Best of 2013! Stats, Challenges, and Goals!

My look-backs onto 2013 are coming in a bit late due to sickness and all that...so without further ado.....

I watched 99 movies in 2013 (I'm counting all those that I will review and have reviewed on my blog, which means I've watched a lot more already reviewed movies like Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect and Jane Eyre and Jane Austen movies.... ;)) 96 of those movies were new to me! Thank you, Netflix :)

Top 10 movies (for me that I watched) in 2013 (in no particular order):

1. Invisible War: Haunting tales of women in the army being sexually assaulted.

2. Pitch Perfect: This is my go-to movie when I need a pick-me-up. I almost have this whole movie memorized :)

3. Silver Linings Playbook: A fantastic story on two mentally ill people finding love. It brings mental illness out into the open and that's always a beautiful thing.

4. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: This was just a really well-done film. It was hopeful and adorable.

5. Catching Fire: I loved the movie better than the book, actually. Jennifer Lawrence portrays Katniss so well. I enjoy her tenacity and loyalty. Beautiful story.

6. Kumare: A man sets himself up to be a guru. He learns yoga, grows out his beard and sets out to find followers/disciples for an experiment. It's beautiful and hopeful and also really hard to watch as an audience because his followers adore him but we know he's lying to them. A must-see for all humans.

7. The Heat: The best buddy cop movie ever. Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock really pull this off. It's funny and touching. Also another go-to movie for me now.

8. Brian Cox's Wonders of the Universe, Solar System series: Beautiful documentaries on the Universe and our solar system. Amazing.

9. Iron Jawed Angels: The story of the women who got the amendment passed giving U.S. women the legal right to vote. It's amazing and heart-wrenching.

10. Happy: Documentary on what makes people happy. They traveled the world and talked to different countries and cultures. Such an amazing film. Need to watch it again and write this stuff down.

I read 65 books in 2013:

25 were non-fiction. 40 were fiction. 16 were young adult. 5 were children's books (I know I shouldn't count those ;)). 3 were romances. 2 memoirs. And one classic, well, modern classic. I read some great books but it was a bit of an off year for me. I had plans and big ideas but ran into a lot of losses this year.

I hope for bigger and better this year!

Top 10 books for me in 2013:

Fiction:

1. Night Film by Marisha Pessl. It was unlike any book I've ever read. It kept me on my toes and wanting more. It was truly enjoyable.

2. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. It deals with death. How do you move on and cope? I read this right after my brother and friend passed away. It was painful and yet healing. Highly recommended for everyone.

3. Chime by Franny Billingsley. I love me some pagan and witch stories and this one delivered. It was different and touching.

4. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. Beautiful. An epic romance and fairy-tale retelling. I can't tell you how much I just enjoyed taking in this beautiful book.

5. Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst. I loved the world Durst created. I loved that it was only one book and not a series. The cover is beautiful and I just loved it all!

Non-Fiction:

6. How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. Could she be funnier? Granted since I'm an United Statesian, I missed a few of the British cultural references and jargon. But she was so spot on and so crazily interesting. I need to read her second book soon!

7.  When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone. It was a fascinating look into pre-history. What cultures have worshiped a Goddess as their main deity? I know a lot of historians tend to find fault with some of the information but overall I found it well-researched and informative.

8.  Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. Shubin writes a fabulous history of our evolution in a short amount of time. He was easy to understand and I gleaned so much.

9. Flow: The Cultural Story of Our Menstruation by Elissa Stein. An amazing history of menstruation. How many taboos does our culture have to do women's monthly bleeding? A ton. How did our maxi pads evolve? What did women do before underwear and maxi pads? How far have we come? Where do we still need to go? Fascinating and disturbing.

10. You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney. He explains cognitive biases, heuristics, and fallacies all within 46 short chapters with fun examples and plenty of footnotes for more information. A great reference book!

After a couple of years of failing reading challenges, I decided to stop accepting them...but this year I'd like to accept Yvonne's challenge over at Socrates' Book Reviews of Finishing the Series Challenge.

I have 3 I'd like to finish this year:

The Caster Chronicles: I have the last two books left.

The Inheritance Cycle: I have the last two books left.

Graceling series: I have two books left to read!

I also have a couple of reading goals. Bitch magazine came out with a list of books for young feminists. I own a few of them and want to get to at least one or two this year. Unfortunately, I did not get to any this last year :(

And the book 501 Books to Read Before You Die has a list that I try to get to every year. So at least one or two :) I got to two last year: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

Good riddance to 2013! And welcome 2014!!!!