January 2016 Reads

So, something truly insane happened this month… I read 42 books (!!!)

Yeah, I’m as shocked as you are. And before you thumb your nose at how many of them were illustrated books, note that 12 of them were full-length novels. I don’t think I’ve ever read 12 novels in one month before, especially in addition to all the other kinds of books I read. It might be my best reading month ever. EVER!

How did I manage to read this many, you ask? Hmmm, should I let you in on my secret? OK, fine. I’ll tell you: I made reading a priority. I barely watched Netflix and Hulu this month. I tried my best to cut down on my social media channels. Basically, I spent all of my “off-time” reading books. And it felt incredible.

As you might remember, I was in a terrible reading slump for six months. It was a very sad time (reading-wise/ book-blogger wise). So, I suppose I decided to make up for all that lost time in the month of January. I feel rejuvenated. I’m looking forward to picking up books again. The more I read, the more I want to read. It’s a fabulous feeling.

And so, for posterity’s sake, here’s all the books I read in the month of January 2016:

Novels:

1. Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard
2. Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo
3. Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2) by Leigh Bardugo
4. Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo
5. Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
6. The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery
7. The Winter King (Weathermages of Mystral #1) by C.L. Wilson
8. The Marvels by Brian Selznick
9. Tin Star (Tin Star #1) by Cecil Castellucci
10. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
11. White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
12. Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi

Graphic Novels:

1. Oddly Normal Vol. 2 by Otis Frampton
2. Snoopy: Party Animal! By Charles M. Schulz
3. Adulthood is a Myth: A Sarah’s Scribbles Collection by Sarah Andersen
4. Camp Midnight by Steven T. Seagle
5. Unicorn vs. Goblins (Heavenly Nostrils #3) by Dana Simpson
6. Marvel’s Jessica Jones #1 by Brian Michael Bendis
7. The Sandwich Thief by Andre Marois
8. Crystal Cadets by Anne Toole
9. The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party (The Princess in Black #2) by Shannon Hale
10. The Dreadful Fate of Jonathan York: A Yarn for the Strange of Heart by Kory Merritt
11. Orphan Black #1 by John Fawcett
12. Miami Vice Remix #1 by Joe Casey
13. The Motorcycle Samurai Vol. 1: A Fiery Demise by Chris Sheridan

Children’s/Illustrated Books:

1. Miss Moon: Wise Words from a Dog Governess by Janet Hill
2. If I Had a Gryphon by Vikki VanSickle
3. Noni Speaks Up by Heather Hartt-Sussman
4. Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies by Carmen Oliver
5. Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson
6. Squirrel Me Timbers by Louise Pigott
7. Little Red by Bethan Woollvin
8. Coco and the Little Black Dress by Annemarie van Haeringen
9. Two Long Ears by Jacob. A. Boehne
10. Rosie the Raven by Helga Bansch
11. An Armadillo in New York by Julie Kraus
12. Over-Scheduled Andrew by Ashley Spires
13. As Time Went By by Jose Sanabria
14. Mr. Hulot at the Beach by David Merveille
15. Gordon and Tapir by Sebastian Meschenmoser
16. Babak the Beetle by Fred Paranuzzi

Other Genres:

1. The Grumpy Guide to Life: Observations from Grumpy Cat by Grumpy Cat

How was your January?
Get any substantial reading time in?

2015 End of Year Book Survey

I know I'm a little late to the party, but since I had so much fun filling out The Perpetual Page Turner's End of Year Book Survey in 2013, I wanted to fill it out for 2015 as well. It's fun to reminisce about the books you've read, especially when you had a reading year as plentiful as mine.

1. Best Book You Read In 2015?
Hands down The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I'm such a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables, so I knew I'd love to read L.M. Montgomery's only adult-oriented novel. I was right.


2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Everneath by Brodi Ashton. It's so popular on Goodreads, and it had all the makings for a fun read, including an interesting mythology and romance, but the writing was so generic and boring that I couldn't get invested.


3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? 

The Princess and the Fog by Lloyd Jones. This is a children's book, so you'd think it would be light and simple, but it actually tackles the complicated subject of depression. It's really powerful.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

I don't really push people to specifically read books I've read; I usually just push people to read books in general. The one book I really raved about all year, however, was the badass graphic novel version of Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch.


5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

Best Series: The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles, #1) by Mary E. Pearson

Best Sequel: The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles, #2)

Best Series Ender: I didn't read any.

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?
Marie Rutkoski, author of The Winner's Curse (The Winner's Trilogy, #1)

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
Poetry, Love is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Spread, Vol. 1: No Hope by Justin Jordan. It's this crazy dystopian/horror/fantasy graphic novel that I couldn't put down. There are monsters, cannibals, religious fanatics, and a little baby. So good.

9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? 

I'm not likely to re-read any book ever-- there are too many books in the world to have time to re-read any.


10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?
Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali and Raphaelle Barbanegre
 

11. Most memorable character of 2015?
The delightful Pip Bartlett from Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures by Jackson Pearce and Maggie Stiefavter.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015?
Winter’s Child by Angela McAllister.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015?
Luna's Red Hat by Emmi Smid. Another children's book. It's a picture book about a little girl coping with her mother's suicide.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. I'd wanted to read this book for years and years. I should've read it in elementary school, probably. But I read it for the first time this year and loved it so much that it's definitely become an all-time favorite. 5/5 stars for sure.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

“I’m the Doctor, not a companion; Buffy, not Bella; nobody’s sidekick, love interest, or token female. I’m driving this ship. I’m a fangirl, a feminist, and a force to be reckoned with.” --Sam Maggs, The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?
Shortest: Jingle Bells by James Lord Pierpont, 14 pages

Longest: The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press, 1026 pages

17. Book That Shocked You The Most
Wytches by Scott Snyder.


18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn. Kinda predictable, I guess. But I don't usually come up with my own OTPs. I like canon.


19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
All of the cute lil animal friends from Unlikely Friendships by Jennifer S. Holland.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Spellbound by Nora Roberts. Good ol' Nora. Her older works rarely let me down.

21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll. It's a beautifully creepy horror graphic novel with gorgeous illustrations. A few of my friends recommended it highly, and I'm glad I listened to them.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015?
Christopher Heron from The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. I love me a tortured hero.

23. Best 2015 debut you read?

This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee. Really great historical gothic fantasy from an awesome debut author.


24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley. I'd like to meet the Man Who Bends Light one day.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
Cat vs Human: Poems about Cats by Yasmine Surovec. Self explanatory, I think.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?

Yes, Let's by Galen Goodwin Longstreth and Maris Wicks. I read it at least twenty times over and cried literally every time. It's not even a sad book. It's a beautiful children's book about a family going on vacation together. It tugged at my sentimental heartstrings every time. I LOVE this book.


27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula by Andi Watson.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Bug in a Vacuum by Melanie Watt. It's about a bug who gets stuck in a vacuum... and it made me question life and the universe. If you want to read a children's book that will make you feel feelings, read this one.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?
For sure Lauren DeStefano's A Curious Tale of the In-Between. Awesome middle grade fantasy about ghosts and magic.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

Things I’ve Learned from the Women Who’ve Dumped Me by Ben Karlin. There's a disturbing essay in this collection involving animal cruelty, and I was ready to toss the audiobook out of the car window when I heard it. I'm not one for book burning, but in this case...

I am linking my survey up at the Perpetual Page Turner's blog.

Let me know if you've filled out the survey,
I'd love to read your answers!

My Year in Books: 2015

Wow, 2015 was a fantastic reading year for me. I can chalk up most of my graphic novel discoveries to NetGalley. I also read a ton of children's books this year, in part because I love to buy my goddaughter books to read, and also just because I simply love them. When a children's book is done right, it can pack a punch just as strong as an adult novel.

Speaking of novels, I didn't read quite as many as I have in previous years, but sometimes less is more. I find when I read a ton of novels in a year, their details can become incredibly fuzzy for me, and I can't remember half of what I read. 

I set a goal for myself of 150 books in 2015, and I ended up reading 191. I'm really proud of my accomplishments. Even though some may scoff at a lot of the books and genres I read, I honestly don't care, because I read exactly what I wanted when I wanted. Isn't that the whole point?

Novels:
1.    The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
2.    Wicked Lovely by Marissa Marr
3.    Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
4.    Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
5.    Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
6.    The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
7.    The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
8.    Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian
9.    Echoes by Maeve Binchy
10.    Everneath by Brodi Ashton
11.    Bridie of the Wild Rose Inn by Jennifer Armstrong
12.    Firelight by Sophie Jordan
13.    Spellbound by Nora Roberts
14.    Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
15.    America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t by Stephen Colbert
16.    Things I’ve Learned from the Women Who’ve Dumped Me by Ben Karlin
17.    Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer
18.    Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures by Jackson Pearce and Maggie Stiefvater
19.    Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older
20.    The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
21.    A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano
22.    Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman
23.    The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
24.    Code of Conduct by Brad Thor
25.    Ana of California by Andi Teran
26.    The Right Design by Isabella Louise Anderson
27.    The Flame in the Mist by Kit Grindstaff
28.    This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee
29.    The Imaginary by A.F. Harrold
30.    Fast into the Night by Debbie Clarke Moderow
31.    Numero Zero by Umberto Eco
32.    The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein
33.    Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley
34.    The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
35.    The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson


Graphic Novels:
1.    Good-Bye Geist by Ryo Hanada
2.    Vox by Matteo De Longis
3.    Shutter (#1) by Joe Keatinge
4.    Strong Female Protagonist (#1) by Brenna Lee Muilligan
5.    Sovereign (#1) by Chris Roberson
6.    Orphan Blade by M. Nicholas Almand
7.    Gronk (#1) by Katie Cook
8.    The Tiger (Love #1) by  Frédéric Brrémaud
9.    The Scarlett Letter (Manga Classics) by Stacy King
10.    Rat Queens (Vol. 1, Sass & Sorcery) by Kurtis J. Wiebe
11.    Everything I Need to Know About Love I Learned From a Little Golden Book by Diane Muldrow
12.    Suffrajitsu: Mrs Pankhurst's Amazons (#1) by Tony Wolf
13.    The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
14.    Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula by Andi Watson
15.    Alone Forever: The Singles Collection by Liz Prince
16.    The Glorkian Warrior Eats Adventure Pie by James Kochalka
17.    Star Slammers (The Complete Collection) by Walter Simonson
18.    Gronk (#2) by Katie Cook
19.    Hinges: Clockwork City (#1) by Meredith McClaren
20.    Mind the Gap: Intimate Strangers (#1) by Jim McCann
21.    Wolf by Shige Nakamura
22.    Bob’s Burgers (#1) by Chad Brewster
23.    Wizzywig by Ed Piskor
24.    Henshin by Ken Niimura
25.    Little Robot by Ben Hatke
26.    Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland by Eric Shanower
27.    Oddly Normal (#1) by Otis Frampton
28.    Madame Frankenstein by Jamie S. Rich
29.    Copperhead: A New Sheriff in Town (#1) by Jay Faerber
30.    A Glance Backward by Tony Sandoval
31.    Unicorn on a Roll (Heavenly Nostrils #2) by Dana Simpson
32.    Edward Scissorhands: Parts Unknown (#1) by Kate Leth
33.    Birthright: Homecoming (#1-5) by Joshua Williamson
34.    In Search of Lost Dragons by Élian Black'mor
35.    Daomu by Kennedy Xu
36.    Exquisite Corpse by Pénélope Bagieu
37.    Creature Cops: Special Varmint Unit by Rob Anderson
38.    Alex + Ada (#1) by Jonathan Luna & Sarah Vaughn
39.    Last of the Sandwalkers by Jay Hosler
40.    Things I’ve Said to my Children by Nathan Ripperger
41.    Monstor Motors by Brian Lynch
42.    Woodstock: Master of Disguise by Charles M. Schulz
43.    Snoopy: Master of Disguise by Charles M. Schulz
44.    Low: The Delirium of Hope by Rick Remender
45.    Spread: No Hope by Justin Jordan
46.    Let’s Eat Ramen by Nagumo
47.    Sweet Blood by Seyoung Kim
48.    Shadow Show by Joe Hill
49.    Sinergy by Michael Avon Oeming
50.    Evil Cat: A Fluffy Kitty Gets Mean by Elia Anie
51.    Cat by B. Kliban
52.    The Worrier’s Guide to Life by Gemma Correll
53.    Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People by Matthew Diffee
54.    Cat vs Human by Yasmine Surovec
55.    Love: The Fox by Frederic Brremaud
56.    Fable Comics by Chris Duffy
57.    The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Romeo and Juliet by Ian Lendler
58.    Hipster Animals: A Field Guide by Dyna Moe
59.    The Book of Memory Gaps by Cecilia Ruiz
60.    Poorly Drawn Lines by Reza Faramand
61.    Invincible by Robert Kirkman
62.    Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
63.    Wytches by Scott Snyder
64.    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Illustrated Classics: A Graphic Novel by Robert Louis Stevenson

Children’s Books:
1.    The Pirate’s Bed by Nicola Winstanley
2.    Yes, Let's by Galen Goodwin Longstreth
3.    Toad Weather by Sandra Markle
4.    Birds of a Feather by Vanita Oelschlager
5.    Luna's Red Hat by Emmi Smid
6.    This Is Sadie by Sara O'Leary
7.    The Kind-hearted Monster by Max Velthuijs
8.    Eat, Leo! Eat! by Caroline Adderson
9.    The Bus Ride by Marianne Dubuc
10.    Pine and the Winter Sparrow by Alexis York Lumbard
11.    Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali
12.    Ivy in Bloom by Vanita Oelschlager
13.    The Emperor, His Bride and the Dragon Robe by Lisa Sankar-Zhu
14.    Stay! by Alex Latimer
15.    Max the Brave by Ed Vere
16.    The Frog in the Tree by Paul Waters
17.    Jake's Gigantic List by Ken Spillman
18.    Jake's Monster Mess by Ken Spillman
19.    My Dog, My Cat by Ashlee Fletcher
20.    Piper Green and the Fairy Tree by Ellen Potter
21.    Piper Green and the Fairy Tree: Too Much Good Luck by Ellen Potter
22.    I Know Sasquatch by Jess Bradley
23.    Even Monsters Say Goodnight by Doreen Mulryan Marts
24.    My Hometown by Russell Griesmer
25.    Have You Seen My Dragon? By Steve Light
26.    Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett
27.    Paris Hop! By Margie Blumberg
28.    All the Little Fathers by Margaret Wise Brown
29.    The Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi
30.    The Trotters of Tweeville by Shirin Zarqa-Lederman
31.    Don’t Dangle Your Participle by Vanita Oelschlager
32.    Me, Too! By Annika Dunklee
33.    Walk on the Wild Side by Nicholas Oldland
34.    The Princess and the Fog by Lloyd Jones
35.    Bug in a Vacuum by Melanie Watt
36.    Sonya’s Chickens by Phoebe Wahl
37.    Big Cat, Small Cat by Ami Rubinger
38.    Gryphons Aren’t So Great by James Sturm
39.    I Am Daisy by Lori Froeb
40.    Maisy’s World of Animals by Lucy Cousins
41.    Las fresas son rojas by Petr Horacek
42.    My Family Tree and Me by Dusan Petricic
43.    The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
44.    Mr. Postmouse’s Rounds by Marianne Dubuc
45.    Stanley at School by Linda Bailey
46.    Ruckus on the Ranch by The Texas Tenors
47.    Where Does Kitty Go in the Rain? By Harriet Ziefert
48.    Little Bird, Be Quiet! By Kirsten Hall
49.    Moletown by Torben Kuhlmann
50.    Oscar and the Very Hungry Dragon by Ute Krause
51.    What Pet Should I Get? By Dr. Suess
52.    The Bureau of Misplaced Dads by Eric Veille
53.    The Biggest Story by Don Clark
54.    Saucy by Martha McKeen Welch
55.    Jingle Bells by James Lord Pierpont
56.    The Best Parts of Christmas by Bethanie Deeney Murguia
57.    Too Many Toys! By Heidi Deedman
58.    Winter’s Child by Angela McAllister
59.    Snow by Same Usher
60.    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Panorama Pops by Grahame Baker-Smith

Other Genres:
1.    Dr.A.G. by Christopher Logan
2.    Poems about Cats by Yasmine Surovec
3.    Coffee Gives Me Superpowers: An Illustrated Book about the Most Awesome Beverage on Earth by Ryoko Iwata
4.    Unlikely Friendships by Jennifer S. Holland
5.    Love is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski
6.    Agonizing Love: The Golden Era of Romance Comics by Michael Barson
7.    How to Make Art by Mel Elliott
8.    Write Back Soon! By Karen Benke
9.    The Super-Deluxe Epic Journal of Awesomeness by Hourglass Press
10.    The SFP LookBook Atelier to Runway: New York Fashion Week Spring 2015 by Andrea Kiliany Thatcher
11.    The Fine Print of Self-Publishing by Mark Levine
12.    The Career Playbook by James M. Citrin
13.    The Book in America by Richard W. Clement
14.    Publishing for Profit by Thomas Woll
15.    Writer’s Market Guide to Getting Published by Writer’s Digest
16.    Editors on Editing by Gerald C. Gross
17.    Promised Land by Jay Parini
18.    The Copyeditors Handbook by Amy Einsohn
19.    The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press
20.    The Magazine from Cover to Cover by Sammye Johnson
21.    The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy by Sam Maggs
22.    The History of Farting by Benjamin Bart
23.    The Future of Farting by Barry Guff
24.    Art Without Waste by Patty K. Wongpakdee
25.    3-Minute J.R.R. Tolkien by Gary Raymond
26.    How to Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity by Patricia Carlin
27.    The Should Be a Word by Lizzie Skurnick
28.    All the Words are Yours by Tyler Knott Gregson
29.    The Wars of the Roses by Dan Jones
30.    The Graphic Novel: An Introduction by Jan Baetens

Goodreads also created a really nifty outline of my reading year, which you can check out here if you like.

How was your year in books?
Let me know in the comments!

The Six Month Book Slump

Hi, remember me? The book blogger with an obscene amount of books and no desire to actually pick them up and read them?

 

 

 

I am in the worst reading slump of my entire life. I haven't been reading consistently for the past SIX MONTHS. SIX! MONTHS! Half a year.

 

That isn't to say I haven't read at all. There have been books I've read and enjoyed, and I even fully intended on reviewing them here. Especially Mackenzi Lee's This Monstrous Thing and Lauren DeStefano's A Curious Tale of the In-Between, both of which I loved.

 

I've also read tons of graphic novels and children's books. But my novel reading habits have been woefully pathetic. I've read a few books I promised friends I would read, a few books for my grad program, a few books for funsies... but my once ever-present drive to read and never stop reading burnt out around last May, and I haven't been able to jump-start it again.

 

The really crazy part is, I have amassed over 100 new books for my shelves in the last six months. The majority of which have been through giveaways, trades, and book events I've attended. And each time I have a new book in my hands, I think, "This is it. The book that will get me reading again." But no, I put it down on a shelf, and the poor thing languishes there along with the rest of them.

 

I have so many other commitments that take up a lot of time in my life, and I don't feel like I even have to time to pleasure read. But the thing is, I used to make time. I side-eyed people who said, "I'm too busy to read." To me, when people say that, it just means they don't count it as a priority. Reading is a priority for me. A form of self-care. It's what has driven me to the career path I've chosen.

 

I think it all probably comes down to me putting too much pressure on myself, which is why I haven't been reading like I used to. And this pressure turns into guilt. At this point, I've decided to just ride it out like a wave. And then (hopefully) one day I will wake up renewed and ready to binge read with the best of 'em.

Reading Recap -- May 2014

Hello, June! See you next year, May. You were a banner reading month.

1. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa → Book Based on a Myth
2. Fangbone! Third-Grade Barbarian by Michael Rex
3. The Egg of Misery by Michael Rex
4. The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong → Book with Magic
5. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews → Book with a Mystery
6. Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
7. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden → Book that became a Movie
8. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White → Book without a Love Triangle
9. Evermore by Alyson Noel → First Book in a Series
10. Futurama Adventures by Eric Rogers

Still haven't made a Bingo yet, though. How's your reading coming along?

2014: New Year, New Reading Resolutions

If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you will know that I've long since given up on making lists of specific books I want to read, *but* that doesn't mean I'm any less goal-oriented.

After a bit of searching, I've found a few different approaches to Reading Resolutions for the new year that I'd like to explore.

The following resolutions are taken from an article on QuirkBooks.com. Check out this link to get a more in-depth explanation of each bullet point.

• Catch up on that series you fell behind on
• Finish the catalog of your favorite author
• Read the classics you've been putting off
• Don't judge a book by its cover
• Finally organize your bookshelves
• Shop at your local independent bookstore
• When you start a book, commit to finishing it
• Conversely, don't feel obligated to finish a book if you don't like it
• Tackle the best books of 2013
• Try out a new genre
• Read that book
• Just read more

I've also found a really fun and tactile approach: Random House's Reading Bingo Challenge 2014. Filling in one book per space, I actually plan to use both Bingo cards since they are 25 spaces a piece, and I intend to read at least 50 books this year.

2014 is going to be a challenging reading year! What are your reading resolutions?

2013 End of Year Book Survey

Look what I found, and just in time too: The Perpetual Page Turner's 2013 End of Year Book Survey.

Let me preface this by saying the survey is for books I read throughout the year, no matter when they were published, and it is not limited to just books that came out in 2013.

1. Best Book You Read In 2013?
Since it's still so fresh in my mind, I am going with Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost, which is book 1 in the Night Huntress series.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
J.D. Salinger's Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction was a huge disappointment for me. It was the last book in his catalog that I hadn't read, so when it turned out to be completely self-indulgent, tedious, and boring, I was a little heartbroken.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013?
Though it was published in 1958, I'd have to choose Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I was so pleasantly surprised with this innocuous-looking Newbery winner.

4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?
I recommend Orson Scott Card Ender's Shadow to people chasing that feeling from Ender's Game but were disappointed by Speaker for the Dead like I was.

5. Best series you discovered in 2013?
Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle series. I read both The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves this year, and I adored both of them!


6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?
J.R. Ward after I read Dark Lover.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
“Robert Galbraith's” The Cuckoo's Calling. I only read this because it's really written by J.K. Rowling; I never read murder-mysteries. I think the real world is scary enough. If I want to be afraid, I'll read the newspaper. Thankfully, this one was pretty tame.


8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?
Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races. I was really into that book. It reinforced my love of Stiefvater's work, even though I actually really dislike the Wolves of Mercy Falls series.


9. Book You Read In 2013 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
I'm not likely to re-read any book in 2014. My TBR mountain is comprised of 216 books. There's no time to re-read-- life's too short.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?
Put the Book Back on the Shelf
 


11. Most memorable character in 2013?
Karou from Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?
Though I wasn't wowed by it like I thought I would be, Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter actually stuck with me long after I finished it.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read?
C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I wish I read it during childhood when I was “supposed” to.


15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2013?

“A secret is a strange thing.

There are three kinds of secrets. One is the sort everyone knows about, the sort you need at least two people for. One to keep it. One to never know. The second is a harder kind of secret: one you keep from yourself. Every day, thousands of confessions are kept from their would-be confessors, none of these people knowing that their never-admitted secrets all boil down to the same three words: I am afraid.

And then there is the third kind of secret, the most hidden kind. A secret no one knows about. Perhaps it was known once, but was taken to the grave. Or maybe it is a useless mystery, arcane and lonely, unfound because no one ever looked for it.

Sometimes, some rare times, a secret stays undiscovered because it is something too big for the mind to hold. It is too strange, too vast, too terrifying to contemplate.

All of us have secrets in our lives. We’re keepers or keptfrom, players or played. Secrets and cockroaches — that’s what will be left at the end of it all.”

― Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?
Shortest: Martin Rowson's The Wasteland at 74 pages
Longest: Koushun Takami's Battle Royale at 617 pages


17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
Chapter 32 of  Jeaniene Frost's One Foot in the Grave. Enough said. 

(If you are super curious, check out the reviews on GoodReads. There are many-a reader who was left reeling from Chapter 32. It's become such a “thing” that Frost has merchandise on her website referencing it specifically.)


18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).
Miri's many friendships in Shannon Hale's Princess Academy.


19. Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously:
Sharon Creech's Love that Dog. Creech is one of my all-time favorite authors, though her earlier work can be hit-or-miss.


20. Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:
Steve Martin's Shopgirl. A friend of mine was obsessed with the book and movie when it first came out, and I finally gave it a try this year.

21. Genre You Read The Most From in 2013?
Paranormal Romance. No surprise there.


22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?
Dash from Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan & Rachel Cohn. Dash is everything I wanted my high school love interests to be.


23. Best 2013 debut you read?
Hmm. I didn't I read any works by authors who debuted in 2013, and I only read three books that were published in 2013. If I had to pick the best one, it would be Cynthia Hand's Boundless, which is the final book in the Unearthly trilogy.


24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?
Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass from the His Dark Material's series. Very vivid universe. Every now and then I think I see some Dust in the air...


25. Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2013?
Raina Telgemeier's Drama. Graphic novels are (almost) always a fun time.


26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013?
None. Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette was an emotional read for me, though it was mostly positive emotions.


27. Book You Read in 2013 That You Think Got Overlooked When It Came Out?
Richard Salas' Peculia or Sara Varon's Sweaterweather. Both are delightful graphic novels that I haven't heard much about.

---

I am linking my survey up at the Perpetual Page Turner's blog. Let me know if you do the same-- I'd love to read your survey!

2013 by the Numbers

Happy New Year, everyone! I've had a really great reading year. I read 57 books in 2013, totaling 17,021 pages. That's quite an accomplishment if I do say so myself. Also, it's a bump up from the 49 books I read in 2012.

GoodReads was paramount in my tracking my yearly progress. They even have a nifty little diagram to display your star ratings.

Only two books won the coveted 5 star rating this year: Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Jeaniene Frost's One Foot in the Grave.  Alternatively, two books won the dreaded 1 star rating: Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and some random graphic novel not even worth mentioning again here.

And simply because it does me proud to see them all listed one after the other, here is the definitive list of my 2013 reads in all its glory:

1. Steve Martin's Shopgirl
2. David Levithan & Rachel Cohn's Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
3. Cynthia Hand's Boundless
4. Sharon Creech's Love that Dog
5. Scott Mills' Big Clay Pot
6. Sharon Creech's Replay
7. Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys
8. Martin Rowson's The Waste Land
9. Miss Lasko-Gross' A Mess of Everything
10. George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion
11. Kristin Cashore's Graceling
12. John Green's Paper Towns
13. Raina Telgemeier's Drama
14. J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy
15. Aline Kominsky-Crumb's Need More Love
16. Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races
17. Jen Van Meter's Hopeless Savages
18. Sara Varon's Sweaterweather
19. Paula McLain's The Paris Wife
20. Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot
21. Charles Burns' Black Hole
22. Emily Dickinson's Selected Poems
23. J.D. Salinger's Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction
24. Eric Stephenson's Put the Book Back on the Shelf
25. Orson Scott Card Ender's Shadow
26. Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
27. J.R. Ward's Dark Lover
28. Sharon Creech's Pleasing the Ghost
29. C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
30. Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone
31. Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy
32. P.C. Cast's Marked
33. Alan Moore's Watchmen
34. Scott Westerfeld's Uglies
35. Maggie Stiefvater's Linger
36. Koushun Takami's Battle Royale
37. Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures
38. Garth Nix's Sabriel
39. Shannon Hale's Princess Academy
40. Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty
41. Janet Taylor Lisle's Afternoon of the Elves
42. Maggie Stiefvater's The Dream Thieves
43. Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond
44. Robert Galbraith's The Cuckoo's Calling
45. P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley
46. Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass
47. Lauren Kate's Fallen
48. Jeaniene Frost's Halfway to the Grave
49. Richard Salas' Peculia
50. Jeaniene Frost's One Foot in the Grave
51. Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems
52. Jeaniene Frost's At Grave's End
53. Jeaniene Frost's Destined for an Early Grave
54. Jeaniene Frost's First Drop of Crimson
55. Jeaniene Frost's This Side of the Grave
56. Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette
57. Jeaniene Frost's One Grave at a Time

Obviously, I'm pretty pleased with myself. I'm aiming to read 50 books in 2014 (it's going to be a busy year for me for a ton of other reasons. Stay tuned.). Now tell me, how was your reading year?

And This Is Why I Love Social Media

Everyone knows I'm a fiend for a good paranormal romance. I make no apologies-- it's just one of my favorite genres, and I can't seem to ever get enough. I'm always on the lookout for a new, enthralling read, whether it be about vampires, werewolves, fallen angels, faeries, witches, ghosts, psychics... the list goes on. Vampire lit., YA or otherwise, will always hold a special place in my heart though, thanks to the summer of 2008, when I was introduced to the PNR genre. I read the entire Twilight series three times in a row back-to-back, I was that obsessed.

For the past week, I've been deep in Jeaniene Frost's world of the Night Huntress series, and it is chock-full of vampire goodness. I picked up the first book, Halfway to the Grave, with low expectations (the book titles of this series leave much to be desired, in my opinion), and I was quickly blown away. It took about 3 whole pages for me to decide that it's just my cuppa tea. The second book, One Foot in the Grave, is surprisingly even better. I've just finished the third book, At Grave's End, and now I'm jonesing for the next three. I'm excited that the 7th & final book of the series comes out this January, so I don't have to wait too long to see how it all wraps up.

Now, back to the title of this post, "And This Is Why I Love Social Media." Most Fridays, I use my Twitter account to post about my #FridayReads and #WeekendGoodReads. Yesterday, I tweeted about the Night Huntress series, and Jeaniene Frost herself actually tweeted me back. I love that I can connect and interact with authors of beloved books this way when I otherwise wouldn't be heard. Some people won't think it's much of a big deal, but it appeals to the fangirl within me.

Click the image to enlarge.

This post was supposed to be a short and sweet little screenshot, but it turns out I am feeling wordy today. Have a great weekend!

Contemplating "From Zero to Well-Read in 100 Books"

Not to toot my own horn, but I like to think I am a well-read individual, so when I came across Book Riot's "From Zero to Well-Read in 100 Books" post, I was intrigued.

I wanted to see if I fell under the definition of "well-read" that's listed:

“Well-read” for this person then has a number of connotations: a familiarity with the monuments of Western literature, an at least passing interest in the high-points of world literature, a willingness to experience a breadth of genres, a special interest in the work of one’s immediate culture, a desire to share in the same reading experiences of many other readers, and an emphasis on the writing of the current day.

I think that sums up my reading philosophy pretty well. Now, let's see how many of the books I've read out of the comprehensive list of 100 books (all books I've read are in bold, all the books I own but have not read are italicized).

1.     The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2.     The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
3.     The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
4.     All Quiet on the Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque
5.     The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay  by Michael Chabon
6.     American Pastoral by Philip Roth
7.     Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
8.     Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
9.     Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
10.     The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
11.     Beloved by Toni Morrison
12.     Beowulf
13.     The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
14.     Brave New World by Alduos Huxley
15.     The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
16.     Call of the Wild  by Jack London
17.     Candide by Voltaire
18.     The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
19.     Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
20.     Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
21.     The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
22.     Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
23.     Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
24.     The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
25.     The Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
26.     The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor
27.     The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
28.     Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
29.     The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
30.     Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
31.     Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
32.     Dream of Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin
33.     Dune by Frank Herbert
34.     Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
35.     Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
36.     The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
37.     Faust by Goethe
38.     Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
39.     A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
40.     The Golden Bowl by Henry James
41.     The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
42.     Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
43.     The Gospels
44.     The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
45.     Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
46.     The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
47.     Hamlet by William Shakespeare
48.     The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
49.     Harry Potter & The Sorceror’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
50.     Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
51.     The Help by Kathryn Stockett
52.     The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
53.     The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
54.     House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
55.     Howl by Allen Ginsberg
56.     The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
57.     if on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
58.     The Iliad by Homer
59.     Inferno by Dante
60.     Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
61.     Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
62.     Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
63.     Life of Pi by Yann Martel
64.     The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
65.     The Little Prince by Antoine  de Saint-Exepury
66.     Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
67.     Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
68.     Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
69.     Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
70.     Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
71.     Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
72.     Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
73.     The Odyssey by Homer
74.     Oedipus the King by Sophocles
75.     On the Road by Jack Kerouac
76.     A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
77.     The Pentateuch
78.     Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
79.     Rabbit, Run by John Updike
80.     The Road by Cormac McCarthy
81.     Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
82.     The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
83.     Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
84.     The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
85.     The Stand by Stephen King
86.     The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
87.     Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
88.     Their Eyes Were Watching by Zora Neale Hurston
89.     Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
90.     The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
91.     To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
92.     Ulysses by James Joyce
93.     The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
94.     A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
95.     Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
96.     Watchmen by Alan Moore
97.     The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
98.     Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
99.     1984 by George Orwell
100.     Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

I've read 36 of 100, and I own but have not read 25. It looks like I have a lot of reading to do to be considered well-read by Book Riot's standards. Still, I've read well over 500 books in my young life, so that has to count for something, right?

A to Z Bookish Survey

I stumbled across this book meme on Musings of a Bookshop Girl, and it looked like so much fun that I just had to play too. Props to The Perpetual Page-Turner for thinking this survey up.

 

Author you’ve read the most books from:
Nora Roberts. She was all I read in high school. I've read all of her stand-alones, trilogies, and most of her anthologies up until publish date 2010 (I've read over 60 of her books, and I'm behind on about 5).

Best Sequel Ever:
Maybe it's because I've read it so recently, but I'm gonna go with Maggie Stiefvater's The Dream Thieves, which is a sequel to The Raven Boys. Otherwise, the Harry Potter books take this one.

Currently Reading:
P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley

Drink of Choice While Reading:
Tea. Iced or hot, green or black, lemon or milk, honey or sugar. I love me some tea.

E-reader or Physical Book?
Physical book, of course! I pledge to read the printed word.

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:
Quirky, literary, clever Dash, from Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. I was turned off by the title and cover art, actually. To me, it came off a bit boring and targeted to an older reader. The story, however, captivated me, and it's become one of my favorite books of all time.

Hidden Gem Book:
Heartbeat by Sharon Creech. Written entirely in free-verse. One of my greatest reading discoveries.

Important Moment in your Reading Life:
In the 5th grade when I read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Up until that point, all books I'd read had a happy and predictable ending. It was the first book that took me by surprise and made me look inside myself. I'll honestly never forget how I felt upon finishing that book.

Just Finished:
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. It was not at all what I was expecting. SUCH A GREAT READ!

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read:
I don't think there's a genre I will ever rule out and simply won't read, but I just tend not to pick them up at the bookstore: crime & mystery, political, religious, and non-biography nonfiction.

Longest Book You’ve Read:
The Stand by Stephen King at a whopping 1,440 pages. A major disappointment and my biggest waste of precious reading time to date.

Major book hangover because of:
George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. I read all 5 books back to back, and it burnt me out so much that I couldn't pick up another book until a month afterward.

Number of Bookcases You Own:
Eleven!

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I've loved it since I was a little girl. Every time I read it, I get all warm and fuzzy inside.

Preferred Place To Read:
I prefer to read in the comfort of my own home. You can find me reading somewhere comfy within my house like my library armchair, the hanging swing in the screenroom, in bed or on the sofa...

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:
“Stuff your eyes with wonder,” he said, “live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that,” he said, “Shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.”  -Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Reading Regret:
Missing out on a ton of great children's lit growing up. I read really sporadically until I hit high school, so I missed out on some of the greats like Charlotte's Web, the Little House series, Roald Dahl's books... I'm catching up now, though.

Series You Started And Need To Finish (all books are out in series):
Ender's Saga by Orson Scott Card. I probably won't finish this series though, because the sequel was so thoroughly boring.

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Unapologetic Fangirl For:
The Hunger Games series. I read it and loved it years before the hype started, so I don't feel bad fangirling over it.

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:
I don't keep up with upcoming releases too much. Nora Robert's Dark Witch is coming out later this month.

Worst Bookish Habit:
I peel off any price or recommendation stickers on book covers and spines, which then leaves a gross, lint-attracting, sticky residue behind. But I HATE stickers on my books.

X Marks The Spot- Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Your latest book purchase:
Alison Goodman's Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):
Oh, hmm... it's been a really long time since I've read something compulsively. I think it may have been Cynthia Hand's Unearthly.

 

Summer 2013 Reads

Can we all pretend that I didn't set Reading Goals for the Summer 2013 season? Because I didn't follow my own plan of action. I mean, I did read a decent amount in the months of June, July, and August, but I kindof just went with my own reading flow. Usually, this means that I devoured a bunch of YA Paranormal Romances back-to-back, and this time, unfortunately, was no exception.

My goals were as follows:

• 2 Classics
• 2 Contemporary
• 3 Young Adult
• 2 Poetry
• 1 Drama
• 10 Graphic Novels

I read the following books:

1. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow (YA)
2. Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Classic)
3. J.R. Ward's Dark Lover (PN Romance)
4. Sharon Creech's Pleasing the Ghost (YA)
5. C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Classic)
6. Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone (PN Romance)
7. Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy (PN Romance)
8. P.C. Cast's Marked (PN Romance)
9. Alan Moore's Watchmen (Graphic Novel)
10. Scott Westerfield's Uglies (Contemporary)
11. Maggie Stiefvater's Linger (PN Romance)
12. Koushun Takami's Battle Royale (Contemporary)
13. Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures  (PN Romance)

As you can see, I exceeded my genre goals in some areas and completely failed in others. I did not read poetry and drama like I intended to. Instead, I read 6 PN romances. Same difference, right? Wrong. Bad, English Major.

I shouldn't judge myself too harshly, though, since I have been consistently reading either way. I think I'll give up on these lists and just let my bookish heart take me where it will. Feeling guilty over reading the "wrong" books is getting very old, and, when I think about it, it's pretty ridiculous.

Pixel doesn't care that I like YA. In fact, she seems pretty impressed with my reading prowess this summer, no?

Spring 2013 Reading Goals: Achieved!

Two months ago, I decided to set reading goals for myself in lieu of a Spring reading list, figuring that more generalized goals would be less restricting than a list with specific titles on it.

You see, for the past year, I overzealously created reading lists, some 20+ titles deep. Obviously, I was only setting myself up for failure, but I am a diehard list maker. I'm not sure which is more fun for me-- forming the lists or crossing things off them.

Anyway, as it turns out, I was right in that I respond very well to reading goals; I ended up reading every genre that I intended to.
 

My overarching mission was (and still is) to read eclectically and often, and I did indeed accomplish just that by setting out to read the following:

Emily Dickinson: A Few Favorites

Last night before bed, I read a collection of Emily Dickinson's poems. I had sweet dreams. Coincidence? I think not.

---

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.

---

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

---

A word is dead
     When it is said,
     Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
     That day.

GEEK Out! Le Geek, C'est Chic

I had a major book nerd moment at the bookstore a few days ago. A kind of moment only rivaled by those observed at trekkie conventions or Comic Con.  A nerd moment probably comical to others to watch, but very profound to me.

I found THE book. My own personal Holy Grail. A book I thought I'd never, ever find...

"Spring" into Reading!...

...Tell me that post title doesn't remind you of the glorious elementary school bulletin boards of yore.

Winter ended some time ago, so I suppose it's way past time to retire the Winter 2013 Reading List.

2012 By The Numbers

After avidly reading all year round, admittedly with some lulls throughout, I thought I should break down my 2012 reading habits into some cute and concise charts for easy viewing.  I created these charts over a month ago, but I never got around to sharing them, so this post is long over-due. Let's just get to it, shall we?

I didn't listen to any audiobooks or read any e-books this year. I'm 100% fine with not reading an e-book, but I wouldn't mind listening to some audiobooks in 2013.
 

 
My favorite chart to make was the one displaying how many books I read by publication year. It opened my eyes to the fact that I did not read even one book published before the year 1950. Oh, I was all about the 20th and 21st centuries this year. I mean, that's fine since I was only reading for pleasure and challenging myself very little with what I read. However, 2013 will be the year I start introducing older texts back into my life. I was a huge fan of 18th century British literature during my undergrad days, and I wouldn't mind revisiting that time period again.

Also, while going through the list of books I read this year, I noticed they were all predominantly American lit., with a bit of Brit. lit. scattered here and there. The only multicultural literature I read was in graphic novel form. So, another one of my reading resolutions is to read some multicultural lit. in addition to older works.

I personally think I had an admirably strong reading year, though I feel there is always room to improve one's habits. Let's see what 2013 holds in store...

And Autumn Turns to Winter

December is here, and, in my mind, that means winter is here, too. I know, I know. It isn't officially winter yet, but for all intensive purposes, it's here for me and my blog because I want to make a new seasonal reading list. But first, let's see how I did with my Autumn 2012 Reading List...

Housekeeping

A little housekeeping update: after a solid nine months, I've changed my blog's header. Remember this bad boy?

Well, I wanted a header that would allow for easier identification that this is, in fact, a book blog. Though it's never been pointed out to me, I venture to guess that the previous header may have confused those who stumble upon my little slice of the internet. Is it a nature blog? A photography blog? Well, I do like to showcase my budding photography skills here, and my primary subject is nature; however, I want it to be clearer for new readers that this blog is more about my literary pursuits than anything else. Plus, I had fun fiddling around with the fonts and book images to create my new masterpiece header. So, the old header had a good run, but, for now, the blog will be looking like this:

I wonder if this change will attract more readership. We shall see, I suppose. And a big thank you to those who have been reading my posts so far! I'm really enjoying blogging, and I hope you've had as much fun reading as I've had writing.

The Best of the Big Three: Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

It’s official. I have finally read all of the “Big Three” in dystopian literature! The big three being Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World [read August 2006], George Orwell’s 1984 [read April 2012], and, of course, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, which I just finished reading this month. Fahrenheit 451 happens to be my favorite of the three, and not just because it’s the most recently read of the bunch. The subject matter, books and their destruction, loomed heavy on my heart. Bradbury uses the most beautiful language; some passages left me breathless. Here are the quotes I wrote down that hit me the hardest—those that I think capture the essence of the tone Bradbury set in what is arguably his masterpiece.

Click the link to read on.