Picture Day Friday: Iceland's Peat Turf Church

This turf church in Hofskirkja is one of Iceland's last surviving wood and peat churches. Those mounds around the church are centuries-old graves.

Reading in 2014: A Detailed Analysis

For a few years now, I have been collecting data on the books I read and then analyzing the information I have collected at the end of the year. Over the years, I have curated the list of questions you'll see below. In 2013, I put together a spreadsheet that allowed me to record even more information: book title, author, star rating, category and sub category, publisher, publication date, which month I read it, whether I owned it or borrowed it, whether I was re-reading it, and if someone recommended it. In 2014, I added the following information: number of pages and format.

For a complete list of my books, go HERE. Without further ado, here are the stats...

How many books did you read in total?

88: an average of one book every four days. I read 173 books in 2010, 144 books in 2011, 148 in 2012, and 109 books in 2013. The number of books has been steadily going down as I move away from reading only romance

What was the average star rating?

3.943 (where ratings were from 1 to 5, with 0 for DNF (didn't finish)). The large number of re-reads and books by trusted recommendations are most likely responsible for this. Number of books and star ratings: 5 stars (49), 4 stars (12), 3 stars (13), 2 stars (7), 1 star (0), DNF (7)

How many works of fiction and how many non-fiction?

Nonfiction & Poetry: 12, Fiction: 76, a ratio of 1:6.
In 2010, the ratio was 1:57; in 2011, it was 1:15; in 2012, it was 1:18; and in 2013, it was 1:15

How many books by male versus female authors did you read?

Male: 11, Female: 77. Male authors read were 12.5% of the total.
In 2010, the number was 3% of the total; in 2011, it was 5%; in 2012, it was 7%; and in 2013, it was 5%.
Last year, all books by male authors were nonfiction; this year, it was a mix of nonfiction and fiction

How much romance versus all other genres?

28 non-romance vs. 60 romance, which is 68% romance of the total number of books read.
All the non-romance books were in the following categories: children's and young adult fiction, literary fiction, mystery, poetry, and non-fiction.
In 2010, I read more than 85% romance, 79% in 2011, 82% in 2012, and 88% in 2013

What were the categories of the books and how many books did you read in each category?

Medieval (1), Tudor (1), Georgian (1), Regency (49), Victorian (6), Edwardian (1), Western (1), Contemporary (3), Mystery (4), Fantasy (1), Women's Fiction (1), Literary Fiction (6), Children's & Young Adult (3), Novellas (1), Poetry (3), Memoirs (3), and General Nonfiction (7)

How many books did you read each month?

Jan (11), Feb (9), Mar (15), Apr (6), May (9), Jun (7), Jul (9), Aug (6), Sept (5), Oct (6), Nov (3), Dec (2)

Did you mostly buy, borrow, or re-read?

Public Library: 22, New: 26, Personal Library: 40. I read new books and re-read old ones roughly equally. I bought more books this year than last year, but far less than previous years

How many books did you read in the different formats?

Mass market paperback (56), trade paperback (15), hardcover (13), folio (3), audio (1)

Did you read books in any genres new to you?

Manga, fantasy

Which publishers' books did you read the most?

Fawcett (21), Signet (11), Avon (6), Bantam(5)

How many self-published books did you read?

3

Which were the oldest and newest books, by pub date?

"The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran (Sep 1923) and "Rogue Spy" by Joanna Bourne (Nov 2014)

Which were the longest and shortest book titles?

Longest Book Title: "The Ultimate Guide to Dorothy Dunnett's The Game of Kings: An illustrated, encyclopedic resource of translations and historical, literary, ... in the order in which they appear in the book" by Laura Caine Ramsey

Shortest Book Titles: "Escape" by Joan Smith, "Douglas" by Grace Burrows, "Venetia" by Georgette Heyer, "Longbourn" by Jo Baker, "Silkworm" by Robert Galbraith, "Devilish" by Jo Beverley

Which were the longest and shortest books?

"The Game of Kings" by Dorothy Dunnett (543 pages) and "Women Who Dared" by Evelyn Beilenson & Lois Kaufman (80 pages)

Who were the most-read authors of the year?

Joan Smith (12), Joan Wolf (6), Michelle Martin (5), and Loretta Chase (5)

Which of the authors who were new to you in 2014 would you read in 2015?

Dorothy Dunnett, Rick Riordan, Molly O'Keefe

Any books in translation?

None

Which was your top favorite book?

"The Game of Kings" by Dorothy Dunnett—it's one of the finest examples of historical fiction

Which was your surprise favorite book and why?

"Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan, a middle-grade novel. I was surprised by the complex world-building, which remained true to the historical facts of the relevant time period.

How many books did you read due to someone’s recommendation?

I read 21 books on recommendations from friends: jobev, sunita_p, liz_mc2, kaetrin67, simhedges, younglibrarian, Wee1, dougalgodfrey, __marijana_, janga724, mirandaneville, jobourne, superwendy, janetnorcal, redrobinreader

Which book would you not have read unless recommended by someone?

"The Game of Kings" by Dorothy Dunnett. It is a Big Fat Book, and I wouldn't have had the courage to approach it if it hadn't been highly recommended by many people

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?

"The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion, "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran, "Stradivari's Genius" by Toby Faber

Which books that you read in 2014 do you think you will re-read in 2015?

Books by Joan Wolf, Joan Smith, Michelle Martin, Georgette Heyer, and Dorothy Dunnett

Which authors do you predict you will glom in 2015?

Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles and re-reads of Georgette Heyer and Laura Kinsale

Which types of books would you like to read more of?

LitFic, books by male authors, British police procedurals, poetry, and nonfiction. My list for 2015 is already long; it might very well take me into December

What information are you missing in your data collection for 2014 that you'd like to add to 2015?

A review of a sentence or a few words

Picture Day Friday: St. John's Gospel from 8th C.

A copy of St. John's Gospel buried with St. Cuthbert in the eighth century with the earliest known Western binding.

2015 TBR Reading Challenge: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

2015 TBR Reading Challenge
Book: The Alchemyst: The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott
My Categories: children's, fantasy, male author
Wendy Crutcher's Category: Recommended Read

This is another middle grade book that my daughter recommended I read. After my success with The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan, I was willing to take her suggestion without hassling her with reluctance. Another stellar read, and now my daughter's two for two with her recommendations.

I admit to a slow start to this book, until I stopped seeing this as a lame adult book and looked at it as the middle-grade novel it is. Then the pace picked up right away, and it was exciting. There's a lot of historical truth to the story. It's well-researched for the knowns and very well-imagined for the unknowns. I found myself staying up late towards the end to finish it.

Twin fifteen-year-olds Sophie and Josh Newman are working summer jobs in San Francisco at a coffee shop and a bookshop, respectively. Josh's boss is Nicholas Fleming, but in truth, he's an alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, who's been alive since 1330. His wife Perry (aka Perenelle) is older than him, but neither look a day over fifty.

Historical Note: There's an Auberge Nicholas Flamel in Paris that's been around for six hundred years where a real-life Nicholas Flamel lived and worked and was famous for alchemy. Paris's 4th Arrondissement boasts the rue Nicholas Flamel and the rue Perenelle. Flamel was said to have died in 1418, but later when his tomb was broken into, they found it to be empty and rumors of his immortality took flight.

In Scott's book, Flamel is indeed immortal and the reason behind it is the secret recipe in the Codex Book of Abraham the Mage, which he carries with him everywhere. Flamel's past catches up to him in the form of Dr. John Dee, once his student, then his enemy.

Historical Note: John Dee was a brilliant magician and spy from the court of Queen Elizabeth I. He signed his coded messages "007". (I am not making this up.) The "00" represented the eyes of the queen and the symbol that looked like a "7" was Dee's personal mark.

In Scott's book, Dee is a magician of immense power. He's also immortal, though how he becomes so is not explained (well, at least not in this first book of the series.)

There is this concept in the story that before the age of humans, ten thousand years ago, on the island of Atlantis, there lived the First Generation of Elders. This included goddesses Bastet, Hekate, Morrigan, the Witch of Endor, and others. Two thousand years ago, came the Next Generation of Elders, such as Scathach, the warrior. However, some of the elders have turned over to evil and become the Dark Elders. They want to wipe out the humans from the planet. Bastet and the Morrigan are among these Dark Elders, and their human stooge who can facilitate this is Dee. That is how he came to be Flamel's enemy. He wants the Codex that Flamel so zealously guards. The Codex contains many codes and secrets, besides the immortality recipe, which would enable the Dark Elders to gain supremacy.

As the story opens, Josh is working for Flamel and Sophie is in the coffee shop across from the street of the bookshop. Dee, along with three mud Golems, pays a visit to Flamel. Much magic gets thrown around using their respective auras, which have fragrances. Dee's has a rotten eggs smell, Flamel's a minty smell. The end result of this is that Dee snatches Perenelle and all but the last two pages of the Codex and hies off to his superiors. En route, he realizes that he's missing the crucial last two pages. And so begins the adventure.

In the meantime, our intrepid trio have met up with Scathach the warrior, who lives in a dojo in SF's Chinatown. Rats, who pose as seeing eyes for Dee, trail them to Scathach's doorstep and attempt to attack. The foursome fight free with fifteen-year-old Josh with a driver's permit, not license, at the wheel of an SUV and head over to the Golden Gate Bridge. Dee summons the Morrigan's crows to attack. Flamel, in turn, summons the wind to drive away the crows. The foursome escape to the safety of Hekate's Shadowrealm.

A shadowrealm is a place normally where humans cannot enter, or if they do, they're irretrievably changed. There, Hekate discovers that all is not normal with Sophie and Josh. Josh has a pure gold aura and Sophie a pure silver one. This rare purity means that if they're awakened to their full magic potential, they would become very powerful.

While Hekate is debating the pros and cons of awakening the twins, the Morrigan has summoned the help of Bastet and her cats. As Bastet starts making her way up north from LA, Hekate succeeds in awakening Sophie, but she has no time to awaken Josh.

The battle between the Elders, their warriors, Dee with his Excalibur sword — this story is a mashup of all kinds of mythologies, so why not Arthur, too? — Flamel, Scathach, and the twins is of epic proportions (and exciting to read. I couldn't read it fast enough.) This is the first time, Sophie gets a taste of the power she wields. Of course, Perenelle hasn't been lying dormant. She's a magician of note, too, and channels herself into Sophie during the battle and at various times to exchange messages with Flamel.

As Hekate and her ruined Shadowrealm are dying a fast death, our foursome break free with Josh at the wheel of a Hummer this time and head south to Ojai, CA and to Endor. There she helps train Sophie in understanding all the history and struggles and powers of being an Elder and how to cope with the ultra sensitivity of her senses that being awakened means.

In the meantime, Josh is afraid of who Sophie's become and jealous, too. Also, Dee has discovered that Josh has a pure gold aura and remains unawakened. He pushes the Morrigan into agreeing to awaken Josh and bring him over to the dark side. So off he goes to Ojai to capture Josh. But he is thwarted in his endeavor, despite his brilliant magic that brings all the centuries-old skeletons to life to fight for him. The foursome step through a leygate in Endor's shop and step into Paris. The shop blows up, sparing Endor, but possibly killing Dee. That last part is made to seem probable, but not a hundred percent possible.

And that's the fabulous story. There are five other books in this series that I hope to pick up soon.

Picture Day Friday: Inverary Castle, Argyll, Scotland

Inveraray Castle is the ancestral home of the Duke of Argyll and Chief of the Clan Campbell and an iconic attraction on the west coast of Scotland. Go to the castle site to see more information on how to get there, where to stay, and what you'll see once you get there.

Best Books of 2014

This is a long post, so be prepared. There were many books which fell in my five-star bucket this year. I'm detailing a few of them here.

Like last year, this year, too, was marked by a number of re-reads. So this year, my list had a mix of books new to me and old favorites. I borrowed most of the new-to-me books from the library, thus continuing on with last year's resolution to not buy too many books. What was unusual for me was the low number of books that I read that were published in 2014.

The best book of the year for me, hands down, was The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett (Vintage, Apr-97). I read it twice and listened to the audiobook. I also read its companion guide The Ultimate Guide to Dorothy Dunnett's The Game of Kings by Laura Ramsey (Self-pub, Jan-13). I charted my multi-month reading progress of the book via monthly posts. If you want to read the updates, start HERE at the last post with links to all the rest of them.

I continued with my spate of reading traditional Regency romances. I re-read and re-loved my four Michelle Martins: Hampshire Hoyden (Fawcett, Jun-93), The Mad Miss Mathley (Fawcett, Aug-95), The Butler Who Laughed(Fawcett, May-97), and The Adventurers (Fawcett, Sep-96). They are true traditional Regencies with clever dialogue, nuanced and in-depth character development, developing romantic interest, only kissing, and wit.

I re-read and re-loved trads from last year: The London Season by Joan Wolf (Signet, Jan-86), Imprudent Lady by Joan Smith (Fawcett, Sep-78), Lord Richard's Daughter by Joan Wolf (Signet, Jul-83), Escapade by Joan Smith (Fawcett, Jan-77), Knaves' Wager by Loretta Chase (Avon, Aug-91), Talk of the Town by Joan Smith (Fawcett, Jan-79), Fool's Masquerade by Joan Wolf (Signet, Aug-84), A Double Deception by Joan Wolf (Signet, Oct-83), A Grand Design by Emma Jensen (Signet, Nov-00), and The Rebellious Wife by Joan Wolf (Signet, Feb-84).

The annual re-read of Devilish by Jo Beverley was superb as always. Rothgar's story never gets old and tired. It's fresh every single time. This is a story that was written in 2000, but it doesn't feel dated or following some romance conventions of the 2000s—it's timeless.

I went through my annual re-read of Joanna Bourne's spy romances set in France and England, in particular The Spymaster's Lady (Berkley, Jan-08) and Black Hawk (Berkley, Nov-11), as I was preparing for this post about her new book Rogue Spy (Berkley, Nov-14).

Another series I love is C.S. Harris's St. Cyr Regency mysteries. This year's book Why Kings Confess (NAL, Mar-14) was no exception. Her characterization and period feel are among the finest I have seen in a historical mystery or a historical fiction book.

The leisurely exploration of Barbara O'Neal's women's fiction makes for a riveting read for me every year. Talk about nuances! Even her nuances have nuances. I really enjoy the luxury of time and space that her books encompass. All You Can Eat Buffet (Bantam, Mar-14) was this year's book.

Fool Me Twice (Pocket, Apr-14), Meredith Duran's Victorian romance, is topping many Best Of lists this year. It had a few problematic elements for me: the hero's extreme possessiveness, his violent behavior towards the heroine, and his need to have her submit to him (not verbalized but in his thoughts). However, I felt that Duran's skill is such that she handled it all superbly and I bought into the redemption of the hero and the culmination of the story's romantic arc. An aside: Isn't that a gorgeous cover? I want to eat it.

Anyone who's read Richard Lederer knows he's laugh-out-loud hilarious. His Word Wizard: Super Bloopers, Rich Reflections, and Other Acts of Word Magic (St. Martin, Apr-06) was predictably good entertainment. As I talked more about it here, he's very entertaining in person, too. His books reflect his personality.

Poetry by Robert Frost never fails to stir me. I have been reading him since middle school, and I've been lucky to have had great English teachers who sustained and deepened my interest in poetry. This love of poetry emboldened me to give philosophical prose poetry by Kahlil Gibran a try. I talked about The Prophet (Knopf, Sep-23) more HERE. I came out of that experience greatly affected. I doubt I fully understood it all. It's going to require multiple re-visits.

My first introduction to Joan Didion was through a talk she gave at our local symphony hall. I knew her by reputation but hadn't read any of her articles or books. I was fascinated by the political talk she gave with her grasp of the details and complexities. So when I heard about The Year of Magical Thinking (Knopf, Oct-05), I knew I had to give it a try. Great, great look at the year following the death of her beloved husband. Her straightforward spare prose highlights the beauty of what she's saying very effectively.

In a complete departure from the seriousness of the above books, came these two: a middle-grade fantasy Titan's Curse (Hyperion, Jan-07) by Rick Riordan and memoir Taking the Lead (William Morrow, Aug-14) by Dancing with the Stars professional dancer Derek Hough. While Hough's memoir tries to be serious, its anecdotal nature gives it a more entertaining spin than a philosophical one. Riordan's aim is pure delightful transportation. I thoroughly enjoyed my daughter's recommendation.

I greatly enjoyed Courtney Milan's Suffragette's Scandal (Self-pub, Jul-14), a smart, sophisticated historical. Disclaimer: I worked with Courtney on editing the book.

And that's a wrap! My entire list of 88 books is available for you to look at, if you so wish.

Romance Conference at the Library of Congress

"What Is Love? Romance Fiction in the Digital Age," an international, multimedia conference, will be hosted by the Library of Congress's Center for the Book on February 10 and 11, 2015.

The conference is free and open to the public and is being sponsored by Harlequin. Additional support is being provided by the Popular Romance Project, created by the Center for New History and Media at George Mason University; the Nora Roberts Foundation; the Romance Writers of America; and Berkley/NAL.

The conference agenda will include panels moderated by Pam Regis, professor of English at McDaniel College and president of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance; Bill Gleason of Princeton University; Mary Bly of Fordham University (who writes as Eloisa James); and Riptide editorial director Sarah S.G. Frantz. Special author appearances include New York Times best-selling authors Robyn Carr and Brenda Jackson. The Popular Romance Project, led by Laurie Kahn of Blueberry Hill Productions, will include the feature-length documentary film "Love Between the Covers," as directed by Kahn.

Details about the panels and talks are HERE.

Picture Day Friday: Three Orders of Medieval Society

Medieval writers described their society as having three orders: the cleric, the knight, and the peasant—those who prayed, those who fought, and those who labored. Image courtesy of Medieval Manuscripts, tweeting about the British Library's marvelous medieval manuscripts. Their blog is located here.

10 Category Reading Challenge of 2014

The original 10-10 challenge was to read 10 books in 10 categories by October 10, 2010. I modified that to: read any number of books in 10 categories, other than romance, by December 31 to finish the challenge. Also the overarching aim was to reduce the TBR mountain. The challenge has worked so well for me for the past few years that I've decided to keep it going every year.

Unfortunately this year, I read in only eight of the ten categories I had set out to read. The categories I missed were Parenting and Organization (self help).

Detective, Mystery, Suspense, Crime, Thriller
—"Murder at Hatfield House" by Amanda Carmack
—"Why Kings Confess" by C.S. Harris
—"The Cuckoo's Calling" by Robert Galbraith
—"Silkworm" by Robert Galbraith

Children's & Young Adult
—"Into the Woods: Warriors: Tigerstar & Sasha" by Erin Hunter
—"Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism" by Georgia Byng
—"The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
—"The Bubble Collector" by Vikram Madan

Literary Fiction
—"Einstein's Dreams" by Alan Lightman
—"Pride & Prejudice: the movie adaptation" by Deborah Moggach
—"The Foundling" by Georgette Heyer
—"All You Can Dream Buffet" by Barbara O'Neal
—"Longbourn" by Jo Baker
—"The Game of Kings" by Dorothy Dunnett

Poetry
—"The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran
—"Robert Frost" edited by Gary D. Schmidt
—"The Bubble Collector" by Vikram Madan

Biographies & Memoirs
—"Weathering Winter: A Gardener's Daybook" by Carl Klaus
—"The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion
—"Taking the Lead: Lessons from a Life in Motion" by Derek Hough

General Nonfiction
—"Stradivari's Genius" by Toby Faber
—"From Bath With Love" by Bob Croxford

Writing
—"Word Wizard: Super Bloopers, Rich Reflections, and Other Acts of Word Magic" by Richard Lederer
—"MFA vs NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction" edited by Chad Harbach

Spiritual
—"Women Who Dared" by Evelyn Beilenson & Lois Kaufman
—"The Girls' Book of Wisdom" edited by Catherine Dee
—"The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran

Parenting
———

Organization
———

2014 TBR Reading Challenge Forced Unusual Choices

When I accepted Wendy Crutcher's 2014 TBR Challenge way back in December 2013, I warned her then that my goal was simply to use the prod of accountability to read a non-romance (key!) book every month from my TBR bookshelf, i.e., published before 2014, and comment on it on this blog.

At the beginning of every year, I do a detailed analysis post of my reading of the previous year. What I have noticed year after year is how little I read outside the romance genre. So I started using a couple different reading challenges to diversify my reading. I have discovered that I have sloooooowly started making progress in the right direction. This year, I stepped it up and took on Wendy's challenge as further incentive.

Technically, this is way off base, since the challenge is primarily to read broadly in the romance genre. Here were Wendy's categories:

Jan 15: We Love Short Shorts! (Short stories, Novellas, category romance)

Feb 19: Series Catch-Up (pick a book from a series you're behind on)

Mar 19: New-To-You Author (an author you've never read before)

Apr 16: Contemporary romance

May 21: More Than One (An author who has more than one book in your TBR pile)

Jun 18: Romance Classics (classic book, classic author, classic trope/theme, etc.)

Jul 16: Lovely RITA (past RITA winners or nominees)

Aug 20: Luscious Love Scenes (erotic romance, erotica, a sensual read)

Sep 17: Recommended read (a book recommended to you by someone)

Oct 15: Paranormal or Romantic Suspense

Nov 19: Historical romance

Dec 17: Holiday themes (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, it's all good!)

Wendy took pity on me and my ginormous TBR, and voilà, here's the list of books I read:

"Einstein's Dreams" by Alan Lightman (blog Jan 15)

"Women Who Dared" by Evelyn Beilenson & Lois Kaufman (blog Feb 19)

"Weathering Winter: A Gardener's Daybook" by Carl Klaus (blog Mar 19)

"Pride & Prejudice: the movie adaptation" by Deborah Moggach (blog Apr 16)

"The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran (blog May 21)

"The Girls' Book of Wisdom" edited by Catherine Dee (blog Jun 18)

"Word Wizard: Super Bloopers, Rich Reflections, and Other Acts of Word Magic" by Richard Lederer (blog Jul 16)

"The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion (blog Aug 20)

"From Bath With Love" by Bob Croxford (blog Sep 17)

"The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan (blog Oct 15)

"Robert Frost" edited by Gary D. Schmidt (blog Nov 19)

"Stradivari's Genius" by Toby Faber (blog Dec 17)

Complete List of Books I Read in 2014

Here are the links to the books I read in 2014. Lists 1-5 are pieces of one chronological list of 87 books of my Excel spreadsheet. Click on each image to read it.

List 1



List 2



List 3



List 4



List 5