I may be in trouble. I challenged myself to read 150 books in 2014.
I have read 56 books so far this year, including the 11 books I read in May.
The problem is that I’m approaching the halfway point of the year, and I’m about 20 books short of where I need to be to accomplish my goal.
I really should be reading 12 books a month (with a few extras a couple of months) to guarantee my goal. I’ve only done that twice during my challenge so far (I read 14 books in January and 12 books in March.).
I’m a bit nervous that I won’t make my goal if I don’t speed up a bit. I’m not sure what’s slowing me down. I feel like I’m reading a lot, but it’s just not enough. Perhaps my goal is too lofty? I’m uncertain, but I’m not giving up yet.
The good news is that nothing terrible happens if I don’t meet my goal. In the end, I still read a lot of great books, which is the real goal.
Speaking of great books, May was full of them! Here were my favorite reads from May, which are reflective of some of my favorites this year so far.
- Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder – I loved Arianna Huffington’s advice in this book and have used a quote from Arianna and a quote from her mother in my quotable series.
- Dear Girls Above Me: Inspired by a True Story – I thought this book was really stupid and mean when I first started reading it. Charlie McDowell shares ignorant conversations had by the noisy girls who live above him. This apparently became a phenomenon on Twitter. It was interesting that I thought the book was mean, but I found myself missing the girls’ stupidity when it ended. I even went and followed McDowell’s Twitter. I can only assume it’s because the girls make me feel super intelligent. They also make me hope my roommates and I didn’t sound that dumb when we were in college.
- Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings – I could not put down Michelle Knight’s firsthand account of being kidnapped and held captive for more than a decade by Ariel Castro. I highly recommend this book. It makes you wonder if we’re paying enough attention to what’s happening around us and if we should be watching our neighbors more carefully.
- Heart Like Mine – This is the fictitious story of a woman who never wanted children but suddenly finds herself helping her fiance raise two. Having been a teenage girl with a new step parent, the writing in this book rang familiar. I loved the storyline and the realistic characters.
- If I Can’t Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children – Authorities still aren’t sure what happened to Susan Powell in December 2009. This book will give you some theories. After reading it, I read that the family is searching her father-in-law’s home for clues.
- Still Life with Bread Crumbs – Anna Quindlen quickly is becoming one of my favorite authors. This book is so well written that I stayed up all night to find out how things ended for the Rebecca Winters character. I love Quindlen’s descriptive writing. She gives the perfect amount of detail.
Creating this book list for you makes me feel better about being behind on my goal. I didn’t read enough (goal-wise) last month, but I loved more than half of the books I read enough to strongly recommend them. That’s not too shabby!
Let’s Talk Nerdy!
I love your recommendations! What’s the best book you’ve read so far this year?
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TammyL says
I’ve read some really good books this year so far. My favorites are “Everyman” by Philip Roth, “Life Sentences” by Laura Lipman, and “The Last Policeman” by Ben Winter.