A Year In Books - 2013

This last year I made the decision and effort to get back into reading for pleasure. I joined The Thousander Club and have used that as a motivator to read, read, read! I made a goal to read 25 books this year back in April. I didn't quite make it to my goal, but I came close and considering 3 months had already passed by the time I made the goal, I feel pretty good about what I did manage to read. So, here is a list of the 21 books I did read (with links to their reviews if I wrote one:

1. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey
3. The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
7. World War Z by Max Brooks
8. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
9. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
10. Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
11. The Watsons by Jane Austen
12. Lady Susan by Jane Austen
13. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
14. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
15. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
16. Emma by Jane Austen
17. Persuasion by Jane Austen
18. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
19. My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud Homme
20. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
21. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

So, I say 21 out of 25 isn't bad :) I'm going to sick with my goal of 25 per year in my effort to read at least 1000 books in my lifetime. I'm up to 206 books that I can recall so far. I'm sure there are more that I just don't remember from high school and whatnot, but I'm only counting the ones I know of.

I was doing really well with the Jane Austen books this summer. I had planned on reading all of them, then writing one large review on the lot together. All went well all summer as I listened to each audio book in the order that they were written ... and then my house got struck by lightning, zapping my computer that held all my music and whatnot that I synched my phone on. So I have still read all of her books except the last one, Sanditon. It's a short one too, so I'm really bummed I couldn't finish them all before the year ended. It will be one of the first books I read in 2014 just so I can cross it off my list. I seriously recommend audio books for classic novels - I was able to knit, sew, clean, drive to work, etc and have the stories read to me. It was lovely and I am now a total addict. I planned on doing the same with Charles Dickens' collection, but alas those files were on the same computer. Hopefully I can salvage them soon!

I am so glad I have added regular reading back into my life this year :) I have to say that out of all the books I read, My Life In France or Eat Pray Love were my decided favorites. I enjoyed most all of the books, but those are the two that have stuck with me long term. I also really love that I've been able to keep track of all my reading on Goodreads - such a great site!

I can't wait to read more in 2014!