What did I read last year?
I felt like I didn't read very many books last year. There was that whole moving to a new house thing that happened last February and it's accompanying packing and unpacking and all that good stuff.
However, looking over my list on GoodReads, it looks like I read 33 books, one of which was a re-read (Here Lies the Librarian). I also partly re-read two other books for the book group I joined after moving. I didn't completely re-read those, so I don't really count them, since for one I just watched the movie (The Help), but the other was Walden, by Thoreau, so I think reading even half of that would count as reading an entire easier book, but I digress.
So, that is almost three books per month, unless, there were some that I forgot to enter on GoodReads, which is possible since I'm just now getting around to updating books that I've read since November.
At the urging of my kids, I read: The Hunger Games trilogy, (a gripping series, but so sad), andThe Lord of the Rings trilogy, (which I found more enjoyable than the movies because they miss some of the humor, though Tolkien can get a bit wordy with his descriptions)
preceded by The Hobbit (my favorite of the series).
I also really enjoy my book group for expanding my reading horizons and giving me a deadline to aim for in reading:
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, by Wendy Mass (which led me to other books by this author Every Soul A Star, [loved!] and Leap Day [not my favorite due to typical teenage behavior content, but the way she told the story was interesting])
The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Orczy (enjoyable classic, old-fashioned spy novel)
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Smith (enjoyable [mystery?])
Seeking Persephone, by Eden (enjoyable light romance)
Life's Lessons Learned; Personal Reflections by Oaks (enjoyable non-fiction)
Cold Comfort Farm, by Gibbons (enjoyable after a few chapters, set in England in the past's future)
These Is My Words, by Turner (also enjoyable after a few chapters, set in Arizona territory where some tough things happened).
At the urging of a friend, I read Do Hard Things, by Alex and Brett Harris, which I highly recommend to all teenagers and leaders and teachers of teens. Actually, it is good for everyone to read, though it is aimed at teenagers it doesn't talk down to them and its lessons are applicable to everyone.
I'm not going to list every book I read, for the sake of brevity. I will say I love Shannon Hale's novels and I enjoyed three Grisham novels last year.
I have so many books I'm looking forward to reading this year, I think it's safe to set the goal of reading three and a half books per month, that would be 42 books this year, but I don't want to stress about it, so I'm reconsidering actually setting that goal.
I do have a goal to re-read The Book of Mormon at least once this year, perhaps twice.
What was the most memorable book you read last year?
2 comments:
I'd like to know which 3 Grisham books you read and what you thot of them, but my most memorable is Preach My Gospel. Does that count as a book? We've spent more than a month just reading that and would like to spend the next whole year re-reading it.
I read "The Last Juror" about a guy who decides to buy a newspaper in a small town and there is a murder of a young single mom done by a bad guy in a bad family that controls a little island. That one is scary about powerful bad guys, but it was interesting about the newspaper and the guy that buys it and his friendship with a black family.
I enjoyed that one.
And I read "The Appeal" about small town lawyers suing a big company for ruining their environment and making everybody in the town sick and a lot of them died and the big company owner just wanted to get richer and the little lawyers lost because the big guys bought themselves a judge the rich guy got richer. That was depressing and eye-opening; the first time I realized maybe not all lawyers are rich, well except for "The Street Lawyer," he wasn't rich anymore.
And I read "The Bleachers" about the death of a high school football coach and all his players over the years come back for his funeral and reminisce in the bleachers. It was an interesting look at high school football and a small town that lives for it and a tyrant of a coach. Too bad those boys couldn't play for fun, they had to play for blood.
And Yes, "Preach My Gospel" counts as a book. I have a goal to read that this year.
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