A Year of Books

Well, it's happened. 2013 has slipped away into 2014, and I reached my goal of reading 52 books in one year. (I have simple goals, really.) Most of them were new, not too many re-reads, which makes for a change from a few years ago when nearly everything I read was a re-read. Here's how the year looked, book-wise...

1. Summer Breeze by Nancy Thayer
2. The Sisters by Nancy Jensen
3. Re-read

4. Son by Lois Lowrey
5. Eva's Story by Eva Schloss
6. Re-read
7. 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
8. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
9. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
10. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehanne

11. Cemetery Girl by David Bell
12. The Girl in the Glass by Susan Meissner
13. Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide
14. Circles of Time by Phillip Rock
15. Lay Me Out Softly by Francesca Lia Block
16. Re-Read

17. Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer
18. The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood
19. Fly Away by Kristen Hannah
20. Re-read
21. Re-read
22. Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh
23. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
24. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
25. He's Gone by Deb Caletti

26. The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
27. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
28. The Pact by Jodi Picoult
29. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
30. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
31. Night Road by Kristen Hannah

32. Desire to Inspire by Christine Mason Miller
33. 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
34. Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkissian

35. Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer
36. The Mourning Hours by Paula Treick DeBoard
37. Re-read
38. The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
39. Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
40. The Brave by Nicholas Evans
41. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett

42. In the Woods by Tana French
43. Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
44. Dream with Little Angles by Michael Hiebert
45. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
46. True Believer by Nicholas Sparks
47. Magic Hour by Kristen Hannah
48. Mercy by Jodi Picoult

49. The Memory Thief by Emily Colin
50. The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
51. A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd
52. Stella Bain by Anita Shreve

53. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - another re-read, but who cares

Left unfinished: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

What I've noticed while typing out this list is that I read a lot of dark/crime novels, and also a lot of lighter books (Nicholas Sparks, I'm looking at you). Maybe I'll have a slightly more refined palate this year, but you know what? If I don't, who cares? It's who I am.

So here's to 2014 - may it be a year filled with new literary loves!