Tuesday, December 23, 2014

2014 Reading Wrap Up

· How many books did you read and did you meet your own personal goal?  
My personal goal was 52 books, and I just made it this year. This is the fewest books I have read in years, but I am trying sit less to keep my back healthy and the weight I lost two years ago off. I already sit a long time, as I am editing my Bible Book Club blog and taking it off of the internet and putting the posts in my word processor. (I am reading my “soon to become” eBooks, but I did not read as many of other people's books.) I will be done with editing in early 2015 and can get back to regular reading.
It was also the first year since 2003 that I was not working through some "list" of best books to read. It was great to read free of "lists"! 
 I have hyper-linked all the books that I mention in this post to their reviews that I posted in 2014.
· Most thrilling, oh my goodness, I want to read it again, unputdownable book?

God Guides by Mary Geegh. 

This book is life-changing for anyone who wants a dynamic relationship with God. I recommend it to everyone, and I give it away like candy now. It is the simple concept of listening to God and obeying Him, but I love that it communicates this through real-life stories of a person who lived in India for over 30 years! She also recommends a “listen and obey” time every day where your WRITE DOWN what God tells you. Since I easily forget, I have gotten into this habit, and it has really helped me.  I recommended this book to two different friends that each ordered 100. One friend had given all 100 away within two months.

· Top 5 favorite stories (old and new)?

(I reread some of my favorite books this year. So I will separate them into favorite OLD and favorite NEW!)

OLD

NEW


· Least favorite book? 


It was sent to me so that I could do an early review, but it was so laborious that it took me over a year to read. I FORCED myself to finish it. It was very dry. It could have been so much more exciting than it was. 

· New author discovery?  New genre discovery? 

Firoozeh Dumas writes a wonderful memoir called Funny in Farsi about life in American after moving here from Iran. I will read another one by her. 

Malcolm Gladwell also gets a shout out. I had read Outliers years ago but read two other books by him this year: 

· What countries or centuries did you explore?

I explored The Netherlands and Germany during World War II in The Hiding Place and by actually going to Corrie’s hometown of Haarlam, Netherlands and throughout Germany in May/June!

· Share a favorite character, story, quote or cover 

Betsie Ten Boom from The Hiding Place is my favorite character in all the books I read. Her shining example of Christ’s love in the midst of the suffering of a concentration camp during World War II inspires me.

Two of my favorite quotes by her:

"His will is your hiding place"

"There is no pit so deep that He [God] is not deeper still."

· One book that touched you – (I changed it to one book for each category!)

Made me . . .

Laugh:  Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas

Cry: The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Sing and Dance: Messiah Meditations by ME!

· Are you ready to do it all over again?

Yes, it keeps me accountable to keep on reading.
           
· Do you have any goals to check out different genres or authors, read translated books or stories in another language for 2015?  

I only read two fiction books this year! I read them because my classics book club was reading them, but I had to drop out for a season and am looking forward to going back to it in July for this reason. I really miss my fiction! Two books I have had on my list for years are Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens and Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy. 

Here is the entire 2014 List with Links to each review:

2014 Books

JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
50. Messiah Meditations (Does it count that I wrote it?)

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