Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas Books

It's that time of year again, time to reveal what was in the Christmas box of books!

This time I thought I would share via picture:



What we have here:
The Lovely Bones (this is actually the book I received in my book club book exchange...excited to read it.)
Grace for the Good Girl
V is for Vengeance
Doc
Explosive Eighteen

Not pictured, the five cookbooks I received: The Gourmet (magazine) Cookie Book, I Heart Trader Joe's Around the World, On a Stick, Pinches & Dashes (Wichita Jr. League), Ratio

Also worth mentioning: Phil received Steve Jobs, Counterfeit Gods, The Forgotten God and Unbroken.

Lots of good reading to be done! And hopefully some good eating as well.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Fall Into Reading Wrap-Up

As I sit amid 3-foot snow drifts, it's hard to believe that fall is only just now drawing to a close. I once again really enjoyed the Fall into Reading challenge hosted by Callapidder Days. And, I achieved some degree of success.

Of the 20 books on my list, I read 15 (actually, the 15th is one I will finish today). And, I read a fair number of non-fiction this time. In fact, of the 15, only 6 were fiction - A Trick of the Light, Tunnels, Joy for Beginners, One Dog Night, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, The Catcher in the Rye. Of those, both Joy for Beginners and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand were delightful. And, A Trick of the LIght was excellent. I really liked all of them.

The non-fiction on my list were also excellent - Unbroken was one of the best books I've read this year, as was One Thousand Gifts. Counterfeit Gods, The Good & Beautiful Life, The Forgotten God, Radical, and Kisses from Katie were all absolutely worth the read. Lost in Shangri-La was also good, but not quite the story that Unbroken was. Run with a Girl (book club) was the only one that wasn't really anything I would recommend to others.

Unread -
Game of Thrones - This one I did check out from the library and read a chapter or two. As much as I was hoping to like this series, I just didn't.
A Hole in our Gospel - one of these days...
In the Garden of Beasts - after reading 2 WWII books this fall, I thought this one was best saved for later.
The Summer We Got Saved - Just never got around to this one
The Good & Beautiful Community - This is one I hope to read early in 2012

I love this challenge. And, now I'm reading to move on to reading something else. Thanks to Callapidder Days for hosting. I can't wait to see how everyone else fared.


Friday, December 16, 2011

Fall into Reading - winding down

Just a few more days of the Fall into Reading Challenge. I've probably already said this, but by the end, I start really looking forward to reading something other than what I have listed. It's amazing how many other books come across my path in just a matter of months.

I hope to finish one more from my reading list (Radical by David Platt) before next Tuesday (I think that's the last day of the challenge). Just finished Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (December book club pick) and really enjoyed it. The story and the writing were delightful. And, before that, I, at long last, finished Tunnels.

I'll save my wrap-up post for when it's official...just wanted to get my progress chronicled on here a bit.

What to read next?
Here's what I have from the library:
Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos
2 Lynn Austin books
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
The Three Weismanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine
The Lies We Told by Diane Chamberlain

Books at home (that I own and haven't read and are high on my list):
Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton
Soul Searching by Mindy Caliguire
Matched by Ally Condie
The Distant Hours by Kate Mortenson

From CJ's school library:
Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson - read aloud??

Of course, I have all kinds of other projects I would like to/need to be working on...not sure when all this reading is going to happen.