If I recall correctly, I vowed to myself this past January that I would read fifty books this year.

As usual, I bit off more than I could chew. However, I read as much as I could find the time to, and I’m proud to say that I not only worked more new books into my rotation this year, I also managed to discover a new series to obsess over that isn’t set in Middle Earth or Westeros and doesn’t feature a boy wizard. Though, to be fair, it does include Sherlock Holmes.

2015 is looking like it’s going to be a far better year than 2014 was, personally speaking, so maybe I might actually have a shot at reaching my goal this coming year.

Here is a list of what I managed to read this year–we’re talking start and finish, since there are several books I am currently making my way through. I recommend all of these, just to be clear, but there are some I enjoyed much more than others. Right now I am trying to finish The Hobbit and process the emotional devastation of “The Battle of the Five Armies.” New reads are marked with an asterisk. Also, I didn’t include them, but I read some magazines throughout the year, my favorites being Vogue, Food Network Magazine, and National Geographic.

1) Downton Abbey Season 2 Scripts*. I eagerly await the publication of Season 3.

2) The Annotated Persuasion

3) The Annotated Sense and Sensibility

4) The Ladies’ Paradise by Emile Zola*

5) The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824 by Harvey Sachs

6) The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman*. (An excellent read.)

7) The Annotated Northanger Abbey

8) 11 Doctors, 11 Stories*. (Also includes Neil Gaiman)

9) Who-ology*

10) Saudade by Miriam Winthrop* (A wonderful book, and I’m happy to say it led to a new friendship for me this year!)

11) Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling*

12) Rick Steves’ Portugal*

13) and 14) Attack on Titan Volumes 1 and 2* (The manga and the anime are both excellent. Some call this Japan’s version of “The Walking Dead,” and I can see that, but this story has a more positive spin on things, though the gore and horror is on par with the things Rick Grimes and his group have suffered thus far.)

15) The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel*

16) Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire* (This puts a spin on the classic “Cinderella” tale and is equal parts brutally honest and whimsical.)

17) Beowulf, as translated by J.R.R. Tolkien

18) The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman*

19) The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King* (I cannot stop reading these Mary Russell books. And I will not hear her called a Mary Sue. She is just as intelligent as her husband, Sherlock Holmes, and the only reason she gets any flack for her intellect and her humanistic capacities is because she is a woman. Oh, and she’s a feminist like me.)

20) A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King*

21) Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman*

22) A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

23) The Quotable Doctor Who*

24) 101 Great American Poems*

25) Lidia’s Common Sense Italian Cooking by Lidia Bastianich* (Her programs are frequently on PBS and Create TV, and I want nothing more than to move in next door to her and to cook all day long.)

26) Several volumes of The Walking Dead

27) Astrophel and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney

28) The Road to Nyn by Brian Michaud* (He’s a local author and a rather talented one at that. This book is set to be part of a series too, for those who are like me and can’t stop at just one.)

29) Lust for Life by Irving Stone

30) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

31) Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie*

32) Marvel’s 1602

33) The U.K. to U.S.A. Dictionary*

34) Well-Read Women*

Keep it like Scrooge.

Post-ghosts Scrooge. Not Original Recipe Scrooge. Just to clarify.

Every year, I come back to this book, not only because it is my favorite Christmas story, but because this is the best representation that comes to mind when people start talking about what Christmas means to them.

In this case, it’s Scrooge’s example that calls Christmas to my mind. Lots of people tend to think of him as the flinty old miser sitting by himself and taking his gruel on a foggy Christmas Eve. They forget that he’s only like that in the beginning. By the time we come to the end of the tale, Scrooge vows to be a better man and to keep Christmas in his heart. He decides that he’s going to be a good man, and a far more loving and generous person.

That’s Christmas.

Yes, it’s a time for decorating the tree, and singing carols, and eating like hobbits (seriously it’s the perfect day for Second Breakfast). But the point of all of those things, and everything else we do at this time of year, is that we’re surrounded by the people we love.

Each year, I find myself concentrating on something new when I pick up this book. This year it’s Scrooge’s promise to better himself.

That’s not just a Christmas thing, either. Be good to one another, and strive to be kinder than you were today.

Merry Christmas.

“She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.”

Jane Austen’s Persuasion has long been my favorite book, and for many reasons, but every time I read that passage my love for this story only grows.

Many people interpret that passage as a sign that Austen was inspired to write this novel as a means of portraying the second chance for great love that she and her sister Cassandra never had–both women never married, due to a series of sad happenings.

While I adhere to that reading, I also see this as a denial of adult expectations. As we grow older, we are forced to become more practical: we give up on our dreams, our hopes for an epic romance, our unabashed joys and wonderment, our sense of adventure.

I see no reason to do that. If anything, as I get older I find myself more appreciative of the beauty I see around me, and the “little” moments that make me happy each day.

There is often an equation of gentleness with weakness, and this book’s heroine, Anne Elliot, thoroughly disproves that idiotic notion. Anne is nothing but gentle in her manner and actions, and yet her strength prevails. It’s Anne who shows the most emotional and intellectual fortitude during the novel’s darkest moments.

Persuasion is a great love story, and that alone would make it a good book. What makes it a classic are its underlying messages of hope and optimism. The world might be a harsh and ugly place, but we don’t have to be.

The time is fast approaching for last minute holiday shoppers to desperately think of gifts for their loved ones.

You know who you are, Last Minute Charlies.

For those who are wondering what to get their friends and loved ones:

Books!

You might think book lovers are hard to shop for, but there are some things that they are sure to love. (Just don’t get them a book they haven’t read yet that you think they might like. In my experience, nine out of ten times the gift giver is completely wrong, and then I and others like me are put in the awkward position of gracefully accepting something that we would probably never have picked out for ourselves. Just so you know.)

DO get the book lover in your life a book they have read. Get a special edition. Most likely, they will not have it, because they have probably been salivating over that edition for ages but were too afraid to shell out the cash for something they already had a less fancy version of. So treat them!

Collections are always a good idea, especially for those who like poetry. This is a thoughtful gift, and something the recipient can always come back to and peruse while thinking fondly of you.

As far as accessories, book lights are fantastic, because we don’t want to stop reading once the sun goes down! These are especially handy gadgets for readers who travel. Bookmarks–especially quirky, fun ones–are always welcome (I am ALWAYS losing mine).

And then there is the tried and true gift certificate. Don’t consider the gift card to be a last ditch effort: really, it is a little piece of plastic opportunity for us bookworms to go on a shopping spree we might otherwise not be able to indulge in.

So fear not! Shopping for your bookish cohorts is easier than you think.