Book blogs are the enemy of reading. I discovered several fascinating blogs this year and spent hours enamored of reading, listing the books I wanted to read, and reading others' lists.Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had frittered away precious reading time staring at a computer screen. Apparently I was getting all the warm, fuzzy, readerly feelings without the commitment of turning pages. Sad. Goal for next year: Read less about reading and simply read.
Books read this year:
1. Your Home a Lighthouse, Bob and Betty Jacks
2. The Compleat Violinist, Yehudi Menuhin
3. Wives and Daughters, Elizabeth Gaskell
4. Epic, John Eldredge
5. Recapture the Wonder, Ravi Zacharias
6. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
7. The Mysterious Mr. Quinn, Agatha Christie
8. Why Didn't They Ask Evans, Agatha Christie
9. Hind's Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard
10. The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
11. The Careful Use of Compliments, Alexander McCall Smith
12. Normal Kingdom Business, Andree Seu
13. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
14. The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James
15. Surprised by Joy, C. S. Lewis
16. While Still We Live, Helen MacInnes
17. Gaudy Night, Dorothy Sayers
18. A Chance to Die, Elisabeth Elliot
19. Do Hard Things, Alex and Brett Harris
20. Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy, Rumer Godden
21. Peace Like a River, Leif Enger
22. Epic of Gilgamesh
23. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
24. Beowulf, trans. Sean Heaney
25. *Adam, Ted Dekker
26. Freedom of a Christian, Martin Luther
27. The Prince, Machiavelli
28. So Brave, Young, and Handsome, Leif Enger
29. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
30. Without Fail, Lee Child
31. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
32. Walking on Water, Madeleine L'Engle
*Edit--I forgot to add The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett and the Socratic Dialogues by Plato.
And, of course, the Bible. Mostly ESV this year.
Next year, dv: More Malcolm Gladwell and Madeleine L'Engle. Wendell Berry, Willa Cather, and Walker Percy. Lots of children's lit. Milton. C. S. Lewis. Watchman Nee, John Piper, and Neil T. Anderson. Maybe some college text books, if I feel like it...
Thanks to my fellow readers who have inspired and intrigued me with their reading and who have listened to me rant about books and ideas by the hour. Happy New Year.
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6 comments:
I heartily agree with your opening sentence! Still, it looks as though you had a good reading year. There are some really good books on your list!
Epic is on my list of books to read, I've heard good things about it. Right now I'm reading Captivating, by John and Stasi Eldredge. It is captivating, too, kind of the spiritual psychology of women, but easy to read.
I do hope this wasn't your first time to read Gaudy Night. :) It's one of my very favorite books.
How was So Brave, Young and Handsome? I liked Peace pretty well, but haven't heard nearly as much buzz about Enger's second book.
Always room for more L'Engle. And Lewis.
Noel, it was my second time through Gaudy Night, and it won't be my last. I. love. that. book.
So Brave, Young, and Handsome was almost pathetic. I really enjoyed Peace Like a River, but SBYaH was slow, scattered, and too similar to Peace. I even got the feeling that Enger's superb prose was faltering here and there, although the book did have some memorable quotes. I could have cried, I was so disappointed.
*sigh* Oh good. I was worried.
Too bad about So Brave. Although, I have to admit that I read Peace when the Christianlit blogosphere was buzzing Enger (and buzzing, and buzzing), and I wasn't overly impressed.
When I started blogging about books I spent hours looking for likeminded bloggers. But as you noted, I began to spend less time actually reading. Now I'm cured of that and reserve a chunk of Saturday afternoons to check in on my favorites.
I really like the list of books you read last year.
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