Theresa~OctoberLace - 63 in 2014 Challenge

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I finished with 112 books for 2013, going well past my goal of 52. For 2014 I really want to concentrate on some chunksters (500 pages or more), so I'm going to set my goal to 63, my age at the end of 2014. I'll build my list, adding a finish date and ✔ as each is read.

Edited 11/16/14: I've now finished 152 books in 2014, but haven't updated since finishing my goal in May. My full list of books read in 2014 can be found at:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Original 2014 Challenge completed with #63 finished 5/4/14

✔ 1. Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo 1/5/14
✔ 2. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent 1/5/14
✔ 3. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley 1/10/14
✔ 4. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 1/11/14
✔ 5. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories by Alice Munro 1/12/14
✔ 6. Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice 1/15/14
✔ 7. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo 1/18/14
✔ 8. In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner 1/19/14
✔ 9. Empress Orchid by Anchee Min 1/24/14
✔ 10. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami 1/25/14
✔ 11. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1/25/14
✔ 12. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier 1/26/14
✔ 13. Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen 1/29/14
✔ 14. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami 2/1/14
✔ 15. Candide by Voltaire 2/1/14
✔ 16. A Night to Remember by Walter Lord 2/2/14
✔ 17. One Man's Initiation: 1917 by John Dos Passos 2/2/14
✔ 18. Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust 2/8/14
✔ 19. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain 2/8/14
✔ 20. The Stolen Crown: The Secret Marriage that Forever Changed the Fate of England by Susan Higginbotham 2/10/14
✔ 21. Shadow Of A Bull by Maia Wojciechowska 2/11/14
✔ 22. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck 2/15/14
✔ 23. The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier 2/16/14
✔ 24. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion 2/16/14
✔ 25. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup 2/17/14
✔ 26. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie 2/17/14
✔ 27. The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley 2/19/14
✔ 28. Stardust by Neil Gaiman 2/20/14
✔ 29. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence 2/22/14
✔ 30. Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives by Pope Benedict XVI 2/22/14
✔ 31. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 2/24/14
✔ 32. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez 2/27/14
✔ 33. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 2/27/14
✔ 34. Friend of My Youth by Alice Munro 2/28/14
✔ 35. Coraline by Neil Gaiman 2/28/14
✔ 36. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 3/2/14
✔ 37. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare 3/4/14
✔ 38. The Tempest by William Shakespeare 3/5/14
✔ 39. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 3/8/14
✔ 40. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare 3/8/14
✔ 41. Richard II by William Shakespeare 3/9/14
✔ 42. Macbeth by William Shakespeare 3/16/14
✔ 43. Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez 3/16/14
✔ 44. Othello by William Shakespeare 3/16/14
✔ 45. Middlemarch by George Eliot 3/18/14
✔ 46. The Nun by Denis Diderot 3/21/14
✔ 47. A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin 3/27/14
✔ 48. The Businessman's Tie by Deena Ward 3/28/14
✔ 49. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer 3/29/14
✔ 50. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 3/30/14
✔ 51. King Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare 3/31/14
✔ 52. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez 4/9/14
✔ 53. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom 4/12/14
✔ 54. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 4/13/14
✔ 55. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters 4/16/14
✔ 56. Affinity by Sarah Waters 4/19/14
✔ 57. Henry IV, Part 2 by William Shakespeare 4/20/14
✔ 58. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford 4/25/14
✔ 59. Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck 4/27/14
✔ 60. Loving Will Shakespeare by Carolyn Meyer 4/27/14
✔ 61. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes 4/30/14
✔ 62. Henry V by William Shakespeare 5/3/14
✔ 63. Bull Run by Paul Fleischman 5/4/14


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[Jodi]

Congratulation Theresa! That is so awesome!

[Amy]

Good luck!! Large books can be intimidating :)

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Amy & Jodi, thanks for your comments. I actually love large books, though. My first is The Mists of Avalon with 876 pages, which I'll start at Midnight on New Year's Eve.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

First book of 2014 finished 1/5/14. Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo

[mussolet]

Good luck with those large books Theresa! And have fun with The Mists of Avalon - it was the first book I bought for myself :).

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Today I listened to Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, an absolute 5 star read for me. I listened to the audiobook and must rave about the awesome narration by Morven Christie! I highly recommend this book.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I just finished listening to book #3, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, narrated by Davina Porter. Loved it!

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Eleven days in, I've finished 4 books, with the 4th being Oryx and Crake.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Day 12, finished my 5th book,
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories
by Alice Munro , winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Finished #6.
Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice 1/15/14

[Adriana]

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Finished #6.
Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice 1/15/14"

How was it? I never finished it when I was assigned to read it in school.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Adriana wrote: "Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "How was it? I never finished it when I was assigned to read it in school. "

Adriana, it was a 3 star read for me. I'd expected that a book that launched Anne Rice's career and was followed by 9 books in the same series to be so much better! I actually listened to the audiobook, and since I love Simon Vance's narration, I can listen to anything he reads.

[Jodi]

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Adriana wrote: "Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "How was it? I never finished it when I was assigned to read it in school. "

Adriana, it was a 3 star read for me. I'd expected that a book that launche..."

I didn't love it either. I have two others in the series but haven't gone to them yet

[Sarah]

Theresa
For me Interview was the only one of the vampire books by Anne Rice that I personally liked. Have you read any of her others? The Witching Hour was my favorite!
Sarah

[Alison]

how long is interview with the vampire. I need to read it this year for a challenge.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Re: Interview With The Vampire

Alison, it's 342 pages, and the audiobook is 14 1/2 hours.

Sarah, this is the only Anne Rice book I've read.

[Sarah]

I hope you get a chance to read more and you can always follow her on FB is you like that kind of stuff. She is awesome!

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I just finished #7 for 2014, The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Just finished #8, In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

[Alison]

that's not too long. Thanks

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I fininished #9, Empress Orchid by Anchee Min.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

This weekend I read:

#10. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami 1/25/14

#11. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichby Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1/25/14

#12. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier 1/26/14

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Just finished #18, Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust, the second book in his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time, aka Remembrance of Things Past. I just love his use of language!

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I've been on a reading binge lately. My list of books read in 2014 now stands at 38.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Updated through #46.

[Alison]

you're on a shakespeare run! good job! I would be able to read them but not back to back.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I just updated my books for the 2014 Challenge. I'm currently at 58 of 63, and the year still has more than 8 months to go. Should I up my goal?

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I just posted my 63rd book read for 2014, which technically completes my challenge. Obviously I'm going to keep reading, so do I change my goal or start a new one?

[Alison]

I would change it since its so early.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I never did update my goal for 2014 and haven't updated the list since reaching my goal of 63. As of 11/16/14, I've finished 152 books. The full list is here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...