King Lear by William Shakespeare

I have to say that reading Shakespeare as an adult is way more fun with the past experience of having read it as a homeschooled teenager. I first read King Lear when I was about 12. Probably needless to say, I hardly remembered it at all when I started it this time around. Here's a comprehensive list of all the details I remembered:

• The first scene is very long and it involves King Lear misinterpreting something his daughter said. 
• Goneril and Regan are jerks. 
• Something gross and violent happens (who knows what). 
• People die at the end. 

Yeah, okay, Shakespeare may not have been my primary focus as a 12-year-old. (What's King Lear in comparison with cute boys?) But I do remember liking the play, believe it or not. It was my first real introduction to Shakespeare, and although I barely understood a word, I loved it. 

So it was sort of nostalgic to read King Lear again, for the first time since those fateful few weeks as a 12-year-old.

Austenland by Shannon Hale

How long has it been since I read a book like this? Ummmm...over a year. I'm not kidding. At all.

This year I made a goal to focus on fun books, which works out perfectly with a book club I joined. (I finally joined a book club!) Some of the other members of the club are students as well, so most of the books we're planning on reading are short, easy, and fun.

Austenland was the first pick. I was excited about it because I've been interested in Shannon Hale since I read Princess Academy as a teenager. But I also felt a little weird reading YA for the first time in a long time. I felt even weirder when I got totally hooked, blowing off studying and housework and other important things in order to read it. Of course, I finished it within a couple of days, after carrying it around with me and reading it in spare moments.

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

I finished this book early last December and I've been working on this review ever since. I'm finally just putting it out there, even though it still feels unfinished. 

I think I found a new favorite author.

Okay, of course, it's hard to say that when I've only read one book by George Eliot. But it's such an exquisite book. It felt like the book I've been waiting for, one of those positively delicious books that you can't help but drink right in. 

This book has all the elements I love the most in books. Characters that are beautiful and complex and inherently flawed. A story that is meaningful and important without needing extravagant epic proportions. A message that comes through, but that will necessarily look and feel different for every single reader. And above all, gorgeous writing. 

I honestly don't know how to praise this book enough. After reading it, I can't imagine not liking a book by George Eliot. It's just that wonderful. 

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

I've been meaning to read this book for years, and I only just got to it this year. Once I started reading it, I finished it in just a couple days. (First book of the year!...Don't worry, I finished it forever ago. I'm just behind on reviews.)

I think it would be hard for anyone to dislike this book (despite the weird Mormon stuff--which I'll get to in a minute). Like most people, I've seen adaptations of Sherlock Holmes and loved them. The original book did not disappoint. Holmes himself was just as awkward, egotistical, brilliant, condescending, and all-around fantastic as a character as every adaptation had made him out to be.

Now that I've seen the original character, I really love the way he lends himself to interpretation. Robert Downey, Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch play Holmes in two distinct ways, and neither of these is the "original Holmes"--but each of them is right. There really is no "one Holmes" that everyone is trying to imitate. Sherlock Holmes is a character that can be taken in many different directions, and that's what I loved about him.

Goals for 2014 (and the sad truth about Bout of Books)

Last year, I made a few vague, last-minute goals for the new year. I was still new to blogging and I wasn't even sure what I was trying to accomplish in 2013. (I reviewed those goals in this post.) This year, though, I have just a bit of book blogging experience under my belt, and I've been able to come up with goals that I think will actually help focus my reading and blogging for the next year.

Reading Goals: 

• Read more than last year. More books, more pages. 
• Always have at least one book that I'm reading just for fun, and allow reading for fun to be a priority. 
• Use my e-reader. 
• Save the hard stuff for school, and focus more on light, fun books. (I read a lot of dense, thought-provoking classics for school, and then I go and try to read even more of them on my own. This year, I don't want to push myself so hard. Fun books are not just okay, they're good for me.) 

Bout of Books Sign-up

Excited for another round of Bout of Books? I am!

I don't know how much reading I'll actually be able to do given that it's the first week of school (reading aside from assigned reading, that is). So, my only goal is just to try to read for fun as much as I can in my spare time.

See you on Monday! I'll be reading!

The Best (and worst) of 2013

So I mentioned in my last post that I was excited to do an end-of-year book survey. I've noticed that not everyone loves these, but I love reading them on other people's blog and this is my first chance to do one of my own! 2013 was a great year for reading and I'm excited to look back with this end-of-year survey hosted by Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner.

1. Best Book You Read In 2013? (If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)

This is a serious toughie--as I think it is for all of us...so yeah, I'm totally breaking it down by genre. 

Classic: The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (still working on that review, by the way...) 

Non-classic Fiction: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Non-classic Non-Fiction: This one is oddly the hardest to choose, but I think I'll go with Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard and My Life in France by Julia Child...closely followed by Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott.