Our staff share their literary resolutions for the new year.

Last year I resolved to finish every book that I started, but I didn’t do such a great job with that. So I’m going to have to recycle that resolution! An extension of this would be to finish everything in my pile of books that have been lent to me. There are some gems in that pile, beloved by their respective owners, and I’ve held onto them for far too long already.

This year I feel like I finally discovered how much I enjoy graphic novels, crime fiction and YA, so plan to read a lot more of all three categories in 2016! I’m going to start with some that come highly recommended – Killing and Dying (graphic collection), Sharp Objects (crime) and Cloudwish (YA). – Stella Charls, marketing and events coordinator

I am going to keep a list of every book I read this year so make next year’s literary lists much easier! – Dani Solomon, children’s specialist at Carlton

I read a lot of literary fiction in 2015, which is fantastic, and I fell in love with so many amazing books in the process. In 2016, I want to try and step outside of my usual reading habits a little more, because looking at my ‘Books I Have Read This Year’ spreadsheets from the past few years, I definitely have a type of book that I’ll always, always go for (literary novels by women about relationships/friendships/family is my catnip). In 2016, I want to read more serious non-fiction, I want to read more YA, and I want to read more genre fiction (science fiction, fantasy and romance especially.) These are lofty goals considering I am a judge for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction in 2016, which means I’ll be reading many, many wonderful new works of literary fiction by Australian authors, and possibly not a lot else, but I can absolutely fit it all in and read everything, right? – Nina Kenwood, marketing manager

I kept a spreadsheet of everything I’ve read this year, including nationality, gender, genre etc. Looking at it now I can see there are some big gaps in my reading history, which is partly my taste and partly the influence of my job. In the new year, I plan to try read more translated books; in 2015 I only read two. – Bronte Coates, digital content coordinator

I have something shameful to admit: I’ve never read Little Women. Every time people sigh and grow misty-eyed over Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, I just sort of smile and nod and hope that somebody changes the subject.

I also haven’t read any of the Anne of Green Gables books, which means that I’m forever slyly googling the series whenever a customer asks me for ‘the one where Anne becomes a teacher’. But perhaps the worst one of all is that I never read The Little Prince – I tried once when I was a child, but I only got as far as the bit about the snake that looks like a hat (or is it a hat that looks like a snake?) before I lost interest.

So, that’ll be my literary resolution – read more classic children’s books. Or at least google them in preparation for the next time they’re brought up in conversation. – Holly Harper, children’s specialist at Carlton

Every year my resolution is to read more, more, more – and 2016 will be no different. This time, I’m going to try to be smarter about it, reading books as I buy them rather than letting them pile up until suddenly, I’m faced with a daunting mountain. I’m also going to try and spend more time with cookbooks. I’ve always seen them as a bit of a luxury in the past, but after some particularly delicious experiences in 2015 I’m going to be paying more attention. – Alan Vaarwerk, editorial assistant for Readings Monthly