Love at First Book: 50 Bookish Things to do Before YOu Die.
The Book Wheel: 50 Bookish Things to do Before You Die.

What a lovely, list-y meme. I had to participate, but of course, I’m listing 55 things in keeping with my own personal number of the year.

1. Create my own Little Free Library.

2. Go to a book blogging conference.

3. Have a book-themed party or tea.

4. Host an in-person book club.

5. Meet 20 authors. 20 is an arbitrary number, but I’d like to meet some of the authors whose books I love.

6. Make blog bookmarks.

7. Write thank you notes to authors whose books make a difference.

8. Get 1,000 books donated to Kazembe Orphanage.

9. Read a book about every U.S. President.

10. Read all of the Newbery Honor books and Award books that I can find.

11. Read one book from or about every country of the world. I made this map a couple of years ago but then I forgot about it. I need to add all of the books I’ve read with links to reviews.

12. Record videos of children’s books being read aloud for the internet.

13. Vist as many libraries and bookstores as I can in as many cities as I can.

14. Give out ALL lots of business cards.

15. Read a poem a day. Out loud. For a year.

16. Read the Bible all the way through every year and takes notes in my personal copy.

17. Set up and open a private subscription library for homeschoolers in my home.

18. Visit Oxford and see all the C.S. Lewis/Tolkien/Inkling sites.

19. Read to my grandchildren. I don’t actually have any grandchildren. My adult children are not even married. But someday.

20. Finish writing and self-publish my second book, Picture Book Around the World.

21. Finish writing and self-publish my third book, Picture Book Science.

22. Inspire a non-reader to love books by helping him or her to find the perfect gateway book.

23. Have a book of the month club for my adult children and other relatives in which I send them each a book every other month especially selected with that person in mind.

24. Abandon books after 50 pages if they don’t capture my interest—unless I want to keep reading.

25. Travel across the U.S.A with Engineer Husband while listening to audiobooks. This travel is a part of my retirement plan.

26. Actually listen to at least one audiobook all the way through. I have a short attention span when it comes to audiobooks, but I might be able to change that. See #25.

27. Go on a weekend reading retreat with just me, myself, and my books. No tech.

28. Go to a book signing.

29. Go to a poetry slam.

30. Read at least one book in Spanish all the way through. I did this in college, but I’d like to do it again just to prove that I still can.

31. Give away books on World Book Night. I actually did give away books for WBN last year (Peace Like a River by Leif Enger), and I’m set to give away again this year (The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan). But I’d really like to do this every year.

32. Read a book out loud with Engineer Husband. We did this when we were newlyweds, but now that we’re almost senior citizens, I think it’s time to renew the practice.

33. Continue to keep a record of what I’ve read here at the blog. Continue blogging. I will celebrate my tenth anniversary for Semicolon in October of this year. I’d like to celebrate twenty or thirty years someday.

34. Go through all of the books on my bookshelves and give away all the books I don’t want to own anymore.

35. Have a year where I actually read one book every day. The author of Tolstoy and the Purple Chair does this, and I think it would be loads of fun—after I get all the urchins raised and out of the house.

36. Have a year when I actually watch NO TV, not because I think television is evil or even a waste of time. I would just like to see what effect it would have on my life to go an entire year without television or movies. Maybe this would be the same year as #35.

37. Finish reading the books on my Classics Club list.

38. Complete the 40 Trash Bag Challenge. Bookish? Yes, because some of those “trash bags” need to be boxes full of books to donate.

39. Meet 20 Texas book bloggers. If I did #2 I might be able to meet lots of book bloggers. That would be so much fun.

40. Finish reading, or at least checking out, all of the books on my TBR list. I can only complete this action item before I die if I quit putting more books ON the list at some arbitrary time. Maybe when I celebrate my 90th birthday? Then, I just read books I’ve already put on the list.

41. Invite 100 bloggers to participate in the Saturday Review of Books link-up. Anyone can participate. If you are reading this post and you blog about books, you are invited.

42. Build a window seat in my house for reading.

43. Read every single thing C.S. Lewis ever wrote. Carefully and thoughtfully.

44. Host a book-to-movie book club for teens in which they must first read the book and then we watch the movie together.

45. Interview some authors for my blog. This item is rather non-specific, but I’d really like to do this and learn how to do it well.

46. Work in a bookstore just for a little while, just for fun.

47. Finish re-reading Les Miserables. I got stuck in the middle. I think I need a paper copy instead of my ebook Kindle copy.

48. Finish “reading through Africa.” This goal relates to #11, but it’s different because I’m exploring a different part of Africa each year. In 2012, I read books set in Northern Africa. This year I’m reading books from West Africa. I have three more regions to visit, and then I might turn around and start again because I didn’t hit every country.

49. Develop a habit of reading the Bible in the mornings before I do anything else. I’m not a morning person. Maybe this goal isn’t workable, but I’d like to try.

50. Go back to the Texas Book Festival in Austin. I went several years ago, but it just hasn’t been possible in the last few years. The 2013 festival is scheduled for October 26-27. Maybe this fall.

51. Write a poem. A good poem that I’m proud to share with others.

52. Visit the Library of Congress.

53. Visit the New York Public Library.

54. Read all of the books I want to read.

55. Give away all of my books to people who will enjoy and appreciate them. This last thing I will do when I’m old and when I enjoy giving the books away more than I enjoy loaning, recommending, re-reading, and looking things up.