2013 | Book Review

This last Friday a group of people that I know all got together to share and talk about the books that we read last year.  It was so much fun!  I loved the diversity and the challenge to read some things that I may not necessarily think about.  I thought I would list our books here for possible future reference or for anyone looking for some book recommendations. I did note on a few if the person sharing really loved it or particularly disliked a book.  Also, at the end there is a short list of other books not read by anyone last year but were additional recommendations to go along side other books or from the same genre.  I put first name and last initial are more for my reference.  If you happen to know these folks then you can ask them more questions on their reads.

My List

• Honeysuckle, Creosote, and Trainsmoke by William O. Cook
• 100 Cupboards (100 Cupboards, #1) by N.D. Wilson
• Dandelion Fire (100 Cupboards, #2) by N.D. Wilson
• The Watermelon Man by William O. Cook
• Unbroken:  A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (Yes!)
• The Chestnut King (100 Cupboards, #3) by N.D. Wilson
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (hated)
• Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan
• Fit to Burst: Abundance, Mayhem, and the Joys of Motherhood by Rachel Jankovic
• America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made this Nation Great by Ben Carson
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• These Old Shades (Alistair, #1) by Georgette Heyer
• Longbourn by Jo Baker
• Let Us Keep the Feast: Living the Church Year at Home by Michelle Allen Bycheck, et al
• Indoctrination: Public School and the Decline of Christianity in America by Charles Laverdire, et al
• Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Yes, I read a cookbook!) by Michelle Tam
• An American Bride in Kabul by Phyllis Chesler
• Devil’s Cub (Alistair, #2) by Georgette Heyer
• Why Christian Kids Need a Christian Education by Douglas Wilson

Gail H.

• Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolf
• Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
• The Earth Abides by George Stewart
• Christianity & Liberalism by Machen
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Slave Narratives by Frederick Douglass
• Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Juvenilization of American Christianity by Thomas Bergeler (Last Chapter was the best!)
• Wordsmithy by Douglas Wilson
• The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
• Best Loved Poems
• Cross Talk by Michael Emlet
• Number 44 The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
• Salt (She thought it was rather boring)
• Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
• True Grit by Charles Portis
• God's Gift to You by Charles Spurgeon
• Loving God with All You Mind by Elizabeth George
• The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard (she wants to read this every year!)
• Vanity Fair by William Mackpiece Thackery
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Blink by Gladwell
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
• Narnia Chronicles
• The Odyssey by Homer
• Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
• Experiments in Criticism by C.S. Lewis (fairly academic)
• Till We have Faces by C.S. Lewis (best ever!)
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo (hated)
• The Devil in the White Cith by Erik Larson
• Lilith by George McDonald
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• The Histories by Herodotus

Laura S.

• Winter Study (Anna Pigeon, #14) by Nevada Barr
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• O Pioneers! (Great Plains Trilogy, #1) by Willa Cather
• Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) by Suzanne Collins
• Silas Marner by George Eliot (Loved!)
• Cross Talk by Michael Emlet
• The Adults by Alison Espach
• Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner (hard to read and did not finish)
• Gotta Keep on Tryin' by Donna DeBerry and Virginia Grant
• The Confession by John Grisham
• The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom (loved)
• Eventide by Kent Haruf
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Unplanned by Abby Johnson
• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Thursdays at Eight by Debbie Macomber
• Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen
• A Brother's Journey by Richard B. Pelzer
• The Letters by Luanne Rice
• Peony in Love by Lisa See
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Kate F.

• Babywise by Gary Ezzo
• Toddlerwise by Gary Ezzo
• Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg
• First Time Mom by Kevin Leman
• The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family by Dave Pelzer
• Breath by Martha Mason
• Parenting in the Pew by Robbie Fox Casteman
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E. Thomas
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Fostering Cayden by J.V. Fink
• An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
• The Blue Cotton Gown: A Midwife's Memoir by Patricia Harman

Zack F.

• His Excellency by Joseph Ellis
• American Sniper by Chris Kyle
• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Fostering Cayden by J.V. Fink
• Six Sigma by Roland Cavanagh
• Suze Orman's Financial Guidebook by Suze Orman
• Cicero by Anthony Everette
• Project Management for Dummies
• Letters to the Soviets by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
• The Fall by Albert Camus

Katie F.

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• My Friend Leonard by James Frey

Kortnee H.

• Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper
• The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller (read twice!)
• The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth by Sheila Kitzinger
• The Lies Young Women Believe and the Truth that Sets the Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
• Chosen by God, by R.C. Sproul
• The Shack by William P. Young (started and did not finish...hated it!)
• A Classical Christian Education book by Wilson (could not remember title)

Nancy S.

• The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Tim Keller
• The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller
• How Now Shall We Live by Charles Colson
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas hardy
• Term Limits by Vince Flynn
• The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
• Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly

Doug H.

• Echos of Eden by Jerram Barrs
• Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker
• A Cry for Justice by Jeff Crippen
• Mending the Soul by Steven Tracy
• Why does He do that? by Lundy Bancroft
• No Longer Under Bondage by Barbara Roberts
• In Sheep's Clothing by George Simon
• The Emotionally Abused Woman by Beverly Engel
• Center Church by Tim Keller
• The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayer
• Spiritual Formation by Henri Nouwen
• Eat this Book by Eugene Peterson
• Light in August by William Faulkner
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
• Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee by Steven Wilkins
• The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller
• King's Cross by Tim Keller (?)
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
• Barn Burning by William Faulkner
• Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard
• Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross
• Temple of the Holy Ghost; Revelation; and A Good Man is Hard to Find (Short stories by Flannery O'Connor

Side Recommendations

• The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick
• The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
• Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• 1984 by George Orwell
• The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph Ellis
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Reading Begets Reading

I have been consuming books like literary food since late last year.  I have already read seven books this year and just started my eighth this morning while on hold with a company.

In the midst of rebooting my love for reading I realized that I had been lacking, and had been for years (even while in full time ministry), consistency in reading a book that I claimed had such influence in my life... the Bible.  Oh, that is so hard to write.  So humbling and so true.

Sure, I have been in churches where we were reading the Bible together and we all had plans.  Honestly, I never made it.  This was after several attempts over the years at several churches just to clarify for those readers who are familiar with my church going history. :)

On October 21, 2013 (there is no significance in the date) I looked around on the Bible app I have on my phone, YouVersion.  There were all sorts of plans and I took some time to read through the descriptions.  I was looking for one that would help me succeed in the endeavor and one that was not too overwhelming. I found one. You know what?  It's great.  It's working!  I have a reminder on my phone that goes off during naptime (it's quiet) just in case I haven't managed to read it yet.  Honestly, nap time is the best time for me.  The kids are resting and I can relax and take in what the Lord has for me on that particular day.

I found that reading more has helped in my reading what is most important.  So, as I read in parenting books that "sleep begets sleep" with babies...I find that reading begets reading, too.

I actually have a challenge to finish my plan early so that I can join my husband in his Bible readings so we can be reading the same thing on the same days.  I know, I should just start over and it does makes sense.  Luckily, I have a husband who also understands that I want to finish the goal of reading through.  So, we'll see if I can finish early??