End of 2013 + Reading goals!

Source: ♥

Well I don't know about all of you, but 2013 has been a crazy ride for me. Which is partially the reason why my blogging has been few and far between, especially in the second half of the year (I think).

Things of note: I'm finished with uni! I got my green Ps in Feb (only 1 year and 2 months until I can get my full driver's licence!)! I tried new things, took a few more chances. I promise to lead a life with no regrets, so I won't say I regret anything I did in 2013 - rather, there were a few missed opportunities but that's far too personal to get into now.

I aim to read... 80 books in 2014. I hope to catch up with my book reviews (I still have many books I haven't posted reviews for) and post more!

Reading challenges 2014

These are my reading challenges for 2014. Any titles listed are just suggestions for me...

Victiorian Reading Challenge

Goal: To read 2 books written in, or about, the Victorian era

1. Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
2. Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
3. Elizabeth Gaskell - Cranford OR Wives and Daughters
4. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - A Study in Scarlet
5. Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Chunkster Challenge


Goal: To read 10 books that are 450+ pages.

1. Maggie Stiefvater - The Scorpio Races (482 pp)
2. Robin LaFevers - Grave Mercy (484 pp)
3. Cinda Williams Chima - The Demon King (506 pp)
4. Rachel Hartman - Seraphina (512 pp)
5. Laini Taylor - Days of Blood and Starlight (#2) (517 pp)
6. Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina (963 pp)
7. Michael Grant - Gone (558 pp)
8. Shannon Messenger - The Keeper of the Lost Cities (512 pp)
9. Colin Meloy - Wildwood (541 pp)
10. Michelle Cooper - The Fitzosbornes at War (512 pp)
11. Alexandra Bracken - The Darkest Minds (528 pp)
12. Marissa Meyer - Cress (#3) (560 pp)
13. Patrick Ness - More Than This (478 pp)
14. Maria V. Snyder - Taste of Darkness (464 pp) 
15. Jennifer Donnelly - Revolution (496)

TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Goal: To read 11+ (a friendly hug) books that have been sitting on my shelf for some time.

1. Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
2. Melina Marchetta - On the Jellicoe Road
3. Nina LaCour - Hold Still 
4. Jennifer Donnelly - Revolution
5. More to be added... 

Netgalley Reading Challenge

Goal: To read 6-10 (medium) books off of Netgalley!

[Reading the Classics] Animal Farm by George Orwell

[Rearranged from cover © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2003]

 Add to Goodreads 

Author: George Orwell

Publication Year: 1945

Pages: 84 (my edition)

Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity

My thoughts

"Four legs good, two legs bad"

I have decided that I love stories that utilise anthropomorphism to convey its ideas and themes. George Orwell builds an allegorical story based on the Russian Revolution: The Farm's ownership is overrun by its livestock (Battle of the Cowshed), and the pigs are the thinkers, the leaders, while all other animals do the labour and are quite content to do so under the new ruling.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."