2014 was a good year for reading. :) Here are my favorite books that I read this past year...
{The Headmistress of Rosemere; A Snicker of Magic; Cinder; My Stubborn Heart; Cress; As You Wish; The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie; I Capture the Castle; Blue Skies Tomorrow; Jane, the Fox, & Me; The Blue Castle; Here to Stay}
My goal was to read at least 70 books this year. I met and surpassed that goal by a bit...I've read 71 books as of today. I know I'll finish my reread of Mere Christianity in the next day or two because I only have one chapter left, and I'm pretty sure that I'll finish the book that I'm currently reading by January 1st.
I reread 13 books this year, which was two more than last year. I'm a big fan of rereading books that I love, though I don't always do it as often as I'd like because there are so many new books to read. :) I read three complete series: The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch, The Montmaray Journals by Michelle Cooper, and a reread of the Harry Potter series.
As for my other bookish resolutions, here's how I did...I failed at shrinking my number of unread books that I own. In fact, after all of the books I bought this year, that number grew to over 150. I know, I know, it's ridiculous and I have a major problem. I own over 500 books, so it's not like the majority of my books are unread, but it's still way too many.
I wanted to read five new-to-me classics, and I did that. Never mind that some of them are technically "modern classics," and most of them were children's books. :) I did read The Great Gatsby, which I'd been meaning to do forever. I didn't finish rereading Jane Austen's novels...the only one I read was Mansfield Park, but I'm going to start Emma soon. And for the third year in a row, I didn't reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 2015 will be the year, you guys. Hopefully. :)
I did keep a book journal consistently, as I have for the past couple of years. Also, I'm going to check off my goal of using the library more. I only actually checked out books about twice this year, but the library was still particularly helpful. Because several of the books I read were ones that I had almost spontaneously purchased, and I ended up really disliking them. So thank you, library, for helping me save that money.
What were your favorite books that you read this year?
I still have 7 more books to read to meet my goal because I kept bumping up my goal before I reached it. I think I started at around 60 and now it is 80. I am not sure I will do it again because I want to focus more on quality rather than quantity and allow myself some rereads, and I focus too much on the challenge. I rarely ever do not have stacks of library books; I have cut down a little but I still go overboard:/ I cut the books I own down as I want to be more choosy about the quality (hard backs when available and books I love).
ReplyDeleteYes, sometimes it's hard not to focus on the challenge, especially if you get behind and it keeps obnoxiously reminding you how many books behind you are. I would probably visit our library a lot more if I lived closer...it's about a 25 minute drive. But when I do go I check out at least 6 or 7 books. :) I've also been trying to collect nice editions of books that I love instead of always going for the cheapest ones.
DeleteGreat job on your reading challenge! Looks like you read a lot of great ones.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I did read some great books this year. :)
DeleteI love your best of book posts. I actually went back and reread your post from last year because it popped up on my timehop. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm glad you enjoy them. :)
DeleteI love your favorites collage - books are just so pretty, aren't they?! My brother gave me As You Wish for Christmas (and I'm loving it), Cinder and Cress are on their way from Book Outlet, and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie has been taunting me from my to-be-read shelf for months. Apparently I'm in for some scrumptious reading. :)
ReplyDeleteEven though I'm not going to meet my Goodreads goal for this year, I'm still pretty happy with what I was able to do. My highlights were finally reading the Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Both were pretty epic time investments, but completely worth it. My other favorites were Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter, and Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery.
Here's to another year of lovely new book finds! :)
Thanks! I was very pleased to realize that all of my favorite books of the year had nice covers, though it was completely coincidental. :) I'm glad you enjoyed As You Wish, I think you'll love the Lunar Chronicles series (they were much better than I expected them to be), and The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie is such a classic British mystery with some quirkiness thrown in. I want to read more of that series in 2015...those books are practically begging to be a BBC mini-series!
DeleteYou're right, the HP series and the LOTR trilogy are definitely huge time investments! It took me 5 months to get through my reread of Harry Potter, though of course I read books in between. :) I need to read Rebecca in 2015, too...I really meant to read it this past year.
Cinder and Cress <3
ReplyDeleteLook's like you've had a fantastic book-y year :)
I was pleasantly surprised with that series! I'm not really into sci-fi (except Doctor Who), but the way she adapted fairy tales for that setting is genius. :)
Delete