2014 // The year to reading

So we are in the last leg of the year 2014. Isn’t it the best time to contemplate on your goals and challenges? As I started this year I had one challenge set; to read and read. Well, if you ask me if I achieved it. I did. Definitely. There is nothing like setting a goal and working towards it. 
 

I challenged myself to read these 9 books. I did cheat a little though. I skipped Inferno. When I got hold of it, I realized that I had past the age of Dan Brown’s books. It no longer excited me. After making it to a couple of pages, I immediately stopped. It wasn't juicy and ripening any more to keep me hooked. There are certain authors’ that no longer mesmerize me. It could be an indication that my taste for books and literature have changed. I couldn’t get a copy of The Messenger though.

Nonetheless, I read 14 more books which pretty compensates for missing on the above said books. In fact, it more than compensates. So here’s the total list of books I read in 2014:

1. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini 
2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 
3. The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty 
4. The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty
5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 
6. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai 
7. Looking for Alaska by John Green 
8. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 
9. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin 
10. Palpasa café by Narayan Wagle 
11. Those Pricey Thakur Girls by Anuja Chauhan
12. Lean in by Sheryl Sandberg 
13. Matilda by Roald Dahl 
14. Heidi by Johanna Spyri 
15. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 
16. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger  
17. A Leaf in the Wind by Jean O’Hart 
18. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner 
19. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
20. The Gold Finch by Donna Tart 
21. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell 

Some of the reviews can be found here and here. Number 20 and 21 are audiobooks which I listened to while commuting to work, before going to bed at night and whenever I was free. Listening to audiobooks changed my life. I can never get bored because there’s always something that occupies me. Since I listen to it from my cellphone (now who stays away from your phone? I don’t.),it’s a lot easier. It sometimes makes you feel that you are conversing with the author in real. And of course it improves your vocabulary ten times more. 

This year has been the busiest work wise, especially during the second half of the year. It was so difficult to make time for reading yet I could finish 21 books. I’m proud of my achievement. The old adage rings a bell? Where there’s a will there’s a way. 

I have a long way to go though. Since I made this 30 before 30 list I have finished reading 32 books in 2 years and still counting. Another mile to go and I’m pretty confident that I will achieve it. What better way to dedicate to another year of reading since Bhutan has declared 2015 as National Reading Year to commemorate the 60^th birth anniversary of our beloved 4^th Druk Gyalpo.  

I’m sure that when I could read these number of books you definitely can. So I encourage you to take to reading in 2015 especially the young minds. Parents can always read bed time stories to your children to inculcate the habit of reading in young minds. After all a child who reads, thinks. I’m sure we all can manage 20 minutes from our daily 24 hours clock to dedicate it to reading. 

So I’m focusing the year 2015 to reading literature, though fiction will somewhat be in my daily reads.  I will be starting with The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. If you have any recommendation on the books on literature, I’d love to hear in the comments section below.

Were you able to achieve your goals in 2014? And what do you plan on doing in 2015? 

P.S: I’d like to thank the lovely Rima for sending me The Happiness Project, The Hypnotist’s Love Story and Gone Girl all the way from Singapore, my friend Kunga for sending me A Leaf in the Wind which was personally signed by the author herself from Australia. Indeed, life is so much better when friends understand your love for reading and send you books as birthday gifts. Thank you lovelies. 

Have a lovely weekend!