Out with the Old in with the New

I am very excited about this new year! I have very high expectations and I think 2014 is going to be awesome!

I've seen a lot of posts going around with survey questions and resolution questions, but I've kind of decided to pull my favorite questions and make my own kind of summary!


BLOGGER RESOLUTIONS: 

blog more!

BOOKS OF 2013 I'M SAD I MISSED: 

All my David Levithan books because I didn't read them the way I should have last February.

11/22/63 by Stephen King. This book is really long so I doubt I'll ever read it, but if I ever was going to, it would have been awesome to read it this year since it was the 50th anniversary (of the date not the book).

The Dinner by Hermon Koch. I read a review for this one back in January and I've desperately wanted to read it ever since! Lucky for me my amazing sister and brother in-law gave it to me for my birthday so now I will definitely be able to read it this year! And I'm going to pick it for my September book club and force my friends to read it too!

BOOKS I WILL MAKE SURE NOT TO MISS IN 2014:

Armada by Ernest Cline and Landlines by Rainbow Rowell

WORST BOOK OF 2013: 

I really can't decide between these three: Carry the One by Carol Anshaw, Fallen by Lauren Kate, and Maybe a Miracle by Brian Strause.

BEST BOOK OF 2013:

Please do not make me choose between Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell! I could give you an answer but I would hate myself afterwards!

MY FAVORITE BOOK BLOGGING MOMENT OF 2013:

Any moment I spent reading DailyLifeWithButtons! Daily Life With Buttons is a blog that was started by my

little sister Lindsey! She moved to Texas a few years back and so I don't get to talk to her too much, at least not as much as when we were kids and shared a room and I kept her up late into the night talking her ear off! Anyway she started her own blog this year, and even though it isn't a "book" blog, I still swell with pride whenever I read it! I'm so proud of her for stepping outside her comfort zone and sharing her life through her writing! I hope all my friends will hop on over and give her some encouragement (hint hint hint!!!)

HOW MANY BOOKS ON YOUR TBR SHELF:

Well as of midnight on New Year's Eve it was 121, it has now already shrunk to 119 and I am desperate to get it down to 75 this year!

BOOK MOST RECOMMENDED:

Probably Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Only because it crosses so many genre borders. If you love the 80's, if you love sci-fi, if you love dystopians, if you love adventure stories, if you love boy meets girl stories, if you love friendship stories you will LOVE this book!

BEST NEW SERIES:

the Lucky Harbor series by Jill Shalvis! Can't thank Kim enough for that one! And I'm sure my future husband thanks you too

FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR:

I'm going to go with Rainbow Rowell! I feel like she is inside my head! And as much as I loved being introduced to Ernest Cline I've only read the one novel of his so far, where as Rainbow already has other novels out there for me!

FAVORITE BOOK OUT SIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE:

I would say Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys. Historical Fiction isn't completely foreign to me but I really don't read that much of it at all. But this book was really good!

MOST SURPRISING BOOK: 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I knew I would like it but I wasn't expecting to LOVE it!!!

MOST MEMORABLE CHARACTERS: 

Eleanor or Park...I really miss those two!

2013 RESOLUTIONS SUMMARY:

Well, my 2013 resolution was to not buy any books this year.
And I ended up buying......24!

BUT when you subtract the books I bought for book club (even though I could have gotten them from the library) and the books I bought to add to my C.S. Lewis collection, and the book Slam by Nick Hornby (that I already had listened to the audio book for and ended up finding for only a $1), and books I bought on my Kindle (because I got them all cheap and they didn't take up actual space on my physical tbr shelf)

THEN you are left with...2. I totally broke my resolution to by my own copy of Eleanor & Park back in September. And then I bought Attachments, that is also by Rainbow Rowell, in December.

I should also add that I was given 10 books from my friends and family. I created a list of all the books I would have bought if I could have through out the year and they totally came through for me on my birthday!

2014 RESOLUTION: 

I am again resolving to not buy any new books this year and I'm hoping I'll do a better job.

The only exceptions will be: books by C.S. Lewis, books bought at book signings and books bought on my Kindle.