2014: A Year in Books

Today’s topic for A Month of Favorites is a look at our reading over the course of this year.

I’ve tried this a couple of different ways, and I’m stuck, so I’m just going to go with the questions from the prompt.

What month did you…

1. …read the least?

January. Poor January. I only read two books. I think that’s largely because of the back to school blitz, which makes sense because my September reading was also pretty low (4 books).

On the plus side, I really enjoyed both books I read!

They were:

• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
• The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)

2. …read the most?

July. I read 9 books in July, mostly because of my weekly book club, but also because I read a couple of graphic novels. To be fair to the other summer months, though, I read 8 in May, June, and August, so it was almost a four-way tie. But, you know, July won by a book.

3. …read the book you liked LEAST for the year?

Also, July! The book was Kick-Ass by Mark Millar. Great artwork and an interesting story, but there was some casual and obnoxious racism and misogyny that I just couldn’t overlook. Blech.

(I should point out that it’s the book I liked least that I actually finished. I’ve DNF-ed around five books so far this year.)

4. …read your longest book?

I didn’t keep track of page numbers this year (I have in the past, if you’re worried about my nerd status), but I’m pretty sure the longest book I read was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I read it via audiobook, and that was around 11 discs. Goodreads tells me that the hardcover is 473 pages, which sounds about right.

Oh wait, I just checked to see how long The Circle by Dave Eggers is, and it’s longer (508 pages), so I’ll just list both since Unbroken still counts as the longest audiobook I’ve listened to so far this year. Too bad I couldn’t make it through Game of Thrones, eh?

The Circle = March; Unbroken = November.

5. …try a new genre?

I was going to say I didn’t try a new genre, but I think In the Shadows by Kiersten White may count. It’s a story that alternates between traditional prose and a graphic novel with no dialogue. I really liked it. I read it in June. Props to book club on that one because I probably would have skipped it.

6. …fall hard for a book boyfriend/girlfriend?

No book boyfriends or girlfriends this year, alas. Though I probably do love Princess Ko from The Cracks in the Kingdom (read in April) the most.

7. …re-read a favorite?

November! I was in a terrible, terrible reading slump, so I reread two books from one of my favorite series and all was right with the world. Well, that’s overreaching. In truth, reading those books broke my reader’s block, so yay for that.

8. …read something you’ve been wanting to read for a long time?

That would be right now! I just finished The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner because I really, really want to read The Queen of Attolia and could not, in good conscience, read it without first reading The Thief (they’re part of a series). I am also currently listening to Scarlet by Marissa Meyer in the car and will probably listen to Cress when I do some traveling as well.

I’m also going to put October/November because Unbroken is the first audiobook I’ve listened to in over a year, and I’ve been wanting to get back into those as well.

9. …read the most books that you rated with four or more stars?

This one is a tie between March and November (so far…I have a lot of books on tap for December). I read a five-star book in each month and three four-star books. March may have the edge, though, because those were all new books while November has some re-reads.

10. …read the most books toward your challenge goals?

May for Diversity on the Shelf, and June for Adventures through Awkwardness. We don’t talk about the other ones. Yet.

This is another so far answer since December isn’t over yet, and I have a lot of books in a pile by my bed that I aspire to get to that will fulfill both challenges.

I think that’s a good place to stop. If you’re interested, you can see my list of books read for the year and how I rated them over on Goodreads.