I read a lot. It’s really my favorite hobby. I know
I fit the stereotypical librarian mold, and I’m okay with that. When my hair
was longer, I even put it up in a bun sometimes.
I’m still working on my goals for 2013 (which I was share
with you sometime soon), but one of the goals I’ve decided on I’m going to
share now. I decided that with as much as I read, I should really be more intentional about consuming a
well-balanced diet of literature. The most fun genre for me is really young
adult literature and what our library calls ‘junior’ literature. Junior
literature is chapter books for kids ages 9-12. It’s stuff like Little House in the Big Woods by Laura
Ingalls Wilder and Matilda by Roald
Dahl and The Boxcar Children series and Harry Potter.
Anyway, so I like a lot of young adult and junior
literature. I have so many books on my list that are adult literature or
nonfiction, and I get to them so slowly. Plus, I’ve been trying to read all the
books on our bookshelves at home for the past, oh, year and a half, and I’ve
only been sort of disciplined about it.
I normally read about 50-75 books per year, so I set myself
a list of 24. I figured that gave me plenty of wiggle room so I wouldn’t feel
stifled by goals. Most of these are
books that are on my shelves at home but a few are just books I’ve run across
in the library.
Let me know if you’ve read any of the books listed and
whether you’d recommend them!
Spiritual
Decision-making and the Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View - Gary Friesen & J. Robin Maxson
When God Weeps – Joni Eareckson Tada & Steven Estes
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art – Madeleine
L’Engle
Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of
White Christianity – Edward Gilbreath
The Bible Jesus Read – Philip Yancey
Financial
½ Price Living: Secrets to Living Well on One Income - Ellie Kay
Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money – Dave Ramsey
Health
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal - Eric Schlosser
Other Non-fiction
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America - Barbara Ehrenreich
The Mind’s Eye - Oliver Sacks
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year - Anne Lamott
Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secrets of a Man's Soul - John Eldredge
The Silent Seduction of Self-Talk: Conforming Deadly Thought Patterns to the Word of God - Shelly Beach
Island of the Colorblind – Oliver Sacks
Biography
Surprised by Oxford - Carolyn Weber
Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West - Blaine Harden
Wait No More: One Family’s Amazing Adoption Journey - John Rosati & Kelly Rosati
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
Strength in What Remains – Tracey Kidder
Fiction
Left Neglected – Lisa Genova
Saint Maybe – Anne Tyler
The Sword in the Stone – T. H. White
Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
I've read the first and the last! Both totally worth it, but obviously extremely different. I read gone with the wind on a 24 hour bus journey and the pages pretty much turned themselves- its terribly trashy but extremely compelling!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the first one a lot- not a particularly easy read, but I think it's a really helpful way of unpacking wisdom / obedience/ what we really mean when we talk about God's will. If I was in charge, it would be recommended reading.
Hope you are well- I read your post about Christmas on Christmas eve, and you have been on my mind a lot.
Thanks for the recommendation! I am about 60 pages into Decision Making and the Will of God, and it's very applicable for me and Mark right now. I've heard people say that one should read Gone with the Wind and Uncle Tom's Cabin back-to-back to get a good feel for life in the South U.S. during the time of slavery, but I couldn't bring myself to put two tomes on the same subject on my reading list. :)
DeleteMark and I are doing well. My grief/rage/frustration about infertility definitely ebbs and flows. If Christmas was a 'flow' time, then right now I'm in an 'ebb' time.
P.S. Please write more blogs and share more pictures of your two little beauties. Both the blogs and the pictures always bring a smile to my face! :)
I'm glad I'm not the only adult who loves young adult literature! :)
ReplyDeleteI read 1/2 Price Living and didn't find it all that helpful. Most of it I found to be common sense and things I had already thought of or was already practicing. The author is a funny gal, though... a little quirky.
I love most anything Maya Angelou writes!