2014 Chapter

Happy New Year! I hope you were able to ring in 2015 with someone you love last night, be it family, friends, or a significant other.

I know it's cliché to say, but I really do have a hard time believing that I have been writing this blog for three full years now. I started back in January 2012 and had no clue what I was getting in to. Three years later, I have read incredible books, made new friends, and learned so much. I love writing this blog and, I hope, you enjoy reading it!

On Monday, I plan to talk about some goals I have for blogging in the new year. Today, however, I am taking a comprehensive look back at 2014: books read, reviews written, goals accomplished and failed....all of it.

To start, here are a few highlights from this year:

• I read 102 books! 
• I had over 26,000 individual page views this year with an average of around 2,200 each month. That's more than double what I had last year. So, even though I don't feel like readership jumped that much, the numbers don't lie! 
• I made it 35% of the way through the 100 Best Novels challenge. I read the same number (17) this year that I did in 2014. I'm hoping to ramp that up big time in 2015, thanks to career changes.
• I continued to grow the Read.Write.Repeat. Facebook presence and started a Twitter account. Like or follow if you haven't already! 
• I did monthly "chapter" posts and some off and on Movie Mondays.  
• I reviewed 15+ books for book tours. These are so fun and expose me to books I would likely never read otherwise. 

For those of you who are more number driven, here are some stats for you. If you are interested in comparing these to 2013, check out last year's review or 2012.

Books Read: 102

Total Pages Read: 36,409

Average Page Count (per book): 324

Most Read Author: James Dashner & J. K. Rowling (3 books each)

Average Pages Read Per Day: 90.6 pages

Busiest Month: November (12 books)

Slowest Month: February(3 books)

And, finally, here is the full list of books I read in 2014, with links to each review. If you missed it, earlier this week, I named my Top Books of 2014. That's a list worth looking over if you want the very condensed version of this one!

The Definitive 2014 Book List

1. Taking What I Like - Linda Bamber - 1/1/14
2. The End - G. Michael Hopf - 1/3/14
3. James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra - Colm McElwain - 1/10/14
4. The Long Road - G. Michael Hopf - 1/17/14
5. The Perfume Collector - Kathleen Tessaro - 1/19/14
6. Eva Braun: Life with Hitler - Heike B. Gortemaker - 1/23/14
7. Austenland - Shannon Hale - 1/24/143
8. Legend - Marie Lu - 1/25/14
9. The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford - 1/31/14
10. A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle - 1/31/14
11. The Lord of the Flies - William Golding - 1/31/14
12. Under the Wide and Starry Sky - Nancy Horan - 2/15
13. Clever Girl - Tessa Hadley - 2/23
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce - 2/28
15. Black Chalk - Christopher J. Yates - 3/1
16. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett - 3/1
17. The Maze Runner - James Dashner - 3/2
18. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling - 3/9
19. A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen - 3/16
20. Empty Mansions - Bill Dedman - 3/25
21. Kim - Rudyard Kipling - 3/30
22. Amusing Ourselves to Death - Neil Postman - 4/1
23. Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks - 4/5
24. The Scorch Trials - James Dashner - 4/9
25. A Room with a View - E. M. Forster - 4/10
26. The Girl Who Came Home - Hazel Gaynor - 4/12
27. Delicious! - Ruth Reichl - 4/16
28. Drama High - Michael Sokolove - 4/18
29. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling - 4/20
30. The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman - 4/28
31. The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett - 4/29
32. A History of Jordan - Philip Robins - 5/4
33. Howard's End - E. M. Forster - 5/9
34. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - David. E. Long - 5/11
35. One Night in Winter - Simon Sebag Montefiore - 5/16
36. The Death Cure - James Dashner - 5/18
37. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner - 5/21
38. Elizabeth the Queen - Sally Bedall Smith - 5/25
39. Chasing the Sun - Natalia Sylvester - 5/30
40. Submergence - J. M. Ledgard - 5/31
41. The Engagements - J. Courtney Sullivan - 6/1
42. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid - 6/2
43. Anne of Ingleside - L. M. Montgomery - 6/3
44. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn - 6/4
45. Relic - Heather Terrell - 6/8
46. Downton Abbey and Philosophy - William Irwin - 6/10
47. Don't Try to Find Me - Holly Brown - 6/17
48. Five Days at Memorial - Sheri Fink - 6/21
49. The Sweet Life in Paris - David Lebovitz - 6/23
50. Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner - 6/28
51. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - 7/1
52. People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks - 7/7
53. The Way of All Flesh - Samuel Butler - 7/11
54. Princesses Behaving Badly - Linda Rodriguez McRobbie - 7/14
55. My Paris Kitchen - David Lebovitz - 7/16
56. On the Road - Jack Kerouac - 7/21
57. From Here to Eternity - James Jones - 7/25
58. I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends - Courtney Robertson - 7/28
59. Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett - 8/3
60. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling - 8/8
61. Season of the Dragonflies - Sarah Creech - 8/10
62. Lighthouse Island - Paulette Jiles - 8/15
63. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - 8/17
64. The Circle - Dave Eggers - 8/24
65. Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking - Anya Von Bremzen - 9/9
66. Sister Carrie - Theodore Dreiser - 9/12
67. Daring - Gail Sheehy - 9/20
68. Hollow City - Ransom Riggs - 9/21
69. Pilgrim's Wilderness - Tom Kizzia - 9/22
70. Film Music: A Very Short Introduction - Kathryn Kalinak - 9/27
71. Main Street - Sinclair Lewis - 9/28
72. Sons and Lovers - D.H. Lawrence - 10/2
73. GI Brides - Duncan Barrett & Nuala Calvi - 10/2
74. The Iron King - Maurice Druon - 10/7
75. The Martian - Andy Weir - 10/10
76. Night Film - Marisha Pessl - 10/12
77. Saints and Sinners - Eamon Duffy
78. Us - David Nicholls - 10/19
79. Eating - Jason Epstein - 10/21
80. Gorgeous - Paul Rudnick - 10/31
81. The Hours - Michael Cunningham - 11/2
82. Dealing with Dragons - Patricia C. Wrede - 11/7
83. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt - 11/12
84. Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson - 11/13
85. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett - 11/14
86. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald - Therese Anne Fowler - 11/15
87. Feed - M. T. Anderson - 11/16
88. Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher - 11/19
89. The Astronaut Wives Club - Lily Koppel - 11/21
90. My Story - Elizabeth Smart - 11/27
91. Rainbow Valley - L. M. Montgomery - 11/28
92. The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thornton Wilder - 11/29
93. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld - 12/1
94. Yummy - G. Neri - 12/2
95. Tender at the Bone - Ruth Reichl - 12/6
96. An Invitation to the White House - Hillary Rodham Clinton - 12/10
97. The Presidents Club - Nancy Gibbs & Michael Duffy - 12/11
98. The Man Who Ate Everything - Jeffrey Steingarten - 12/11
99. The Day of the Locust - Nathanael West - 12/13
100. The Passage - Justin Cronin - 12/20
101. I Am Malala - Malala Yousafzai - 12/25
102. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J. K. Rowling - 12/27

Thanks so much for joining me on my journey in 2014. I look forward to many more bookish adventures together in 2015!