Reading Challenge 2014: Mid-Year Update

Well so far 2014 has been pretty successful at least in the number of books I've read toward my goal. This year, I decided to reduce the total number of books I'm aiming to read down to 30. This was mostly because last year, I found with my commuting for my new job and traveling for work I had much less time to read than I used to, very unfortunate indeed. That being said, as a commuter, I've started listening to audio books during my daily drive and have decided to include those in my tally of books read. So with little less than 5 months in I've already completed 13 of 30 books for my challenge, putting me 2 books ahead of schedule thus far!

While I have been able to get a good number of books in this year, I've been very disappointed in the books I've chosen to read. I've felt like a lot of the books I've read haven't really hit the mark with me, but in reviewing the books that I've read I realized only a few of those were real duds. With that, here are the books I've read so far and next to it my rating (see below for rating definitions), you can also click the titles if you want to read more about each of these books:

1. The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore (HIGH FIVE) - Part of the I am Number Four series

2. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordeno (DUD; BOOK CLUB)

3. The Gemma Doyle Series by Libba Bray 

   3.  A Great and Terrible Beauty (HIGH FIVE)

   4.  Rebel Angels (HIGH FIVE)

    5. The Sweet Far Thing (LOW FIVE)
6. Kit's Wilderness by David Almond (DUD)

7. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson (DUD) - This book is seriously disturbing, I almost hated it.

8. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (HIGH FIVE)

9. Building a Home with my Husband by Rachel Simon (LOW FIVE)

10. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (HIGH FIVE) - Part of the Hero's of Olympus series

11. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (HIGH FIVE; REREAD) - One of my go-to favorites

12. The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (HIGH FIVE)

13. Still Alice by Lisa Genova (HIGH FIVE, BOOK CLUB)

DUD = I didn't really care for these books, either the story wasn't for me or there was something specific that completely turned me off. In the case of Twisted, I thought I would enjoy it because I really did enjoy Speak by the same author. Unfortunately, Twisted lived up to it's name and made me so uncomfortable, I couldn't wait for it to be over. 

LOW FIVE = Books that I liked but didn't really knock it out of the park. For example, The Sweet Far Thing, the final book of the Gemma Doyle series fell short from it's two predecessors and left me wishing for something different.

HIGH FIVE = You'll notice most of the HIGH FIVES are books within a series, I do love a good series and most of the books I've read this year that are part of a series I had an already established love for. There are a couple here that aren't part of a series that I really really enjoyed. Speak, I had seen part of a Lifetime movie based on this book and had been wanting to read it for a while, it did not disappoint. Still Alice, this was chose for my book club and we haven't had a meeting on it yet but I completely loved it. Looking forward to the film adaptation coming up. 

So that's all the books I've read so far. I'm still feeling like I haven't read much this year that's really blown me away, and I think part of that is because I've started several that I didn't care to continue; so if you have any suggestions for books that you absolutely LOVE send them my way! I'm always looking for a good read!