2013 Wrap Up

So I'm studiously avoiding watching the National Championship because it is very very bad for my stress level and I tend to yell when it's Auburn football time.  This means I now have time for a post I wasn't planning on making till tomorrow - the complete wrap up of 2013 reading!

Number of Books Read - 130

Favorite New to Me Author - Catherine Aird - stumbled on her by accident and so glad I did!  How did I just now discover her?  She's classic British mystery which is quite possibly my favorite type of mystery.

Most Read Author - L.M. Montgomery - big shock considering I spent most of the year rereading every book that she wrote

Favorite Book - I'm not counting the Montgomery's since I already went through them.  My favorite book this year was probably A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg.  It doesn't hurt that all the recipes I've tried from the book so far are really good.  I also reread and re-fell in love with The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  I got this right after I first got my kindle because it was free but not really expecting to like it as much as I did when I was a kid.  I loved it!  I probably enjoyed it more as an adult than I did the thousands of times I read this throughout elementary school.



Least Favorite Book -   I don't have very many 1 star books this year.  Mostly because I got better at just giving up on a book I wasn't enjoying.  There were 3 this year that I read from start to finish mostly because I expected them to get better.  My absolute least favorite was An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P.D. James.  I really feel like I should love P.D. James.  She's one of the classic names in British Police Procedural books.   I remember her being a bit dry so I thought this one which features Cordelia Gray instead of Adam Dagliesh might be a bit better.  Unfortunately the only thing I liked about this book was that it was short.



Breakdown by Genre-
Mystery - 39
Young Adult (includes the Montgomery's) - 37
Romance - 27 -
Non-Fiction - 23
General Fiction - 4

Not a bad spread.  I'd like to read more non-fiction books this year but I'm going to be so busy with the Agatha's I'm not making many other goals.  The main thing is to just READ!

2013 Book Breakdown - Influencing books

Looking over my list of the books I read in 2013 there are 2 that stand out.  Not because they were the best or they were my favorite but because I feel that they both had a big effect on my life is some way.

The first is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin:

This wasn't a book I couldn't put down or one that I eagerly returned too.  I don't feel some great kinship with Rubin.  If I had to pick an author to have coffee with she's pretty close to the bottom of the list.  However, the information and the mindset she presented were definitely eye opening.  I found that when I was thinking about making myself happier I WAS happier.  If I was happier my marriage, my children, my energy level and just about every other aspect of my life benefited and was improved.  I've become much more organized and much more proactive in identifying and improving areas that I felt were stagnant and this book had a lot to do with it.  

The second is Free for All by Don Borchert

When I was reading this I found it lightweight and entertaining.  It was a quick read but not something I would heavily recommend to anyone.  But it got me thinking about the library.  When the first group of kids were little we used to to the library once a week during the summer.  We'd get movies and books and have a great time but then somehow rack up a huge fine and quit going for awhile.  The cycle repeated for years.  Then one year it didn't.  We never paid off our fines and I kind of forgot about the library for awhile.  Between Paperbackswap and used bookstores I was good. Right after I read this book I discovered there was an actual branch library within 2 miles from my house.  Since then the Tornado and I have been regular library visitors.  We've found tons of new favorites for both of us and I've saved my self serious money by checking out cookbooks.  Even better, I found their digital book section which convinced me that a Kindle would be financially feasible.  With the Kindle came Netgalley which opened up a whole new world of books.  

Whew! December Wrap Up

I got all the 18 books read this month.  I'm hoping my time management is much better this year because most of December was spent staying up way too late until my eyes burned trying to get the books finished.  A few of these were short which I feel like is kind of cheating but I had to get past it.  So in the month of December I read:

1.  Akin to Anne - L.M. Montgomery
2.  Road to Yesterday - L.M. Montgomery
3.  Along the Shore - L.M. Montgomery
4.  Among the Shadows - L.M. Montgomery
5.  Christmas with Anne - L.M. Montgomery
6.  At the Altar - L.M. Montgomery
7.  Looking for Anne of Green Gables by Irene Gammel
8. Coming Home by Mariah Stewart
9.  It Had to Be You - Jill Shalvis
10. Christmas Mysteries - Patricia Wentworth, Charlotte MacLeod, et al
11. Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy - Karen Foxlee
12. Ramshackle Glam - Jordan Reid
13. A Christmas to Remember - Jill Shalvis et.al
14.  Reunion with Death - Sheila Connolly
15.  Deadly Ambition - Laura Bradford
16. Christmas on 4th Street - Susan Mallery
17. American Afterlife - Kate Sweeney
18. Jeffrey Introduces 13 More Southern Ghosts - Kathryn Tucker Windham

Favorite Book - Probably American Afterlife by Kate Sweeney.  Pretty much all the books I read were really good with a few exceptions.  Kathryn Tucker Windham is one of my favorite authors.  Susan Mallery surprised me with her Christmas on 4th Street which to my delight featured no unplanned pregnancies and a great female character.  It Had to Be You by Jill Shalvis also featured a great female character and was highly entertaining.  I also love the community that started in Coming Home by Mariah Stewart and am looking forward to reading the next 6 in the series that are currently sitting on my bookshelf.



Worst Book - Without hesitation or question the book I liked the least this month is Looking for Anne of Green Gables by Irene Gammel.  I actually feel like I have less of an understanding about the book than I did before I read this.

Most Unusual Book - Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee.  This is a children's adventure story that takes place in a museum.  It features a little girl who isn't the strongest or the most put together who decides to save the world and does.

L.M. Montgomery Wrap Up

On December 26th I finished the last of L.M. Montgomery's 32 books.  I started the year of with the Story Girl in January and finished with At the Altar at the end of December.

Favorite Series: The Story Girl and The Golden Road.  This is the story of the King family and what the Disney series Avonlea was very loosely based on.  The characters are wonderful and flawed all at the same time.  The chapters of the first book use the title of the story that The Story Girl (otherwise known as Sara Stanley) tells during the chapter.  This is one of her best books and would be a fabulous read aloud book for a younger child.

Least Favorite Series: Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat.  I disliked both of these books intensely.  The character development was minimal at best.  Nothing actually happened except Pat wandering around complaining about change way past the point of healthy.  I was very very glad this series only took 2 books.

Favorite Stand Alone Book: The Blue Castle.  The main character in this book is an adult which is nice.  I liked Valancy and I loved watching her find her own identity.

Favorite Short Story Collection: Against the Odds. While I loved most of the short story collections the story of people overcoming adversities and ending up with the happiness they needed was very nice to read.

Book I'm Most Likely to Recommend: Rilla of Ingleside.  To me this book provided a look at life on the home front during World War 1 which is very rare.  I sobbed like a baby through most of the book but there is an interesting developed story here that I think even many of the Anne books are missing.

Montgomery is still one of my favorite authors even though that Pat series almost made me through in the towel.  All the dreaminess can get tedious but that makes characters like Jane and Valancy from Jane of Lantern Hill and The Blue Castle respectively all the more refreshing.  For the most part all of her books and short stories are nice old fashioned stories where good hard working people are justly rewarded in the end.  While that might not be the most exciting praise it makes for some nice reading.

November TBR Wrap Up

So at the beginning of this month I said that if I didn't get all 15 books read December was going to be crazy.  I got 11 read... That leaves 18 books to read before I can reach my goal of 130 for the year.  6 of those are short story collections but it's still going to be busy.

What I Read in November:
1.  Chronicles of Avonlea
2.  Further Chronicles of Avonlea
3.  Against the Odds
4. After Many Days
5. The Doctor's Sweetheart
6.  Across the Miles
7.  What a Ghoul Wants - Victoria Laurie
8.  Crystal Cove - Lisa Kleypas
9.  A Night to Surrender - Tessa Dara
10.  Fire Engine Dead - Sheila Connolly
11.  Book Line and Sinker - Jenn McKinlay
12.  ?
13.  ?
14.  ?
15.  ?

October Reading Wrap Up

1.  Blue Castle - L.M. Montgomery
2.  A Tangled Web - L.M. Montgomery
3.  Jane of Lantern Hill - L.M. Montgomery
4.   Magic for Marigold - L.M. Montgomery
5.
6. Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin (library loan)
7. The White Cottage Mystery - Margery Allingham - Kindle book loan from the Amazon Kindle Library
8. Rainshadow Road - Lisa Kleypas
9. Dream Lake - Lisa Kleypas
10. Dead and Berried - Karen MacInerney
11. Spit, Scary Ann and Sweat Bees - Kathryn Tucker Windham
12. The Tao of Martha - Jen Lancaster
13. A Most Scandalous Proposal - Ashyln MacNamara
14.
15.

This month wasn't great but was at least better than last month.  I got 12 books read.  2 of them were library books, 1 book read on the Kindle and all of the Montgomery stand alone books read.

Favorite book of the month - Spit, Scary Ann and Sweat Bees by Kathryn Tucker Windham.  This was a lovely little book with photos and stories about superstitions and childhood in a little Alabama town in the 20s and 30s.

Most Disappointing Book:  The Tao of Martha by Jen Lancaster - I was kind of expecting a mix of Julie and Julia and The Happiness Project and it just wasn't.  It wasn't a bad book but it wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

September Reading Wrap Up

September was not a successful reading month.  I place most of the blame on Netflix.  I've been watching the USA show Monk since August and had gotten through 6 seasons when I saw that Netflix was going to take it off on October 1st!  So all reading time went out the window and I watched a LOT of Monk.  So much Monk in fact that I couldn't really read because when I did all the characters from the book looked like the characters on the show.  Romance novels didn't seem very appealing with the hero looked like Adrian Monk in my head.  October's not looking very good for reading either because Netflix just put up the 8th season of How I Met Your Mother and I want to watch the whole show again before I start the final season.  Also, the book Rilla of Ingleside slowed down my Montgomery reading because I had such an emotinal response to it.  It's very difficult to get through a book when you sob through the entire thing.  So this is what actually got read for the month of September:

1.  Rilla of Ingleside - L.M. Montgomery
2.  Kilmeny of the Orchard - L.M. Montgomery
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.  Brownies and Broomsticks - Bailey Cates
9. House of Many Shadows - Barbara Michaels
10. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman - P.D. James
11. Miss Silver Comes to Stay - Patricia Wentworth
12. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
13.
14.
15.

I got 2 out of 5 Montgomery books read, 0 library books and kindle books read and only 5 out of 8 free spaces filled.

Least favorite book for September:
Without question An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P.D. James.  I really disliked the characters, the pacing and the actual mystery.

Favorite book: for September:
House of Many Shadows by Barbara Michaels and Miss Silver Comes to Stay by Patricia Wentworth are old favorites and always enjoyable.  However, the book I got the most out of was The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  While I don't generally enjoy self-help books and Rubin's personality didn't really make me want to be friends with her I did get a lot out of the book.  J and I have been talking a lot about kind of doing are own happiness project and making fun more of a priority (or at least having it make an appearance on the priority list).  Talking about it and thinking about it has made me happier so far and has made life a bit more fun lately.

Now I have to go watch 8 seasons of How I Met Your Mother so I have some hope of getting some reading down in October.

August Reading Wrap Up

I got all 15 books read this month.  I finished #15 - Rainbow Valley at 9:30 on the 31st so just under the deadline.  According to Goodreads.com I'm still running behind of my goal but I've definitely made up some ground.  So the books I read were:

1.  Anne of the Island
2.  Anne of Windy Poplars
3.  Anne's House of Dreams
4.  Anne of Ingleside
5.   Rainbow Valley
6.   The Rubber Band by Rex Stout - Library Kindle Loan
7.   Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - Library
8.   When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James - Library Kindle Loan
9.   Bossypants by Tina Fey
10. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
11. Sour Apples by Sheila Connolly
12.  Forever and a Day by Jill Shalvis
13.  How to Moon a Cat by Rebecca M. Hale
14.  Let's Play Dead by Sheila Connolly
15. Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas


Least Favorite book -  The Rubber Band by Rex Stout.  I really didn't enjoy this one.  I didn't like the characters, the writing style or the mystery.
I also didn't like Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers.  This is one of the few books that I really think I like the movie way better than the book.

Favorite Book - I'd have to say Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas.  I read it in one sitting and can't wait to read the next books in the series.  I also really enjoyed Forever and a Day by Jill Shalvis and the 2 Connolly books.  Anne's House of Dreams is one of my favorites and brought me to tears a few times and Anne of the Island still has one of my favorite endings of all time.

While not a favorite Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs was one of the most unusual books I've ever read that was readable.  I'm looking forward to the sequel to see where he takes this story.