Tuesday, December 25, 2012

My name is Jess, and I am a book addict...

Merry Christmas everyone! :) This has been a truly full year for me - I finished my Master's degree, started a travel agency, got a new part time job (that helps me pay the bills while I grow my travel agency lol), lost my grandfather and a family friend, bought a second home and leased our current home, and so much more.

And, of course, I read some great and some not-so-great books.

As I was catching up on Goodreads, putting in reviews for books I finished up a while ago but just hadn't had time to type up the reviews, I noticed that my "To Read" list on Goodreads had surpassed 5200 books. That's a whole dang lot of books, especially since I've only been averaging about 130 books read per year! Some of those books are ones that I am not actually interested in, but rather than wade through the entire list to delete them I have just let them sit there.

That inspired me to try something different this upcoming year. Rather than just read whatever I feel like, without regard to whether or not it is on my To Read list, I decided to limit myself to books that are only on the To Read list, with one exception - if I am offered books by publishers/authors for review that aren't on my list, I won't be turning them down (because as my fellow book addicts understand, nothing feels quite so thrilling as a few book!).

So I went to a random number generator online, and input my beginning and end values matching the length of my To Read list, and VOILA - I had a ready-made way of deciding which books off my To Read list I would be tackling this upcoming year. I kept the list at 130 books, which is about my average, knowing that I may not be able to get to quite that many when you factor in publisher/author requests. As I went through the numbers and pulled up the corresponding book from my To Read list, I also weeded out any books that weren't actually interesting to me - that cut out about 50 books from my list automatically!

The hardest part about this particular challenge is that I am not allowing myself to add any additional books to my To Read list this year, unless it is a corresponding book in a series that I start this year (several of the books I ended up with are #1 in a series, meaning if I like that book I will be marking the second book in the series as "to read"). This makes me a little sad, as one of my favorite pastimes when I am not reading is going through the Giveaways listed on Goodreads, but I know that it will be worth it! :)

Now for the part you can help me with - I'd like to line up all of these books for FREE if possible, as I don't make any money by reviewing books! ;) Some should be available at my local library, but for the rest I am hoping that my lovely followers will help me to obtain free copies. When I am finished reading, I will be doing one of two things with the book - either 1) passing it on to a friend or family member who I think would appreciate it, or 2) adding it to my pile of books to be donated to a local library here that is in desperate need of a better variety of books!! I'll keep track of how many books I get to donate by the end of the year - my goal is to donate at least 75 of the 130 books!

Without further ado, here is my anticipated reading list for 2013:
Failing Test (The Shadow Series, #1)
Lily Loves to Love
Nate Rocks the World (Nate Rocks, #1)
Before I Go to Sleep
The Shapeshifter's Secret
Rise of the Retics (Rosehaven the Hidden City, #1)
Hammerhead
Aldo's Fantastical Movie Palace
Lost in Petra
Whiskey Rebellion (An Addison Holmes Mystery #1)
Nanowhere
Sinners And Saints
Tropical Delusion: Misadventures in Paradise
The Missing
Silas
The Counterfeit Princess
This Brilliant Darkness
The Vanishers
The Chronicles of Brendan Earle, Apprentice Mage. Totally Interactive. Autosaved.
The Moon Moth
No One is Here Except All of Us
The Thread
Silverweed: A Supernatural Fairy Tale (Volume 1)
27 (Twenty-seven)
An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace
In Your Face: The New Science of Human Attraction
The Cordello Quest (Lazuli Portals #1)
The Labbitt Halsey Protocol
Amaranth (The Resistance Trilogy, #1)
Sunset (Pact Arcanum, #1)
Harvest of the Heart
Fair Coin (Coin, #1)
3.54
Goddess Cottage
Homegrown and Handmade: A Practical Guide to More Self-Reliant Living
Glow (Sky Chasers, #1)
Katana (Katana, #1)
Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines #1)
Naked Brain
The Marcella Fragment
How To Lose a Demon in 10 Days (10 Days, #1)
The Fire King
Date with a Vampire (Harold the Kung Fu Kid, #1)
Just Add Magic
The Legend of Mickey Tussler: A Novel
Destiny's Call (The Lightbridge Legacy, #1)
Summer of the Wolves
Lady of The Shadows
Humblebrag: The Art of False Modesty
Walden 3.0: A Dystopian Romance
The Never Prayer
The Puppet Maker's Bones  (Death's Order, #1)


Burning Blue
The Dream Sanctum
Wordcatcher: An Odyssey into the World of Weird and Wonderful Words
Before Ever After: A Novel
The Hour of Tiamat
Sonora and the Eye of the Titans (Sonora, #1)
Buying Time (An Aspen Moore Novel, #1)
The Mermaid Collector
Cycles
Aventurine Heart
Program 13 (The Emile Reed Chronicles, #1)
Failstate
Freakling (Freakling, #1)
The Seven Keys of Alaesha
The Mulligans of Mt. Jefferson: A Novel
Spirit Binder (The Cascadian Chronicles #1)
Thorn
Blue Straggler
Vigilare
Rockapocalypse: A Disharmony of Justice
Edge of the Triangle
The Hunt (The Hunt, #1)
Matadors
Soul Catcher (Dueling with the Devil, #1)
Until Darkness Comes
How to Be a Woman
The Babysitter Murders
The Torah Codes
Comic Squad

Cinderella Geek
The Raven's Gift
Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America's Imperial Dream
Lisa's Way (The Lisa Herbert Series)
The Pawnbroker
Hidden from Destiny
Eat Naked: Unprocessed, Unpolluted, and Undressed Eating for a Healthier, Sexier You
The Faerie Guardian (Creepy Hollow, #1)
Multiplayer
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise
Try Not to Breathe
The Burn
Songs of the Earth
Wake Forest
Written In The Sky: Rise of The Wadjet Witch
Romeo Spikes
Dolphin Girl
Soul Seeker (Lasniniar, #1)
How Lucky You Are
Beyond the Misty Shore (Seascape Trilogy, #1)
The Only Living Man With A Hole In His Head

Fathers & Sons (Forts, #1)

Thief (Fringe, #1)

Bound in Vengeance

As If a Bird Flew By Me: A Novel

Jokers Club

The Black God's War (Splendor and Ruin, #1)

Lacrimosa (Requiem, #1)

Marty Boggs and the Curse of the Mummy's Tomb

My Dead Boyfriend (Daughter of the Sidhe, #1)

Big Miracle

Black Crystal (Black Scarlet Saga, #1)

Redheart

Deadwood

Lowcountry Boil (A Liz Talbot Mystery, #1)

Amy Mah Vampire

Freud's Sister: A Novel

The Pond

 Beautiful Lies

The Lost Book of Mala R.

The Pawnbroker

The Crystal Bridge

The Veil

Mouch and Company: The Dream Psychic

Vampyre Kisses (The Last Witch, #1)

A Royal Likeness

Undertow

Atlantean (Eternal Trilogy, #1)

The Awakening

The Genesis Key


Merry Christmas, and a book-tastic New Year to all of you! :) 

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