When I set my reading goal a year ago, I was pretty sure I'd be able to read 40 books. But I never dreamed that I'd finish the year after revising my goal four times and tallying 76 books in the "READ" column.
But I did.
First, a look at some stats. I finished 76 books and 27,055 pages (give or take a few pages since some were Kindle titles that I had no page information for). That's a lot. A lot of books. A lot of pages and a lot of trees that are probably dead. Fear not, I'm starting to save a few trees by reading more titles on my Kindle, which I love. Each book averaged 356 pages. I finished an average of 6.3 books and 2,255 pages per month.
Other numbers that jump out?
The shortest book I read was The Prince by Kiera Cass at 64 pages. OK. Maybe it's more of a novella, but it's still on my list and therefore counts as the shortest thing I read. The longest was A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin, which came in at 1,177 pages. That was a beast, but so so good. There were a couple of authors that showed up on my list multiple times, including Tammara Webber (2), Nicholas Sparks (3), Veronica Roth (3), Lauren Oliver (3), Jamie McGuire (4), George R.R. Martin (3), Miranda Kenneally (2), Lauren Kate (2), Charlaine Harris (2), John Grisham (2), Tana French (3), Gayle Forman (4), Gillian Flynn (2), Kiera Cass (2) and Rachel Astor (3).
My take aways for the year?
I love, love, love George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. While HBO's Game of Thrones is some pretty spectacular TV viewing, I think the books are one hundred times better. So much detail, so many different story lines, so much drama! Seriously. These books are long and kind of intimidating, but they seriously suck you in and you don't realize you just finished a 1,000 page novel. I have the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, sitting on my table, just waiting to be read. I've just got a few short books from the library that I have to finish off first.
I got a chance to check out some new authors this year. One that quickly became a favorite was Tana French and her Dublin Murder Squad series. Maybe it's because I like crime-type stuff, but I liked how French wove a crime into a real story. Good stuff. Check her out.
Like always, I aimed to read at least one "classic" in 2013. I managed to squeeze in two last year: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, both were pretty good. I'm not sure what classic I'll tackle in 2014, but there will be at least one on my list.
Throughout the year I did a fairly detailed monthly review of what I read. Check out the links for lists, ratings and a sentence or two about what I thought.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Which brings me to goals for 2014. I know 76 books was a lot last year, and honestly, it might have been a perfect storm of conditions being right for me to even be able to read that much. But I want to try to read 77 books in 2014 with at least one classic. I know I like the Young Adult genre, but I'm going to try to broaden my tastes a bit and not read quite as much YA (yeah, that may not happen).
So what are you reading goals for the new year?
1 comment:
Don't apologize for reading YA -- a book is a book. Speaking of which, check out Ally Carter's "Heist Society" series. Just started bk 1 and it's fun!
Also, if you've never read Dracula, I would highly recommended it for your classic. We read it for book club and everyone enjoyed it.
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