2014 Blog in Review

Well, 2015 is here, and another year has passed. Although life stuff has had its serious ups and downs this year, our family has certainly been blessed.

On the blog-front, however, I seem to have not quite found my routine. It's not that I really expect anyone to read anything I've posted. This is more of an exercise in strengthening my writing skills as well as a expanding my reading experiences. A sort of creative catharsis coupled with a quantitative aspect.

Looking back on 2014, I did accomplish something I haven't done in a while: I actually read some books for pleasure. I've also been reading some bedtime stories and such to the kid, but I didn't really count those.

Something I learned from last year is that I have no idea how to review a book I've read. It takes me a couple of days just to process my impression of the book as a whole (as it does for a movie, song, life experience, etc.), and it seems by then I've forgotten most of what happened in the book in order to summarize it. I'm going to give this another attempt for 2015. If you don't write at all, you can't learn to write better.

I also categorically failed at reading the Bible in a year again. I'll keep trying, though. I'll have to accomplish this at some point, even if I will know Genesis by heart when I reach that point.

Among the challenges I attempted:

• Bible in a Year: I read 305 out of 1189 chapters; that's 25.7% of the Bible.
• 2014 Read Your Freebies: I read 7 out of 12; only reviewed 3 out of the 7.
• Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2014: I read 1 out of 5. Oy!

For 2015, I'll set my goals low again, attempting only the lowest tiers of reading challenges, the details of which will appear on my 2015 Blog Preview post.

I hope yours was a great 2014. Here's to an even better 2015.

LeviSamJuno

2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge

Duration: 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014

Host: The Book Vixen
Challenge Rules and Sign-Up Page

The Challenge: Read at least twelve (12) free ebooks.

My Android came equipped with an Amazon Kindle app already installed on it. I never really used it much until I stumbled on One Hundred Free Books, a multiple-times-a-day update of free ebooks listed on Amazon.  Plus, my wife's friend has a website Couponing with Rachel where she also regularly posts free Kindle books (as well as other coupon and money-saving links and posts).

As a result, I have slowly accumulated a digital stack of free books that I haven't really gotten around to reading yet. This challenge will help me clear that cache out a bit (probably only to make room for more as the year goes on).

My Level: Coupon Clipper (Read > 12 books)

1. Unnatural Disasters by Daniel Pyle (Editor) [23 January 2014]
2. Ant Apocalypse by Will Swardstrom [25 January 2014]
3. Haunted by Willow Cross [14 February 2014]
4. Through a Tangled Wood by Jamie Campbell [12 March 2014]
5. Murder at Volcano House by Chip Hughes [5 September 2014]
6. Paul Meets Muhammad: A Christian-Muslim Debate on the Resurrection by Michael R. Licona [22 September 2014]
7. Wild Born by Brandon Mull [21 October 2014]
8. 
   
9. 
   
10.  
11.  
12.  

Wrap-Up:

Well, I didn't quite make it. I'm still trying to get the hang of fitting reading into my daily routine. I shall try again next year, though.

Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2014

Duration: 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014

Host: The Introverted Reader
Challenge Rules and Sign-Up Page

The Challenge: Read any non-fiction book(s), adult or young adult.

Two of my favorite comedians, Tim Conway and Billy Crystal, released autobiographies recently, and I asked my wife pointedly for them as Christmas gifts. She delivered. Since that already set me up with two nonfiction books I'd certainly be reading this year, I figured it would be worthwhile to try applying them to a reading challenge. 

I thought I'd start out small, so I'm attempting the lowest level of the challenge.

My Level: Dilettante (Read 1-5 non-fiction books)

1. What's So Funny? by Tim Conway with Jane Scovell [1-18-14]
2. 
   
3. 
   
4.  
5.  

Wrap-Up:

Wow, a spectacular failure for this reading challenge this year--even after receiving autobiographies for Christmas 2013 (and having a couple setting around). I might try this again for 2015, but for now, just bask in the dismal glory of the amazing laziness that is my reading life. 

Bible in a Year 2014

Bible in a Year


With a fresh year ahead of me, I pray that this will be the year I read the Bible all the way through and hope to grow closer to God and learn more about Him and my role in His kingdom in the process.  Using a plan from BibleGateway, I am once again going to attempt to read the Bible in a year (BiaY). The link above goes to the plan I've attempted in the past that remains an easy-to-follow and much used plan for many.

Two years ago I started out really well until I started missing a day here and there and trying to catch myself up before missing a few days.  Before long I had missed whole books and then abandoned the effort entirely, going right back to where I started. Then last year my Bible app which had an automatic reading plan tracking stopped working and I lost track of where I left off for a long time; then my phone died and I had to replace it. Excuses, excuses . . . .

At the top of my sidebar on top of the rest of my reading challenges this year is my tracker for the BiaY.  I am tracking it by number of chapters read (out of a total of 1189 chapters in the King James Version).  Fortunately the ubiquity of the Bible in many places makes missing a reading difficult to accomplish: I have used my pocket Bible, BibleGateway, the Bible reading plan website, and smartphone app to catch up on my reading in the past.  So, admittedly, I have no excuse to not do this.

Feel free to join in with me, too.  I need the extra accountability and support.

Law
Genesis
50 / 50 chapters. 100% finished!
Exodus
40 / 40 chapters. 100% finished!
Leviticus
27 / 27 chapters. 100% finished!
Numbers
36 / 36 chapters. 100% finished!
Deuteronomy
34 / 34 chapters. 100% finished!

History
Joshua
24 / 24 chapters. 100% finished!
Judges
21 / 21 chapters. 100% finished!
Ruth
4 / 4 chapters. 100% finished!
I Samuel
16 / 31 chapters. 51.6% finished!
II Samuel
0 / 24 chapters. 0% finished!
I Kings
0 / 22 chapters. 0% finished!
II Kings
0 / 25 chapters. 0% finished!
I Chronicles
0 / 29 chapters. 0% finished!
II Chronicles
0 / 36 chapters. 0% finished!
Ezra
0 / 10 chapters. 0% finished!
Nehemiah
0 / 13 chapters. 0% finished!
Esther
0 / 10 chapters. 0% finished!

Poetry
Job
0 / 42 chapters. 0% finished!
Psalms
0 / 150 chapters. 0% finished!
Proverbs
0 / 31 chapters. 0% finished!
Ecclesiastes
0 / 12 chapters. 0% finished!
Song of Solomon
0 / 8 chapters. 0% finished!

Major Prophets
Isaiah
0 / 66 chapters. 0% finished!
Jeremiah
0 / 52 chapters. 0% finished!
Lamentations
0 / 5 chapters. 0% finished!
Ezekiel
0 / 48 chapters. 0% finished!
Daniel
0 / 12 chapters. 0% finished!

Minor Prophets
Hosea
0 / 14 chapters. 0% finished!
Joel
0 / 3 chapters. 0% finished!
Amos
0 / 9 chapters. 0% finished!
Obadiah
0 / 1 chapter. 0% finished!
Jonah
0 / 4 chapters. 0% finished!
Micah
0 / 7 chapters. 0% finished!
Nahum
0 / 3 chapters. 0% finished!
Habakkuk
0 / 3 chapters. 0% finished!
Zephaniah
0 / 3 chapters. 0% finished!
Haggai
0 / 2 chapters. 0% finished!
Zechariah
0 / 14 chapters. 0% finished!
Malachi
0 / 4 chapters. 0% finished!

Gospels
Matthew
28 / 28 chapters. 100% finished!
Mark
16 / 16 chapters. 100% finished!
Luke
9 / 24 chapters. 37.5% finished!
John
0 / 21 chapters. 0% finished!
Acts
0 / 28 chapters. 0% finished!

Pauline Epistles
Romans
0 / 16 chapters. 0% finished!
I Corinthians
0 / 16 chapters. 0% finished!
II Corinthians
0 / 13 chapters. 0% finished!
Galatians
0 / 6 chapters. 0% finished!
Ephesians
0 / 6 chapters. 0% finished!
Philippians
0 / 4 chapters. 0% finished!
Colossians
0 / 4 chapters. 0% finished!
I Thessalonians
0 / 5 chapters. 0% finished!
II Thessalonians
0 / 3 chapters. 0% finished!
I Timothy
0 / 6 chapters. 0% finished!
II Timothy
0 / 4 chapters. 0% finished!
Titus
0 / 3 chapters. 0% finished!
Philemon
0 / 1 chapter. 0% finished!

General Epistles
Hebrews
0 / 13 chapters. 0% finished!
James
0 / 5 chapters. 0% finished!
I Peter
0 / 5 chapters. 0% finished!
II Peter
0 / 3 chapters. 0% finished!
I John
0 / 5 chapters. 0% finished!
0II John
0 / 1 chapter. 0% finished!
III John
0 / 1 chapter. 0% finished!
Jude
0 / 1 chapter. 0% finished!

Apocalypse
Revelation
0 / 22 chapters. 0% finished!

Entire Bible
305 / 1189 chapters. 25.7% finished!

Wrap-Up:

I did not complete the whole Bible again this year, but I'm going to keep trying. I may have the Pentateuch memorized whenever I actually accomplish this, but I'll be better for it in the long run.