Books on the Brain.

Last year I decided to actually put together a book-list for the year with a real purpose. I tend to read a lot of non-fiction, so I wanted to vary things up a bit and branch out.

Occasionally, I would read a random biography of some sort and remember how much I loved them, so that is one type of book that went on my list. I also realized that there were quite a few classics that I've never read and wanted to start working on that, expanding my knowledge about that genre which I've come to value more and more over the past few years of educating my kids at home.

Lastly, I kept the non-fiction category alive. I also read a lot of books that were not on my list, finished up some books I was part-way through and just added in random books I cam across that seemed interesting. Unfortunately, I did a bad job tracking my audiobooks, and the app I used to use for that stopped allowing me to listen (library membership issues) so I read over 30 books, plus listened to somewhere around 8-12 books.

This year I am back at it with my book list! Here's what I plan to read...

8 Classics: Great Expectations - A Tale of Two Cities - Anna Karenina - The Swiss Family Robinson - Persuasion - The Picture of Dorian Gray - Things Fall Apart - To the Lighthouse

8 Biographies/Historical: The Boys in the Boat - A Well Behaved Woman - Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus - Out of Africa - A Severe Mercy - The Diary of Anne Frank - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Night

8 Non-fiction: Reflections on a Writing Life - Know and Tell - Breaking Busy - Everybody Writes - The Brave Learner - Reading Like a Writer - Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully - When People are Big and God is Small

24 is a totally doable goal for me right now. If I only read 24 books, I'd be surprised, but I'm not ready to add more to the list. Last year I ended up one book short in the Classics and Biography categories (only short in the classics if you count my audiobooks though). Do you notice a theme in my non-fiction? What can I say, I'm into reading and writing!

All of these are books I have never read before (though maybe a couple don't fit these categories perfectly). Some of these books I have already started reading, but I really want to finish them up. That's another part of my reading this year I want to deal with... I start SO many books! I want to try and keep it to reading about 5 at a time, though who knows if that is really worth the effort.

I have quite a few more I am reading that I plan to finish, but those will get updated in my goodreads as I go along. I really enjoyed most of the books I read last year, especially Watership Down and Where the Wind Leads. I highly recommend them to ANYONE!

What are some books on your reading list this year? Anything you are really looking forward to?


FYI - these links to the books are affiliate links, to help support my work on this blog. It won't pay for a Hawaii vacation, but it's something ;)