This year, my mantra is to keep reminding myself that quantity is no substitute for quality
Worth reading again: Jon Fosse’s Septology comes in at 825 pages. Photo: Helge Skodvin/Getty Images
The best thing about New Year’s resolutions is not making them. They’ll disappoint you, leave you feeling like a failure, and who needs that in the middle of a long, broke, dark January? The second-best thing about resolutions is that if you make them a few weeks into the year, it will allow you to feel as if yours have lasted so much longer than everyone else’s. It’s the little victories.
I gave up making the holy trinity of resolutions years ago — January just isn’t the time when I have the moral fortitude for ones that involve exercise, food or alcohol. So many of them have personally betrayed me over the years; even now I can see them lying crumpled in the rear-view mirror of my life like manifesto promises after a general election. This year I’m sticking to ones around reading, and I must be feeling optimistic if I’m willing to commit to them to print.
