10 Things: 12 Books

{A sample of the lovelies I have read}

I admit, I'm kinda jazzed with myself for having achieved one of my goals for this year already.  12 books might not seem like that many really, but I've been severely lacking in my book-worming the past few years and to get back into reading has been like coming home.

I love books.  I adore reading.  There are few things I consider more pleasurable than finding a cosy spot and getting completely lost in a good story.  I am the sort of person who can start a book one morning and finish it by the time I go to bed, utterly gripped by the words, a whole novel devoured in a day.  It brings me such joy, to re-read old favourites and discover new, exciting authors and genres.  Reading is really, really awesome.

The 12 books that completed my goal are, in order:

1. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
2. Schindler's List - Thomas Keneally
3. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman
4. The Shining - Stephen King
5. The Wishsong of Shannara - Terry Brooks
6. Carrie - Stephen King
7. What the Night Knows - Dean Koontz
8. Watchers - Dean Koontz
9. The Taking - Dean Koontz
10. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End Of The World - Haruki Murakami
11. Asbo - Iain Robin Wright
12. Hannibal - Thomas Harris

I think from that list, it's pretty evident I like spooky, creepy, thriller-y and scary books ^_^ I love science-fantasy too, but so far this year I've tried to push myself to read genres and stories outside of my usual comforts.  The Murakami novel, for instance, was one of the weirdest, most unusual novels I've ever read and I adored it.  'Hannibal', on the other hand, was very complex and involved and a little slow in parts and I found it a bit of a struggle to push through it.  I even read one book on my Mum's Kindle ('Asbo') and while I appreciate the ability to carry around all your books in one, nothing quite beats paper and ink.

I am going to stuff myself full of literature for the rest of the year and read as many books as I can!  I'd love some suggestions, which could be similar to those I've read already or completely different - what are you reading at the moment?

Ooh, and a tiny bit of exciting news - I'm officially moving on July 17th!  Less than two weeks away!  Ahhh!  Exciting!  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're all having an awesome week and have lots of lovely things planned for the weekend.

xoxo