A Fifth a Day (or close enough)

This year's reading started out slow.  I barely finished a book in January, and only three in February.  Then March came and I took off with nine books in a month!  I was so surprised.  I try for four books a month (48 books a year) and this year, I finished book 48 on September 28.  I have never met my goal without using a few novellas on December 31 before (and that always felt like cheating).  I was pumped!  And I just kept reading.  In the end, I read 65 books this year, including finally finishing The Bible.

I had never read The Bible in its entirety and I wanted to.  Last year, 2012, I started a Bible-in-a-Year reading plan.  I was doing very well until I hit the Epistles of Paul and I got stuck.  I was mired in them.  I just could not make myself go any further and truthfully, I do not believe that The Bible is something you should force yourself to read, or something to be read under protest.  So I shelved the Good Book until such a time as I was in a better frame of mind to read the remainder.  Advent came and I found myself wanting to finish The Bible, so I pulled it out and continued with the reading plan from where I left off.  I was so glad I waited.  I am positive I got more out of that reading than I would have if I had forced myself to finish last year.

But even so, I feel I am fudging just a bit to claim 65 books for this year, but even without the 65th, I am very pleased with myself!  Averaged out my reading comes to 0.18 books per day or just under 1/5 of a book per day.  That is a very good total!

I am not expecting to read this many books in 2014, but I'm certainly going to try.

The books of 2013:

1. The Woman Who Died A Lot -- Fforde, Jasper
2. Captain Corelli's Mandolin -- de Bernières, Louis
3. The Big Cat Nap -- Brown, Rita Mae
4. Wormwood -- Albert, Susan Wittig
5. Holly Blues -- Albert, Susan Wittig
6. Mourning Gloria -- Albert, Susan Wittig
7. The Treacherous Teddy -- Lamb, John J.
8. Calm, Cool, and Adjusted -- Billerbeck, Kristin
9. Raisins and Almonds -- Greenwood, Kerry
10. Between Heaven and Hell -- Kreeft, Peter*
11. A Stranger in Mayfair -- Finch, Charles
12. An East End Murder -- Finch, Charles*
13. A Burial at Sea -- Finch, Charles
14. Royal Flush -- Bowen, Rhys
15. Royal Blood -- Bowen, Rhys
16. Naughty in Nice -- Bowen, Rhys
17. Masked Ball at Broxley Manor -- Bowen, Rhys*
18. A Carol for a Corpse -- Bishop, Claudia
19. Toast Mortem -- Bishop, Claudia
20. Chocolate Wars:  From Cadbury to Kraft - 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry -- Cadbury, Deborah
21. Face Down O'er the Border -- Emerson, Kathy Lynn
22. Death Before Wicket -- Greenwood, Kerry
23. A Death in Gascony -- D'Almeida, Sarah
24. Dying by the Sword -- D'Almeida, Sarah
25. The Ninth Daughter -- Hamilton, Barbara
26. The Cat Next Door -- Babson, Marian
27. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish -- Adams, Douglas
28. Sweet Revenge -- Penrose, Andrea
29. The Cocoa Conspiracy -- Penrose, Andrea
30. Recipe for Treason -- Penrose, Andrea
31. Away with the Fairies -- Greenwood, Kerry
32. In the Teeth of Adversity -- Babson, Marian
33. Monsieur Pamplemousse Stands Firm -- Bond, Michael
34. Monsieur Pamplemousse on Location -- Bond, Michael
35. Murder in the Museum -- Brett, Simon
36. Monsieur Pamplemousse Takes the Train -- Bond, Michael
37. Grand Days -- Moorhouse, Frank
38. A Wee Christmas Homicide -- Dunnett, Kaitlyn
39. The Corpse Wore Tartan -- Dunnett, Kaitlyn
40. Murder in Montparnasse -- Greenwood, Kerry
41. The Castlemaine Murders -- Greenwood, Kerry
42. Queen of the Flowers -- Greenwood, Kerry
43. Death by Water -- Greenwood, Kerry
44. The Westing Game -- Raskin, Ellen
45. Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar ... Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes -- Cathcart, Thomas & Daniel M. Klein
46. A Disappearance in Drury Lane -- Gardner, Ashley*
47. Scotched -- Dunnett, Kaitlyn
48. Pane of Death -- Atwell, Sarah
49. Sneaky Pie for President -- Brown, Rita Mae & Sneaky Pie Brown
50. The Mysterious Benedict Society -- Stewart, Trenton Lee
51. Murder in Burnt Orange -- Dams, Jeanne M.
52. The Secret Life of Evie Hamilton -- Alliott, Catherine
53. Chocolate Dipped Death -- Carter, Sammi
54. Penelope Goes to Portsmouth -- Beaton, M.C.
55. Scoop! -- Dennison, Hannah
56. The Amber Room -- Berry, Steve
57. Killer Mousse -- Wells, Melinda
58. Blind Dates Can Be Murder -- Clark, Mindy Starns
59. Elementary, My Dear Watkins -- Clark, Mindy Starns
60. The Alpine Pursuit -- Daheim, Mary
61. The Alpine Quilt -- Daheim, Mary
62. The Alpine Recluse -- Daheim, Mary
63. The Whole Enchilada -- Davidson, Diane Mott
64. A Study in Scarlet & The Sign of the Four -- Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
65. The Bible

Best of the Year:  Murder in Montparnasse, with Captain Corelli's Mandolin a close second

Worst of the Year:  The Treacherous Teddy, followed closely by The Amber Room