2014: The Year in Books

Though I read over 50 books last year, it wasn’t the best of years in books for me. I started the year with a back log of books to review and with all that was happening, I just didn’t find much reading time in the first half of last year.

Not reading enough leaves me cranky and grumpy. I need my escape time in each day where I leave my mundane life behind (not that it's boring in any way) and slip away into a world of fantasy, where I can be a Bridget Jones, fall in love with a Darcy, solve a mystery with a Mason, and all such stuff.

I spent until about May scrambling, trying to catch-up with the lists, unhappy while doing what I love the most, then it broke and I gave up. I realised that I was unhappy because I wasn’t reading what I wanted in the little time I had. Not that I didn’t like the books lined for review, I had chosen them but I felt I wasn’t reading enough of what I wanted to read.

I let go and started reading what I wanted to. It definitely made me happier in the little reading time I used to get. I did a few reviews in-between but they weren’t much at all.

I enjoyed reading impulsively, choosing what I wanted with randomness and picking stuff from my Forever-TBR without feeling guilt. It’s how I landed up with the Perry Mason series.



Perry Mason was on my TBR in college but somehow there was always something else to be read and I never got down to reading Mason. Now years later I've started and got hooked. Of course it helped that these are fast books so I could read more and catch up a bit with my book challenge numbers.

Two years in a row I’ve tried to read a 100 books in a year and haven’t managed it. I was hoped the Mason series would work out as a good cheat but well, it didn’t. :(

But it did help cross the 50% mark though. :D

I managed to read 59 books out of the 100 I had targeted. Not too bad considering the chaos of 2014. That said, this year I’m back to trying for the 100 number but with a few learnings.

Biggest learning - I need to reduce the number of books I review and read more books from my Forever TBR. :D With that in mind I’m going to be turning down more books for review (I hope), finishing the pending review list and reading lots of stuff I want to.

Ok this post has gone on too long. A post on stats and books and another on my learnings is due but that’s later. For now I’m heading back to reading. ;D