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When I posted my Reading Goals last year, some of you said, “hey! Let’s do a link-up!” which sounded delightful. So, I’m sharing my reading goals for 2014 and I hope you’ll link up or share with us in the comments!
First of all, there is a LOT of Austen on this year’s list. That’s because I’m joining Nicole of Gidget Goes Home for the Motherhood and Jane Austen Book Club. Check it out! We’re reading P&P first and then we’ll discuss it in February. And if you don’t have time to grab a copy, you can listen to it on Librivox for free (and the reader, Karen Savage, is actually quite good.)
Another change from last year is that I’m giving myself more grace: extra time to finish longer books and fewer books altogether knowing that a few books will pop up during the year that I’ll want to grab right them and there without the guilt of “but these aren’t on that list I’ll never finish before the new year!” That’s dumb. Reading should be fun! But having all my goals written and out there gives me some accountability that I really like. I would have read far fewer books last year if I hadn’t posted some reading goals.
I’m also going to keep myself from buying so many books this year. So these are all books that are already on my shelves.
January
- ✓ Deathbed Conversions: Finding Faith at the Finish Line by Karen Edmisten (I already finished this one and really enjoyed it. I think I liked the first few chapters about conversion and hope even more than the short biopics of famous converts.)
- ✓ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (re-read)
- ✓ Villette by Charlotte Bronte (I’m almost 2/3 through and have to admit, it’s not everything I dreamed it would be. It’s definitely no Jane Eyre. And yikes, Bronte REALLY doesn’t like Catholics.)
- ✓ Consoling the Heart of Jesus by Fr. Michael Gaitley
- ✓ Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World by Tsh Oxenreider
February
- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (I tried to read this one last year in a month, while pregnant. Ha! It’s massive, so after getting 100 pages in with a thousand pages to go, I gave up. I’m giving myself three months this year to finish paired with some lighter reading.)
- ✓ Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist
March
- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (continued, it’s HUGE)
- ✓ Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (re-read)
- ✓ A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz
April
- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (finish that beast!)
- ✓ True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort
May
- ✓ Persuasion by Jane Austen (re-read)
- Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart
- ✓ Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler
June
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- ✓ A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily Freeman
- ✓ Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
- ✓ Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakeable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie
- ✓ The Little Oratory by Leila Marie Lawler and David Clayton
July
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- ✓ Emma by Jane Austen (re-read)
- ✓ Tobit’s Dog by Michael Nicholas Richard
August
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum: A Guide to Catholic Home Education by Laura M. Berquist
- ✓ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (re-read)
September
- ✓ Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (re-read)
- ✓ Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery (re-read)
- After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory by Alasdair MacIntyre
October
- Mary: The Church at the Source by Hans Urs von Balthasar and Pope Benedict XVI
- ✓ Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption by Katie Davis
- ✓ Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
- ✓ Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery
November
- ✓ Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (re-read)
- ✓ Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery (re-read)
- The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp
December
- Catch up and enjoy Advent and Christmas!
I hope you’ll share your book recommendations and goals by linking up! And if you’re looking for a good book there’s always that one that Daniel and I wrote last year *wink wink
Link up below!
I do something similar, but not as scheduled. At the beginning of the year I pick 15 fiction and 15 non-fiction books that I want to read in the next year, and then every month I pick out one from each pile. This gives me a list to accomplish, but also enough flexibility to go with my mood that month, accommodate any planned travel, etc. And it also gives me enough time to read library books or other books that come my way in between that month’s “assignment.”
That’s a great idea!
YES to Mary, the Church at the Source!!!! Read that for my grad program. Excellent stuff. Highly recommend Ratzinger’s Daughter Zion to go with it – tiny little thing packed with beautiful lucid articulations about the Blessed Mother’s significance – you read them like you knew them all along but he’s really gifting you with the fruit of his own heavy lifting – I felt that way every time I read him for my theology program. Ratzinger, where would I be without you?
Your lit goals are so inspirational – someday I’ll catch myself up on all the classics I’ve never read! I have to quit my day job (DRE, not motherhood, lol!) first! (Actually hoping to do that next year.)
I made a New Years Resolution to read 50 books this year, and that may need some revising. I have something like 77 books in my “To-Read” on goodreads. So far I am reading, The Grapes of Wrath, A Lesson Before Dying, and Tinkers. I am not being super consistent because of the child, and work, and life. But I am gonna go over my list and set some more attainable goals for this year, and I will link-up.
The Grapes of Wrath is oh. so. good. If you really want to get your fill of the Dust Bowl, Netflicks has a documentary done by PBS that is fascinating. Warning about the book though: you will get so angry on behalf of the people. I had to put it down and take a long walk sometimes.
Oh I hope you love The Brothers K! We named our son after Alyosha Karamazov
CONSOLING THE HEART OF JESUS!!!!!!! Will change your life. Can’t wait to see what you think!
My goal is always to read 50 books a year. This year some books are receiving higher priority, and I also want to read more books about homeschooling … a ways off for us still, but something I’d like to be thinking about!
Great list! Having read True Devotion several times, be ready for that to be a long read. It is so beautiful and packed, I find myself reading 2 or 3 paragraphs at a time and just putting it down for the amazingness to sink it. I did successfully make it though Les Mis a couple of summers ago, I was so happy when I finished I felt like I deserved a party to celebrate!
Atheist Delusions is an awesome book! I read it for a philosophy class in college and loved it. Your reading list is so inspiring – I don’t know if I read half that many books in a year AND I don’t have any children yet. Major bookworm kudos to you! :o)
Your non-fiction list is so exciting this year. I haven’t read any of them, but I look forward to your thoughts over the year, and perhaps I’ll have to add some to my 2015 reading list. =)
sorry, I think I forgot to warn you about the anti-Catholic bits when I recommended Villette. I seem to recall that she’s more positive towards some Catholics near the end, but I may not be remembering that right. But, I do find the central romantic relationships more interesting than in Jane Eyre, personally.
What a great list! I will have to remember to look back over this when I need some inspiration. Right now I’m reading The Plague by Camus–not exactly a fun read, but excellent!
I am super impressed with your list! I’ll post mine soon – you reminded me that although I love Austen I haven’t read Persuasion, and that needs to happen. You’ve got a nice mix of non-fiction and fiction going on.
Hi, Haley! Thanks for the mention, and I love that you loved the first part of the book. Thank you.
I just finished reading Bread and Wine, which had been recommended to me by a friend, and it was such an enjoyable read. And it made me so hungry!
This is the first year that I’m trying a reading list. I’m hoping for accountability! I’m currently in the middle of my second book, Bread & Wine. I LOVE it so much. It really is a great read and has surprising honesty and depth for a ‘little book of essays and recipes.’
Love how you schedule it out by month! My goal is just to read more this year, but I think that P&P is on my re-read list too. I actually hosted a little link up too for book recommendations for 2014, if you’d like to link up your post with us
http://spiritualworkoutblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-to-read-in-2014-link-up.html
I remember reading “Villette” ages ago and having the same reaction! I also seem to recall a fascinating scene where the non-Catholic heroine goes to confession; am I thinking of the right book?
Speaking of things Catholic, I’m currently reading “The Power and the Glory” and hoping to read more Greene this year. I’m also doing the Motherhood and Jane Austen thing — fun to revisit those books!
I really love reading other people’s reading goals. Like you, I am a huge Anne of Green Gables fan, and I recently re-read the Emily of New Moon series (for maybe the third time? I can’t get enough). You are right, they are just as wonderful! I am currently reading Wise Blood, and love it so far. That Flannery never ceases to amaze. This year, my goal is to read 24 books, or more if I can. I have thought about planning the year out, but if I get really excited a book I have never heard of, I have to read it. So, I don’t want to set myself up for failure. When I finish a book, I simply refer to my “to-read” list on goodreads.com, for ideas. Do you have a favorite Jane Austen book? I have only read P&P and Mansfied Park. Loved them both. I own Emma and Persuasion. Which one should I read next?
Hmmm, a favorite Austen book is a tough question! I adore them all except for Northanger Abbey which I like but it’s just not on the same level as the others. Persuasion and Emma are both absolutely wonderful, but the heroine’s are so different. Maybe start with Emma and then follow it up with Persuasion which has a more mature heroine. So fun!
You have to read A Christmas Carol in December! I do almost every year haha
I’m reading Les Mis right now and I think I’ve gotten to about 100 pages in and I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to enjoy it. Does it get to be a little less work at some point?
Haha, it’s pretty slow going. Well….certain parts are page turners, but then you come upon several chapters about one of Napoleon’s battles and it’s….slow. I think it’ll be worth it, but I need some accountability!