Now that the abominable 2009 (did anyone have a good year in 2009?) is behind us, it’s time to start anew with fresh resolutions to stick to, goals and challenges to work toward and a new layout for Start Narrative Here. Here is to 2010, a year which is destined to offer more sparkle than the last. Only a few days in and it seems to already be delivering. And, just to keep the ch-ch-ch-changes happening for 2010, I’ve finally succumbed to the twitterbug.

Some of the books I ordered before Christmas – including some intended as Christmas gifts (no, really, thank you for striking at the busiest mailing time of year Australia Post workers) – have arrived this week, fresh from their bubble-wrapped jackets. A bookseller enthusiastically recommended the Bolaño to me, and he’s been spot on with all of his other recommendations.

• A Lover’s Discourse by Roland Barthes
• The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
• Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
• The U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos
• Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth

I’ve been enjoying my time off from work and my reading has taken a prolific turn. In the next week I’ll be posting my reviews of a heartbreaking work about Hurricane Katrina, a salacious biography of a notorious figure from Melbourne’s seedy history and 2009′s most controversial novel.