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!

February 2014 Wrap-Up

I succeeded in reading 10 books this month, along with starting the spring semester of my junior year of college and everything that entails. Actually, ten books is the most I've read in any school month since I've started keeping track of my reading.

Without further ado, here are the books I've read along with the ratings I gave them on Goodreads

• The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller [4/5]
• The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore [4/5]
• Pivot Point by Kasie West [5/5]
• The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
• Bakuman Vol. 1: Dreams and Reality by Tsugumi Ohba [n/a]*
• Stolen by Lucy Christopher [4/5]
• Bakuman Vol. 2: Chocolate and Akama by Tsugumi Ohba [n/a]*
• Partials by Dan Wells [5/5]
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick [5/5]
• The Distance Between Us by Kasie West [3/5]

That's all for this month! Let's hope March is just as prolific in terms of reading.

Total read this month: 10
Total read this year: 26/75 
[I think I might just have to increase my reading goal for this year]

*I will not be rating any of the manga I read because I feel like I haven't read enough to adequately rate them critically

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!