New Year's resolutions don't really work, but I made some anyway: reading in 2023, plans for 2024

To ring in 2024, I looked back on my year of reading in 2023 and made some resolutions & plans for what I wanted to do in 2024 🥂

Authors mentioned:
James Baldwin
Elena Ferrante
Toni Morrison
Clarice Lispector
Natalia Ginzburg
Simone de Beauvoir

Socials:
Insta: @sdelphis
StoryGraph: @sdelphis

[pastorytime]

Love your hair! And love these intentions - I definitely need to go slow and not plough through books too. Reading before bed and in the morning is my main reading time. Excited for more vlogs! Siân

[nathansnook]

gym rat sophie vlogs LETS GOOO! BUFF IT UPP BB

but omg yes more vlogs please. i find that they slow down life and it's nice to look back on them every once in a while to really track my days and find joys in the mundanity of this little life of mine.

i'm hoping to finish Lispector's bibliography for 2024, so would be glad and honored if you'd be my buddy read for The Apple In the Dark (with the new translation as i'm told it's actually quite different and more accessible and closer in translation than the one by Rabassa) and the new edition of The Besieged City (horse girls rise!!!).

can't wait to see what 2024 brings for you. these are some wonderful intentions <3

[casskrug]

absolutely loved this video and these resolutions sophie!! i like using the new year as a time to reflect and set intentions rather than setting super intense goals. i’m right there with you on slowing down and growing your connection with what you’re reading. i’ve had the second sex on my shelf for almost a year now but haven’t picked it up yet! maybe i’ll have to attempt it in 2024 🤨

[pagesofcarolyn]

I loved this list of resolutions and have a few in common with you: I am so pro-rereading, capturing more thorough books notes which can only help in appreciating our reads more, & reading before bed instead of scrolling. Cheers!!

[em_harring]

These are some lovely intentions for the new year! I don't think of the new year starting until March, so I'm still resting and enjoying winter, but I also want to watch more films this year. I love films, especially international films, and I just haven't kept up with that love of mine the last couple of years. Here's to more films in 2024!

[yenasung]

Omg seriously we spent 2023 in full escapism and i too seek more thoughtful/read less 2024 goals. Is this french sophie look bc she cuuuute 💋

[litwithkat]

love love love the idea of walking without listening to anything. i’ve been wanting to do the same of just focusing on doing one thing at a time to help me feel less overwhelmed.

really loved hearing all your goals so thanks for sharing with us! def got me thinking about the goals i’m setting too. happy happy new year sophie!

[sabinagruden]

Those are some great resolutions. Movies are great, and there are so many talented visual artists and movies to choose from. My intention this year is also to write and express myself more and to be more present. And I want to continue reading about other cultures, diffrent artists and to read works from various authors from aroud the world. This quote from The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai really resonates with me:
"But by reading their books, I saw the other side of them—their humanity. Somehow I was sure that if people were willing to read each other, and see the light of other cultures, there would be no war on earth."
I would love to do a buddy read with you! Can be Baldwin, Morrison or something else; and Second Sex is also waiting on my bookshelf.

[claaaaaara]

swole sophie 2024!!!!
last year I read beauvoir's all men are mortal and it changed me. you talked about her non-fiction/ more autobiographical fiction, but I highly recommend this one! I think you'll really like it. and it's a good book to read before bed (I say this as a fellow insomniac)

[thelefthandedreader]

What a fun video. I really like the concept of making note of some personal resolutions too..As I re-do my white board, I’m making note of some of the authors I didn’t get to this yr…and really wanted to. One of them is James Baldwin. I adored his writing when I first read him in the 90s. I need his writing back in my life. I’m down to join a read a long if it becomes that. No problem if it’d be too crowded.

Weight-lifting…you’re speaking my language, Sophie! I don’t know where I’d be without it.

Happy New Year wishes to you!

[DogEaredMusings]

Intentionality is such a cool goal :) Slowing down is also a goal of mine! Happy New Year!

[Grandpasbookclub]

I am so here for this! Also wanting to sink my teeth into some more Baldwin this

[ivanainthecity]

I love how intentional you have been (& continue to plan to be!) about what you read. I too have given up on number goals when it comes to reading because sometimes when you're not reading you're just living life! And I agree about reading wrap-ups being so difficult/annoying to do, but being so useful. I'm so curious about what you'll end up doing, and I'm looking forward to more everyday vlogs! Happy 2024, Sophie!

[saintonfire]

Happy New Year! Always enjoy your videos. Look forward to watching your videos throughout 2024. blessings

[lazloandbooks]

My goal is definitely to read more non-fiction. I'm thinking this is the year of big books, and I'm leaning towards The Second Sex. I would love to read it with a book club/ buddy read.

[katsfieldnotes]

lets do a Morrison for our irl buddy read!! I also absolutely love the idea of memorizing text as a way of inscribing what we read within ourselves. I hadnt thought of it like that (im honestly just working on jotting them down -- im awful at even that) but its a lovely intention! Happy new year!!

[jorjastonej]

What a thoughtful lovely list. I have de Beauvoir on my TBR too. I would buddy read any of her work in 2024. I started The Count of Monte Christo this holiday, so I might not have time for another tome until March. Have you ever read The Count? I’m not sure what I’m getting into! 🤷‍♀️Wishing you good health and good cheer in the new year!

[carlacarinreads]

happy new year sophie 🎉 and yes to the vlogs 😊

[kailienatsu]

one of my 2024 goals is also to read the second sex ! i was hoping to slowly chip away throughout the year. of the ones I’ve read, I’ve loved simone de beauvoir’s fiction as well, so for sure would want to check out more of her work in as the year progresses !

and as already iterated - the hair looks fantasticccc

[semiote]

Thanks for another nice video! Lots of overlap here. I re-read a lot of Lispector last year, in part because I was teaching her work, and started reading Baldwin - reading Go Tell it On the Mountain now. My lit reading group focused exclusively on sub-Saharan African literature for about nine months last year, which has made me want to expand my reading of Black American literature this year. I definitely want to read more Baldwin, but I'm also really looking forward to the release of Ours by Phillip B. Williams, and the reprint of Divine Days by Leon Forrest (a favorite of Toni Morrison's!)

I stopped looking at my phone before bed a while back - right around the time I got off social media. These days, I read before bed, usually graphic novels, classic children's lit, or humor - stuff that is intellectually engaging but not super high-effort, rather than the (for me) depressing and anxiety-inducing infinite scroll. It's been great. Lately, I've had some wild, lovely dreams about my youth growing up in a barrio in southern California because I've been reading Love and Rockets, which captures the vibe of that milieu in the 80s and 90s so very well.

Lastly, I also haven't been watching movies: been so focused on literature the last few years (100+ books per year) it's cut out almost everything but reading in my field (philosophy). I recently watched Bela Tarr's Satantango while reading the novel - my first movie in I don't know how many months. I'd also like to watch more movies this year!