San Tan Regional Park; Photo Credit Doree Weller
I made a few resolutions in 2013, one of which was that I was not going to keep compulsively purchasing books. I made good use of my library, and managed to practice self-control, for the most part. Some of the reason I buy books is that I find them in used book stores, and I want to read it, but I know that if I put it on a list of stuff to be read, I’ll probably never get around to getting it from the library or buying from Amazon. But if I bring it home, I’ll read it eventually. It sort of works.
One of the things I did to stop myself from buying books was to keep a list of everything I read in 2013. It was fun, and if I ever wonder, “Did I read that book?” I can go back and look at my list and see the book, along with my thoughts.
I read 76 books in 2013, less than I’ve read in other years, though I don’t actually have the numbers on that. I just know that in previous years, I’ve read one book after another, reading up to three or four books in a week. While that’s great and all, I decided I had to stop. I needed to do more writing, cooking, walking… things you can’t do if you’re just inexhaustibly consuming one book after another. I’m trying to read more mindfully.
Of the 76 books on my list, 44 were new, 27 were re-reads, and 5 I didn’t finish. Of the 5 I didn’t finish, 3 were because life is too short to read boring books, and the other two, I just haven’t finished yet.
I’ve included the complete list, along with some notes I made for my own benefit. Because of my book club, I found 2 new favorite books and took some risks with books I wouldn’t normally read. Some of them were great, and I’m so happy I tried them. Others were not books I enjoyed at all, and actually 2 of them were ones I didn’t finish. I highly recommend reading stuff others recommend. After all, it doesn’t hurt anything to put a boring book down. But discovering a new and wonderful book is like an adventure. I would never have read Beautiful Disaster or The Fault In Our Stars on my own, but I love both books so much now that they’ll be going on my special bookshelf for favorites.
*This is a book I’ve read before.
+This is a book I didn’t finish.
X Book suggested by my book club.
1. Words Get In The Way by Nan Rossiter About a boy with autism, pretty good
2. *Pollyanna by Eleanor M. Porter
3. *Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster
4. X 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster (1/12/13-1/13/13) A man with Asperger’s… good
5. Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul (competed 1/15/13) 🙂
6. The good dream, Donna VanLiere (completed 1/24/13). Women’s fiction, pretty good.
7. +Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk- just didn’t hold my interest… I tried!
8. Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake (1/28/13) Loved it!
9. Girl of Nightmares, Kendare Blake (sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood)… great!
10. Unforgettable Lady, Jessica Bird
11. Fantasy Lover, Sherrilyn Kenyon (2/10/13)- Very good, get more by her.
12. X Zoo, James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge (2/10/13-2/12/13) Good.
13. Tempting the Beast, Lora Leigh (2/14/13) Meh… don’t bother
14. Sweep, Cate Tiernan (2/16/13) Young adult series, great fun.
15. Cinder, Marissa Meyer (2/16- 2/17) Great!
16. *Guilty Pleasures, Laurell K Hamilton (2/18-2/23)
17. *The Laughing Corpse, Laurell K. Hamilton (2/23)
18. *Circus of the Damned, Laurell K. Hamilton (2/23-2/24)
19. *The Lunatic Cafe, Laurell K. Hamilton (2/25)
20. *Bloody Bones, Laurell K. Hamilton (2/26-2/28)
21. *The Killing Dance, Laurell K. Hamilton (2/28-3/1)
22. *Burnt Offerings, Laurell K Hamilton (3/1-3/5)
23. X Beautiful Disaster, Jamie McGuire (3/6- 3/9) New for the favorites list.
24. *Beautiful Disaster, Jamie McGuire (3/9-3/11)
25. X+Swamplandia, Karen Russell (3/11-3/14) It read too much like literary fiction… boring!
26. The Charming Man, Marian Keyes (3/15- 3/26)
27. Calculated in Death (#45), JD Robb (3/27-3/31)
28. Walking Disaster, Jamie McGuire (4/2)
29. +Johnny Cash (4/3-
30. X The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh (4/13-4/14)
31. Sweet Rains, Nora Roberts (4/22- 4/23)
32. Scarlet, Marissa Meyer (4/23-4/27)
33. Blithe Images, Nora Roberts (4/28)
34. Lover at Last, JR Ward (5/1- 5/4) Great, of course.
35. Law of Love, Nora Roberts (5/5-5/8)
36. *High Noon, Nora Roberts (5/9- 5/11)
37. Empty Chairs, Stacey Dansen (5/15- 5/18)
38. *The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (5/18- 5/20)
39. *Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins (5/20)
40. *Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (5/21)
41. Shards & Ashes, Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong (5/21-6/4) Anthology,paranormal 🙂
42. *50 Shades Darker, EL James (5/30- 6/2)
43. *50 Shades Freed, EL James (6/4- 6/6)
44. X The Good House, Ann Leary Not great, worth reading once.
45. *Someone to Watch Over Me, Judith McNaught (6/22- 6/24)
46. X The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon (7/8)
47. This Book is Full of Spiders, David Wong (7/10-7/14), sequel to John Dies at The End
48. *Blue Smoke, Nora Roberts (7/16- 7/17)
49. Deeply Odd, Dean Koontz (7/23-7/26)
50. Whiskey Beach, Nora Roberts (7/27-7/29)
51. *Northern Lights, Nora Roberts
52. Blue is for Nightmares, Laurie Faria Stolarz
53. White is for Magic, Laurie Faria Stolarz
54. *Walking Disaster, Jamie McGuire
55. *Ice Castles, Leonore Fleisher
56. *Remember Me, Christopher Pike (9/1-9/4)
57. Cesar Millan’s Short Guide to a Happy Dog, Cesar Millan (9/5-9/7)
58. *Love Story, Erich Segal (9/10)
59. *Where The Heart Is, Billie Letts
60. *The Silver Link, The Silken Tie, Mildred Ames (9/16)
61. The First Prophet, Kay Hooper (9/24- 9/27)
62. X The Lion is In, Delia Ephron (9/30)
63. A Street Cat Named Bob: And how he changed my life, James Bowen (10/7) Nice story
64. X The Fault in our Stars, John Green (10/8- 10/10) New for the Favorites List.
65. Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan
66. Emma, Jane Austen (10/20- 10/28)
67. Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending,Elizabeth Dunn&Michael Norton (10/26)
68. X My Name is Memory, Ann Brashares (10/30-11/2)
69. X Wild, Cheryl Strayed (11/4-11/11) Unexpectedly good, memoir
70. Allegiant, Veronica Roth (11/12- 11/19)
71. Mirror, Mirror, JD Robb
72. Thankless in Death, JD Robb (12/10- 12/11)
73. Innocence, Dean Koontz (12/12- 12/13)
74. A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog, Dean Koontz (12/14- 12/16)
75. X +In The Woods, Tana French (12/17-12/22)- Nothing happened, so I gave up.
76. 1984, George Orwell (12/23- present)
Doree Weller 
Great post! I also kept a list of what I read in 2013, for the first time ever. I didn’t track how long it took me to read it though-that’s a great idea. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the book club. I feel the same way you do about trying new books and not forcing myself through something boring although I do push myself a little harder when it’s a book club read!
I don’t think I’ve ever been glad I forced myself through a book I didn’t like. I started putting the dates down because I was curious how long it was taking me. As you can see, length of time widely varies, in part by how much I like the book.