Reading goals 2014

I've been seeing a lot book challenges out there. A librarian friend wrote this post, Reading Challenges for 2014, for the Robbins library blog, and outlined 11 reading challenges.

I like checking things off of lists, having a goal in mind, or reframing my current participation with an outside challenge to get me involved in a different way. Sign me up!

I have chosen these challenges:

1. Tuesday's Wednesday  2014-reading-challenge (read 24 books from 24 different categories) 
2. Roof Beam Reader's TBR pile challenge  (read 12 books that have been on your to-read list for over a year)  My list
3. Goodreads 2014 reading challenge (personally set goal of 60 books read)

The first two challenges capture nicely what I've been contemplating on the reading front. I'd like to have a little more structure in how I pick what I read and branching out a bit from my normal choices. I also want to make a noticable dent in my to read list (and not just continually scrape off the top layer). Ideally I will do this by reading the books, but eliminating books from my list that I will never read is fine too.

I used to be really concerned about the rules of this thing, but who cares? If I read the book (ebook, paper, audio, children's, non-fiction, whatever) from cover to cover, then it counts. If I don't finish something, fine. I'd like to still keep a list of books I remove from the to-read list, so in a few years when I forget that I tried to read Lolita, I can look in my list and see why I didn't continue with the book. (Can you tell I love lists?)

Current Goodreads tally? 561 books

You know I will be adding title to the list. I'll take some work, but I'd like to get the list down to 500 by the end of the year.

I have participated in the Goodreads reading challenge since 2011.

2011 52 of 52 read
2012 34 of 40 read
2013 55 of 55 read
2014   2 of 60 read and counting!

Is this how runner's feel?

This year I decided to undertake the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge posted on Ravelry. I have 5 weeks left and 11 books to go. I have I think 9 books currently in progress, and half of those are audiobooks so I can hopefully squeeze in a little extra time on the walk to work and such, becuase I'm not good at reading and doing anything else too.

I'm so close, but really? It's going to take some perseverance to pull this off. Runner's hit the wall somewhere between mile 20 and 23, and in the Boston Marathon it's Hearbreak Hill that can do you in.


1. Bridge to Terabithia (Paperback), Paterson, Katherine
2. The Cat Who Went Bananas (Cat Who..., #27), Braun, Lilian Jackson
3. Water for Elephants: Library Edition (Playaway Audiobook), Gruen, Sara
4. Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie is Not the Answer (Paperback), Lancaster, Jen
5. Cooked Goose (Savannah Reid Mystery, Book 4), McKevett, G.A.
6. The Light Fantastic (Discworld, #2), Pratchett, Terry
7. No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process (Hardcover), Beavan, Colin
8. Back to School Murder (Lucy Stone Mystery, Book 4), Meier, Leslie
9. Killer Calories (Savannah Reid Mystery, Book 3), McKevett, G.A.
10. Knit One, Kill Two (A Knitting Mystery, #1), Sefton, Maggie
11. Dropped Dead Stitch (A Knitting Mystery, # 7), Sefton, Maggie
12. Casting Off (Paperback), Dickson, Nicole R.
13. Elements of Style: A Novel (Paperback), Wasserstein, Wendy
14. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novel (Paperback), Sijie, Dai
15. Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office (Paperback), Lancaster, Jen
16. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen (Hardcover), Powell, Julie
17. Fear and Yoga in New Jersey (Hardcover), Galant, Debra
18. The Corset Diaries (Paperback), MacAlister, Katie
19. KnitLit: Sweaters and Their Stories...and Other Writing About Knitting (Paperback), Roghaar, Linda
20. A Deadly Yarn (A Knitting Mystery, # 3), Sefton, Maggie
21. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible (Hardcover), Jacobs, A.J.
22. Travels in the Scriptorium: A Novel (Hardcover), Auster, Paul
23. The Color of Magic (Discworld, #1), Pratchett, Terry
24. The Budget Gardener: Twice the Garden for Half the Price (Paperback), Gilmer, Maureen
25. Spin to Knit: The Knitter's Guide to Making Yarn (Paperback), Okey, Shannon
26. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (Hardcover), Kingsolver, Barbara
27. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (Hardcover), Myron, Vicki
28. Bucky Katt's Big Book Of Fun: A Get Fuzzy Treasury (Get Fuzzy), Conley, Darby
29. High Maintenance (Paperback), Belle, Jennifer
30. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Paperback), Cleary, Beverly
31. He's Just Not That Into You (The Newly Expanded Edition): The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys, Behrendt, Greg
32. Dating Big Bird (Hardcover), Zigman, Laura
33. The Friday Night Knitting Club (Audio CD), Jacobs, Kate
34. In the Merde for Love (Hardcover), Clarke, Stephen
35. Anybody Out There? (Paperback), Keyes, Marian
36. Big Boned (Heather Wells, #3), Cabot, Meg
37. Comfort Food (Hardcover), Jacobs, Kate
38. Free-Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again (Hardcover), Pearl-McPhee, Stephanie
39. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5), Rowling, J.K.
40. Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks (Paperback), Pearl-McPhee, Stephanie
41. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off (Paperback), Pearl-McPhee, Stephanie