Blogging Gratefully: To All The Books I’ve Loved Before

Day four of NaBloMoPo. Going fine for now, but we’ll see as the holidays approach. Bee tee dubbers, whose Jean Genius idea was it to put these things smack dab in the middle of holiday territory? Whatevs, I’m doing it until I can’ stan’ ‘em any longer.

Today for my lovely BecominNeurotic’s Month of Positivity, I’m grateful for books. I taught myself to read at an early age and have been devouring books at a rapid pace ever since. Reading is a form of self-care for me(check and mark in that box today, ftw). It allows me to escape temporarily, to inhabit other people’s stories and worlds and to fill myself up with hope. I’m grateful that I’ve had more time and energy to spend reading this year. I’m grateful that my husband got me a Kindle which has made it physically easier and I’m grateful for the desire and the ability.

This has been lingering in my drafts folder forevs and since I want to start talking about books I’ve read more recently, I thought I put this out there first. I’ve read far more books this year(59 and counting) than last year, but I had more standouts last year. It may have something to do with the fact that since I prefer to read books on my Kindle and don’t have one meeeellion dollard to spend on books, I have to rely on those I can get for free from special deals on Amazon, from OneHundredFreeBooks or from the library. My library is super dope and has an enormous selection of ebooks, but they also have enormous wait lists for the most popular and award winningest. And yet, my TBR list never shrinks. In fact, I’m pretty sure that it’s growing faster than the human population, which means I’ll eventually end up in some sort of dystopian future with a Sophie’s Choice sitch on my hands, between books and people. And we all know who’s winning that particular battle.

Books read in 2013

St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell

The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen *

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann *

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn *

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson *

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?by Mindy Kaling

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins *

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)by Suzanne Collins *

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) bySuzanne Collins *

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan *

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout *

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close byJonathan Safran Foer - I read this crazily unique and fascinating book and than watched it turned into a treacly tragedy by Hollywood. As one who had a front row seat to the fall of the Twin Towers, I found this movie an affront to the memory of those who lost their lives due to that terrible, terrible day, to the people that loved them and to the survivors. If you have an inkling of interest, I’d highly recommend taking the time to read the book instead.

Out of the fifteen books I read in 2012, I gave nine of them five stars on Goodreads. I’d call that a pretty good average. I’ll give you those nine in my top order.