What to do this weekend: Read a book 📖

Readers welcome. New Year is a wonderful time Set new goals.

This year, I’d like to spend a lot less time staring at a screen. I want to replace the gliding stream and bitter scrolling with thrills, visions, and escapes from great literature.

With that in mind, I reached out to some local experts to get their insights on how to hone these reading skills.

Below, some Houston-connected authors share their reading goals for 2023. I hope they inspire you to make your own reading resolutions!

Keep a playlist of recommendations and titles you want to read

In 2023, I want to keep a notebook with lists of books people have recommended – many great books are forgotten or can’t be found easily just by browsing the Internet, and I want to be more disciplined about reading books Friends tell me if it’s done Posted 10 years ago or a hundred years ago. These are usually the books I enjoy the most.

I plan to check out the sites of smaller presses like Europa, Archipelago, and New Directions, which publish translated books. Olgo Tokarczuk’s Driving Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead was one of the best novels I read last year, and I’m excited to read more contemporary Mexican literature. Yuri Herrera’s “Signs Before the Apocalypse” is one of my newfound favorites, and I have Fernanda Melchor’s “Hurricane Season” on my “to read” list.

I like to read on the couch right before and after dinner, and I really want to make that time a little more regular. Maybe I’ll make a simpler dinner next year.

Renee Steinke, author of “Friendswood”

Make time for it

I always try to read as much as I can – but life has a way of getting in the way. Here are my top three tips for getting plenty of reading: First, keep a list of everything you’ve read. Nothing fancy, just a document on my computer – but watching the list for longer keeps me amazingly excited. Secondly, books I have not completed (DNF) count towards the list. Life is too short to read bad books! Audiobooks count, too, and I listen to a lot of them — running errands, making dinner. And the third – the most important: I only read books for which I really feel a spark – books that have something in the plot or subject matter that appeals to me and piques my curiosity. The first way to read more is to trust your own compass and find books that resonate with you.

Katherine Center, author of “The Bodyguard” and the upcoming novel “Hello Stranger”

Read what you like

The only quote I can offer is the decision to read unapologetically for fun. If it’s not about school or work, nothing about reading should be a burden. Read YA if you’re 50. If you’re really into spilling tea and chatty biographies, read on. Read romance, mystery, sci-fi, or just plain old science, if that’s your bag. Just enjoy. And my other big rule: If a book doesn’t bring you joy, put it aside. There is always another on the shelf. You won’t get into heaven any faster because you stumbled across some books that you think you’re supposed to love because others do. It is an act of self-love to read to your satisfaction.

Atika Locke, author of “Bluebird, Bluebird” and “Pleasantville”

Book lovers, what books do you recommend? Think of all the books you’ve read before. What are your favourites, and why? Whether old or new, fiction or non-fiction, hardcore canon classics, graphic novels or even children’s books, what titles made a lasting impression? Share your recommendations with us here. We may include them in an upcoming article.

More for Houston book lovers

Houston events

If a book isn’t in the cards this weekend, consider these Houston events.

• Houston Marathon: chevron Houston Marathon The Aramco Houston Half Marathon, which takes place on Sunday, will attract more than 27,000 runners to downtown Houston. Saturday’s We Are Houston 5K has 6,000 registrants.
• MLK Day Parade: Parades and celebrations will be held Monday to honor the 93rd birth anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was just 39 when he was assassinated in 1968 while helping sanitation workers strike for better pay and workplace safety in Memphis, Tennessee. Houston’s “Original” 45th MLK Day Parade will begin at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Smith and Lamar Streets in Downtown Houston. Mayor Sylvester Turner will serve as the Grand Marshal for the 2023 parade. View file View here.
• Lunar New Year 2023: Asian Americans in the Houston area will celebrate the Year of the Rabbit later this month, celebrating the Lunar New Year with colorful decorations, offerings, and prayers for good luck in the coming year. Welcome to the year of the rabbit These festivities are in Houston.

ICYMI

Some developments in Houston, Texas to look forward to.

• Universal Parks and Resorts announced that it plans to bring in A.J New concept For families with young children to Frisco, Texas, about 35 miles outside of Dallas. This is what can be expected Destination Frisco and what people are saying about it.
• On Saturday, the City of Houston will unveil Aliyev district park and centerA new multi-purpose facility located off Puller Boulevard and Kirkwood in southwest Houston that services the recreation center it replaces, and also serves as a public library, senior center, and women’s, infant, and children’s clinic. See attachment photos here.
• that Art gallery and book You’ll be celebrating 100 years of the Texas State Park System. For the book, 30 Texas artists were commissioned to produce paintings of state parks. An exhibition of the artworks will move to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in late May.

Like what do you see?

This is the Things To Do newsletter, a preview of local events put together by the KPRC 2 Digital Team and delivered to your inbox each week. To subscribe visit click2houston.com/newsletters.

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Thank you for spending part of your week with KPRC 2. – Brianna Zamora-Nipper

You can reach Briana Zamora-Nipper at bzamora@kprc.com.