My New Year's Resolution: To Read More Fiction

We still have two weeks before New Year's Eve, but it's not too soon to make a New Year's resolution.

Mine? To read more fiction.

2014 has flown by faster than any year of my life. Now that the year is drawing to a close, it dawned on me that I didn't read one fiction book this year. Not one.

I certainly didn't make a conscious decision not to read any novels this year. Maybe because I've been writing a nonfiction book this year, that's where my focus is.

Throughout 2014, I've been helping Chicago businessman Raymond Lambert write his autobiography, which will chronicle the history of the legendary comedy club he co-founded in the '90s, All Jokes Aside. The club helped launch many famous African-American comedians, including the Original Kings of Comedy Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and the late Bernie Mac. All Jokes Aside has such a storied history that it was the subject of the documentary "Phunny Business: A Black Comedy," which has been airing on Showtime.

I've read some wonderful autobiographies this year, including "To the Beat of My Own Drum," the memoir of one of a phenomenally talented woman I've long admired, Sheila E. (you can read my review of her page-turning story by clicking this link). And right now I'm in the middle of reading two books: Carlos Santana's autobiography "The Universal Tone" and rock journalist Alan Light's excellent "Let's Go Crazy," which chronicles of the making of Prince's groundbreaking "Purple Rain" movie and soundtrack.

I also read my good friend Sherri ScottNovoa's moving and funny book, "I Told You Not to Back that Thang Up!" Technically, this is a novel, but it's a semiautobiographical account of Sherri's life experiences, so it's not "fiction" in the truest sense.

My neglect of fiction is especially strange since creative writing is my first love. I've have a published novel under my belt, "The Chloe Chronicles," and I love being transported by fantasy and imagination.

There is some top-rate fiction on my bookshelf that I haven't gotten around to cracking open yet, including an autographed copy of Junot Diaz's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." (You can read my post about my awkward encounter with Mr. Diaz when he came to speak at my alma mater, Ohio State, by clicking this link.)  

I also started reading Thomas Hardy's classic "Tess of the D'Ubervilles" last year, but haven't yet managed to make it past the first chapter.

If anyone has any suggestions of good fiction books I can read in 2015, I'm definitely open to suggestions. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comment section below or email me through my the "Contact" page on my website, Chrisbournea.com.

Happy New Year! (in advance)