Books
I read 56 books this year (that’s one more than last year!) Here they are by the numbers-
Fiction 42, Non-fiction 14
Female authors 35, Male authors 21
Series books- continuing series 6, new series 4 (I only plan to continue one, the Louise Penny series)
Oldest book read? Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit published in 1975
Most read author? Harlan Coben with 3
My 5 favorite books this year
The Winter Sea was a romantic delight from beginning to end. I can’t wait to read more!
The Husband’s Secret had an excellent cast of characters with strong storylines that all came together in a powerful conclusion.
A Gracious Plenty had a gritty main character and a cemetery full of dead people and somehow managed to be beautiful.
The Uncommon Reader was a light escape with the Queen and her books. Hard to resist.
The Girl You Left Behind was a surprise to me because I rarely read wartime books and I found this one addicting. I want more.
Movies
I watched 62 new to me movies this year (that’s up 13 from last year). I wrote about 3 of my favorite 100 movies (#7 There’s Something About Mary, #46 Chocolat, #62 Yankee Doodle Dandy) and did one Book vs. Movie post (Ender’s Game – still time to vote in the the poll), wrote a few Friday film talks and continued my 5 word movie reviews asking for your participation and help for charity.
2013 was my most watched movie year with 18.
The oldest movie I watched was A Touch of Evil, 1958
Most watched actress- Sandra Bullock with 3 films (Gravity, The Heat, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
Most watched actor was a 3 way tie with 3 movies each- Woody Harrelson (Catching Fire, Now You See Me, Game Change)
Matthew McConaughey (Magic Mike, The Wolf of Wall Street, Boys on the Side)
Ben Kingsley (Ender’s Game, Searching for Bobby Fisher, Iron Man 3)
My 5 favorite movies this year-
The Hunger Games:Catching Fire – I love Katniss even though I’ve never read the books (for shame!) A
Prisoners – A gritty thriller that makes you think. A
Argo – Another thriller, but this one political and psuedo-true! A-
The Sting – There was not a boring minute in this con film with two handsome legends. A-
42 – An overlooked baseball movie that hit all the right bases. A-
Stacy's Books 
I love Kearsley’s books! So far I’ve read The Winter Sea; The Rose Garden; and The Firebird. I also enjoyed The Husband’s Secret and The Uncommon Reader. Happy New Year!
Today all of Kearsley’s books are $1.99 on your ereader!! I downloaded all the rest of them 🙂
I love statistics like this and need to make the time to break my stats down. I’ve only read one book on your list of favorites.
I admit I find it fun to do the numbers even though it takes time.
I didn’t see Hunger Games or The Prisoners, but I completely agree with you about the other 3.
Good 🙂 I think you’d like Prisoners.
Okay, fine.
I love that you keep track of the movies you watch. I’ve never heard of 42. I’m going to track that down.
As an old guy and a life-long sports fan, 42 is one of the best baseball/sports movies I’ve ever seen. Stacy is so right on.
42 does deserve recognition. I loved the story and the actors!
It never even occurs to me to track my movies but maybe I should. We watch a lot of movies. I’ve been seeing a few year end movie lists mentioning Prisoners, even though it didn’t get much attention at the time. I’m not sure if you read the other big Jojo Moyes book this year, Me Before You (I’m too lazy to look). But if you haven’t, you must.
I will be on the hunt for Me Before You – it is showing up everywhere!! I think you would really like Prisoners.
Great list Stacy. I hope to try Jo Jo Moyes in 2014 – everyone seems to have raved about her novels.
I loved The Winter Sea too! My first book of 2014 is by Susanna Kearsley. My favorites of 2013 will post tomorrow. Happy New Year.
I downloaded the rest of her books today – all of them only 1.99! I love reading everyone’s lists 🙂
I was really surprised by Girl You left behind too. Though I wish we had more time during the war rather than present day. I keep meaning to read The Uncommon Reader!! One day.
Happy New Year!
I preferred Sophie’s story too and I think the only reason I liked the modern day part was that it was really about Sophie 🙂 The Uncommon Reader is so short that there’s little reason not to read it. You could finish in one nap!
I’m not sure I’d admit to never having read the hunger games! 🙂
but yes, I thought Catching Fire was an AMAZING movie; even better than the hunger games! and actually I have not read any of the books in your tops list but I have read 2 of Jojo Moyes novels ~ just not that one. She’s pretty good at romantic love and life changing love. Happy New Year Stacy!
Definitely need to read more Jojo, but I love the Hunger Games movies so much I don’t want to ruin it by reading the books at this point!
I read three books on your list and loved them as well. I don’t watch many movies, but will check your recommendations. Happy New Year!
I think we both joined She Reads at the same time and love the book selections so far. Here’s to hoping that continues!
Argo and 42 were both great movies! I haven’t read any of the books that made your Top 5, but a couple of them definitely looks interesting to me!! I’m jealous that you read 14 non-fiction books, I love NF but I hardly ever read it 😦
Oh and go you for being able to say no to some of those book series … I really need to do the same myself!
Great wrap up and aren’t you excited for the clean slate that the new year brings? I know I am!!
I’m reading more NF these days for Gage. I expect to read even more this year! I have to really love the first book to continue because there are too many good ones out there waiting to be read 🙂
Argo was my favorite movie last year….really nice choices!
Thanks for stopping by. I always love reading what you have to say about movies 🙂
Thanks, happy to hear you enjoy it!
Wait, wait, those movie reviews are longer than five words! LOL Okay, I’ll pick up the challenge:
Catching Fire: Anything Jennifer Lawrence can’t do?
Argo: pseudoness is conducive to cheering
The Sting: as if I could remember
The Prisoners: didn’t see so cannot say
42: Jackie admirable ALL his years
The Uncommon Reader has been on my TBR list for a while but I haven’t gotten to it. I am happy to hear you enjoyed it immensely! Thanks for Stoppin’ By! Happy New Year!
It short and perfect for book lovers 🙂
Looking forward to watching 42 soon! It’s fun keeping track of movies 🙂 Glad you do it too. I need to get to a couple of those books this year. I own the Kingsley one and the cemetery one sounds fabulous 🙂 Here’s to another great year of movies and reading!
I can’t wait to read more Kearsley this year. I’ve only already downloaded the rest of her books on my Nook.
I haven’t read any books by Kearsley yet. I have most of them in one form or another. They just haven’t made it into my hands yet.
I can’t wait to read the rest of them!
Awesome list! and couldn’t agree with you more on your top 3 movies, loved Catching Fire, Prisoners and Argo. Also love Susanna Kearsley and this year I’m determined to finally read The Winter Sea. The Girl You Left Behind is already on my TBR pile, just got to finish Me Before You, which by the way I am loving!
I hope to get to Me Before you soon!
Great lists! I haven’t done a year wrap-up yet, not sure if I will.
Compiling all the numbers always makes me feel accomplished 🙂
I think this past year we watched Tom Hanks (our favorite guy) in Cloud Atlas ( we really liked it, then saw it again to clear some stuff up – we are crazy like that loL!); SUperman – Man of steel ( this was for aarya – but we all really enjoyed this as well) and Iron Man 3 ( this was on DVD – and we have seen it like 20 times and are still alive lol! Aarya is crazy about this guy) ! I am adding all of these movies to out to-be-watched list this year 🙂 We are looking forward to watching – Saving Mr. Banks ad Captain Philips and countless more.
You know I haven’t read Hunger Games, but enjoyed the 1st part which came on TV! Argo – we have been really wanting to see this because of the Oscars! Hope to get to it soon 🙂
So far Gage has only liked animated movies. We’ll have to try some of the super hero movies. Jason is a huge Tom Hanks fan 🙂
I loved The Uncommon Reader, and I’m determined to read The Girl You Left Behind this year. My entire family loved the Catching Fire movie, too. Great lists! Happy New Year!
You will like The Girl You Left Behind 🙂
Wow, that’s a lot of movies. I did manage to see a few last year and Argo was one of the better ones.
The Husband’s Secret was also a book I enjoyed. It almost made my best of list.
Last year was the first year I watched more movies than read books. Jason tells me I’ve crossed to the dark side!
I am reading the Husband’s Secret now! I hardly watched any movie, sadly 😦
I haven’t read any of your five favorites, but they are all books on my radar. I will be reading The Husband’s Secret in February for a book group.
I want to keep better track of the movies I see this year. We’ll see how that goes. 🙂 I always love your movie reviews.
Here’s to a wonderful 2014 in books and movies!
oh wow. I had forgotten about the movie Incredibly Close or Extremely Loud or whatever it is called! I should look for that. The husband and I are getting to that point when we think up a movie, “you know the one that had that actor that was in …. wait, what was it? who? Um…” It’s just awful how we can’t recall what movies we want to see! I also want to read The Husband’s Secret.