Julie Davis's Blog - Posts Tagged "2013"

My 2013 Personal Reading Challenge

My 2012 book challenge was so rewarding, making me pick up books I would just keep skipping over in favor of lighter reading. I'm doing it again this year. Some books are carried over from last year and some I dropped because they just didn't look interesting to me right now. But you can see I have plenty of others to fill in the gaps.

As before, I may not get through all of them in a year, but I will be trying always read one of them despite other distractions. In no particular order.

Classics
• Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (required of self after seeing musical)
• Middlemarch* - Eliot
• Belly of Paris* (Emile Zola)
• Wuthering Heights* - Charlotte Bronte (began this in 2012, finishing it in 2013)

Modern
• Momento Mori - Muriel Spark
• Last Call* - Tim Powers  (not a true classic, I know ... but still a "challenging" read which is what all these are for me)
• Galactic Pot Healer - Philip K. Dick(I wanted to try a novel instead of short stories and this was recommended as being one of the most complete stories told in a novel.)
• Journal of the Gun Years - Richard Matheson (I'm so curious to see what sort of Western Matheson writes since he was such a science fiction award winner)

Religion
• Introduction to the Devout Life* - St. Francis de Sales (began this in 2012, finishing it in 2013)
• The Way of Perfection* - St. Teresa of Avila
• A Song for Nagasaki - Glynn• The Scarlet and the Black - Gallagher

Rereading
• The Sand Pebbles*
• Nine Princes in Amber - Zelazny

Nonfiction
• Tolkien's Letters
• The Inklings - Humphrey Carpenter
• H.V. Morton travel book
• King Peggy

* Carried over from the 2012 Book Challenge.
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Published on January 02, 2013 09:25 Tags: 2013, reading-list

Favorite Books Read in 2013

Top print books I read in 2013 with descriptions in 10 words or less. In the order I encountered them throughout the year. (Audio books will have a separate post.)

Take Five with Pope Benedict by Mike Aquilina and Kris Stubna
Wonderful daily resource that refocused me on what really matters. (My review here.)


Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko
Only Russian novels I've ever enjoyed. (Good Story podcast discussion. My reviews here: Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch, Last Watch)


The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
Fantasy, adventure, romance wrapped in theological science fiction.  (my review here)


King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village by Peggilene Bartels
The subhead says it all. I've read it twice. (review here)


The Woodcutter by Kate Danley
A new, yet familiar, fairy story where true love conquers all. (review here)


Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick
Lovecraftian elder god gathers team to benefit mankind. (SFFaudio discussion here. My review here)


Save Send Delete by Danusha Goska
Catholic and atheist debate faith in emails. Unputdownable. (my review here)


Middlemarch by George Eliot
Marriage seen through the lens of "What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?" (my review here)


The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
Why investigate a murder if the world is ending? (my review here)


Countdown City by Ben H. Winters (sequel to The Last Policeman)
Still asking questions in the face of the apocalypse  (review here)


Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick
Can utopia be created by one man? Also African folktales.  (review/discussion at A Good Story is Hard to Find)


Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
A contender with Bleak House as my favorite Dickens novel.  (excerpts and comments at Goodreads)

Yep. I cheated on just a few for that 10 word limit, most notably Middlemarch. Had to happen. Be sure to go through and read the reviews of anything that looks interesting. I promise there are a few in there that surprised me by winding up on this list.
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Published on December 27, 2013 20:49 Tags: 2013