link to my first review for this challenge.

Resolution 1: Understand what’s going on in my country. I plan to read The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, by George Packer with others at The Hibernator’s Library. There’s an introductory post for reading The Unwinding together. The first discussion post will go up on January 23, so I have a little time to get this one started.

Resolution 2: End the disproportionate suspensions of black and brown youth from schools. Along with my in-person book club, I’ll be reading Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris. I bought this one as an e-book so I can read it on my own schedule. I hope to get this started today or tomorrow.

Resolution 3: Figure out how non-patriarchal, non-hierarchical groups work. I’m reading an e-copy of The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups by Starhawk for this one. I reviewed this yesterday: The Empowerment Manual. Very helpful for anyone involved in groups — I’d include family in this, too, so practically everyone.

Resolution 4: Use pictures to deepen my experiences and improve my communication. I’m nearly finished with Blah, Blah, Blah: What to do When Words Don’t Work by Dan Roam. It inspired me to use a picture in a meeting last week and I think that went over well!

How are your New Year’s Resolutions going? Would a book help?