Have you read any of these books from my 2008 Reading List? I'd love to know how you liked it. And if you're looking for a new escape, take a look and see if there's anything that might catch your fancy...
1 The Frontiersman-Daniel Boone's era about the invasion of the Indians. I loved it, my husband hated it. Some graphic battle descriptions.
2 Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy-About the Amish School Shooting. Interesting insight into the community.
3 The Mormon Way of Doing Business-As a Mormon housewife it was inspiring to see people in business who live their moral and religious values in every aspect of their life. Left me wishing I witnessed it more in my personal life.
4 Loving and Loathing Your Inner Housewife-Crude enough to shock me a little bit, (I should've guessed since the full title starts with To Hell with all That).
5 The Marketing of Evil-Purely propaganda. I was pained to get all the way through it.
6 The Year of Living Biblically-I love this author!!! Both his books I read this year were funny and interesting. I'm recommending them to everyone! This one was mostly about the Old Testament and he really did it while living in New York City. Very entertaining!
7 Simplify, A guide to Caring for the Soul-Very good from a local author I met at an Enrichment meeting. A great self-improvement book meant to read and ponder one bit a time
8 Reading Lolita in Tehran-After all the hype this book got, I was expecting a lot more. It just didn't wow me. Maybe I missed all the political and women's right issues I was supposed to pick up on.
9 Eat pray love-Section 1 reminded me 100% of my friend Lori and I loved it. Section 2 was so foreign to me it was interesting. Section 3 had me begging her not to end it all by being immoral.
10 The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World-The second book from the author mentioned above. A little dry as he worked through the encyclopedia from A-Z, but still really interesting.
11 A War of Gifts, An Ender Story-Very fast read-good if you like the Ender series.
12 Heyday-A great fiction read set in early New York and the west.
13 Smile when you’re lying, confessions of a rogue travel writer-Grabbed me like almost all travel collections do, but honestly I didn't remember I had read it.
14 The Middle Place-A story of family illness, healing, and death. Uplifting and heartbreaking, but some of the chronology and geography was confusing.
15 Hungry Planet, What the World Eats-FASCINATING picture book of families around the world and what they eat in a week.
16 Memo To the President Elect-by Madeleine Albright. Won't interest anybody who's not fixated on politics or Bill Clinton's presidency.
17 The Kite Runner-One of the best stories I read this year (with a little bit anticlimactic end). I hated the movie when I finally got around to watching it.
18 Material World, A Global Family Portrait-From the same photographer as the food book above and equally intriguing.
19 A Walk in the Woods-A satirical author with an Iowa connection. His experiences hiking the Appalachian trail and worth the read.
20 Inside the Kingdom-Not deep writing, but a great insight into the Bin Laden family and the Arab culture.
21 The Four Agreements-An Indian philosophy that clashed too much with the way I believe things. Not interesting at all. Skip it.
22 I’m a Stranger Here Myself-Written in New England before the Appalachian trail book mentioned above and also pretty funny.
23 Family Baggage-A really light read that I shouldn't have liked but I really really did. Love and travel wrapped up with oldsters and television actors.
24 An Inconvenient Book-Written just like he speaks and I couldn't handle it. Glenn Beck is a great man with great ideas, but way too ADD for me to read.
25 Hitler’s Willing Executioners-This book is very scholarly and explains the psyche of people who went along with Hitler's plans. Too freaky for me to finish.
26 Little Women-Who didn't love this story when they were little girls? It's still good, go ahead and read it again!
27 Europe Through the Back Door: Italy-Full of secret information that really helped us along the way!
28 Anna Karenina-This is one of my all-time favorite books and one of the few books I've read more than once. I'm honest that it has some parts that really drag, but the end instantly wipes out all the drudgery.
29 Rhett Butler’s People-Nothing spectacular, but good for the imagination if you liked Gone With the Wind.
30 Shepherd of the Hills-The backwoods Missouri dialect was tough to read, but the suspense kept me turning the pages.
31 One Hundred Years of Solitude-I didn't understand the overall message, but liked the story of family and trials. Set in South America, I couldn't get over the fact that I've read another story eerily like it and can't remember what it was.
32 The Road-The only Oprah's Book Club book I'd ever read and the writing was exactly what I expected it to be (not great), but the end of this book made me cry for an hour and the message should really inspire anyone who knows they should be preparing for an emergency.
33 The Portrait of a Lady-Incredible look into European society in the 1800's.
34 The Brothers Karamazov-I'm discovering that I love the old Russian authors. I didn't think this story ended as powerfully as it could have, but it was a great read (and Laura Bush's favorite book).
35 The Secret Life of Bees-Fun to read because it had been recommended to me and I did like it. I'm still not convinced the end would have been realistic in real life.
36 Bel Canto-A storyline about foreigners in a terrorist hostage situation was weird and I don't think it ever would have happened the way it did in the real world, but I loved it anyway. I wish there had been a different ending.
37 Peace Like a River-The librarian told me it was an unusual story, but it didn't seem that strange to me. Family Tragedy, honesty, and independence made this book perfectably readable.
38 The Book of Mormon-It took me 18-months this time. Worth every minute!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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6 comments:
You should read "Spiritual Tasks of a Homemaker" You'll never feel the same about routine housework again. It makes you feel special in the work you do.
I'm going to have to check out Bel Canto. My sister Kelli loved it.
Eat Pray Love was my 2008 most favorite read. I read The Four Aggreements years ago and I absolutely loved that book.
Hi, this is Shauna's sister and Lucy's friend. Shauna wanted me to see your list. I was beyond thrilled to see that you liked Bel Canto! It is my FAVORITE book and no one I've gotten to read it has liked it. And I agree with you, but if it had ended any other way it just wouldn't be believable!
Shauna, thanks for the recommendation-I'll look for it this week. I did think of you when I was reading the Four Agreements, actually. I remember just not being in the right mindset when I was reading it...and Kelli, you are definitely right about Bel Canto. I definitely wasn't hoping for a happy fantasy ending, where everyone walked away with their new loves and the author trying to make you believe that all just fit into their old lives. I just was caught completely off-guard with the last few pages and so closed the back cover slightly bewildered. Nonetheless, I did think it was a GREAT book!
Okay this is really exciting for me. Thank you for writing this list- I will be back on a number of occasions.
Eat, Pray, Love was fantastic! I loved it so much that in section three I forced myself to slow down just to delay the ending of the book. And, I completely agree with you about the first part reminding you of Lori... that was great!
And I have to say, that the Four Agreements was also excellent. I'm going to have to check out The Year of Living Biblically... if it made you laugh, I'm in!
Amanda, You'll love the Living Biblically Book. He gets some crazy ideas, does some chicken sacrificing, and won't communicate with women "in the way of women."
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