Celebrate the New Year with Books and Reading

Well, the clock has chimed midnight, the bell has rung, the ball has dropped, and we have been launched into 2023. So let’s talk about some bookish ways to celebrate the new year. Forget about wild parties and loud music and think about a get together where you swap books or settling into a comfy nook to read the evening away.

What are some of the ways that you might make books part of your new year or the new year part of your reading?

Reading resolutions

Goodreads hosts a reading challenge every year. If you want to set a goal for the number of books you would like to read, Goodreads will keep track of them and let you know when you have met your reading goal.

As of the day of writing this post, 2.408.157 people have joined the Goodreads reading challenge, with an average of 44 books pledged. Maybe you would aim for more than that number, maybe fewer. Setting and writing down your goal is a good incentive to complete it. And if you’re reading my blog, chances are, you love to read. (Why else are you here?)

You can also set up a Goodreads shelf of books to be read in 2023, with the top 12 (or more) books you plan to read.

Books about making resolutions

I have written before about some of my favourite books about goal setting or planning for a new year. It’s not too late to start now!
And if you are looking for a calendar or planner, check out my Calgary park themed offerings:

Host a book club this year

Invite friends, family, or coworkers to join you in reading and discussing a specific book or set of books. This can be a great way to connect with others and explore new ideas.

Donate books

Consider donating books to a local library, school, or community center. This is a great way to give back and share the joy of reading with others. Or maybe there is a Little Free Library in your neighbourhood. Some of them are registered through the Little Free Library website. Give some and get some!

Throw a literary-themed party

Host a book swap: Invite guests to bring a book they love and are willing to trade with others. Set up a table for the books and let guests choose a new one to take home.
Plan a book club party: Invite guests to come prepared to discuss a specific book or set of books. You could also provide snacks and drinks that are mentioned in the book to add to the theme.
Set up a reading room: Create a cozy and comfortable space for guests to relax and read. You could also provide blankets, pillows, and other cozy touches to make it feel like a literary retreat.
Play literary trivia: Create a list of trivia questions about classic literature and divide guests into teams to see who knows the most about books.
Have a book character costume party: Encourage guests to dress up as their favorite book characters. This can be a fun and creative way to celebrate literature.
Host a poetry night: Invite guests to bring their favorite poems to share, or have a poetry open mic night where anyone can read their own work.

Read a Book Centered Around New Year’s Eve/Day

I couldn’t think of a lot of New Year’s themed mystery books, but I have managed to dig a few up for you.

The first book in my Zachary Goldman Mysteries private investigator series has a timeline that runs from December through January, with a major event taking place on New Year’s Eve.

She Wore Mourning

A dead child.
A mother deep in mourning.

Private Investigator Zachary Goldman’s life isn’t all roses, but he tries to put his own shattered life behind him to investigate the death of five-year-old Declan Bond.

Declan’s death has been ruled an accident, but his grandmother thinks there is more to it. She fears Declan’s mother will not be able to find peace until Zachary can give them an answer once and for all. But as Zachary digs into the circumstances surrounding Declan’s death, he finds that all is not as it seems, and somebody doesn’t want him to find the truth.

As Christmas Eve, the deadline for solving the case looms closer, both Isabella and Zachary fall deeper into the darkness. they’ll have to survive Christmas Eve to find it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Psychologically complex and gripping … Zachary must deal with his own psychological issues as well as those of the child’s parents along with attempts on his life. I’m binge reading this series.

Zachary Goldman, Private Investigator, is flawed with a capital F. Shattered by the tragedies of his own life, he will somehow still manage to pick himself up and dig just a little bit deeper than anyone else to find the vital clues.

Maybe being broken makes it easier for others who have faced tragedy to trust him. Walk with Zachary as he solves cases that will stretch his abilities to the limit.

Even with his own life in shambles, Zachary Goldman is still the one you want on the case.

Investigate this P.I. mystery now!

Or make it a bundle:

And a few more I found…

New Year’s Eve Murder

After the annual parade of Christmas presents in Tinker’s Cove has ended, Lucy Stone and her daughter Elizabeth are ready to ring in the new year in style. Elizabeth has won mother/daughter winter makeovers in Manhattan from Jolie magazine! But the all-expenses-paid trip is bound to have some hidden costs–and one of them is murder. . .

After finally arriving at the offices of Jolie, meeting their fellow makeover candidates, and being treated to a fashion show, Elizabeth is enamored of the extreme outfits and stick-thin models–while Lucy’s having some misgivings. The pampering is nice and the glitz and glamour of haute couture is bizarrely fascinating, but bitterness and aggression lurk behind Jolie’s hipper-than-thou façade. And things turn downright ugly when self-absorbed fashion editor Nadine Nelson falls mysteriously ill and then dies. . .

Lucy saw first-hand some of the backstabbing going on at Jolie. And the red-hot rumor mill soon reveals that the cliquish connection among the magazine’s cabal of high-style executives has stirred up plenty of bad blood over the years. But this Manhattan murder mystery hits too close to home when Elizabeth gets rushed to the hospital with symptoms that are disturbingly similar to Nadine’s. Now, it’s up to Lucy to dress down a killer before the ball drops in Times Square. . .

Fantastic Fiction

Let Dead Enough Alone

Capt. M. L. Heimrich of the New York State Police may not have the flash of hard-boiled city detectives, but there’s no lead the intrepid investigator won’t follow until his every hunch is satisfied . . .

A New Year’s Eve party should be filled with champagne, laughter, and the good company of others. And the Halley’s celebration at their country house is exactly that. But the next day has barely dawned when a shocking discovery begins the new year with a dreadful bang.

Psychologist Margaret Halley is convinced her depressed husband drowned himself in the lake. But why would a man intent on suicide walk through a hundred yards of deep snow to jump into a freezing lake when there was a bottle of sleeping pills next to his bed?

As Captain Heimrich investigates the Halleys—and their guests—he has a sinking feeling that someone must have sent John Halley to his watery grave.

Amazon

The Right Murder

A dozen murders and counting—and any one of them could lead a Chicago attorney to a hotheaded female tycoon.

It’s 11:59 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and criminal lawyer John J. Malone is nursing his blues in a Chicago dive bar. He’s been two-timed by his inamorata and abandoned by his favorite gumshoe partners, crime reporter Jake Justus and socialite Helene Brand, for their Bermuda honeymoon. But Malone’s not lonely for long. Suddenly, a stranger staggers into the bar, calls out the attorney’s name, and drops dead—stabbed in the back. In his possession is a key that could unlock the cold heart of Mona McClane, a wealthy and beautiful thrill-seeker who once challenged Jake in a high-stakes gamble: She’d bet him she could get away with murder.

Is this dead man a pawn in Mona’s game? If so, thank goodness Jake and Helene’s honeymoon turned as a sour as a margarita. They’re already back in town, at odds, yet ready to play. With a crazy wager like Mona’s, Malone fears they’ll be ringing in the New Year with a countdown of corpses.

The Clock Strikes Twelve

When a British industrialist is murdered on New Year’s Eve, his wealthy family members are the prime suspects.

Though they share a manor house, the Paradines are not close, and their patriarch does nothing to discourage the petty jealousies that divide wealthy families. A cold figure, James Paradine prefers work to his relations, but on New Year’s Eve he convenes the household. Valuable plans have been stolen from his office, and only one person could be to blame. He knows the culprit’s name, and gives the thief until midnight to come forward. By midnight, James Paradine is dead. Was it the thief who killed him, or could it have been someone else, acting on different motives entirely? The local constables are baffled, and it is left to prim detective Maud Silver to out the murderer.

Amazon

Auld Lang Syne

No. 6 in The Kate Lawrence Mysteries. It’s almost New Year’s Eve, and Kate finds herself at her 35th high school reunion, where she is confronted by The Mean Girls, circa 1978. Worse yet, she’s put on a little weight, and her high school steady is expected to show. Strutter’s teenage son faces a personal dilemma, and one of Margo’s clients is in big trouble. Should auld acquaintance be forgot? If only that were possible.

Amazon