40 Books for 2014

Reading is my thing. For as long as ever, I wanted to be a writer and I loved to read. Books hold a plethora of knowledge hidden between covers. I am guilty of judging a book by it's cover but there is a method to my madness. I read a lot whether magazines, newspapers or articles on the Internet.  Finding myself lacking in novels and books that I can learn from, I had to make a decision. The decision was to read as many novels as I can in a year but I also set a limit. To read 40 books in 12 months, 52 weeks or 365 days was a challenge I accepted for myself. There were ups and downs, books that were hard to understand, books that were straightforward, books that were difficult to get through and books finished just as quickly as I started them. The feeling of accomplishment after reading the last page and word was euphoric. The complete list is located at the bottom.

My top five of the 40 books are:

1. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

2. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

3. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

4. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

5. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

I challenge others to read more than 10 books in 2015 and keep challenging yourself to read more. For this new year my goal is 50 books and I have already started.

Until the end of the year!

My 40 Books for 2014

1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
2. Flatland
3. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and The Literary Imagination
4. Parable of the Sower
5. In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women
6. The Heart of a Woman
7. Kindred
8. Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now
9. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
10. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
11. Looking for Alaska
12. A Long Way Gone
13. Getting to Happy
14. Giovanni's Room
15. Song of Solomon
16. Caucasia
17. Wild Seed
18. Mind of My Mind
19. Clay's Ark
20. Patternmaster
21. Passing
22. The Phoenix and the Carpet
23. The White Boy Shuffle
24. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
25. The Mis-Education of the Negro
26. Mumbo Jumbo
27. Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
28. The White Tiger
29. Tar Baby
30. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
31. Dreaming in Cuban
32. Tuff
33. A Song Flung Up To Heaven
34. One Crazy Summer
35. Brown Girl, Brownstones
36. Jonah's Gourd Vine
37. Jazz
38. The Fire Next Time 
39. Cane
40. Animal's People

All photos courtesy of CheVenyke Photos