With a little hesitation bred from a lack of familiarity, last week I started reading:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
By Haruki Murakami
I’m 250+ pages in, and it’s great! Once again, I’m so glad I decided to read this.
Best Reading of 2013
Best Book: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Book I Was Excited About and Thought I Was Going To Love More But Didn’t: Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende – I have not given up on this book for good.
Most Surprising (in a good way!) Book: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (Good because she learned how to create a life for herself despite losses and the norms of her time.)
Book I Recommended Most: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Best Series Discovered: I read two series in 2013-The Little House series and The Hunger Games-neither was a new discovery.
Favorite New Authors Discovered: New-to-me authors Daphne du Maurier, Leif Enger & Melanie Benjamin
Best Book That was out of My Comfort Zone or Was a New Genre: I didn’t read any new genres this year, but I so infrequently read Spiritual/Religious books that 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker fits the bill.
Most Thrilling, Unputdownable Book: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire & Mockingjay
Book I Read That I’m Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year: I generally don’t reread books. With that said, I’m probably most likely to reread 7 by Jen Hatmaker or A Little House Reader sometime in the future.
Favorite Cover of a Book: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Most Memorable Character: It’s a tie between Joe in The Round House by Louise Erdrich and Merikat in We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Most Beautifully Written Book: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Book That Had the Greatest Impact on Me: 7 by Jen Hatmaker
Book I Couldn’t Believe I Waited to Finally Read: In terms of amount of time on my physical bookshelf without reading, it would have to be The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich.
Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book: “Colin was perennially appalled by the threadbare state of other people’s morals.” and “Colin’s only understanding of love was of limitless loyalty, boundless tolerance: Mary had fallen, irreparably in his estimation.” I liked these two from The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling because of how well they succinctly describe Colin’s character. Also, “At peace? Who but the insane would ever be at peace? What person who has enjoyed life could possibly think one is enough? Who could live even a day and not feel the sweet ache of regret?” from Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters.
Shortest and Longest Books Read:
Shortest – Love Poems by Pablo Neruda (90 pages)
Longest – The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (505 pages)
Book That Had A Scene In It That I Was Dying To Talk About: The Little House series had me constantly pondering my thoughts on Mary, and I wanted to talk to everyone about them.
Favorite Relationship From A Book: Laura and Almanzo from These Happy Golden Years
Favorite Book I Read from An Author I’ve Read Previously: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Best Book I Read Based SOLELY on a Recommendation from Somebody Else: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger was recommended to me 10 years ago by my favorite teacher.
Genre I Read Most: It seems to be a toss-up between Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction and Contemporary Fiction. Many books seem to cross over these three genres.
Newest Fictional Crush: None
Best 2013 Debut: We’ll be the Last Ones to Let You Down by Rachael Hanel
Most Vivid World/Imagery in a Book: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Book That Was The Most Fun To Read: Little House in the Big Woods
Book That Made Me Cry Or Nearly Cry: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Book That I Think Was Overlooked When It Came Out: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter and Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
And then looking forward…
One Book I Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be My Number 1 Priority in 2014: It’s not a priority, but I’m really looking forward to Actors Anonymous by James Franco.
Book I Am Most Anticipating for 2014: See above.
One Thing I Hope to Accomplish or Do in My Reading/Blogging in 2014: To thoroughly enjoy the books I read.
*Linked up with the Perpetual Page Turner H/T to Love Laughter Insanity*
The 1000th Voice 