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Sunday, December 28, 2014

A year of reading & a favor

Last year, I set a goal of reading 45 books.  When it became clear I was going to pass that number easily, I bumped it up to 70.  And I reached that mark yesterday.



Celebration!!

Here are all the titles I read:





I think you can click HERE and see them in more detail.

Favorites -- The Good Girl, Attachments, and all the Melanie Shawn books (love them!)
Least Favorites -- Labor Day, Landline, We Were Liars

It was a great year of books. And there were about a dozen I didn't log on GoodReads either because they were re-reads or I was afraid of being judged for what I was reading.

Anyway ... time to look to 2015.  I'm going to set the mark at 70 again.

But there's more.

In the new year, I want to expand my reading horizons a little.  And I also want to talk more about what I'm reading in this space.  On the last Sunday of each month, I will do a three-book round-up from that month.  This round-up will include:

- One memoir/biography
- One classic (I'm being a bit liberal with this category and including the re-reading of books I read for classes in junior high and high school)
- One blog reader recommendation

This is where I need your help!!

I have about six memoir/biographies picked out and only two classics.  I'll take recs in those areas, but the biggest one is that third category.  I know there are some readers out there -- tell me your absolute favorite book or author.  I'll pick 12 to feature throughout the year (and definitely give you a shout out).  You can check out my "read" shelf on GoodReads if you want to make sure I haven't already read your recommendation.

P.S. I also plan to finally finish the Harry Potter series, for those of you who are concerned about that.


10 comments:

  1. Good job, you! I only managed to read a dismal 19 books this year.

    Jane Eyre and On the Road are two suggestions for you. Opposite ends of the spectrum but that's what makes reading fun!

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  2. Just glancing at my bookshelf, I can recommend some juv. fiction that's still appropriate for adults :) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, and the Forge and Chains trilogy by Laurie Halse Andersen. I read them as an adult and they're some of my favorites.

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  3. Sigh. Wrote a long response out and then signing in made it disappear. Anyway wow, you did a great job reading this hear - I sucked. And I recommend (not sure If you've read anything of these): Unbroken, the testing series, the selection series, the Handmaid's tale, the art of racing in the rain...

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  4. My favorite classic is Jane Eyre, my favorite book, period, is The Time Traveler's Wife, and my favorite memoir is Wild by Cheryl Strayed. A YA title I would recommend for you is Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - the love story is very cute and the characters are geeky and seem like real people.

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  5. If you loved Gone Girl, then I'd highly recommend The Silent Wife and Before I Go to Sleep. The Other Typist was also psychologically twisty and very good. My favorite author of this year was Sarah Addison Allen-- Garden Spells and Lost Lake were AMAZING. Some good memoirs I've enjoyed are Andre Agassi's book, Open, and Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan. This is a great idea for reading new books!!

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  6. 70 books? Awesome! :) If you are into historical fiction....especially the time period of Henry VIII, I highly recommend Philippa Gregory's books!

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  7. I am so freakin impressed, I hardly read at all except for trashy magazines, so I actually just emailed some girlfriends a few days ago that I am relaunching book club in 2015, and our first book will be Wild.
    I honestly always feel weird recommending books bc I'm afraid people have different tastes than me. Like I know some people that LOVED the Night Circus. And I couldn't even get myself to finish it, I stopped halfway, which I rarely do. I just didn't get it and it made me feel dumb that I wasn't getting it, haha. One book that I really enjoyed was The Husband's Secret. I couldn't put it down!

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  8. oh and PS I didn't like Landline either, which was such a let done! I second the Nightly Circus recommendation above too!

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  9. Way to go on hitting the 70 book mark! I got to that number in 2014 too - it's amazing how fast they go when you've gotten into a good series or a good author. I'm telling everyone who will listen to read Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. It is so good and I really love it. I also loved the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. I was ecstatic that the final book came out in 2014.

    I read your blog pretty regularly but am bad at commenting. I have a blog too but I am horrible at staying up to date. I am hoping to do that though this year so here's a link if you're ever interested (seems only fair since I read about you all the time): https://mindytrue.wordpress.com. I'm going to friend you on GoodReads too so you can see my bookshelf :) Happy reading!

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