Friday, December 30, 2016

Reading Year in Review - 2016

I read over 90 books this year, but can't gloat over that accomplishment since 28 of them were Christian fiction (i.e. inconsequential fluff)  that I read during times of stress. They caused me to add a new category to my Goodreads bookshelves ("dud"), but the year was not a total failure. Here are the gems:

Classics that I loved: To Kill a Mockingbird, North and South

Classics that I expected to dislike, but enjoyed: The Great Gatsby, Age of Innocence

Best new (to me) author: Jamie Langston Turner for Winter Birds. One of the few Christian authors I can recommend.

Favorite non-fiction: Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies

Favorite Children's Lit: Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace

Books with the most long-term influence (that I keep quoting or using): Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller, Technopoly by Postman, and An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture by Davis

It was my slowest year yet for the Classics Club Challenge, but I managed to check off five titles from my list: Gaskell's Cranford and North and South, The Great Gatsby, Pilgrim's Progress and To Kill a Mockingbird.

I managed to get in my 8 mysteries from the Cozy Mystery Challenge.

Goodreads has a fun app that shows all the covers of  the books I read in 2016.

Looking forward to more good reading in 2017!


3 comments:

Carol in Oregon said...

I always enjoy your reviews. Thanks for sharing your reading with me, Hope!

Sherry said...

I agree that Jamie Langston Turner is one of the best contemporary Christian authors I've found. You might also enjoy Dale Cramer or Athol Dickson.

GretchenJoanna said...

It was your review of Betsy-Tacy that caused me to buy that book soon after I read about it on your blog, and it is sitting on my shelf nearby right now. I haven't opened it yet, but it occurs to me that it would be a good one for this month, when I am going through some kind of transitional time in my reading, and feeling overwhelmed by all my stacks. I need something short and easy, but good quality :-) Thanks, Hope.