My goal is to read 50 books
this year. I finished my 25th
book on July 7th, so I’m a little bit behind but still going
strong. Here is my reading rundown
for the first half of the year-
Excellent
1. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. I loved this book- so
fascinating and fun to read, more of my ramblings here.
2. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I LOVED this book. I learned so much through Gretchen Rubin's insights and discoveries on happiness. I most love her Second Splendid Truth, "One of the best ways to make myself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy myself." I've been more aware of happiness and finding ways to create it since reading this.
3. The Magic Room: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters by
Jeffrey Zaslow. I loved loved loved this book. Zaslow perfectly
mixed the history of the store, interesting facts about marriage, and brides'
stories. Fascinating. The true tragedy of 2012 was when this book accidentally
made its way into my "books to return" pile when I was just a few
chapters from finishing. Then it took a lousy 3 months on the hold list for me
to finally be able to finish. Worth the wait.
4. Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley. This book was amazing. Both fascinating and heartbreaking, it told the
stories of Thomas Jefferson's children with his slave Sally Hemings. Monticello
is one of my very favorite places, and I loved reading more about what went on
there. Though this book is historical fiction the author says she did
meticulous research and as far as she knows nothing in the story could not have
been true.
5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. A
wonderful classic that I could read over and over again.
Great
6. Love Life and See Good Days by Emily Freeman, I heard Emily
Freeman speak at Time Out for Women and really loved her message so I read the
full book. She has some great
ideas to help you to look over the bad to see the good. Her stories are cute without seeming
too preachy. This was my first
book of the year and a great way to start 2012.
7. Matched by Ally Condie, I loved this book! Comparable to The Hunger Games/The Giver.
It has a cute romance (although I wanted her to love the wrong boy the
whole time.)
8. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. I seriously laughed out
loud for the first 3/4 of the book.
I loved Jack's humor, sassiness, and love of history. It reminded me a
lot of The Wednesday Wars, which I
adore. But then the end fell flat. Some things were resolved way too easily and
some things were completely unresolved. I feel like it left me hanging, and
that is not the way I want to finish a book.
9. Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins. I really enjoyed listening to this book. It definitely wasn't The Hunger Games, but still was very
engaging. My 10 year old brother loves this series, and I think they're great
books for middle-grade boys. Gregor is a wonderful hero- adventurous,
compassionate, and very responsible.
10. Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins. Again, I love Gregor.
11. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. Very cute and
fun, especially because I read it just a few weeks after visiting Alcatraz
myself.
12. 11/22/63 by Stephen King. This story is thrilling, and I learned a
lot about Kennedy and the 60's- a win-win in my book.
13. Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Fascinating and
heart-wrenching. Alice is a 50 year old Harvard professor who is diagnosed with
early-onset Alzheimer's disease. I started crying halfway through and couldn't stop; this is a
great read.
14. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. Somehow I missed this delightful book when I was young (I did see the
movie, but that doesn't count.) I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to
my girls.
15. Heaven
is Here by Stephanie Nielson. I really enjoyed this book (in fact, much
more than I thought I would.) Very inspiring and heart-wrenching; I love a book
that makes me more grateful for what I have.
Good
16. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, This book was a whopping 32
discs but luckily I listened to it during a month that I did a lot of driving
and painting. It is a fascinating
story of cathedral building in 12th Century England. I enjoyed it, but not enough to take on
the second book.
17. Bossypants by Tina Fey. Funny, funny, funny.
Bryan would get annoyed because I was constantly laughing while reading
and he felt like he was missing out on a great joke (he was.) But, it was also annoying at times.
18. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. I love it when a book tells a
powerful story but is still accessible to kids. I'm kicking myself for not
reading this to my fifth graders.
19. London Refrain by Bodie Thoene. I have really
enjoyed this series; partly because of its WWII setting and partly because of
the characters that now feel like my friends.
20. The Last Summer by Ann Brashares. I liked this book more than I
thought I would. The story was sweet and full of emotion (even if terribly
predictable.) My only complaint is how jumpy it was, but that may have been
because I was listening to it.
21. Crossed
by Ally Condie. I actually liked
this much less than Matched but I still am excited to read the last book of the
trilogy.
22. Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Jack's manic depressive mom leaves in the middle of the night while they
are camping. He must find his way home without alerting any suspicion that could
lead to trouble for his mom. Not my absolute favorite, but a solidly good book.
Meh
23. Thanksgiving by Janet
Evanovich. Pretty dumb and completely unrealistic
24. Austenland by Shannon
Hale. In my humble opinion Shannon
Hale should stick to YA; this was pretty silly.
25. Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I
really struggled getting into this book, then really enjoyed some parts of
it. But, overall, I didn’t like it
enough to start the next book in the series.
