A Year of Books, Books, and More Books: My 2014 Wrap-Up

Overall, it's been a good year for reading. There have been great months and there have been not so great months but regardless, I've read some pretty fantastic books in 2014. One hundred and thirty-one (131) to be exact! That's 31 more than the original 100 book goal that I set at the beginning of the year. While I was hoping to finish one last book before the year is over (I have a think for even numbers) I'm still proud of what I did read.

As a math nerd, I love keeping track of what I'm reading beyond just how many books I've read each month. I won't bore you with a long list of plots and pie charts so I'll just give you the highlights:

• My best month: June and July (18 books both months)
• My worst month: November (2 books)
• My most read genre: Contemporary (41 books)
• My least read genre: Non-fiction (1 book)
• My average rating: 4.11 stars
• The shortest book: Life Before Legend by Marie Lu (38 pages)
• The longest book: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (725 pages)
• Average number of pages per book: 345 pages

One thing I have noticed is the longer I've been blogging and immersing myself in the book blogging world, the more selective I've been about the books I'm reading. I've gotten to know what's out there and have become better at gauging books that I think I'll like. Of course, I still branch out and sometimes I find a gem, which is always excited. 

I hit a bit of a reading slump during the fall months but I'm happy to say I am back and better than ever! So here's a toast: to reading, to books, and to 2014! And my 2015 bring many more good books into our lives!

Top 14 Books of 2014

I've read many amazing books this year so it was very hard to come up with a list of my favorites. I don't know about you but I know when I'm faced with the choice of picking my favorite books I always freeze up. How could I possibly choose from so many fantastic books? After much though and deliberation, here is my list of the Top 14 Books of 2014:

Read on for a short reason as to why each of these books ended up on the list!

Christmas 2014 Book Haul

If I'm being perfectly honest this Christmas wasn't particularly bookish but I wasn't at all disappointed. I received a lot of wonderful non-book related presents from my family that I would never have bought for myself which is why they left the book buying to me. My parents did however, buy me a new Nook GlowLight which I really appreciated. I have definitely noticed a difference in terms of weight and page turn speed compared to my old Nook Simple Touch. Other than that, I bought myself the actual books that you see above.

Here's the complete list:

• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• The Time Quintet (box set) by Madeline L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time)
• Rooms by Lauren Oliver (ebook)

Overall, I'm really happy with my Christmas haul. All the books are ones I've wanted to read (or in the case of A Wrinkle in Time, reread) so I think I'm pretty set for the new year. Speaking of the new year, be on the look out for my 2014 Wrap-Up post coming in the next day or so, as well as a post of my most anticipated releases of 2015.

What books did you receive this holiday season? Which one are you most excited to read next? Let me know down below in the comments.

2014 Reading Challenge

Last year I started out with a goal of 52 books for the year, or about 1 book a week. By mid-June I'd reached that goal so I increased it to 75 books. Low and behold a little over a month later I'd passed my new goal as well. I increased it for the second and final time to 100 books. I ended the year with a total of 119 books read and 40,706 pages for an average of 342 pages per book.

Now it's a new year, which means a new reading goal. I participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge to keep track of my reading goal. This year I've decided to start out with 75 books as my initial goal. As the year goes on I may increase it but as a person who is very self-competitive, having a very high goal to start out with would stress me out and the last thing I want is for reading to become a stressful activity.

Join me in setting a reading goal for this year and feel free to leave your goal number in the comments, I'd love to see what my fellow book lovers are planning for the new year!