happy new year! - and a resolution: 14 books in 2014

Happy New Year! I'm always so excited about the tabula rasa that each new year brings. I can't believe it is already 2014, but I'm feeling especially motivated to make this year great! We had a great time over Christmas visiting family and friends in Utah. Scott had to return to AZ a couple days after Christmas, but Nolan and I ended up sticking around until the 31st. While I usually spend the end of the year thinking about my resolutions and planning for the upcoming festivities, we really dragged out Christmas this year by celebrating again on New Years day with just our little family. (Mainly so we wouldn't have to take all of our gifts to Utah, just to bring them back home).

After our second Christmas morning, I've finally been able to take a little time to reflect and to organize myself for the New Year. I'm excited to take some of my goals from last year and refocus them with sub-goals and to add a few new ones into the mix.

14 Books in 2014

Since having Nolan, my desire to read has come and gone. Sometimes I spend weeks devouring books left and right and then I"ll go months without even the desire to pick one up. This has a lot to do with the stage of development Nolan is in (i.e. how needy he is), but also is a reflection on how much technology has creeped into our lives, slowly edging out reading, playing board games, and spending time outdoors. This year I'm on a mission to bring the love of books back into my life! I spend a few hours researching and choosing some books I'm really excited about reading this year. I opted to pick 7 fiction and 7 non-fiction (this includes biographies, autobiographies, self help books, parenting books, etc.). Some of my picks line up with a couple of virtual book clubs I'm participating in and others are books that have been on my to-read list for a while. I even left a slot open and asked Scott to choose one of his favorite for me to read. Last, but not least, I'm going to read a fictional book in Spanish to help me keep up on my language skills that I haven't practiced since quitting my job when Nolan was born! Another one of my goals is to keep this blog updated! So, I will be writing a little more about each of these books as read them.

Without further ado, my 2014 book list:

*The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty Deliberate Motherhood by Power of Moms The Fall of Five (Lorien Legacies #4) by Pittacus Lore I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou *The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman Cien años de soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Name of the Wind By Patrick Rothfuss (Scott's pick) Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham *Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood *My Story by Elizabeth Smart
While this is my preferred order, I may have to change it around a bit depending on whether I can get books in from my library on time. I just put the first three on hold and I'm number 43 on the hold list for The Husband's Secret.
*These books will be read as part of a book club.
These books are non-fiction