I love the classics. I do. But let's be real - their awesomeness takes a little while to get through. I don't think I've ever read a good-sized classic novel in less than a week. I also don't think I've ever disliked a classic either so... there's that.

But what's a girl to do when she's almost a dozen books behind on her reading challenge and it's the middle of November? Here are my suggestions to hit that book challenge goal:

When you're trying to hit the reading goal, there are 3 major categories of novels (most of them in YA books) that I suggest you pull from.

When a novel has a continuation, I get excited to keep going, so before I know it I've read three books in one week. Check my Goodreads page. I devoured the first 5 books in the Mortal Instruments series in like two weeks! It's a great way to get sucked out of a reading slump and into a whole new world (with Aladdin? A girl can dream). Before you know it, you're so close to that reading goal.

Below are a few of my suggestions for trilogies/series that are sure to hold your attention and seriously add to your "read books" list just in time for the new year.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (3 books published; 1 book to go)
The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins (all 3 books published)
The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare (all 3 books published)
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (4 books published; 2 or 3 books to go)
The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (all 6 books published)
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (all 7 books published)

The thing I love about contemporary novels is that they don't take long to get into. They are set in the world we already know and generally deal with elements of life that we've experienced or are familiar with, as opposed to fantasy or dystopians which have a learning curve of sorts. I also find that books about love and life are just faster reads. My go-to book to pull me out of a reading slump is Anna & the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, our November book of the month! Anytime I need a pick me up, it's the book I reach for.

There are so many good contemporaries out there that I can't even attempt to list them, but here are a few that I love.

Anna & the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (or any Sarah Dessen novel)
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts

This just might be cheating but I mean not really because Goodreads allows it. And we all know that if Goodreads allows it then it counts damn it! Which reminds me that they should really allow you to count rereads towards the book challenge. Anyway, I digress. Short stories, Novellas and Graphic Novels. They're a great source for meeting that reading challenge because (1) they are usually quick reads and (2) in many cases, each short story can be counted. For instance, Four: A Divergent Collection, is a bind up on 4 (surprise, surprise) short stories, all four of which can be marked as 'read'. Hello, four more reads!

Here are a few short story bind-ups, novellas and graphic novels that are on my TBR list.

Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth
The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black
Going To Meet The Man by James Baldwin
This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples
Deadly Class by Rick Remender, Wesley Craig, and Lee Loughridge

How are you doing on your reading challenge? Any suggestions for quick reads to boost your numbers?

Books To Be Read 2014

Isn't she lovely? *insert goggly heart eyes here*

The Law Library of Munich

It's been said 74615 times, but of course I can't believe there's only 3 weeks left until the end of the year. Wasn't I just embarking on my final semester of law school like yesterday?! I don't know how much I'm looking forward to mistakenly writing "2013" for the first few months of the year (seriously, it always takes me like 2 months to adjust!), but I know I'm excited to set a new reading goal for 2014.

Last year, I set a goodreads goal to read 6 books for the year. What? 6 books is like nothing! I know. Now, that I'm a normal person I look at that number with embarrassment. But when you are in law school you couldn't be further from being a normal person, and you are lucky if you finish your case reading every night. As I explained in this post, I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to read one book, and I finally completed the first book towards my goal in September! According to my goodreads counter (check my sidebar to be goodreads friends!), I've read 4 books, which means I have to read 2 in the next 3 weeks - totally doable. I just started Pride and Prejudice, a novel I should've read years ago but never got around to it. And, I will finish the year out with either Divergent or One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. 

But this post is about my "to be read" list of 2014. With all this free time on my hands, I've become obsessed with reading, writing and book reviews, and I must admit that it feels great to fall back into those things again. So, I'm excited to compile a reading list for the upcoming year. I searched on google "how many books can I read in a year" and landed on some community page where people were saying they read 8-15 books per week. Eeeeep! I don't know how that's possible, but my goal is much more modest than that (minuscule in comparison really). I intend to sent a goal of 20 books for 2014, but I don't have a definite list just yet. Here's a list of a few books I'm interested in. Leave me a comment below with lots and lots of suggestions!!

Divergent series by Veronica Roth

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fotzgerald 

Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 

Forever by Pete Hamill

A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

Truly, my interest in some of these novels is peaked by the upcoming movie adaptations and, as I've said before, I don't like seeing a film adaptation without first reading the book.

Do you have a "to be read" list? How many books do you plan to read next year?  

1.

Summer-ish Reading List

Photo Credit

For the past three years, I was never able to just pick up a book and read it. At least not one that entertained me so much that I sat in bed reading it until the morning hours. The only books sleeping with me for the past few years were Contracts or Corporations (aside from those few weeks last year when I took a Law and Literature class and actually got to read Camus and Dostoeysky!). Law school reading is so different from any other kind of reading and while I enjoy Torts law and Securities law because of the dramatic scenarios people get into, neither of those compare to the dark drama of a Bronte sister's novel. It was heartbreaking not to able to curl up with a good novel because I've always loved reading. My father taught me to read from a newspaper when I was four years old, and they say I loved reading aloud and listening to the sound of my own voice (Narcissistic little toddler, wasn't I?). Over the past few months while studying for the bar, I began to put this reading list together. It's a long list because I'm always hearing about new books I want to read, but this is a shorter, "read now" version of it now that I'm free for the final month of the summer:

• The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins 
• Atonement by Ian McEwan
• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen 
• Les Misérables by Victor Hugo 
• Divergent by Veronica Roth 
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde 
• Gossip Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar 

The entire list is on my Goodreads account. Be my reading buddy here! ♥

And if you have any thoughts about books I should read or if you've read any of the books on my list, please comment below. I'd love to hear what you think!

xoxo,