One goal I have this year is to read Alexis deTocqueville's Democracy in America. I decided I needed to read it after hearing this brief excerpt read by George Plimpton at the beginning of Ric Burns' American Experience film "The Donner Party":
It is odd to watch with what feverish ardor Americans pursue prosperity. Ever tormented by the shadowy suspicion that they may not have chosen the shortest route to get it. They cleave to the things of this world as if assured that they will never die, and yet rush to snatch any that comes within their reach as if they expected to stop living before they had relished them. Death steps in, in the end, and stops them before they have grown tired of this futile pursuit of that complete felicity which always escapes them.Other reading goals including (finally, really) finishing The Power Broker , reading Catch 22 (how is it I have missed Catch 22 all these years?), and starting Dickens' Bleak House. (Please note that I am not committing to finishing the latter.)
"The Donner Party" is a terrific film, by the way. Well worth your time -- and you can watch it online.