Report on Reading Goals 2014

Here are my reading goals posted in January, and where I ended up with them!

Authors

1. Flannery O'Connor - I binge-read her complete stories the last week of December, no regrets.  What a riot! It also feels good to focus more on Southern writers.  I actually started the year reading a book that is a fictionalized account of her relationship with another writer, Frances and Bernard.  Flannery bookended my year!
2. Roger Zelazny - I read the first book of the Chronicles of Amber, Nine Princes in Amber.  I liked it! I brought Lord of Light with me when I visited my Mom as she had radiation treatments, but it didn't grab me at the time.  I have tracked down the remaining Chronicles and will read those eventually.  Really I wish I'd read them as a child!
3. Samuel Delany - I didn't get very far in reading Delany, only finishing The Einstein Intersection along with the Sword and Laser Book Club.  I have purchased several more - Babel-17 and Dhalgren, which will be the group read for the Misfit Readers in January 2015.  Still going to happen!
4. Phillip Roth - I definitely didn't get as far as I thought I would with Roth.  I was actually hampered by his prolific output - there are some books with more acclaim than others but I wasn't necessarily starting with those.  I did get through American Pastoral, arguably one of his best, and Deception because it was in my house.  I have two more of his at home and three from the library, so a Roth readalong may continue.
5. M. John Harrison - Loved the short story I read of his, abandoned the novel.  But at least I can say I tried.
6. Rumi - I didn't get to him!

Places

1. Turkey - I did read three more from Turkey.
2. Iran/Persia - One. Not a lot. So much for challenges.
3. Iraq - One. Just poetry. Ha.
4. Iceland - I got through eight books and abandoned two more.  I made some Icelandic dishes and listened to Icelandic music, but never really studied the language like I thought I might.
5. Africa - I read an entire biography of Africa as well as books from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, and Mozambique.  Still have miles to go.