Book Challenge 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Well here I am again at the start of a new year thinking about what I should read this year. I looked back at my other Book Challenges and realized that I was way too specific in 2012. Then I realized that I wasn't specific enough for 2013.  I've walked two ends of the spectrum.  I definitely appreciated not having any real goals this past year.  I really did just sit down and read.  I didn't meet my vague goal of one non-fiction per month in 2013, but that leads me to this year's challenge, which will be a hybrid of the past two years.

I still desperately want to read one solid non-fiction book per month like I proclaimed last year.  I think my mistake there was that I didn't pre-select the non-fiction books and therefore fiction always won when I had a choice.  Fiction is the first department I go to in the library. The 'New Releases' shelf is my best friend.  Non-fiction is one floor up in my Central Library and it's across the atrium in my local branch library, so I'm never magnetically drawn towards it.  What I did for this year was peruse my Goodreads list for non-fiction books that I've tagged for reading. I selected twelve that I want to read this year. So that will be my challenge. The list is at the bottom of this post. Some of these were on my 2012 list so I really need to get myself together and knock these out.

As for fiction, I'm taking a page from last year's challenge and just reading whatever I want in this category. Of course there are some fiction books that I have been really interested in reading (Serena, Neverwhere, Life after Life, The Good Lord Bird).  There are also a few heavy hitters that I really want to read (A Fine Balance, Madame Bovary, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell).  I'll definitely try to get to those, but otherwise I'm going to read whatever I fancy depending on my mood, library availability, recommendations by friends, vacation plans, snow/rain storm severity.  Basically, I'm just going to go with the flow.

I wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous new year filled with love, creativity and good books!

~Kali

2014 - Non-Fiction Wish List (in no particular monthly order)

Five Days at Memorial

Sister Citizen

Emperor of all Maladies

Gulp

Salt, Sugar, Fat

The Wet Engine

Team Rodent

Bad Pharma

Omnivore's Dilemma

Cooked

A People's History of the United States

Behind the Beautiful Forevers