The beginning of a new year is a wonderful time to review what you’ve been doing. You may discover that what you’re doing is not what is most important but what’s most pressing. Step back and see how you’re spending your time. Is it spent on what means most to you?

In the recent movie “The bucket list” (available at Muskogee Public Library) two people who are facing death discuss a list of things they want to do before they “kick the bucket.” What would your bucket list include?

Many books deal with achieving goals, having life experiences or visiting locations. Are you willing to miss parenting children, preparing yourself for a fulfilling job, making a difference in someone’s life? Would you miss bungee jumping, clogging or sky-diving? How about viewing the Great Wall of China, Stonehenge or the Mississippi River? Books can help you plan so that you don't miss out. For example “1,000 places to see before you die” by Patricia Schultz features locations grouped by continent that offer memorable experiences.

There are ways to travel other than highway, railway, air or water. It's been pointed out frequently that a book can take you anywhere, even to places that never were.

The Mayor’s Reading Challenge can help you visit places just like your hometown, places that are far away, even places that are imaginary.

If you would like to read stories that take place in our own country, try “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain/ Samuel

Clemens set in small Mississippi towns along the river. If the Kansas prairie is somewhere you’d like to explore, read “O Pioneers!” by Willa Cather. You can experience what it might be like to attend a New England private prep school for boys in “A separate peace” by John Knowles.

Would you rather visit places on other continents? Try William Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet” set in Verona, Italy. Experience what happened during the holocaust in Romania by reading “Night” by Elie Wiesel. Visit England as seen by a fifteen-year old autistic boy by reading “The curious incident of the dog in the night-time” by Mark Haddon. Travel from the United States to the Congo and back with the characters in “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver.

If you choose not to be limited by reality, travel to places that never were. Lois Lowery invites you to visit a “perfect” future community that may not live up to expectations in “The giver.” “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury never happened anywhere but seems as real as when he created a vision of it. Other works seem to be set in ordinary places, but the things that happen seem unlikely ever to have occurred. Examples include “The metamorphosis” by Frantz Kafka, “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley and “Animal farm” by George Orwell.

Whatever you choose to experience this year reading can expand your possibilities, so resolve to read.