For the second time in a row, I attempted to write down every book that I read throughout the year.
I was more diligent in recording books, including the books I read to advance my professional life, my parenting life, and my faith life.
I'm sure I still missed a few, but I think I did better this year than last.
Before I give you my list, I want to point out this one thing: It's not up to my standards. I didn't read the quality or quantity that I wanted. So if you peruse this list and discover a bunch of cheap, easy or YA reads, it's because I needed escape this year, when I had the energy to read anything at all. I did start a bunch of more thoughtful books, but found that I didn't have the brain power for it.
Enough excuses, here's the list.
Sammy's year of books--2013
(YA books are Young Adult books--generally written for teenagers, however, many of the YA books have rather grown-up content)
(I have bolded the most memorable books. If you can, read them. However, they aren't all easy or nice. Some are rather disturbing. But memorable.)
Dovekeepers--Alice Hoffman
Room--Emma Donaghue
7--Jen Hatmaker
Life of Pi--Yann Martel (reread)
The Paris Wife--McClain
Home--Toni Morrison
Redeeming Love--Francine Rivers
The Girl who Fell from the Sky--Durrow
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--Rawling
Gold--Chris Cleaves
Unconventional Lives--Kody Brown and wives
The Year of Magical Thinking--Joan Didion (okay, I started this, but it's the story of her grief after the sudden death of her husband and daughter's two near death experiences-I began to imagine I had cancer--time to put the book down)
A Reliable Wife--Robert Goolrick
Kisses from Katie--Katie Davis
Gregor the Overlander (YA)--Suzanne Collins
Half the Sky--Nichoilas D. Kristoff & Sheryl Wundunn
Wild--Cheryl Strayed
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall--M.G. Vassanji
Between Shades of Gray (YA)--Ruta Septys
Septimus Heap (YA)--Angie Sage
-Magyk Bk 1
-Flyte Bk 2
Admission--Jean Hanff Korelitz
The House Girl--Tara Conklin
The Widow of the South--Robert Hicks
The Divergent Series (YA)--Veronica Roth
-Divergent
-Insurgent
-Allegiant
Self Editing for Fiction Writers--Renni Browne
Gone Girl--Gillian Flynn
Raising Dragons (YA)--Bryan Davis
Fly Away--Kristin Hannah
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation--Michael Pollan
The Sun also Rises--Ernest Hemingway
The Fall of Five (YA)--Pittacus Lore
Nefertitti--Michele Moran
Ender's Game (YA)--Orson Scott Card
Parenting your Internationally Adopted Child
The Connected Child--Purvis
The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience--Ronald Sider
Kid's books I read with/for the kids not related to our curriculum:
The Borrowers--Norton
Owls in the Family--Mowat
Crispin--Avi
Snow Treasure--McSwigan
Total for the year: 39 read, plus the 4 more with the kids. 29 fiction, 10 non-fiction. Of the fiction 9 were YA.
So the goals for the upcoming reading year: The entire Madeline L'Engle Wrinkle in Time Series (Five books--I got the box set as a gift for Christmas. They're beautiful.) Short Stories (I'm pretty sure I haven't read an adult short story in years).
Have any suggestions? My book list is pretty short. I need some good titles. As you can see, I'm pretty eclectic and open to a bunch. So fire away, I'm eager to hear your favorites from 2013.
