50/50 Challenge 2013: I Came, I Saw, I Conquered Kinda Sorta

So true. Give me a book and a carton of chocolate milk and I'm golden.

Another year and another shot at the 50/50 Challenge. For those unfamiliar, the 50/50 Challenge is the quest to read 50 new books and watch 50 new movies in one calendar year. No, there is no prize for meeting the challenge (much to my dismay in the first year), just the satisfaction of expanding your mind and/or your status as a couch potato.

As a whole, I surpassed the 100 mark (at least that I recorded in this blog) by watching 78 movies and reading 26 books, and I have to say, I'm pretty damn proud.

Did you know there are people out there that don't actually read? At all?! I averaged a book every two weeks, not too shabby. Currently, I am reading Divergent in anticipation for the movie and have a list at hold at the library, another list recorded on a note taking app on my phone. 

I know it sounds weird to the majority of the population who don't find reading to be enjoyable, but I am excited when I get library alerts saying a book I've been waiting for is in. A great gift to me is a book. Even if I have no interest in the book or don't know the author, the book itself is a gift. Someone else picked it up and thought, she might like reading this. I think that's nice.

I dated a guy once who bought me books within our first few weeks of dating, which gave me high hopes for a relationship. Let me just say, the books lasted much, much longer. He gave me two Elizabeth Wurtzel books though, so I don't know if that was a choice based off a reflection of him or of me. 

Sadly, I have to report that I didn't love a lot of the books I read this year. I liked some, hated others, but as for love, I have to reserve that for The Fault in Our Stars (anxiously awaiting this movie as well) and I liked Wild (movie also to come) and Inferno (movie should be; whatever happened to making one for The Lost Symbol?). 

One book I read - Defending Jacob - I read near the first of the year for book club and didn't like the ending. Then, I read it again near the middle of the year for another book club and liked it. Odd.

As for movies, fuggedabouit! Had I really tried, I could've reached 100. Lucky for me, I get to see new releases for free, but I also saw some other older ones that I had never seen before such as "The Usual Suspects." I figured that movie out before it ended, which inexplicably infuriated my old co-worker. He claimed there was no way I could and that if I did it's because of all the movies that have come after with a similar twist. Who cares? He's probably right. Or, maybe I'm a genius.

There were some big letdowns this year, but also some great triumphs. I never like to read movie reviews until I write my own, but I have realized that a lot of what I like others do not. But hey, that's what makes the world go 'round.

I have tried and failed before and I will try and most likely fail again. What it is they say though? It's not the destination, but the journey?

Cheers to more books and movies in 2014!