12 Books I Need to Read in 2014

 I think many of us have books on our shelves that we always say we're going to read one of these days but they constantly get pushed aside in favour of other books.  Years go by and they still haven't been read. I'm ashamed to admit that I have well over a dozen such books in my collection. I've decided to limit the number of books on this list to twelve so that I can read one each month which I think is fairly manageable.  That way I'll be able to slowly chip away at my massive TBR pile. So here's my list of twelve perfectly good books that I'm sure I'll enjoy reading but for one reason or another they've gone unread on my shelves for years. 

 #1. I Capture the Castle by Dodi Smith - I have never seen a bad review of this book and the story of a teenage girl writing about her life in a rundown castle in England is something I should love but I've still managed to go ten years without reading it. 

#2. Fall of Giants by Ken Follet - I picked this book up because I'm a huge fan of enormous historical fiction novels but this book is also almost 1000 pages long which I find quite intimidating. 

#3. The Casual Vacancy or The Cuckoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith - I picked up both of these books as soon as I could because I'm a huge fan of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. For some reason I still haven't read either of these books! That needs to change this year. 

 #4. The Last Empress by Anchee Min - A historical fiction about 19th century China that I have managed to put off reading for about five years. 

#5. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishigiro - I got this book when the movie came out in 2010 because I wanted to read it before I saw the movie. Four years later and I haven't done either. 

#6. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - Gone With the Wind is my favourite film of all time. The fact that I have watched that four hour long movie a dozen times but have never read the book is shameful. Like Fall of Giants it's 1000 page count has always made me hesitant to pick up this classic. 

#7. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld - I bought this book when it came out in 2009 because I loved Westerfeld's Uglies series. I have only heard good things about Leviathan and it's a steampunk and it has lots of pretty pictures. I don't know why I haven't read it yet. 

#8. Eon by Alison Goodman - I should love this book - it's about dragons! But I've tried reading this book several times and always given up within the first few pages. I feel like it deserves one more attempt before I put it in my donation pile. 

#9. Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan - It's been two years since I read the first Percy Jackson book. I enjoyed it and I know it's a favourite series for many people but I still haven't continued on with the series.

#10. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - I was so excited to read this classic when I picked it up last year but then I never actually read it. Time to fix that! 

#11. Rampant by Diana Peterfreund - Another YA fantasy with a cool premise. I was excited to read this one because it has something to do with killer unicorns. 

#12. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - I was super happy when I found this at a used book store a few years ago. I've read numerous positive reviews about this book and know it's something I'll probably really enjoy. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to read it. 

What books are on your shelf that have gone neglected for years?