Ian's 30 books in 2014

[Ian]

I have now finished my 19th book, which was 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Still have the 3rd book in the series to read, but so far I am enjoying it.

19/24

[Ian]

I have now read books number 20 and 21 towards my goal! These were The Red Hot Fix by T.E. Woods and The Julian Chapter: A Wonder Story by R.J. Palacio. I gave them 3/5 and 4/5 stars respectively.

21/24 :)

[Ian]

I have now read 22 books towards my reading goal! Number 22 was Mr Mercedes by Stephen King. I gave it 4/5 stars (really it was 4.5 out of 5!)

22/24 complete

[Ian]

I have just finished State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. This means I have completed 23 books towards my 2014 reading challenge! Just one to go! (Although I will probably up my challenge)

23/24

[Ian]

I just finished reading Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge. I enjoyed the book and gave it 4*....

But more importantly this was my 24th book of the year! Which means I have completed my challenge.

However I have decided to be brave and up my challenge to 30 books.

24/30 complete

[Ian]

Just finished reading my 25th book of the year - A Place of Execution by Val McDermid - I really enjoyed it and gave it 5* :-)

25/30

[Ian]

I just finished reading Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell and it was brilliant. Perfect YA/Contemporary read - 5*

26/30

[Ian]

I finished reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart yesterday. I did really enjoy it, I quite like reading about "high society" and the lifestyle that goes with it. But I couldn't bring myself to give it full marks as there were a couple of issues with character development and plot twists that didn't quite sit right with me.... 4*

27/30

[Ian]

Last night I finished reading A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and I loved it. 5 stars. ....

28/30

[Ian]

Just finished reading The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and I thought it was brilliant :)

29/30

[Ian]

I finished reading Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. It was a brilliant book. I loved it....

But more importantly! I have now completed my 2014 reading challenged. Also the completion of this book also marks me reading (or at least rating on goodreads) 200 books!

Challenge complete

[Ian]

31. The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti - 3*

[Ian]

32. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - I really struggled with the first half of this book. I thought it was such a load of rubbish I nearly didn't complete it. It seemed like a predictable mess of thinly linked YA fantasy stereotypes. But the second half was much better.....if still a little predictable. I could only give it 3* overall.

[Ian]

I just finished my 33rd book, The Girl with All the Gifts. I gave it 4/5 stars. I really enjoyed it, there was nothing wrong with it in particular. But perhaps it was just not quite original enough for the majority of the book to gain the 5th star. The ending was really good though

[Cassandra]

Way to go, Ian! I love that you met your goal, bumped it up, and then met it again. What do you think your goal will be for next year? Did you hit your 10,000 page goal?

EDIT: I see that you recently read A Clockwork Orange. I'm reading that right now! I had no idea when I got into it that it has its own language style, but I love it. It's a neat little puzzle to figure out the nadsat words, and the story is really great if a little horrifying. Glad you liked it too!

[Ian]

Thanks Cassandra. Yes I met my page target too. But it took me quite a bit longer to reach than the book target.

I loved a clockwork orange. I had seen the film when I was a teenager but forgot most of it. The language threw me a bit to start with, but I really enjoyed it and it didn't take long to get my head round it. How is your challenge going?

[Cassandra]

My challenge is going really well! I'm on track to meet and probably go slightly over my goal. I had a few hiccups in the middle where I got behind, but I was able to catch up.

[Ian]

34th book now finished! This will be the last book I finish this year - and its also the longest book I read this year so I am happy I got it finished as overall I have been reading shorter books this year in comparison to other years.

Anyway, the book was I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes and I gave it 4*. I really enjoyed it.

34/30 complete