A Homemaker in Training: 2013

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