Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts

Thursday, January 6, 2011

What I read last year

I posted here last year about New Year's Resolutions and the one I made last year to read more. Well I've been reading like a fiend. Here are several of the books I read, not in any particular order, I don't remember the order I just hope I remember them all.
I really liked this book, It made me think about what I wanted to do with my life, especially in the area of service.
Liked this one too. Not that I'm Hindu, but it made me think about my spirituality, my relationship with my savior Jesus and God. We hadn't gone to church in a few years. We stopped when my husband broke his leg, and it was difficult for him to get from the large parking lot, and sometimes there were only seats in the bleachers, (yes our church has bleachers) so he couldn't get up there, yada yada I know devil's excuses. Anyway, after I read this book I decided we needed to get back to church and worshipping God.

My oldest daughter recommended this one. I really liked it (let's just put it out there, I liked them all to some point). This is a Biblical fiction about Queen Esther.

Since I just started my life of reading, this is my first Danielle Steele. It was kind of a typical love story, but the main woman was hiding from the life she grew up in, until she met a man that brought her right back to it. It made me think about that I am kind of a shy person, and I have been hiding from my role of Superintendent's wife by not living with my husband where he works, and that in his next position, I would step out of my comfort zone and be more visible by the community where he works.

This one started out as a typical, he meets she and they fall in love, but somewhere in the middle the relationship got weird, and the ending was totally unexpected.

I picked this up in the bargain boxes at the book store. The woman in this story is going through a divorce, has to sell their house, but decides she doesn't want anyone else living in it so she decides she will burn it down. This one made me think about how you should put your relationship before a house. Which is kind of what we have been doing by my not moving to where my husband works.

Again, my first Jodi Picoult book. The boy in this book as Asperger's decease. I have a nephew that has this as well. The boy in the book's case is much more severe than my nephew's. My nephew lived with us when he was 5 & 6. He was diagnosed much later in life than this boy, however it explains some of his behaviour.

I read this one because it is the sequel to Love Story which I read last year. It didn't end the way I thought it would.

I read several more of this series. I'm up to number 11, there are 16 we'll see if I can complete it this year.

My daughter-in-law recommended this one and the next. This was so sad, but I loved it. About a Jewish girl whose family was arrested in the middle of the night during the holocaust. I had my 13 year old daughter read this, she liked it as well.
This one is about 2 little girls lost in the woods. It disturbed my sleep, I read in bed at night. I had my daughter read this one as well. It was really good.

Occasionally I read books that my 13 year old wants me to read, this is one of them. She likes books that make her think. This is about the possibility of a fountain of youth, and being able to live forever. However, the obvious problem is reproducing. Would you choose to not have children so that you could live forever???

Another one my teenager wanted me to read. This one is about a very rich man that cloned himself in order to live forever. I liked it better than the first one. The only problem with reading books that she recommends is that she has already told me about the story while she was reading it, so I already know how they will end.
I've read some books by Rachel Gibson, they are fluffy romance, but they fill in the space between some of the thought provoking books that I have read.
Probably the only one I didn't really like much was about some children being raised by hippies, that was a bargain box book as well.
I hope I got them all, I donated them to the Good Will so I can't go back and take a look.
Looking forward to see what I read this year. Right now, I'm reading 3 at one time. I'm reading The Purpose Driven Life, hopefully to find out just exactly what God wants me to do with the rest of my life. I'm reading the Bible again, I started in the early 2000's but I didn't finish it. I have a little outline that has reading everyday, so if I stick with it, I will complete it at the end of this year. And, I'm reading a book by Jennifer Lancaster "Bitter is The New Black". I read one of hers last year and really enjoyed it, so I'm doing it again.
Hope you try some of these books, if you haven't already, and enjoy!!!

Friday, January 1, 2010

New Year's Resolutions

Where did they begin... This is a little bit of what I found.

The Babylonians made resolution’s to the gods to get favor. Then if a resolution is broken it was considered bad luck so it was advised to be careful in determining one’s New Year’s Resolution.

153 BC - And in fact some historians believe that the ancient Romans also invented New Year's resolutions in 153 BC. Many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

I haven't made mine for 2010 yet. I'm mulling a couple over, but I'm not speaking them just yet.

Last year after a conversation I had with my daughters Language Arts teacher, I decided to read more. I'd never been much of a reader, except for magazines. They are much shorter and don't require as much of my time. However, we expect and it is part of my daughter's curriculum to read. She comprehends at a very high level so it is always a challenge to find good books for her. I was asking her teacher about some of the classics, and whether she thought Hannah could handle them, she asked me if I'd ever read them... duh, no, made me feel a little inadequate, so I decided to start reading. The first classic I tried to read was "The Scarlet Letter". Well let me tell you, I don't think you can wait till you are in your late 40's and start with something like that. I barely got through the prologue, and I had to stop. My daughter-in-law suggested I start with something a little easier "Pride and Prejudice", some Jane Austen, or something like that.

Well unfortunately I haven't ventured back to the "classic" genre, but I have spent this whole year reading. Now, I have to have a book at all times. The books I have read vary, but I have enjoyed them all. Here is a list. Hope I can remember them all:

Bad Manners
The Time Travelers Wife
Oryx and Crake
The Host
Twilight Series
Love Story
A Veiled Deception
Not Another Bad Date
I'm In No Mood For Love
Some Nora Roberts I don't remember
Started an old series by Janet Evanovich about a female bounty hunter
Such a Pretty Fat, I think anyone who has struggled with weight loss, and gain, and loss, and gain will enjoy this one, it's funny

Not sure if there are others, seems like I read more, but that Twilight series was 4 books and they were pretty big. I enjoyed all of them, they varied from trashy romance to a very weird end of time scenario.

So my goal in writing this blog is this, if there is anyone out there reading this I want some recommendations for next year. Post some comments with your recommendations and why you liked it.

Happy New Year!!!