52 in 52

“Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as the latter.”― Paxton Hood

A few days ago, as I was looking over booklists for 2014 reading possibilities, I heard about '52 in 52' - a group of people setting a goal to read a book a week. You can go HERE to check it out.

January 1, 2013 found me making a list of every single book I wanted to read that year; December 31, 2013 found me failing miserably. Maybe it was the over-planning; maybe it was the 6 week road trip, selling the house, buying the house, and the holidays descending upon us. Anyway, that plan didn't work too slick, so this year I've got a simple goal - 52 in 52. I took suggested titles from Gretchen, Becky and others, went online to my local library and did some requesting, stopped by today and checked out an armful. I'm thinking this might work better to make a list of 3 months' worth of books now, and the end of March I'll line up more. 12 for now and 40 to go.

Side note: I decided a few years ago to read all the Newberry Award Winners. The list is pretty long - the award began in 1922 - but, written for juvenile readers, they are easy reads. I enjoyed quite a few last year, so I grabbed a couple at my library today. There are some WONDERFUL books on the list if you want to check it out.

Here's my 2014 - 52 in 52 - list so far:

#1 - Remembering Laughter - Wallace Stegner (finished!)
#2 - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Newberry), Jean Lee latham
#3 - Joyland, Stephen King (I've NEVER read a book of his!)
#4 - The Cuckoos Calling, Robert Galbraith (J.K.K. Rowling pseudonym)
#5 - Looking For Me, Beth Hoffman (wrote Saving CeeCee Honeycutt)
#6 - Onion John (Newberry), Joseph Krumgold
#7 - Thunder and Rain, Charles Martin
#8 - Silver Star, Jennette Walls
#9 - 100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (can't wait for this one!)
#10 - The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
#11 - Unglued, Lysa Terkeurst
#12 - The Last Time I Was Me, Cathy Lamb

I have plenty of open spaces, so any suggestions? I love historical fiction and classics. A girly beach-read now and then is okay too. I'm not Fifty Shades of Gray or the Twilight series type.

And if you need suggestions: has everyone heard of Good Reads?   It's just what it says. A group of people - actually a really big group of people - who all love to read. It's a virtual place to keep track of what you've read, see what everyone else is reading, and read their book reviews. Because life is too short, and there are too many great books, to waste time on junk.

If you want to join in we're only five days in. I don't usually post book reviews, but on the second page on my blog I have a running reading list, and give a book a grade after I read it. Bellman and Black? I loved, loved Thirteenth Tale (her previous book), but give it a B at best. Because it wasn't the best.

Happy reading.