Last year, I was incredibly excited to take a look back at what I had read over the year in 2013. I had never really kept track before, but Goodreads allowed me to figure out all sort of geeky statistics about my reading.

Well, I'm no less excited to figure out those geeky statistics this year. And this time, they come complete with pie charts!

Books read: 119
   (3 of those were audiobooks)
Pages read: 40,174
Fiction: 78%
Nonfiction: 22%
Male authors: 41%
Female authors: 59%
Set in the United States: 29%
Set in Europe: 48% (of which most took place in England. . .)
Set elsewhere in the world: 26%

I also went a little crazy in signing up for reading challenges this year, but I somehow managed to complete them all! If you want to know what books I read for each challenge, you can check out my Reading Challenges page. These are the reading challenges I completed in 2014:

Mount TBR
I Love Library Books!
Newbery
Color Coded
Full House
What's In a Name?
Nonfiction
European
Global
Around the World in 12 Books
Read It Again, Sam
You Read How Many Books?
Chunkster
Alphabet Soup

Favorite fiction book: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (or Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson)
Favorite nonfiction book: One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson 
Favorite children's/young adult book: Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Favorite series: Daughters of Boston by Julie Lessman

In the beginning of 2014, I made a New Year's resolution. This is a pretty common thing for me to do. What was uncommon was its success. My resolution was to start a book club. And this week, we just had our ninth meeting!

I know some of you reading this are book club aficionados. You've belonged to a book club for years. Others are rookies, or maybe looking to start a book club like I was hoping to. I don't have many words of wisdom, but I can share how our group went this year.

We started out with four members, and have gradually grown to six. Seems about the perfect size so far. Each month, we meet at a different member's house, and they provide the food. We haven't done anything fancy or themed with the food yet (although we did order Chinese food when we read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet). Discussion about the book happens before, during, and after we eat. It just seems to flow around our conversation about our lives and other things. We usually refer to the reader's guide questions in the back of the book if there are any. At the end of each meeting, we pick the next book we will read, as well as where and when we will meet.

So we're not the most organized, plan-ahead sort of group. But I've discovered that book club is really just whatever works for you and your group, so we're going with this for now!

Here are the books we've read this year:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Room by Emma Donoghue
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Book Thief and Orphan Train seemed to be our favorites. The Goldfinch was our worst read of the year. Our advice is to avoid that one, if at all possible. The one we just discussed on Monday was Unbroken. What a powerful book!

Lots of great books generated lots of great discussion. I can't wait to see what 2015 will bring.

I wish a merry Christmas to all of you! May you have a holiday filled with family and friends, loud celebrations and quiet reflections. May you also have a wonderful holy-day as you celebrate the birth of our Savior, who came to bring us life and salvation. Merry CHRISTmas!

My last two challenges of 2014 are complete! I figured I wouldn't have a lot of trouble with the I Love Library Books Challenge hosted by Book Dragon's Lair. I signed up for the highest goal - Just Insert IV, which meant I needed to read 50 library books. My summer is full of trips to the big libraries in the nearby cities (as opposed to the little library here in the small town I live in). I regularly come home with ten books (at least) per trip. So I assumed that hitting a goal of fifty books wouldn't be a problem. I was right. :) Here are the books I read for this challenge:

1. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
2. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
3. Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani
4. The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen
5. Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne
6. A Guide for the Perplexed by Dara Horn
7. Strings Attached by Joanne Lipman & Melanie Kupchynsky
8. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
9. Serving Victoria by Kate Hubbard
10. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
11. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
12. My Venice and Other Essays by Donna Leon
13. Longbourn by Jo Baker
14. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
15. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
16. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
17. Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier
18. Tilt by Nicholas Shrady
19. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
20. The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior by Paul Strathern
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
22. Orphan Train Rider by Andrea Warren
23. The Last Enchantments by Charles Finch
24. She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell
25. Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
26. The Service of Clouds by Delia Falconer
27. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
28. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
29. The Curriculum Vitae of Aurora Ortiz by Almudena Solana
30. Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier
31. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
32. The Secret Life of William Shakespeare by Jude Morgan
33. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
34. The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon
35. Glamorous Illusions by Lisa Tawn Bergren
36. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
37. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn
38. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
39. A Constant Heart by Siri Mitchell
40. The Case of the Love Commandos by Tarquin Hall
41. Never Look a Polar Bear in the Eye by Zac Unger
42. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
43. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa
44. A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman
45. One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson
46. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
47. The Xanadu Adventure by Lloyd Alexander
48. Vienna Nocturne by Vivien Shotwell
49. Jerusalem Vigil by Bodie & Brock Thoene
50. The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom
51. Zoobreak by Gordon Korman
52. Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
53. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
54. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

The other major place I get the books I read is my personal library. I own a lot of books, and I don't read nearly enough of them. So I joined My Reader's Block's Mount TBR Challenge again this year. In 2013, I barely made my goal of 12 books. I knew I needed to do better than that this year, so I signed up to read at least 36 books that I've owned for a year or more. Maybe I can even increase that to the next level in 2015!

1. Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer
2. Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
3. The Iron Whim by Darren Wershler-Henry
4. Austenland by Shannon Hale
5. The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
6. The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost by Rachel Friedman
7. The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
8. The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde
9. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
10. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
11. Spilling Clarence by Anne Ursu
12. Travels in the Greater Yellowstone by Jack Turner
13. The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer
14. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
15. Aunts Aren't Gentlemen by P.G. Wodehouse
16. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
17. La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales
18. Bucking the Sun by Ivan Doig
19. A Romance on Three Legs by Katie Hafner
20. Living in a Foreign Language by Michael Tucker
21. Renaissance Florence on 5 Florins a Day by Charles FitzRoy
22. Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence by Buonaccorso Pitti & Gregorio Dati
23. Riding the Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux
24. The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
25. Room by Emma Donoghue
26. The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley
27. The Queen of the Big Time by Adriana Trigiani
28. The Man Who Ate the 747 by Ben Sherwood
29. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
30. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
31. Jesus by Walter Wangerin
32. Bitter Chocolate by Carol Off
33. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro
34. The President's Lady by Irving Stone
35. Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer
36. The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Moyes
37. The Feast by Randy Lee Eickhoff

Made it through the last week of school! Now let the Christmas festivities begin. :)

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones (If you are at all interested in Chinese culture, especially Chinese food, you should read this book. It was fascinating!)
The Feast by Randy Lee Eickhoff (One of Ireland's epic tales told as a story. Interesting concept, but way too much language and crudity for me.)

Esther: The Star and the Sceptre by Gini Andrews (I recently discovered this on the shelf of my school library. I know I read a Biblical fiction account of Esther when I was in middle school. I remember loving it, but I have no clue of the title. I'm hoping that this is the one!)

No idea! With all the busyness of celebrating Christmas, I probably won't get much time to read. I have great plans for what I'll be reading come January 1 (a new round of reading challenges begins!), but I don't know if I'll be able to fit another book in there after Esther. I guess we'll see how it goes!

You Read How Many Books? is a challenge hosted by Gina at Book Dragon's Lair. This was one challenge I knew I would be able to complete without too much stress. I signed up for Level 1, which meant I needed to read at least 100 books this year. Since my Goodreads goal was set for 110 books, I knew I could accomplish this one. I have finished 116 books this year, and there are still a couple of weeks left! :) I keep track of the books I read in a spreadsheet. If you want to check that out, here is a link.

The Nonfiction Reading Challenge was hosted by Jen at The Introverted Reader. I enjoy reading nonfiction, so this was challenge was right up my alley. Except that I needed it to be a bit more challenging. The highest level was Master, which meant I would need to read 16-20 books. Last year, I read 20 nonfiction books without a challenge to push me, and I wanted to do better this year. So I created a new level - Master Plus, with a minimum of 25 books. And I just made it! Here are the books I read for this challenge:

1. The Color of Rain: How Two Families Found Faith, Hope, & Love in the Midst of Tragedy by Michael & Gina Spehn
2. The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure by Rachel Friedman (Anyone else notice how incredibly long nonfiction titles are??)
3. The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting by Darren Wershler-Henry
4. Strings Attached: One Tough Teacher and the Gift of Great Expectations by Joanne Lipman & Melanie Kupchynsky
5. Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard
6. Travels in Greater Yellowstone by Jack Turner
7. My Venice and Other Essays by Donna Leon
8. La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language by Dianne Hales
9. A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano by Katie Hafner
10. Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Love in Italy by Michael Tucker
11. Renaissance Florence on 5 Florins a Day by Charles FitzRoy
12. Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence by Buonaccorso Pitti & Gregorio Dati
13. Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
14. Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces by Robert Clark
15. Tilt: A Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa by Nicholas Shrady
16. The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: The Intersecting Lives of Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped by Paul Strathern
17. The Stones of Florence by Mary McCarthy
18. Riding the Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux
19. Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing with Others by Stacy Horn
20. Never Look a Polar Bear in the Eye: A Family Field Trip to the Arctic's Edge in Search of Adventure, Truth, and Mini-Marshmallows by Zac Unger
21. One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson
22. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
23. Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet by Carol Off
24. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro
25. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

I was thrilled to discover this book – another novel in my new favorite genre of magic realism. Anyone who has enjoyed Sarah Addison Allen’s books will enjoy this book. The Wishing Thread is the story of three sisters. Bitty, the oldest, has been practical with her life and married rich. Now she’s discovering that planning logically doesn’t always work out. Meggie, the youngest, follows her own unique path in life, although she’s hoping it overlaps with the path of their mother, who left them. And Aubrey, the middle sister, is in charge of the Stitchery. That’s where the magic comes in.

I honestly think I would have gotten more out of this if I were a knitter, but it’s not at all essential to be a knitter to enjoy the story. Van Allen has created so many lovable characters. You end up cheering for each and every character in this story, even the grumpy ones. She follows each of the sisters’ paths of discovery so believably. And she keeps you guessing on the happy ending to the very end. The Wishing Thread knits together all the parts necessary for a story that stays with you far beyond the last page.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

If you like character-driven novels, then this book is for you. Honestly, the entire plot more or less takes place in the first ten pages. The town of Clarence, Minnesota, is home to a psychopharmaceutical factory. A factory accident spills a chemical called deletrium into the air, which makes the residents of the town remember in vivid detail anything that had ever happened to them. There’s a wide range of characters to follow – everyone from the widowed psychology professor to his eight-year-old daughter to the residents of a nearby senior citizen home. Plenty of story lines to keep a reader interested, and plenty of unique characters to keep a reader hooked. This is one of those books that I was often reluctant to pick up because I cared so much about the characters, and it was hard and often sad for them to relive all their memories. This is not a light read, but it is a good one. It makes you think about your own life and the nature of memory.

If you’re looking for an action story about a chemical spill, this is not it. However, if you’re looking for a book with characters that will live in your thoughts weeks after you finish reading, then this is the book for you.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

I'm sure this week will be busy, but I was able to have a relaxing weekend to gear up for it. There was a lot of this going on Saturday and Sunday afternoons:

Two cats, one book, and a mug of hot chocolate. Perfect!

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - my (sort of) review
Chunkster & Newbery Reading Challenges - Complete!
Books I Acquired in 2014 - and What I Did With Them (It just might be Christmas-themed. . .)

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (Wow. That's all I have to say. Wow. That, and - you should read this book!)
Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer (Great read for a relaxing weekend!)

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones

The Feast: A Dramatic Retelling of Ireland's Epic Tale by Randy Lee Eickhoff (I'm trying to read some of the books that have been on my shelves for years. This is one of them!)

I've made no secret on this blog of the fact that I love used book sales. I usually end up bringing home a bag (or three) full. It's just so hard to resist a book at an unbelievably low price. Which is why every year, my home library grows quite a bit.

This year, I tried to be good. At each book sale or book store I visited, I set myself a limit (which I didn't always stick to, but I certainly tried!). I really did made a concerted effort to bring down the numbers of books I acquired.

Well, the year-end totals are in (although maybe not, since it's not December 31 yet.). And in 2014, I added . . . 120 books to my library. That's not exactly a small number. Ah, well. There are worse ways to spend money and fill rooms, right? Now the task remains to read them all. I'm extremely excited to do so, but it may take me awhile to get to all of them.

And since books occasionally languish on my shelf for years before I find the opportunity to read them, I decided to do something a bit more productive with these books first: 

I hosted this reading challenge this year (and I am again in 2015, too!), so I had better finish it! Rather than a number of books, each level was a number of points. Newbery Award winners were worth 3 points, Newbery Honor books were worth two, and Caldecott winners were worth one. I signed up for the Spinelli level, which meant that I needed to get at least 30 points. I made it! (Although apparently I didn't review many of these. . .)

1. The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (2 points)
2. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (3 points)
3. Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (4 points - 2014 Medal winner)
4. Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (3 points)
5. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (3 points)
6. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (3 points)
7. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (3 points)
8. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (3 points)
9. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (3 points)
10. The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden (2 points)
11. Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (3 points)
12. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (3 points)
13. Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (3 points)


Point Total: 38

(In case you're curious, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead was by far my favorite of the Newbery books I read this year.)

A chunkster is defined as a book that has more than 450 pages. When I initially signed up for this challenge, I set my sights at 8 chunksters, although I was hoping to reach 10 by the end of the year. I blew past both of those goals, and ended up reading 14 chunksters! (Although rereading Harry Potter this summer certainly helped.)

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (552 pages)
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (530 pages)
3. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (456 pages)
4. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (502 pages)
5. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1,462 pages)
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (734 pages)
7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (870 pages)
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (652 pages)
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (759 pages)
10. A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman (477 pages)
11. One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson (458 pages)
12. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (487 pages)
13. Waverley by Sir Walter Scott (600 pages)
14. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (478 pages)