An Overview of my 1001 Journey: 2013

Well, let’s face it. As years go, 2013 was basically a bust. I haven’t read a book (a real book) since August, and that one never even got finished. My total 1001 books for the year? 8 Last year I read 21. But, as is my tradition, I will take the time now to talk about my year in review.

Spring

The year got off to a fair start with Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and Heart of Darkness in January. Both books took me longer to read than I expected. For a lot of reasons. Which, looking back, look a lot like excuses. But, compared to the rest of the year, it looks pretty good.

Then I decided to read some Irish Literature because of a class I was taking and because of an upcoming trip to Ireland. And, well, basically because I thought it would be fun to try a month or two of reading in a theme. It didn’t turn out as well as I expected. I started out really excited and then… I got really busy.

Summer

In the summer, I finally got some time back, but I didn’t spend all of it reading 1001 books, choosing instead to try a few that I’d been wanting to get around to, like The Casual Vacancy. From the list, I read The Hobbit, which I was surprised to find that I enjoyed more than I had Lord of the Rings. I also read The Invisible Man, which I think was definitely worth the read, The House of the Seven Gables, which had been sitting on my bookshelf for ages, and The Drowned World, which takes the title of my favorite book of the year.

Fall

I went back to school intending to finish Neuromancer, the last book of the summer. With everything that came up, I never did. And I never even started another book. I kept thinking that I would after just this one last thing. And then something else would come up. Even my weekends were busy. And by the time my schedule finally freed up enough to get a free afternoon here and there, I knew that I couldn’t start a new book. Why? Because I knew that as soon as I started one, I would get so caught up in it that I wouldn’t be able to put it down until I finished it. And then I would never any work done once I got some again. And so ended the semester.

Winter

And my classes were so crazy last semester that I was actually finishing take home finals four days after the last official day of finals. And then I went back to work part time. And applied for a new internship. I got it, and it’s pretty awesome, but, you guessed it, it takes up a lot more time.

Ok, I’ll admit it. Without homework to worry about, I probably could have started a book or two once I finished the finals. But by now, I’m just tired. When I’m not working or catching up on all the other things that have to be done, I just feel like being lazy.

A New Year

Well, I would really like to end this post on a positive note somehow. It’s a new year. New opportunities, another chance. This is the year that I’m set to graduate; maybe after that I’ll have more time for reading. To be honest, I really don’t know what’s coming in the next twelve months, but I do know that I’m not giving up. Even though I’ve faced a few setbacks, I’m still determined to continue my 1001 journey. And, as I do, I will continue posting about it here, for any of my readers who are still around.

Happy New Year!