Who's counting in 2013?

Well, technically, I am counting....but I'm not setting any goals. I read 20 books last year and 30 the year before that, so I don't have the best track record of meeting my reading targets. This year, I'm still settling in to a new job in my public library, have just begun a library and information science degree, volunteer with two museums, and like to occasionally see family and friends. My time for leisure reading has been pretty diminished, so this year I'm just going to read when I can and see how far I get.


A piece in the Art Institute of Chicago that I loved.

Let the reading commence!

Books read in 2013
1. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. At Home by Bill Bryson
5. Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates
6. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
7. Into the Wild by John Krakauer
8. The Plague by Albert Camus
9. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

11. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
12. Great Ages of Man: The Twentieth Century by Joel Colton
13. No Graves as Yet by Anne Perry
14. Villette by Charlotte Brontë
15. The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry
16. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
17. The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
18. The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
19. The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester
20. The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket

21. The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket
22. Night by Elie Wiesel
23. Leap Into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe by Leo Bretholz
24. The African Queen by C.S. Forester
25. The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket
26. The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket
27. The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket
28. The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket
29. The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket
30. "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket

31. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket
32. The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket
33. The End by Lemony Snicket
34. "When Did You See Her Last?" by Lemony Snicket
35. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
36. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
37. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

1-3. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I decided to start the year off with something I don't do as often as I'd like - a re-read of an old favorite. This is definitely a book that as soon as I finish reading I could happily just start over with it again.

Fun fact - I long assumed that the Bodleian Library in Oxford held the bulk of Tolkien's papers, but it turns out that Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI has them. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to meet with my mentor at Marquette and saw a great display of drafts and notes of The Hobbit and also saw the vault where all of his collections are kept.

(Disclaimer - yes, I know this is technically one book....but seeing as it's published and sold in three separate volumes, I'm counting this as three reads.)

Welcome! I'm working up to a Tolkien sequence where I read all his Middle Earth books, but first I need to finish my US Presidents bios first. Maybe by the end of the year...

I'll be counting them as three separate books too once I get to them. I'm almost a third of the way thru The Hobbit. I figured I'd start with series that my boyfriend mother loves.

Great books to start off your reading year, Marissa - and I cannot blame you for counting them as 3 books :)

They were published as three books with three individual names, count them as three!

Thanks, everybody! Now I don't feel bad for counting them as three books.

@drneutron - that sounds like fun! I've only ever read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by Tolkein. I'd like to go through his other stuff chronologically through Middle Earth time. Although finally reading all of the appendices from Lord of the Rings would be a good start...

@honeydew69862004 - Yes! Good way to earn brownie points!

4. At Home by Bill Bryson

I love, love, love Bill Bryson, and I absolutely loved listening to him read this book on tape! This gave me a real incentive to get on the exercise bike at the gym as that's the only place that I listen to my ipod other than in the car. This book, like all of Bryson's books, is so chock-full of facts that I can't imagine how long it took him to write this.

5. Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates

This book was...different. It alternates between a woman's past, in which as a toddler she was abandoned to die by her mother in a mudflat, and her present, in which she is a philosopher and first female president of an Ivy League university (I think meant to be Princeton). She seems to struggle with her self-identity and has often bizarre hallucinations (which more than once I thought were actually happening). I thought that the end was too sudden and didn't leave much resolved. Overall....it was ok. Just ok.

Pretty glad that I'm not setting any goals this year, since reading books has been pretty impossible with my school commitments. These are what I've managed to read in between chapters and articles for assignments:



6. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis



7. Into the Wild by John Krakauer



8. The Plague by Albert Camus

I'm pretty annoyed as I'm positive that I've read one more book but cannot for the life of me remember what it was.

Remembered -



9. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald



11. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

12. Great Ages of Man: The Twentieth Century by Joel Colton

13. No Graves As Yet by Anne Perry

14. Villette by Charlotte Brontë

15. The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry

This is the second Anne Perry book that I've tried, and I've concluded that I do not like Anne Perry.

16. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

I'm beginning a re-listen of the Series of Unfortunate Events because Tim Curry is amazing and The Gothic Archies are so so great.

17. The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

18. The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket



19. The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester

How did you like the Winchester book? Krakatoa is one of my faves.

I thought the book was really interesting! I remember reading The Professor and the Madman as a teenager and liked it, so I thought that I'd give another of Winchester's books a go. I love that he writes about 'behind-the-scenes' aspects of history. I'll definitely check out Krakatoa!

20. The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket



21. The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket



22. Night by Elie Wiesel



23. Leap Into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe by Leo Bretholz



24. The African Queen by C.S. Forester

25. The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket



26. The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket



27. The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket



28. The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket



29. The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket



30. "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket

31. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket



32. The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket



33. The End by Lemony Snicket

Finally finished my re-listen of A Series of Unfortunate Events and am so glad I did, especially with Lemony Snicket's new series out.

34. "When Did You See Her Last?" by Lemony Snicket

35. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

36. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky

37. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris