Books Read in 2014

I was in a bit of a rut, in my reading during 2014. I seemed to gravitate to mysteries this year. I read six books in the Flavia De Luce series and thirteen Lord Peter Whimsey books by Dorothy Sayers!!

This was reflected in my tv watching as well. I watched 31 episodes of Inspector Morse. I can't watch the last one since that would mean there are no more to watch! I like Morse's grumpy, snobby demeanor and the setting of Oxford is so beautiful.

I stayed away from the more depressing or realistic books this past year since I was facing some pretty scary times concerning my own health: multiple blood tests, ultrasounds, a CT scan, a PET scan, and an unexpected surgery.

I read more books in 2014 (a total of 55) than in previous years. I think because I selected shorter books! I read a classic book that I had hoped to read in 2014 - Fahrenheit 451.

Just before Christmas I read a book that had been on my "to read" list since 2007 - The Thirteenth Tale. I am still musing about this book. I'm not sure what I think of it.

As for non-fiction, I enjoyed some biographies - Ben Carson - Gifted Hands
and Crashing Through The Extraordinary True Story of the Man Who Dared to See (true story of man who was blinded as a child and regained his sight as an adult). I enjoyed The Boys in the Boat

(very popular and a good read) but it wasn't one of my favourites.

I read some more books by D.E. Stevenson and they are a very pleasant cosy read.

One fun read was Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope. She took the classic novel by Jane Austen and set it in contemporary time.

One audio book that was a delight and I shared with my nine year old was Knucklehead.

If you have boys in your house, I highly recommend it! Jon Scieszka grew up in a house with five brothers and went to Catholic school. A very funny book.

What do I hope to read in 2015? Well, I enjoy a good audio book to keep me awake and amused/engaged while I drive to and from my boys' school. Finding the right audio book can be a challenge. I was all set to enjoy one when I discovered the narrator was the same one for Les Miserable which I listened to a few years ago. I can't listen to that man's voice any more! I wish there was a larger pool of narrators. One I hope to listen to soon is Fever which is about Typhoid Mary.

Since I enjoy Marilynne Robinson's writing, I plan to read Lila. I also plan on re-reading Paul Miller's A Praying Life. The Light We Cannot See is getting a lot of attention and it appears to be a book that I would like.


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Book meme

Hello, poor neglected blog. I've been cheating on you with Twitter and Facebook, it's true.

How about a meme, to get re-aquainted.

So apparently, the BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X +
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X +
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible - parts
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - I'm not sure
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - I'm not sure, maybe as a teenager?
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (Though I've read the trilogy in whole)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - started but didn't finish
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens *
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - currently reading
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia X
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (Isn't this sort of a repeat of 33?)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins *
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X +
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan X
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding X
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson *
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray X
80 Possession - AS Byatt X
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery *
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo *

I've read 19 give or take a couple - not too bad. This list was kinda dry, imho.Pin It

Books read in 2008

Its always fun to look back on the year and see what was accomplished (or not). :)

Here are the books I read this year.

Atonement by Ian McEwan (first book read of 2008)
The Awakening by Kate Chopin (I hated this)
The Beauty Prescription by Debra Lufton
Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas
Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (I didn't like this)
Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
Escape by Carolyn Jessop
The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner
I Feel Bad about My Neck by Nora Ephron
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
In this Mountain by Jan Karon
The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
Light From Heaven by Jan Karon
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (I hated this book)
A New Song by Jan Karon
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory(last book read of 2008)
Out to Canaan by Jan Karon
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts by Haven Kimmel
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares
Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness .... by Myrna Blyth
The Spy Wore Red by Aline Countess Romanones
Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart
The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith(I didn't like this book)
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
What is the What by Dave Eggers
What to Read: The Essential Guide for Reading Group Members by Mickey Pearlman
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Not included in this list are a bunch of non-fiction books, mainly on homeschooling, cooking or parenting, which probably total 15.

Grand total: 50ish. I think that is pretty good, an average of a book a week.

books that I started but didn't finish:
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Middlemarch by George Eliot

I'm surprised how little reading that I did - apart from the #1 Ladies Detective series and the Mitford series. I kept with the tried and true this year! My favourites (that weren't series books) were She Got Up Off the Couch and The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio. Both were funny and inspiring. I was surpised by how many books were memoirs.

A short list of some books I'd like to read in 2009:
- Zookeeper's Wife (the January pick for bookclub)
- Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
- something by David McCullough (this Canadian needs to learn more American history for homeschooling!)

I'd love to hear about the books you read this year and what you enjoyed or didn't enjoy.

Happy New Year!Pin It

Summer reading challenge - completed.

Well, I set small goals for myself and I *almost* completed this one! :)

- Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones - I didn't finish this one. It was for my book club and I went to the meeting and found out what happened. I don't have much incentive to finish the book now! I should probably finish it but it wasn't all that compelling.
- Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - another book club read. Finished.
- In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith. I love this series. Finished.
- She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel. Finished.

I'm going to do a fall reading challenge. Stay tuned!Pin It

Summer reading (for me)

I decided to join a reading challenge. I failed miserably the last time I tried one of these, though! This time I will make my list VERY short so I can finish it. My problem is I change my mind about what book I will read or start a book and not finish it. I feel quite confident that I will enjoy these books.

My list - to be read by August 31st:

- Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones (next book for my book club)
- A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (this is an upcoming book for my book club)
- In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
- She Got Off the Couch and other heroic acts from Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel

Here is the link to the challenge.Pin It

Summer reading programs for kids

My oldest son is a very enthusiastic reader. He loves nothing better than a big pile of books from the library and/or Half Price Books or Value Village.

There are several programs to sign up for this summer that reward kids for reading. Here are a few.

- Barnes and Noble - their rules states grades 1 through 6. Kids must read eight books, write about their favourite part, and then bring a completed list to the store. Children then choose their free book from a list of paperback titles.

- Half Price Books - their program is for ages 10 and under. Yeah! Kids earn a gift card to the store.

Your local library probably has a program as well.

I think we will do the Half Price Books program and the library one.

Scholastic also has a program where for every 4 books your child reads, they will donate one to a needy child.Pin It

Book Review - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See way back in August while on vacation. It was on the list for my bookclub. Here is a synopsis from Publisher's Weekly:

See's engrossing novel set in remote 19th-century China details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends (laotong, or "old sames") Lily and Snow Flower, their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love. While granting immediacy to Lily's voice, See (Flower Net) adroitly transmits historical background in graceful prose. Her in-depth research into women's ceremonies and duties in China's rural interior brings fascinating revelations about arranged marriages, women's inferior status in both their natal and married homes, and the Confucian proverbs and myriad superstitions that informed daily life. Beginning with a detailed and heartbreaking description of Lily and her sisters' foot binding ("Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you have peace"), the story widens to a vivid portrait of family and village life. Most impressive is See's incorporation of nu shu, a secret written phonetic code among women—here between Lily and Snow Flower—that dates back 1,000 years in the southwestern Hunan province ("My writing is soaked with the tears of my heart,/ An invisible rebellion that no man can see").

What I liked about the book
- learning about life in 19th Century China.

What I didn't like about the book
- the foot binding. A big "ick" factor. I can't believe how long this horrible practice continued in China. Centuries! It reminds me of female circumcision.

I was a bit disappointed in this book. Like I Capture the Castle, I had high expectations of it. I expected to *love* the book but it was just a good read.Pin It

Book Review - I Capture the Castle

A friend of mine loaned me this book. She recommended it to me, knowing my tendency to enjoy all things British. I also read this book as part of Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books challenge.

I did enjoy the book but not *nearly* as much as I expected. Funny to have high expectations of a book and then be disappointed.

I'm too lazy to write an original review so here is Amazon's plot summary.

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain wants to become a writer. Trouble is, she's the daughter of a once-famous author with a severe case of writer's block. Her family--beautiful sister Rose, brooding father James, ethereal stepmother Topaz--is barely scraping by in a crumbling English castle they leased when times were good. Now there's very little furniture, hardly any food, and just a few pages of notebook paper left to write on. Bravely making the best of things, Cassandra gets hold of a journal and begins her literary apprenticeship by refusing to face the facts. She writes, "I have just remarked to Rose that our situation is really rather romantic, two girls in this strange and lonely house. She replied that she saw nothing romantic about being shut up in a crumbling ruin surrounded by a sea of mud."

I read Carrie's review of this book and I have to agree with a lot of what she said. I found it hard to stomach the father's laziness and unwillingness to be a man and support his family. He reads detective novels while they struggle to eat! The poverty at the beginning of the book wasn't romantic in the least.

I enjoyed the witty dialogue and the bear story is very funny. My final comment - read it for fun but don't expect it to rival Jane Austen.Pin It

Book Review - Cold Sassy Tree

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns is the current selection for my book club. I enjoyed this southern novel for the following reasons:

- It made me laugh out loud and tell my husband "you have to hear this!"
- I fell in love with the characters even though some I wanted to shake and tell them to smarten up!
- Rucker Blakeslee(Grandpa)'s heartfelt and unorthodox theology on pg. 363. Here's an excerpt:

"...faith ain't no magic wand or money-back gar'ntee, either one. Hit's jest a way a-livin'. Hit means you don't worry th'ew the days. Hit means you go'n be holdin' on to God in good or bad times, and you accept whatever happens. Hit means you respect life like it is - like God made it - even when it ain't what you'd order from the wholesale house."

- I loved the southern dialect and interesting turns of phrase.
- It was hard to put down. I stayed up waaaaay too late finishing it.

Thanks, Elsa for recommending it to the group! I think I might buy a copy for my son to read when he's old enough - in about ten years!Pin It

Reading challenge

I've joined a reading challenge. It has a great deadline. :) December 31, 2007. I think that will work for me. More details of the challenge can be found here.

Here are my choices:

1. Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
2. Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
3. Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
4. (children's book) An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston
5. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
6. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Thanks, Semicolon, for giving me this challenge!Pin It

Some of the bookclub "rejects"

Here are the books that received only 4 votes and didn't get picked for the next few months. They may be reconsidered later.

The Spy Wore Red - My Adventures as as Undercover Agent in World War II by Aline Countess Romanones
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Other Side of the Sun by Madeleine L’Engle

There were a LOT of other books on our voting list. I only remember these:

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Fox's Walk by Annabel Davis-Goff
"my book" The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Beachglass by Wendy BlackburnPin It

Bookclub tonight

I went to my (usually) monthly bookclub meeting tonight. Always a good time. Tonight we voted on our next 4 books after compiling a VERY long list of suggestions.

Here's our next 4 books we will be reading. These ones received the most votes.
"My" book - The Thirteenth Tale - only got one other vote, sniff sniff.

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. I think we will be reading this one first since it is a light, summer read.

Witness by Whitaker Chambers - my husband has read this and raves about it. He now wants to attend bookclub but, sorry J, its just ladies. :)

What is the What by Dave Eggers - story of a "Lost Boy" in Sudan.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - female friendship, foot binding in China and secret codes.Pin It

Drowning in parenting/mothering books

I currently have the following books on my nightstand:
- Don't Make Me Count to Three!
- Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood
- How to Make Children Mind without Losing Yours
- The Power of a Positive Mom
- Positive Discipline for Preschoolers

Most are from the library. I do read fast but this is ridiculous.

I've been having some challenging times with parenting so I've been searching out good books. Maybe I've overdone it? :) That's my usual approach to a problem - buying or attempting to read too many books. I suppose I should be praying more. Oh wait, I have that book, too. The Power of a Praying Wife. Maybe I need to get the Power of a Praying Parent. Ha ha. :)Pin It

Reading to my children

Sometimes I must admit that I get tired of reading the same books over and over. Or books that they prefer and I think are boring (my boys are young).

I found this poem today that is a good reminder.

The Reading Mother

I had a Mother who read me things
That wholesome life to a child's heart brings –
Stories that stir with an upward touch.
Oh that every Mother were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be.
I had a Mother who read to me.

Strickland GillilanPin It

Reading update

In the last week I've finished the following.

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. This is this month's choice for my book club. It was OK. I thought it was too "preachy" in that the author put so much of his own philosophy and opinions into the book that it took away from the story itself. I thought there was too much emphasis on (and repetition of) the main character's doubts about God and Christianity. I'm assuming the author has these same doubts. It is a sad book. It was well written, I will say that.

A much lighter read was The Secret Life of Becky Miller by Sharon Hinck. This is a Christian fiction book - a genre of which I've read very little. It is written in the style of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It was a fun read - a little preachy, too, but it is Christian fiction. :) I enjoyed the interactions of the main character with her small weekly bible study group and best friends. They are all such diverse characters - some are her best friends and pray and encourage and babysit for her at the drop of a hat. I was left feeling a bit jealous that I don't have such a group of my own.

What's next?

Well, I haven't decided. I've been skimming some books I have from the library but I wouldn't say I'm *reading* them.Pin It

BookMooch

I found this great link from I Have to Say. - a blog that I read frequently.

BookMooch is cool. I signed up. You list the books you want to give away. You look for books that others have - that you want. You mail books to people and get points. The only part I won't enjoy is going to the post office with my kids. :) I have a lot of books I'd like to get rid of. Taking them to a used bookstore is just asking for rejection. This week I took 2 bags of kids clothes in great condition to the consignment store and they took 3 items! I'm going to try another store, by the way.

The reason I'm not napping right now is that my youngest son has inherited my loud snoring and I can't sleep in my bed because he's there. My husband thinks it is sweet revenge. He has to listen to me all the time. :)Pin It

Books - short update

I finished At Home in Mitford. A fun book. I plan on reading the next one in the series. I recommended it to my mom. I hope she reads it since I think she'd like it.

Right now I need to start reading Jayber Crow for book club. My youngest has been sick with the stomach flu so I've been too tired at night to read. All that laundry!Pin It

Books!!

I decided to make a list of books, mainly so I can remember, but also so you can get to know me a bit better.

What I have read in the last 2 years.
This is an eclectic list. The majority of this list were reads for my book club and the rest are just ones I decided to read. B = Book Club

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
B - The Brothers Karamazov (well, I didn't finish it completely)
B - Expecting Adam
The Devil Wears Prada
B - The Bean Trees
B - A Severe Mercy
B - Old Men at Midnight This is my least favourite on the list. I don't recommend it.
B - Enders Game
The #1 Ladies Detective Agency
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
Stepping Heavenward
Beyond Gates of Splendour


What I would like to read (a short and manageable list, of course there are many more):

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Middlemarch by George Elliot
No Name by Wilkie Collins
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (a page-turner mystery)

What I'm currently reading:
At Home in Mitford


Next 2 books for bookclub:
Jayber Crow by Wendall Berry
Bold SpiritPin It

Author/Book let-down

I just finished reading a great book. Well, I thought it was great until I found out a few more details about the author. Sad details.

The book is Expecting Adam by Martha Beck. I read through the book in 3 days. I had a hard time putting it down. I wanted to read more about her son Adam (with Down syndrome) and their family.

I found out that the author and her husband are now divorced. They had such an amazing connection which is told in detail in the book. The even more sad thing is that he posted a review (on Amazon.com's website) of her latest book Leaving the Saints and corrects what he says are incorrect facts in her book. Her latest book is about leaving the Mormon church and about discovering s*xual abuse in her past done by her father.

She is still an amazing story teller.Pin It

My last read - a light one.

I read this in two days, I think. It was such an easy read. I was on the waiting list for it at the library forever.

Now I want to see the movie but it isn't out on DVD yet. Uggg.Pin It