2013 Book Recap

Here is a recap of the books I read in 2013 (in chronological order of reading them):

1. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards - Liked
2. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - Didn't like
3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - LOVED
4. Brida by Paulo Coelho - Liked
5. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - LOVED
6. Chicken Soup for the Bride's Soul by Jack Canfield - Liked
7. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn - Liked
8. Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse Series Book #1) by Charlaine Harris - Liked 
9. Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse Series Book #2) by Charlaine Harris - Liked
10. Club Dead (Sookie Stackhouse Series Book #3) by Charlaine Harris - Liked
11. Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse Series Book #4) by Charlaine Harris - Liked
12. Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse Series Book #5) by Charlaine Harris - Liked
13. Definitely Dead (Sookie Stackhouse Series Book #6) by Charlaine Harris - Liked
14. The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison - Didn't like
15. The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida - - Liked
16. All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse Series Book #7) by Charlaine Harris - Liked
17. From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse Series Book #8) by Charlaine Harris - Liked

Of all of these books my number 1 favorite is Gone Girl (listed above as number 3). Its a psychological thriller about a twisted marriage. I read The Silent Wife (listed as number 14) because it was compared to Gone Girl and one review said it was even better than Gone Girl - WHAT A LIE! The Silent Wife is no where near the level of Gone Girl. 

I read 8 of the 13 books in the Sookie Stackhouse series aka the True Blood series. I loved the show so decided to read the books. Charlaine Harris is so creative, I'm looking forward to reading books 9 through 13 first thing in 2014. I will say this, Charlaine Harris does repeat things to refresh the reader's memory often, which I found annoying at first, but at times I appreciate it because so much happens that you almost need a reminder. 

For 2014 I'll write little blurbs about each book after I read it, without giving away any spoilers of course. If anyone has any book recommendations, feel free to pass them along. :) 

New Year's Resolutions..

It's that time again.. time to reevaluate your life and make promises to yourself for a newer, better you! You 2.0 so to speak. Some people don't take new year's resolutions very seriously. To each their own, right? Not only do I take them seriously, I enjoy giving myself yearly challenges and motivations. For 2013 my goal was to read one book per month for a total of 12 books for the year. Now that 2013 is coming to a close I can tally up my numbers and am happy to say that I exceeded my goal by reading a total of 17 books this year!! Woohoo! 

So to develop further on that resolution, I'd like to resolve for 2014 to read a minimum of 24 books. If I can read 17 books, surely I can read 24. So I thought it would be fun to blog about my books and give reviews on how I like them. A year or two ago I also decided I wanted to start writing a novel. I wrote several pages and had an idea brewing but came to a point where I didn't know how to approach my end goal of writing an entire novel. So between reading books and developing my own skills for writing one, I think this blog will be my outlet of how I'm feeling about the process, the books, the ideas, and whatever else comes to mind. If you enjoy it, keep reading. If not, go find something else to do - no hard feelings. :)