For the Love of Reading

I love reading. One of my favorite things about summer is that I have time to read. Even though I am not in school, this is still true unfortunately, because of work.

A couple of people on theknot.com and thenest.com keep track of how many books they read each year. So I figured I would try to figure that out while I blog.

Books I have read this year:

1. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
2. Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
3. Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
4. The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
5. Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
6. A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan
7. The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
8. Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan
9. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
10. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
11. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan
12. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan
13. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
14. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
15. 1984 by George Orwell
16. The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
17. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
18. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
19. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
20. Dracula by Bram Stoker
21. The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrota
22. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riodian
23. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riodian
24. The Titans Curse by Rick Riodian
25. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riodian
26. The Last Olympian by Rick Riodian
27. The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
28. Peony in Love by Lisa See
29. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange
30. Shogun by James Clavell
31. Tall, Dark and Hungry by Lynsay Sands
32. Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson
33. Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
34. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Well I think that is it so far. I was hoping it was more, but as Dylan pointed out, around 15 of them are around 1000 pages, he said that makes up for it. I guess it is only August too. I know I will read at least 3 more for book club and finish the next two books in the Game of Thrones/Song of Fire and Ice series and the next Sookie Stackhouse book. So hopefully it will be close to 50. I think that will be my new years resolution for next year, to read at least 10 more than I read this year.

One thing that has helped me expand my reading has been the book club me and my girls started back in April. We have this list of 100 Books to Read Before You Die, so a chunk of the books I have read are from that. Book club has made me want to read more classics too, so I have been trying to read more of those.

This evening I finally joined Goodreads.com. It gives you a quiz of the most popular books from various categories. I had read 47 out of the 100. While doing the quiz I realized I read a lot of Sci-fi/Fantasy, I used to read a lot of Romance, and I have read a lot of classics (in part due to school and the rest as a result of my recent getting into classics).

While taking the goodreads.com quiz gave me like 15 books that I want to read. There are a lot of books on my to-read list already, and now with the Goodreads.com list, here is my to-read list:

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Middlesex by Jeffery Kingsolver
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
• Freakonomics by Steven Levitt
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
• The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
• Mr. Maybe by Jane Green
• The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
• Paradise Lost by John Milton
• The Help by Kathryn Sockett
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

And I am sure the list can go on... :)

This will help make my Christmas list a lot easier this year!

Just have to keep reading on!