December 22, 2014

What I Read This Year- 2014 Edition

Hayley over at Carrots for Michaelmas inspired me to kick off my return to blogging with a look at what I read this year. I'm a giant book nerd, so it's a perfect place to start! For a quick visual look at my year in reading, you can check out my Goodreads challenge, but I'm going to break it down by category here and give links where possible.

But before I jump into that, I want to take a minute to address a common response I get when people find out how much I read (66 books and counting for this year!) It usually goes something like this- "How do you do it? I just don't have the time to read!"

Trust me, I get it. I'm incredibly busy myself. I have four kids, one of which has special needs (and so requires extra care and attention) and two of which I homeschool. That alone is a full-time job! And on top of that, I cook most of our food from scratch, keep the house (relatively) clean, co-teach Kindergarten CCD class, volunteer regularly with Family Promise, work part-time from home, and I'm a foster mom.

Holy crap, I'm exhausted just thinking about it! So how did I manage to read 66 books this year, with all of that going on?

The answer is embarrassingly simply- I read almost every night before bed.

Seriously, it's really that easy.  I get the younger kids to bed around 8pm, then I head straight for my bed.  Normally I read for 2-3 hours, then turn on my Compline app and pray myself sleep.  Some nights I fall asleep soon after I get started, some nights I'm up way too late because I just can't put the book I'm currently reading down, and sometimes I don't read at all.  But usually it's 2-3 hours a night.

I rarely read during the day, because I just don't have time.  It's normally GO GO GO from the time the kids get up until they're in bed.  It does mean I sacrifice other activities, like watching TV or knitting/crocheting, but if reading is a priority for you, you'll find the time.  You can dooo ittt!

Okay, on to the books!  (FYI, halfway through I decided I wanted to link to Goodreads instead of Amazon.  But I was too lazy to back and change the ones I'd already done.  Yet another reason I'm the World's Worst Blogger.  Sorry!)

Fiction
Non-Fiction
In Progress
Couldn't Get Through
HOLY CRAP that took forever to write!  I think next year I'll just direct you to my goodreads list and leave it at that.  My carpal tunnel is flaring up, for real.

Anyway, a few books stand out as favorites- Longbourn, a "downstairs" look at Pride and Prejudice.  If you're a Jane Austen fan should enjoy that one.  I also really loved the MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret Atwood (one of my all time favorite authors), and The Wind Through the Keyhole is a must-read for any Dark Tower fans.

Oh!  And The Casual Vacancy was amazing. If you're wondering if JK Rowling can "do" something other than Harry Potter, the answer is YES.  Yes, she can.

The Nerd Who Loved Me was so painfully terrible and predictable I couldn't get through it, and that's rare for me.

What about you?  How was your "year in reading?"  How do you make time for books?

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