Tell us about your reading year? What was your goal this year and did you have a plan, and/or follow rabbit trails or wing it?
My goal was to get through all the book lists for the Book Babes Book Club, the Renovare Book Club, Spiritual Direction, Enneagram Cohort, and last but not least the 1000 Book to Read Before You Die list.
Where did your armchair travels take you?
Nigeria, National Parks, Chernobyl, Russia, England, Oklahoma, North Carolina during the slave era, Chili. North Korea, Too many places to count.
Which books stood out, made an impression and/or stayed with you the longest? What did you learn from them?
The Good Neighbor - Fred Roger's life is an inspiration to us all.
Half of the Yellow Sun - This fictional novel was beautifully written and gave me an insight into the country of Nigeria.
Why We Sleep - So fascinating and informative. I learned so much, but I am still not good at taking naps. :(
Which book had the most original, most unique story?
Fahrenheit 451 - WOW! I see now why it is a classic, and it is on just about every reading list. What a creative premise and somewhat prophetic.
In Cold Blood - Same as about being on the classics list. It is SO well researched and written. Journalistic excellence. Capote was a genius.
Which book made you laugh?
Pride and Prejudice - A great listening experience on one of my driving trips through the Columbia Gorge. It always makes me smile.
Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology - even though it is a very serious book, I find Leah Remini hilarious.
Which one made you cry?
In Cold Blood - Senseless killing. An American tragedy.
Half of a Yellow Sun - Senseless killing. A Nigerian tragedy.
Which book did you like the least and why?
Secrets of the Savanna - I got the impression that the authors wanted to be fiction writers while I just wanted the facts about this true story. It got very tedious and boring (and now the woman wrote Where the Crawdads Sing, and she is doing what she tried to do in this work of nonfiction.)
Restructuring the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion - Judgmental and preachy with a one-dimensional look at race relations with too much of a political slant. It is so much more complicated. It was just a condemning book. The message was: "You are racist, and there is no arguing about it." No grace of God in the whole thing or accounting for the journey of the individual. Least favorite book of the year (and I led my book club and kept my opinion to myself so as not to impede the discussion with the people who loved the book.)
Which new to you authors did you discover and would you read another book by this author?
Ray Bradbury - I think I did read something by him in the past, but I felt like I discovered his genius while reading Fahrenheit 451.
Truman Capote - I wonder what his fiction is like if his nonfiction was so good.
Did you try any of the main or mini-challenges? Nope
Please share your book lists, stats for the year, favorite quotes, and/or favorite book covers.
Favorite Covers:
133 Books this Year (because I broke my leg)
Here is a link to my book lists and reviews:
https://carolhomeschool2.blogspot.com/search/label/52%20in%202019
Here is my list in reverse order as it appears on my blog:
The Man in the High Castle
Under and Alone: The True Story of an Undercover Cop Who Infiltrated the Mongol Motorcycle Gang
Slay
Killers of the Flower Moon
Voices from Chernobyl
Fahrenheit 451
Doors into Prayer
Slaves in the Family
Betsy Tay
The Invention of Wings
Salt Houses
Half of the Yellow Sun
Becoming
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: The Marvel of Bearing God's Image
Dear Bob and Sue
The Drowned World
The End of the Affair
The Uncommon Reader
Invisible Cities
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Growing Up
The Third Man
The House of the Spirits
Into Thin Air
The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh
Sacred Readings: A Journal
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Rick Steves Pocket Amsterdam
To the Lighthouse
A Grief Observed
Nine Lenses on the World: The Enneagram Perspective
Study is Hard Work
Dracula
Carrie
To Hell and Back
11/22/63
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Zoom at Sea
In Cold Blood
The Decameron (unabridged)
The Wind and the Willows
The Decameron (abridged)
The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Gilead
Historic Creeds: A Journal
The Book of Three (The Chronicles of Prydain #1)
Within a Budding Grove (In Seach of Lost Time #2)
The Invisible Man
The Good Neighbor: The Life of Work of Fred Rogers
Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-Me Book of Poems
It's Great to Suck at Something
Richard II
Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov
Henry IV: Part Two
Beloved
Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time #1)
The Trinity: A Journal
Uncle Vanya
The Three Sisters
The Sea Gull
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Pygmalion
Henry V
Speak, Memory
40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Lolita
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Abel's Island
Harriet the Spy
How Proust Can Change Your Life
Desert Solitaire
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Holy Invitations: Exploring Spiritual Direction
My Lady Ludlow
Mr. Harrison's Confessions
My Dog Tulip
The Complete Persepolis
Skellig
Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf
Cranford
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Three Golden Keys
Eloise
Eloise in Paris
Eloise in Moscow
Eloise at Christmastime
Sparkle and Spin
The Rainbabies
Nancy Drew; The Secret of the Old Clock
Persepolis - Childhood
The Year of Magical Thinking
Harold and the Purple Crayon
The Mouse and His Child
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Where the Wild Things Are
Goodnight Moon
Little Fur Family
The Story of Babar
The Hole is to Dig
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Choosing Christ in the World: Directing the Spiritual Exercises According to Annotation 18 and 19
Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading
The Underground Railroad
The Secret Garden
Spiritual Direction: A Practical Introduction
You Are What You Love
The Way of Discernment
God's Many Splendored Image
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
The Kingdom Life: Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation
Pride and Prejudice
Tuck Everlasting
Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion
Draw Me Into Your Friendship: A Literal Translation and A Contemporary Reading of the Spiritual Exercises
The Newcomers
Retreat in the Real World
A Harmony of the Gospels: New American Standard
Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits
The Cloud of Unknowing and The Book of Privy Counseling
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Secrets of the Savanna
Why We Sleep
Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
The Wisdom of the Enneagram
Vanity Fair
Glittering Vices
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