Oh how I do love thematic reading. Christmastime, love to read something Christmassy. Halloween. Valentines. Even Thanksgiving. In the spring I always think Anne of Green Gables, and in the fall, Harry Potter. I have been getting in the habit of yanking at least one book from my holiday lists as I arch ‘round the year, so I thought it would be nice to add a New Years’ list. As usual when I come up with a “Best Books” list, I mostly let other people determine it for me: this is what other people said was good reading when a new year begins. That means I have read very few of them (so far) and can not give recommendations. I tried to keep it to titles that would be good year after year and also a list that has real breadth to cover a multitude of resolutions and even meaningful fiction. It’s not a long list, but how many New Years’ do we get in a life, you know?

For a short book list for self help, see HERE. To start a book club for the year (even a couple book clubs based on new year thinking), go HERE.

• The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
• Dear Ijeawele, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (*)
• Talking to Strangers¸ Malcolm Gladwell
• The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, Philippa Perry
• We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer
• Tiny Habits, BJ Fogg
• Goodbye, Things, Fumio Sasaki
• Thinking Fast and Slow¸ Daniel Kahneman
• Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media, Jaron Larnier
• How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie
• Candide, Voltaire
• Survival of the Thickest¸ Michelle Buteau
• Please Like Me and Nothing Like I Imagined, Mindy Kaling
• This is Big, Marissa Meltzer
• Becoming, Michelle Obama
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gotleib
• Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come, Jessica Pan
• Atomic Habits, James Clear
• Everything is Figureoutable, Marie Forleo
• The Friendship Formula, Caroline Millington
• Hope in the Dark, Rebecca Solnit
• Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes
• Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe, Yumi Sakugawa
• H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald
• Amazing Peace, Maya Angelou
• Wake Up to the Joy of You, Agapi Stassinopolous
• The Wellness Mama Cookbook, Katie Wells
• Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin
• Own It, Sallie Krawcheck
• The Perfect Blend, Tess Masters
• The Prime, Kulreet Chaudhary
• The 4-Hour Body, Timothy Ferriss
• Living with Intent, Malika Chopra
• Clean Soups, Rebecca Katz
• Thrive, Arianna Huffington
• The Fast Metabolism Diet, Haylie Pomroy
• Rising Strong, Brene Brown
• Trim Healthy Mama Plan, Pearl Barrett
• Everything You Need You Have, Gerad Kite
• Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
• The Achievement Habit¸ Bernard Roth
• Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert
• After You, Jojo Moyes
• Life and Other Near-Death Experiences, Camille Pagan
• The Japanese Lover, Isabel Allende
• Dear Mr. You, Mary Louise Parker
• Spark Joy, Maria Kondo
• The Road to Little Dribbling¸ Bill Bryson

I’m going to do something I’ve never done before, and repeat some lists that I already used. I’ll make them look different. Expand on them. The thing is, before January, I posted some ideas for book clubs and personal reading goals this year, and in there I included some lists of journals and planners. These are great lists to have when you come up on a new year. So here they are, bigger and better:

JOURNALS

• Decomposition Notebooks
• Leuchtturn Bullet (or other) Journal
• Dotted Grid Notebook
• Minimalism Art Classic Dotted Notebook
• Simple Elephant Organizing Notebook
• Amber and Rose Handmade Saari Notebook
• Anthropologie The Well Journal
• Paperage or Moleskin or Amazon Lined (or other) Journal Notebook
• Rite in the Rain All-Weather Side-Spiral Notebook
• Riley Reflections Intentions Journal
• 52 Lists for Calm Journal
• Maple Creek Gifts Personalized Journal
• The List Journal (Owl and Zebra Press, yes, that’s me)
• The Feelings Journal (also Owl and Zebra Press)
• Tree of Life Writing Journal
• Good Days Gratitude Journal
• Sifxxu Colour Blank Notebook
• Bamboo Bullet
• Tumbiteri Meri A5 Bullet Dotted Journal
• Hobonichi Techo Original Book
• Milligram Non-Diary Daily
• Stalogy 018 Editors Series
• The 5 Second Journal
• Get Your Sh*t Together Journal, Sarah Knight

PLANNERS

• Kokuyo Jibun Techo Diary
• Little More Daily Organizer
• Moleskin Classic 12 Month
• Leuchtturn1917 Weekly Planner
• MiGoals Goal Digger
• Open Sea Luminaries Planner
• JSTORY Large Weekly Planner
• Traveler’s Weekly Vertical Planner
• Fabriano Inspiro Weekly Diary
• Appointed Year Task Planner
• Octaevo Agenda A Year of Sun
• Wonderland222 Tomoe River Weekly Planner
• Roterunner Purpose Planner
• Ponderlily Weekly Planner
• Lemome Planner
• Smythson Soho Agenda or Wafer Agenda with Pocket
• Brepols Back to Paper Diary Notebook
• Clever Fox Planner
• Day Timer
• Agendio Customizable Planner
• Golden Coil’s Customizable Planner
• Plum Paper Customizable Planner
• Panda Planner Daily Planner or Rocketbook
• Blue Sky Weekly and Monthly Planner
• ARTFAN Weekly and Monthly Planner
• Emma Chamberlain The Ideal Planner
• Intelligent Change Productivity Planner
• Rifle Paper Co. 17-Month Planner
• Layers Daily Life Planner Duo
• Day Designer Daily Planner
• Bestself Self Journal
• Ban.Do Classic Daily Planner
• The Non-Planner Datebook, Keri Smith *

ALTERNATIVE JOURNALS/CREATIVITY REPOSITORIES

• The Keri Smith Deluxe Boxed Set, Keri Smith
• Bibliophile: Reader’s Journal, Jane Mount
• Finish This Book, Keri Smith
• The Imaginary World of ____, Keri Smith
• How to be an Explorer of the World, Keri Smith
• The Wander Society, Keri Smith
• Live Out Loud, Keri Smith
• The List Journal, Owl and Zebra Press
• The Feelings Journal, Owl and Zebra Press
• I Wrote a Book About You, Clarke and Edge
• Q&A A Day, Potter Gift
• A Couple’s Guided Memory Journal, Studio Oh!
• Complete the Story, Piccadilly
• Write the Story, Piccadilly
• The Book of Me, Peter Pauper Press
• One Line a Day, Chronicle Books
• What I Wore Today, Gemma Correll
• 642 Things to Draw, Po Bronson
• 642 Things to Write About, Po Bronson
•  The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook, Michael L. Gelb
• The Artist’s Way Morning Pages Journal, Julia Cameron
• Start Where You Are, Meera Lee Patel
• Art Before Breakfast, Danny Gregory
• Get Messy Art (online journaling community)
• Story by Story, Brenda Hudson
• Azure Dreams Journal, Peter Pauper Press
• 1 Page at a Time, Adam J. Kurtz
• I Am Here Now, The Mindfulness Project
• 365, Noah Scalin
• The Art of Getting Started, Lee Crutchley
• Letters to My Future Self, Lea Redmond
• The Scribble Diary, Lisa Curry
• Start Now!, Kate Neckel
• Ready, Set, Novel, Baty and Grant
• The Fashion Journal, Ohh Deer
• Year of the Doodle¸ Dawn Devries Sokol
• The Dream Journal, Knock Knock
• Map My Heart, Dominic Evans
• Write Here, Write Now, LaRue and Less
• The Steal Like an Artist Journal, Austin Kleon
• How to Be Happy, Lee Crutchley
• No Mistakes, Keiko Agena
• The Wild Unknown Journal, Kim Krans
• Write the Poem, Piccadilly
• Bibliophile Reader’s Journal, Jane Mount

I also had a desire to include the best books to get you started in a hobby, but that would have taken days of research, because there are so many hobbies and I’d have to boil each hobby down to just a couple books. I could do it, but it would take forever and would have holes. Here are some of my more-or-less-hobbies: painting, collaging, photography, embroidery, hiking, camping, roller skating, yoga, drawing, home design, fashion, cooking, baking, leisure cycling, movie-viewing, working out, blogging, eating out, singing, listening to music, not to mention science, history, and philosophy, among other special interests like astronomy, mycology, archaeology, marine biology, etc. And ones I would like to learn/re-learn: knitting, crocheting, making clothes, pottery, mosaic-making, flying (yes, a plane), piano, a stringed instrument, also etc. Suffice it to say we are in a time when you can find out what you want to know to join a community, learn about something new, and participate in any and all of these hobbies and the ones you are interested in, as well. Just look it up, do a little digging.