I have had some seriously varied reading the past few months! I’ve ready deep, meaningful non-fiction about motherhood, to fluff fiction about old Hollywood; and I have to say I’ve pretty much loved it all! While I haven’t read nearly as many books these past 3 months, I have managed to read something. Either way I’m still way ahead of my Reading Challenge for the year.

 

• {Why} Motherhood Matters by September McCarthy NF
• A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin F
• The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks F
• Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh NF
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid F
• A Table by the Window by Hillary Manton Lodge F
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle * F

FAVORITE FICTION BOOK

This is a tough one! It’s a really close toss-up between A Table by the Window and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. They were both really fast, enjoyable reads. ATW was great because it was the first book in a series I finished last year, and I love how the author ties in recipes to family history (not to mention the recipes are delicious). TSHEH was great too, it was old Hollywood, it was emotional and gritty, but still light enough to not leave you depressed. Both books had fantastic words that stuck with me.

FAVORITE NON-FICTION BOOK

Oh this one….near and dear to my heart, and written by a friend, {Why} Motherhood Matters was, without a doubt, my favorite non-fiction. More than likely it will be my most favorite non-fiction for the entire year. I’m not going to wax poetic about it, I already did that HERE, but read it.

THE BOOK I DIDN’T LIKE

The Notebook was HORRIBLE! I don’t feel that I had too high hopes for it, I knew what it was before reading it. I had just hoped that it was going to be BETTER than the movie (I love the movie), but it wasn’t. It left me wanting in every single way. The characters were boring, the love story was bland, there was just NOTHING to make the book worth reading. Sure, there were a few pleasant turn of words, but that was about it.

I was sad to say, A Game of Thrones didn’t thrill me either.  Again, I had such high hopes for it as I have LOVED the TV series. I seriously had to SLOG through it, I skipped pages, I glanced over things. I’m thinking that if I watched the film version of something, that I seriously won’t like the book as well…and it KILLS me to say that. That said, I did just start the second book.

 

What have you been reading?
Keep up with what I’ve been reading on GoodReads or Instagram 

(I’ve notated books I’ve read for my book club * and F or NF for Fiction and Non-Fiction).

*This post contains affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.

I’m rather impressed with myself for the quantity of books that I’ve been reading! I’m at 20 books for the year, which is more than halfway toward my goal for the year. I’m not sure WHY I’ve managed to read as much as I have. I’ve been in two book clubs for the last 9 months that have kind of forced me to read at least two books, and one of those is usually an audiobook. That said, I am not someone who can read multiple books at a time…read one and listen to one, that I can do.

• Counting Grains of Sand by Natasha Metzler
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Happiness Dare by Jennifer Dukes Lee
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell
• Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Christ Cleave
• Still Waiting by Ann Swindell
• As Old As Time by Liz Braswell
• Never Unfriended by Lisa-Jo Baker
• Wild be Cheryl Strayed
• The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
• Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
• The Mark of the King by Jocelyn Green

Favorite Fiction Book

I’m going for the cheese factor on this one. I absolutely LOVED As Old As Time, Braswell’s retelling of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Honestly, I think it’s my favorite version of Beauty and the Beast. I felt like the story was fantastically woven, that open plot lines were well concluded, and overall I really loved HOW she rewrote the story.

With all of the Beauty and the Beast hype of the past few months, I felt that this book did a better job of explaining the history of the characters. Far better than even the movie did. The movie was good, don’t get me wrong, but I think this story is much more in-line with the entire Beauty and the Beast premise, particularly regarding enchantment. If you do read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Favorite Non-Fiction Book

This is a tough one! I so liked all of the non-fiction that I read. My top three would have to be Metzler, Swindell, and Baker. But even of those I’d have to see it was Counting Grains of Sand that touched me the most. I’ve “known” Natasha through social media and different groups for several years, and hearing her stories again, in her voice was profound. Throw into that my own struggles with infertility, or anyone’s struggles with prayers not answered as we’d choose and this book will rock you.

This book was so good that I bought it and had it overnighted to a friend who was going through hardships before I had even finished it. THAT is how much this book was grabbing me. Natasha has so many delicious words and good truths that we all seem to not be able to remember.

The Book I hated

My least favorite book was that of The Zookeeper’s Wife. I struggled through this one; and I struggled with the fact that I didn’t love it! I had very high hopes for it, but the writing was less than intriguing. The story of the Antonina Zabinski was one that really struck my interests; keepers of the Warsaw Zoo in Poland during World War II, who were hiding and transporting Jews.

It was a tough one. While the subject matter was very interesting and the story of this family enthralling, I felt like the author couldn’t decide how she wanted to write this, whether a novel or a textbook. There were parts that sucked you in and told you a story, and then abruptly there were parts that were so detailed about things that had no bearing on anything that I skipped over them (i.e. in depth discussion regarding random plants).

Get through it I did though, and I’m glad for it…because it really was interesting, despite the drudgery.

What have you been reading?

Visit HERE to find out more about What I’ve Been Reading.

I surprisingly managed to read quite a bit these past few months: It helps that most Christmas books are rather short. I didn’t read nearly as many non-fiction books as I would like, but I did manage to read some variety over the last month. I had a few books that I got from the library that I’d heard mentioned on the What Should I Read Next podcast.

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham
• A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam
• The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling11
• At the Edge of Summer by Jessica Brockmole
• Crossing on the Paris by Dana Gynther
• The Christmas Town by Donna VanLiere
• Dear Mr. You by Mary Louise Parkerv
• The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado
• A Little House Christmas Treasury by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum
• The Christmas Letters by Bret Nicholas
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst

Favorite Fiction Book

This is a tough one! As you can see from my list, I read a TON of fiction in the past few months. Christmas books are one of my favorite things to read, and I read quite a few of them. While I thoroughly enjoy them, and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus was my favorite of those, I have to say something else for my favorite book.

After I finished At the Edge of Summer by Jessica Brockmole I knew I’d enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t have said it was my favorite. But the story has stuck with me so much over the past few weeks when I finished it. Some books just do that. You read them, they’re good, you liked them, but you wouldn’t say you LOVED them. It’s months later when you realize how much little bits and pieces are tucked away in your mind.

I had read Jessica Brockmole’s first book, Letters from Skye, and loved it. I have to say, her second novel does not disappoint. My close second favorite, if only because it was just a fluff, easy read was, Crossing on the Paris. It wasn’t anything extraordinary, but it was fun.

Favorite Non-Fiction Book

Since I only read one non-fiction book in the past few months, it has to be Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst. It’s a good thing it really was a good book, that I can gladly claim as a favorite. My only qualm with the book, and with most books on friendship, is that they’re addressing the reader as the hurt party and how to not feel hurt. I have yet to find a book on friendship that really address how to find true friends, who are just as intentional about friendship as you. I’m hoping Lisa-Jo Baker’s new book Never Unfriended is that book, because THAT is my struggle.

I did feel that Lysa’s book spoke a lot about your own value and how we need to pour out from a place of being filled by the holy spirit, not relying on everyone else to help us feel loved and welcomed. There were so many good thoughts and words to mull over while, and after, reading her book.

The Book I Hated

This was not a hard one to figure out. I HATED Dear Mr. You by Mary Louise Parker…hated it…like I didn’t finish reading it, because it was a waste of my time. The whole book is a collection of letters that Parker has written to the men in her life. It started out good, with letters to her grandfather and father during and after WW2. I had high hopes for the book. Then it quickly devolved into crushes on college professors, one night stands, and a varied assortment of guys that somehow impacted Parker’s life.

I had no idea what the purpose of the book was. I was reading, hoping that there was a common theme or something to the letters, that somehow they were all going to come together, but they didn’t. They were all over the place, with no rhyme or reason. I thumbed through the rest of the book after page 50, and it didn’t appear that it got any better.

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I have so many books to read right now on my desk. There are a couple for different book clubs, then I have a whole bunch of non-fiction that I’ve been wanting to work through.  I’ve also taken up with being a bit more active on GoodReads. I still have no idea how to use it, but I’m using it as a way to track what I’m reading toward my yearly challenge.

I think I read over 30 books in 2016, I’m at 7 for 2017. I set myself a goal of reading 35 books, but we will see what I manage to accomplish. It’s more of a goal than something I’m feeling like I HAVE to reach. If I get there great, if not…that’s ok. I’d rather read to enjoy, rather than just to consume.

 

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