Quick Disclaimer….this has been written since January, but thanks to technical difficulties it is just now posting.
It’s once again that time when I look back over my reading goals and see how I did for the year. Hard to believe is already been over a year since the last time I wrote one of these posts.
First off let’s take a look at my goals for last year and see how I did:
- Read 50 books – I didn’t get close; I blame hanging out with friends for this one J
- Read 15 Non-Fiction books – DONE…with one to spare!
- Read classics – specifically I’m thinking some Shakespeare and Vanity Fair (which are on my shelf!)…I dropped the ball on this one – again
Let’s take a look at some of the stats:
- Total Books: 27
- Non-Fiction: 16
- Fiction: 11
- Shortest: Undaunted by Christine Caine
- Longest: Either No way Out or The Boys in the Boat
- Least Favorite(s): Wild and The Long Walk Home
- Favorite(s): No Way Out, Seabiscuit, and The Boys in the Boat
- Average books per week: .52
And now for the actual list:
1. No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan by Mitch Weiss and Kevin Maurer
2. The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper
3. Bad Company by Jack Higgins
4. Dark Justice by Jack Higgins
5. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
6. Bloom by Kelle Hampton
7. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
8. An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff
9. Damascus Countdown by Joel Rosenberg
10. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
11. Enemy of Mine by Brad Taylor
12. You Saved Me, Too by Susan Kushner Resnick
13. Greater by Steven Furtick
14. Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
15. Living with Honor: A Memoir by America’s First Living Medal of Honor Recipient Since the Vietnam War by Salvatore Giunta
16. Coming Home by Karen Kingsbury
17. Collateral by Ellen Hopkins
18. The Last Man by Vince Flynn
19. Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson
20. The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva
21. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
22. Mud, Sweat, and Tears by Bear Grylls
23. The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian
24. Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
25. Nightshade by Ronie Kendig
26. The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life that Follows by Brian Castner
27. Undaunted by Christine Caine
Overall, I’m really happy about this list this year 60% of the books I read this year were non-fiction; that’s a 30% increase over last year when only 30% of the books I read were non-fiction. Also, the quality of my reading this year was still up there. I didn’t read as many books, but the books I read were bigger and more difficult. I read books that I didn’t agree with, books, that made me cry, books that made me want to go on an adventure, and books that challenged me to really live what I believe.
Now it’s time for some goals for 2014:
- Read 30 books – I want to challenge myself to do better than last year, but still want my goals to be attainable.
- Read 20 non-fiction books
- Read more books that I don’t necessarily agree with or that challenge my beliefs
- Read those classics that are still sitting on my bookshelf!
Culinary Conversations 