One of my personal goals (which Ill be blogging later this week) for this coming year, is reading. And not just leisurely reading, because I feel like that gives me an out. I want to read 12-15 books this year, which means at least one a month. I know some of the books I will get through faster than others, so I think being able to read through three additional books isn’t unrealistic. For me, unrealistic goals are useless. I firmly believe that when goals are unrealistic, it leads to more than just failing at that particular goal. It leads to self doubt and guilt. I dont need any more of that in my life!
Here are the books I am going to be reading through in 2013. You can keep up with which one Im reading currently over on the sidebar!
The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Durrow, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, The Gravedigger’s Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Olive Kitteredge by Elizabeth Strout, The Devil in the White City by Erin Larson, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, Room by Emma Donoghue, All There Is by Dave Isay, Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and lastly The Bible! (Not Pictured: Gone Girl, Olive Kitteredge, Crucial Conversations and the Bible).
Have you read any of these? Thoughts on them? Im particularly excited about Crucial Conversations, Bird by Bird, and Olive Kitteredge. Crucial Conversations appeals to me because I love analyzing and this book is all about discovering the why of how people act during conversations. I have heard so many lovely things about Bird by Bird, so I am really excited to get into it. And lastly, my bff Nikki has been telling me to read Olive Kitteredge for a loooooong time and I always like what she tells me to read!
What are you planning to read this year? Do you mostly like Fiction, or Non-Fiction?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
i love how much you read. it makes me want to do more of it, too! here are a couple of my reading goals: 1) i’m planning to approach my Bible-reading a little differently this year and actually try to STUDY a book of the Bible each month (maybe for the longer books, two months). 2) i want to FINISH Wuthering Heights (I hate something being unfinished, but it’s been slow-going) and I’d like to read Little Men & maaaybe Joe’s Boys (because I was recently reminded how much I loved Little Women). I’d also like to read at LEAST one non-fiction/Christian book, and work my way through the 3 photography/business books I’ve gotten in the last few months. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’m not an avid reader. So, I’ll be lucky if I make it through all that!
Read gone girl (a group of my girlfriends have a book club and we read this a few months ago), SO good! I have the immortal life of henrietta lacks on my nightstand, will be reading this after i finish my current read. And the language of flowers, is a book my friend just finished and she thought it was the best book she has read all year (2012), so i have this on my list, as well as room.
Guess we have the same taste in book, ha.
@Tori I think I need to be reading more Christian/Business books, but I just LOVE fiction so much. Haha. Thats why there are only 2 for the year. I have yet to actually read through the entire Bible, but I definitely think I will do what you said about studying when I have!
YAY! you will love Olive Kitteridge. Also, Bird by Bird is amaaaazing. So is Room – so moving and scary and well-written. And Mere Christianity is on my list, too….so much to read!
Oo! I may be adding some of these to my list as well!! Reading is one of my absolute favorite things! Since you’re going to Scotland (!!!!) I think you should read the Outlander series too.
And that orange tree in the background…how are those oranges coming along? Sour much?
I read Gone Girl over Christmas, really enjoyed it and made me want to read 2 others she has written!
I’ve read Gone Girl and Room – both are excellent. I have let many borrow each of these and no one has given a bad review! The Kindness of Strangers is another great one that my book club read recently.
The only one I have read of your list is the Bible. I read the Bible in an ongoing Bible Reading Plan. The one I am reading now is a three year plan: you will read the New Testament through three times in the three years, and the Old Testament through once in the three years. This is the only Bible Reading Plan that I have actually made through in one year. I don’t want to read the Bible for reading sake which was what I was doing in reading it through in a year. I want to read to learn.
I plan each year to read about 50 books in a year. My reading is mostly light hearted. Last year I read 52-53 books. I know there were a few times that I did not write down the book as I read it. I have a Kindle and an iPad, yes, Jared, your grandma has an iPad!. I try to download the same books on both so if Joe has one I have the other one to read. I guess I read mostly “feel good books”, as Aunt Judy calls them. I have three email free ibooks lists that I get every day. Most days there is not any books I want to download, but other days there are several I download.
Looks like a great list! I finished Bird by Bird a few months ago, and it was exactly what I’d heard – crazy, hilarious, and stinkin’ helpful on multiple fronts.
Your 2013 reading list includes several of my favorites! In general, I read much more fiction than non-fiction, but The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Devil in the White City are among my all-time favorite books of any kind or genre. My book club just read Gone Girl and all eight of us enjoyed it, even though it was a bit of a departure for many of us. Several of the gals from the same book club (myself included) also read Room last year, and we were all glad to have read it although it’s hard to read at times. Mere Christianity is a classic and one that I really ought to revisit, since I haven’t read it since college. And last but not least, The Night Circus is in my all-time top 5. I hope you love it as I do!
(On an unrelated note, do you already use Goodreads to share and track books you’ve read and want to read? As a fellow reader, I think you may enjoy it.)
I’m going to have to look up some of these books! I read Gone Girl, it was SO intense! I borrowed it from a friend and they had checked it out from the library so I only had a short window to read it, I read half and then skipped to the end
I don’t recommend doing that but it is a good read. Prepare to be blown away by it! I’m reading more non-fiction like John Maxwell, Dave Ramsey, the Bible, but one fiction book I’m excited to read again in The Hobbit! I loved that book and movie. I pinned your list on pinterest with a link back to here, I’m going to need to refer back to it for some fiction book ideas.
I’ve read the Gravedigger’s Daughter, and I was not a huge fan. It’s my least favorite of Oates’s books that I’ve read. So far my favorite is We Were the Mulvaneys. Let me know what you think of it. Maybe you’ll have some insight that I didn’t get.
I read The Night Circus last month for an online book club that I have joined. It’s not my typical style of reading (I normally do more Nicholas Sparks and such) but I really loved The Night Circus! It was great! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as well!
Since most of what I read (besides the Bible) is work related (Hot topics in anticoagulation, preoperative cardiac evaluation for non-cardiac surgery…little yawn), I have for the past few years enjoyed reading Christian fiction, mindless, happy ending fiction with a sprinkle of “faith” and a clean storyline. Mostly Karen Kingsbury & a few others. A lady at church has a seemingly endless supply of books to share & she picks them out & gives them to me in such a way that I often see God’s timing in each book she chooses for me. I do plan to read Henrietta Lacks since it is important for any health professional to read.
Room is AWESOME! Best book I read last year!
The Language of Flowers was OK for me.
I struggled with Olive Kitteridge which is weird since it is short stories but I really struggled.
I am going through the New Testament this year using the youversion app. Really helps.
Hope you enjoy them all!
Joyce Carol Oats is my all-time favorite author. You are going to looove The Gravedigger’s Daughter. I have a collection of all of her short stories, and they are SUCH a great read! Her words are so hauntingly beautiful!
Great list! xx Ashleigh
Night Circus was my favorite book this year! Once I started it, I could NOT put it down! I even read it on the bus :]
Gone Girl was a little creepy, but good, and Room is just fantastic!
Happy Reading!
{ 1 trackback }