2013 has been a great year. I've been blogging for almost four years now and am always humbled when I read your comments and see that I have new followers. Thank you to all who visit my blog.
This year has been a year of many new things for me and my blog. I've joined a few online book clubs (She Reads and Book Lovers Unite) and made many new bloggy book friends as a result. I also joined the world of twitter!!! There were quite a few authors I got to meet this year and I hope that continues in 2014.
My top reads of 2013 are (in no particular order):
- The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak
- Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini
- The House Girl by Tara Conklin
- Lady of Ashes by Christine Trent
- Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
- The Lavendar Garden by Lucinda Riley
- The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
- The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley
- A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
- The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
- The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
- The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
- Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn
- The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani
- The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan
So,
here are my stats for 2013. Overall, I completed 160 books (that
includes audio books) which is the most I have ever read in one year! I
also participated in some fun challenges that caused me to alter some
of my reading habits - all for the good.
Challenges participated in that have ended:
Goal: 100+ books
Completed: 125 books (did not include audio books in this challenge)
Goal: 50 library books
Completed: 50 books
Goal: 30 books
Completed: 11 books
Tea & Books Reading Challenge
Goal: 2
Completed: 0
First Reads Reading Challenge
Goal: 11
Completed: 39
Classics Reading Challenge
Goal: 2
Completed: 1
E-Book Reading Challenge
Goal: 2
Completed: 0
First Reads Reading Challenge
Goal: 11
Completed: 39
Classics Reading Challenge
Goal: 2
Completed: 1
Goal: 25
Completed: 25
E-Book Reading Challenge
Goal: 25
Completed: 47
Goal: 10
Completed: 6 + 7 additional
Goal: 13
Completed: 10
Goal: 26
Of the 12 year-long reading challenges that I participated in for 2013, I completed 6. While I started to freak out about this back in November when I realized I wasn't going to finish a bunch of them, I decided to just let it go. After all, I did read quite a lot of books - and with some of the reading challenges, I crushed the goal, so in the end, I'm very happy with my results.
In the next few days I will be adding
the challenges that I plan on participating in during 2014 - they are a
combination of ones I've done before and some new ones. Some of these I sign up for merely to help me keep track of what I read - for instance, how many audio books I listen to in a year or how many e-books I read in a year. I also use one to track how many books (print or e-books) I read and don't include audio in that one. Others are more to challenge myself to read certain types of books - for instance, chunksters or the classics - books I might be a bit more hesitant to pick up.
Wow!!! 160 books is amazing. I'm so thrilled we hooked up via twitter and blogging. I need to look, ha ha I think I was doing 2 challenges and likely didn't succeed. I know my biggest challenge is reading from my own shelves. I have so many good books. Love your list, enjoyed many of those as well. Here's to 2014 and more good books!!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed many of the same books as you (but not as many!) I am reading The House Girl now. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an awesome year for you. Looking forward to the rest of your 2014 posts! :)
ReplyDeleteWow! You had a fantastic reading year! I read three books on your top list and I see we share the same reading tastes because all the rest are on my wish list. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic year in reading! Congrats and I wish you the best of luck in 2014.
ReplyDeleteHappy Happy New Year :) I am a day behind on that but alas between new porch cover/being sick I am behind already this year LOL
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