So this past week was Bout of Books 9.0, and I had to participate vicariously. I didn't sign up for the readathon, because it was supposed to be the first week back to school from Christmas vacation. I knew I wouldn't have any extra free time to spend reading. And then 17 inches of snow and a polar vortex hit, and I didn't go back to school until Thursday. If only I had known!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge Sign-Up (Let the 2014 reading challenge season begin!)
The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley - Review
My Bookish New Year's Resolution

Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer
The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (for the Reading to Know Book Club and the L.M. Montgomery Challenge)

Around the World in Eighty Days (time for the first classic of 2014 from my Classics Club List!)
Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani

I don't usually set New Year's Resolutions. And if I have in the past, I usually have not been that successful with them. Eating healthier, exercising - I've tried all the standards at one time or another. I'm lucky if I make it to February. So this year I decided to set a different goal.

Sometime in 2014, I'm going to start a book club. I've wanted to belong to a book club for years, but I've never had the opportunity. The ones hosted by the library always seem to be held in the middle of the day when I'm at school. And other than that, there are no nearby book clubs I'm aware of. So in 2014, I'm going to start my own.

Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I've already recruited a couple of people, but I'm hoping for more. Right now, my biggest question is where do the books come from? Do those of you in book clubs buy a copy of every book you read? If not, where do all the copies come from? And how do you create meaningful discussions? I'm afraid our book talk will peter out after five minutes. Do you follow discussion questions or just go free-form?

I guess I've got some work ahead of me to accomplish this resolution, but I'm determined to do so. Stay tuned for further developments. And I'll gladly take any tips from my beloved blogging community! Thanks for your help!

The Lavender Garden tells two stories – the contemporary one follows Emilie, the last of the great de la Martinières family. Her mother has recently died, leaving Emilie to sort out the family’s chateau in the south of France. In doing so, Emilie discovers more of her family’s past than she expected. The second story involves Emilie’s father and a British spy in their efforts to interfere with the Nazis as part of the French Resistance.

World War II fiction has never been one of my interests. In fact, seeing “World War II” in a book’s cover blurb is usually enough for me to set it back down on the shelf. But the spy aspect of this one intrigued me enough that I decided to read it.

It took me a long time to get hooked by this book, but once I was, I was hooked completely.  I was initially put off by one particular character that I disliked from the start. Once I read far enough to discover that I was supposed to dislike him, there was no putting this book down. Lucinda Riley is a master storyteller, weaving an intricate plot and switching between stories at the perfect moment. Every character is drawn with compassion, even the bad guys. The Lavender Garden is populated with realistic and believable characters. Both the modern and historical stories are beautiful, and connect in a way that keeps you guessing to the very end. It’s been awhile since I’ve had such a turnaround on a book – from barely getting through the first hundred pages to devouring the last half of the book. This story is magnificent. I can’t wait to read more from Lucinda Riley.

I joined the Mount TBR Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block last year in July, and I just barely made my goal of 12 books by the end of the year. I have plans to do better this year! I've decided to read books from my own shelves until the end of the school year. I don't have time for big library trips right now, so this is the perfect time to focus on all those books that have been sitting neglected for so long.

To help me keep focused on my TBR stacks, I've decided to aim for the Mt. Vancouver level this year. That means I need to read 36 of my own books by December 31. Sounds easy this early in the year, right? I sure hope it turns out to be as easy as I think!

I already have one book complete. I devoured Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer over the weekend. I've just been waiting for January 1 to read that one! I'll be keeping track of the rest of my list on my 2014 Reading Challenges page. You can check out the (hopefully) growing list over there.

I haven't linked to this meme in a couple of weeks, what with the busy holidays and all, so here's what I've posted since my last It's Monday! post.

The House Girl by Tara Conklin
Alphabet Weekends by Elizabeth Noble
Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet
The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen by Syrie James (the perfect read by candlelight when our power was out)
The Fire Chronicle by John Stephens (second book in a middle-grade fantasy series that you should definitely check out)
The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece by Eric Siblin

Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer (I thought I would treat myself to a book by one of my favorite authors to start out the new year.)

Above All Things by Tanis Rideout (I am having the hardest time deciding if I'm going to read this book or not. It's been on my TBR list, and I requested it from the library in December. The topic still intrigues me, but I'm not sure if I'm in the mood for a not-so-happy book right now. Has anyone read this book? Any opinions to help me make my decision?)

Due to the wonders of Goodreads, I actually have a record of what I've read for an entire year! Never having kept track before, I was very curious to see how my statistics worked out for 2013. And here's what I found:

Books read: 125 1/2
   (4 of those were audiobooks)
Pages read: 41,169
Fiction: 80%
Nonfiction: 20%
Male authors: 39%
Female authors: 61%

Nothing too surprising, but interesting all the same! In 2014, I'd like to read a bit more nonfiction (sometimes I forget how much I enjoy it) and definitely increase the number of audiobooks. I started listening to audiobooks while I was running this summer. But when the running went by the wayside, so did the audiobooks. . . Maybe I can accomplish two goals in one this year (once it warms up to non-negative temperatures outside, that is).

A to Z Reading Challenge
European Reading Challenge
How Many Pages Will You Read?
Color Coded Challenge
Books About Books Challenge
Mount TBR Reading Challenge

If I haven't made this clear enough before, I love reading challenges! You can check out my 2013 Reading Challenges page to see what I read for each of these challenges.

Favorite fiction book: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Favorite nonfiction book: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Favorite children's/young adult book: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
Favorite series: The Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig
Favorite author I discovered: Adriana Trigiani

2013 was a wonderful, book-filled year. I can't wait to see what 2014 brings!