Sunday, January 5, 2014

Reading in 2013

I had a goal of reading 70 books in 2013 as well as participating in the 5th round of Cannonball Read - reading & reviewing at least 52 books. Unfortunately, I didn't meet either of those goals.

Taking care of two little girls definitely impacted my time to write up book reviews.  My daily commute has allowed me time to read, but I still felt short of hitting my Cannonball Read goal as well as my personal goal.

I've updated my master list with all the books I did read in 2013 (44 total), but I won't be posting reviews for all of them.  Going forward in 2014, I won't be participating in the next round of Cannonball Read, but I still set a personal goal of 70 books.

Book review wise, I'm going to focus on writing up thoughts for books that I rate 4 or 5 stars, but otherwise I'll just be adding the books to my master list.  Family comes first.

Here are my favorite books of 2013 with brief thoughts on each of them:

Anonymous Sources by Mary Louise Kelly - debut novel by a former NPR colleague full of intrigue and mystery roughly based on her experiences reporting stories.  I'm hoping we see more books from Mary Louise in the future.

Anne of Green Gables & To Kill A Mockingbird - two classics that my book club read.  One was a re-read while the other was the first time I read it.  Both demonstrate why countless generations continue to fall in love with these characters over and over again.

The Husband's Secret - this book was all a buzz on Twitter and elsewhere.  The author weaves multiple story lines together in ways you wouldn't expect.  Readers can easily identify with the characters.

Sea Creatures - this book is the second book of Susanna Daniel that takes place in Southern Florida. Susanna weaves prose and shows the reader the human side of her characters.

Godiva - Nicole Galland is a master at taking a historical figure and finding the unknown stories about them. While the Lady Godiva story is well known, Galland provides a fresh look at this legend.

The English Girl - there are some authors that capture the reader's attention from the first chapter.  Daniel Silva is one of those authors. Twists and turns are aplenty as the mystery of the English girl is unraveled.

The Doll - third in the Vanessa Michael Munroe series.  I'm a huge fan of Taylor Stevens.  If you haven't read these books - you should!

The Perfume Collector - Paris in the 1950s, romance, mysterious benefactor, and a collection of jars.  Enough said - how can you not be curious?

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