It is time for my annual ‘What I Read In {Insert Year}’ post… Last year (2012) I made it one of my resolutions to read 24 books that year… and, I did it. 26 books, actually… and one of them was the BIBLE. Since I felt it was a little difficult for me to read 2 books every month, I decided in 2013 I wouldn’t set a number… I knew I was reading again and I would just read what I had time to read! I normally read while I am running on the dreadmill and while I am putting Autumn to bed. I do my normal bedtime routine with Autumn (read her a book, snuggle with her in bed, etc., etc.) and then I sit in the rocking chair in her room until she falls asleep. Not sure if I should still be ‘sitting’ in her room till she falls asleep since she is now 5, but that is where we are at… and, well… it gives me a little time to read.
If you want to see what I read in 2012, click HERE.
Also, if you a friend of mine on Goodreads, you can find me HERE. I love Goodreads, it lets you see what your friends are reading and it also lets you keep track of what you’ve read, you’re reading and what you want to read.
Ok, so what did I read in 2013?
1. World Without End (The Pillars of the Earth, #2), Ken Follett (5 Stars)
2. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine, #1), Ransom Riggs (5 Stars)
3. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (4 Stars)
4. Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1), E.L. James (3 Stars)
5. Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades, #2), E.L. James (3 Stars)
6. Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades, #3), E.L. James (3 Stars)
7. A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1), George R.R. Martin (5 Stars)
8. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe Superathletes, and the Greates Race the World Has Never Seen, Christoper McDouggall (5 Stars)
9. The Paris Wife, Paula McLain (4 Stars)
10. Allegiant (Divergent, #3), Veronica Roth (3 Stars)
11. Finding Sanctuary (The Halcyon Legacy #2), Cacey Hopper (5 Stars)
12. The Wishing Year: An Experiment in Desire, Noelle Oxenhandler (4 Stars)
13. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Cherl Strayed (4 Stars)
14. Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, Cheryl Strayed (4 Stars)
15. Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walter (4 Stars)
16. Wife 22, Melanie Gideon (3 Stars)
17. Heaven Is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph and Everyday Joy, Stephanie Nielson (5 Stars)
17 books! 9 less then I read last year, but I am ok with it. I am currently reading Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young, which is a daily devotional that I started mid-year… so, I will count that as a book I finish in 2014.
Out of all of these books, I would say these are the ones I would recommend:
Heaven Is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph and Everyday Joy by Stephanie Nielson. Wow. This book is written by a blogger who is Mormon and suffered a plane crash with Mr. Nielson (her husband/love of her life, etc.) It goes into how she met her husband, up to how she has bread dough rising while the plane crashed… and her memory of her youngest, her son clinging to her and telling her not to go. What I loved about this book is her faith in God, in her family… her love for her husband and devotion to her kids. I love her style of writing and how beautiful she describes Utah and its mountains… She went through A LOT and almost died… her children were terrified of how she looked afterwards, her youngest had forgotten who she was. But, she got through it and has had another child since the crash (she had feared she wouldn’t be able to) and is moving into a new home. You can follow her blog HERE. I just cannot stop reading about her little life, how beautiful she is even though she has scars from the burns… Just an amazing story and person.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe Superathletes, and the Greates Race the World Has Never Seen, Christoper McDouggall. I am a runner, not a superathlete that would run 30, 50, etc. mile races… but, I have run a handful of half marathons. This book is very inspiring in that it is about a man that seeks out how to run the ultimate race and the friends and dangers he encounters along the way. Which, I would sort of compare Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Cheryl Strayed in the same context as Born to Run… but, yet it is different in its own way as it is a woman’s/Cheryl’s description of hiking (not running) along the Pacific Crest Trail, which is a trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State. Both of these are stories of accomplishments in the wild, of endurance and wanting to complete a goal that they had set for themselves. Cheryl’s story I feel is a lot more personal as she wants to accomplish it alone and it goes into how her Mother’s death affects her. Both are really, really good reads and I highly recommend them.
I also loved Cheryl’s book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, Cheryl Strayed. I would love to read this book again and highlight passages from it that I would like to look back on again later. So much good advice in this book!
Finding Sanctuary, the 2nd book of the The Halcyon Legacy, my friend Cacey wrote this book. 🙂 Can’t wait to read the third book.
Other books that I read this year that I keep thinking about:
The Paris Wife… I never really read up on Hemingway, but this book really sparked my interest in finding out more about him. I live in St. Louis and there was a lot of references to STL in the book and also of Paris, which my husband and I had just visited… It really was a nice read, but I did pity his wife throughout much of the book… even though they did take a lot of vacations, had a Nanny for their child, etc. However, I did pity her for what she went through with Hemingway and his other ‘girl’.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children…This book is told through antique ‘photos’ that the author had from his own collection or had borrowed/purchased. It is such a fascinating story and how he tied it in with all of these photos is simply amazing. He has a sequal to this book coming out soon and I plan to read it.
Wife 22… I didn’t give this book 5 stars, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. This book is about a wife that is nearing a mid-life crisis and wondering what happened to the spark her and her husband once shared. She gets an email to do a confidential marriage survey/answer session and lands up… falling for man leading the survey! They even become FB friends… I won’t give the story away, but I was happy with how this book ended.
The Poisonwood Bible. This book will have your skin crawling. But, wow… it was a good read.
Books I wouldn’t read again…
I read the Fifty Shades of Grey books… out of curiosity. They weren’t as bad as everyone had told me they’d be, but… I really… wouldn’t read them again. I would say I read these books as a light, fluffy summer read… and, I’ll leave it at that. 🙂
Allegiance (Divergent #3). This book was so ho hum. It really got interesting in the last 20% of the book… but, I did not like the ending. AT ALL. So, BLEH. I loved the first book (Divergent).
WAY too LONG… but, worth it.
World Without End, this was the second book to Pillars of the Earth. I thought it was a great read… but, wow. It was long. It was worth reading, though.
A Game of Thrones. My husband is a HUGE George R.R. Martin fan… has read ALL his books. I know A Game of Thrones is so popular now because of the hit show on HBO. I haven’t seen the show, but I decided to read the first book. It was great, so many characters… but, wow. It was long. Forever long. My husband says the first 3 books are the best… so, I may try to read the first 3 out of the 6?? or is it 5?? total. Maybe I’ll make it a goal to read one a year… cause… wow… long. No wonder why they are worried he may not finish his current book before he dies (cause he is getting up there!). I think it is like book #8 or #9.. geesh.
Have you read any of these books? Which were your faves? Any books to recommend to me for 2014? I tend to go for the popular ones! Thanks for stopping by.
