2017 Reading Wrap Up

I am part of a thing called 52 Books in 52 Weeks. She always has us do a wrap up, and here is mine.

Here is the website: http://www.read52booksin52weeks.com/

1) Where did your reading take you this year?

Afghanistan, Syria, France, Oregon Wilderness, Cornwall, England, Refugees all over the world, Africa, Sweden, Arctic, World War II Europe, Mexico, Palestine, Warsaw, Poland, England proper, the Polar Ice Caps on the way to the North Pole.

2) What was your reading goal for the year and did you meet or beat it?

52 books, and I beat it by 11

3) Top 5 (or more favorite reads) 

1. Poldark Saga - It is 12 books, and 6064 pages, but I will count it as one here. Absolutely riveting and phenomenal writing. Highly recommend. These will be classics for years to come. 
2. A Simple Life-Changing Prayer (The Prayer that Changes Everything) - This was probably the most impactful as I am now doing this prayer daily. This book helped me understand the why behind everything. Very short and sweet.
3. The Practice of the Presence of God - One of my all-time favorite books since the early '80s.
4. Exit West - It is just such an unusual fiction book. Refugee Crisis meets Narnia. I saw the author interview on PBS, and I was intrigued and was not disappointed. 
5. Dead Wake - Really well-researched and well-written book about the sinking of the Lusitania. I could not put it down. I read it during our Spring Break vacation and stayed up late at night to read! 

4) Which book stayed with you the longest after finishing it?

Probably #2 above because I am applying it daily.

5) Which book made you want to read it all over again? 

Practice of the Presence of God. I have read it multiple times since my 20s, but it is one that always challenges and soothes me. God is with us and is totally available to us.  I also think The Cycle of Grace has principles that I will visit daily for the rest of my life and teach it to others. 

6) Which books did you think you were going to love but didn't?

The God Soaked Life - I love learning more about the Kingdom of God. It did have some nice parts to it (explanation of the examen was good, and the discussion about the documentary called The Monastery made me get on YouTube and watch the whole thing), but it really petered out at the end, and his chapter on The Great Commission is SO ridiculously OFF BASE (I think he is REALLY blinded in this area) that it left a bad taste in my mouth for the last part of the book.

The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation - Meh. I thought it would be about practicing Benedictine spirituality in everyday life, but it really did not end up being like that. It was murky and about politics. I didn't really care for it even though I had very high hopes because I loved his book Crunchy Cons. 

Added: Which books did you not like? (We usually have that question, but she did not add it this year.) 

1. Myth-Making and Religious Extremism - BORING!
2. It's Not Okay: Turning Heartbreak into Happily Never After - What a self-centered, immature, disgusting woman who needs a reality check! Terrible.
3. Lilac Girls - It don't see what all the fuss is about. It was "OK," but not worth the raving that people give it. I do like the true story behind it, and I looked up that and learned quite a bit, but I thought the writing was not very good. 

7) Which genres or authors you thought you'd never read and was pleasantly surprised to like them? (I am changing this to books I read that I probably never would have picked up but had to because of my book club reading them.)

1. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania - SO FASCINATING! I never would have picked it up but so glad it was "assigned"!
2. A Man Called Ove - I laughed so hard. Great, heart-warming story. 
3. In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette - Good storytelling!
4. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - eye-opening about injustices to minorities, especially in the South. It was not entirely accurate and had much bias (as one of my book club members pointed out because her husband works in the justice system and was connected to one of the cases the author outlines in the book.), but I think he is an incredible man and tells a good story!
   

8) Which countries and time periods did you visit? See #1 four countries. Time periods: World War I and II. Post Revolutionary War in England. 1665-1745 England (Swift biography). 

9) Which books or authors would you recommend everybody read? 

1. The Practice of the Presence of God
2. Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures for Intimate Worship
3. The Divine Conspiracy 

10) Favorite Covers 

2017 Reading List (Go here to see all of my individual reviews)

1. A Little Princess
2. The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in England
3. The Coming of Mr. Quin
4. Talking as Fast as I Can
5. Wilderness Time
6. No Knives in the Kitchens of This City
7. Hidden Figures
8. The Greatest Thing in the World
9. Spiritual Multiplication in the Real World
10. The Zookeeper's Wife
11. Dead Wake
12. Ross Poldark
13. Jesus: A Gospel
14. The Story of Jesus
15. A Harmony of the Gospels
16. Crucial Conversations
17. Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel
18. Myth-Making and Religious Extremism and Their Roots in Crises
19. Lilac Girls
20. Exit West
21. The Benedict Option
22. The Pearl
23. Poldark's Cornwall
24. Two Paths: America Divided or United 
25. In the Kingdom of Ice
26. Just Mercy
27. A Man Called Ove
28. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
29. On the Incarnation
30. Things Fall Apart
31. The Making of a Leader
32. Know Why You Believe
33. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
34. Living Your Strengths
35. The Motivation Manifesto
36. The Great Omission
37. It's Not Okay
38. The Global Refugee Crisis
39. Demelza
40. Renovation of the Heart
41. Soul Keeping
42. Jeremy Poldark
43. The Good and Beautiful God
44. Face to Face
45. Warleggan
46. The Black Moon
47. The Four Swans
48. The Angry Tide
49. The Stranger from the Sea
50. Life in the Trinity
51. The Miller's Dance
52. The Loving Cup
53. The Divine Conspiracy
54. The Twisted Sword
55. The Lord and His Prayer
56. Bella Poldark
57. If We Make it Home
58. The Cycle of Grace
59. The Prayer that Changes Everything (A Simple Life-Changing Prayer)
60. Discovery Our Spiritual Identity
61. God-Soaked Life
62. I Told Me So
63. The Practice of the Presence of God