2010 Reading Year In Review

This year has been a very good one on the reading front.  I bought an ipod and had Kindle for the ipod, and then in November I received a real Kindle for my birthday!  Even though I will never stop enjoying the feel and smell of a real book, I love the accessibility of the Kindle and all of the free reads available.

My reading list for 2010 is here.  Some stats:

*I read 121 books this year (give or take a few I didn't record).
*23 of those books were nonfiction.
*5 books were memoirs- a genre I had not read often before this year.
*5 books were classics that I read as part of the Books of the Century Challenge.
*As well as reading those books, I read through the Bible two complete times using the Bible in 90 Days.

Two authors I "discovered" this year: James Patterson and Deborah Smith.  I have read quite a few of Patterson's suspense/thrillers and all that I can find of Smith's sweet, Southern romances.

Some of this year's favorite reads:
*Sundays at Tiffany's- This was my first James Patterson read, and even though this was a romance and very unlike his suspense series, it paved the way for me to look for more of his books.
*The Jungle- This classic by Upton Sinclair was one of the books I chose for the Books of the Century Challenge.  Even though I had heard of the book, I had no idea what it was really about.  I really enjoyed it!
*The Water is Wide - This memoir from Pat Conroy about his teaching experience on a small Southern island was a very interesting read and made me want to read Conroy's novels.  (I've now read Prince of Tides and have Beach Music on my TBR stack.)
*Mao's Last Dancer- This was another of the memoirs I read this year.  I found Li Cunxin's story of becoming a famous ballet dancer and defecting to the US very interesting and inspiring.
*A Gentle Rain- This Deborah Smith romance was one of my favorite of her's.  Smith writes beautiful romances with strong, Southern heroines and dashing, protective heroes.
*Radical- This was a life-changing read I was able to review and keep last month.  This was definitely one I will revisit and consider throughout the new year.

I am starting the New Year with plenty of physical books on my To Be Read list thanks to the library books sales and books that I am reviewing.  I also have many books on my Kindle waiting to be read.  Currently I'm reading Alice at Heart by Deborah Smith and reading and reviewing The Jesus Inquest by Charles Foster.  I'm also going to begin reading through the Bible in 90 Days again in January.

Tandem- Tracey Bateman

 

This was a recent book review for Waterbrook/Multanomah Press.  It is the second of two books by the author- Tracey Bateman- which are considered "Christian vampire novels."  I have made no secret of my feelings for the Twilight books.  I thoroughly enjoyed them and read them multiple times.  (I won't confess how many.)  But I know the mixed feelings about those books within the Christian community.  And I have read several critics talk about how dark the Twilight books are without actually having ever read any of them.  I will admit that I have absolutely no interest in vampires and, until Twilight, had never watched or read any of the popular current vampire shows or books.  I loved Twilight because of the love story.  I was very curious to see how the subject of vampires was handled in a "Christian" novel.  So, here goes.

Lauryn McBride is an estate auction manager.  As she is working on the estate of a recently deceased, very reclusive, man from her small town of Abbey Hills, she finds some letters addressed to a lady named Amede in New Orleans.  She contacts the Amede with the letters and information about the estate and is surprised when she comes to visit bringing her "assistant."  Lauryn quickly becomes caught up in dark things happening in Abbey Hills, things she is only beginning to understand.  In the midst of her dark discoveries, she is slowly losing her father to Alzheimer's and rediscovering a relationship with a high school sweetheart.  Lauryn has rejected Christ and religion up until this point, but slowly begins to thing God might care and be involved in her life as all of these things play out.

First of all, I thought these books were very dark.  Besides the obvious vampire story line, there is a link to Voodoo and dark magical arts.  These things are not necessarily "good" in the story but neither is much time spent discussing the evil in these things.
The story did hold my interest.  There was suspense and a little mystery.  The story shifted around the main characters which made it a little hard to keep up with at first.  Perhaps, not having read the first book, I was a little behind; although this story was a stand alone and could be read alone.
I'm not sure I really see the "Christian" in the novel.  The ex-boyfriend is a pastor/missionary who tries to point out to Lauryn that God sees her and cares even when she can't see it.  And the "good" vampire struggles with killing animals instead of humans because of the morality of her decisions.  But, the book is morally ambiguous at best and spiritually dark at worst with the voodoo and black arts references.
I have the first book, Thirsty, on my Kindle- one of those lovely Kindle freebies, and I will probably read it now that I have a vested interest in the characters.  And, I suppose if you really have a thing for vampire novels, the books would be interesting.  But, since I'm not a big vampire fan, I'll stick to Twilight for the sweet love story and much better developed characters and plot!


I received a free copy of this book from Waterbrook Press for review purposes.

Voices of the Faithful

Voices of the Faithful is a one year devotional book with writings by Beth Moore and daily devotions written by Christians who are serving the Lord around the world.  In the introduction, Beth Moore hopes that the reader, through these writings, will come to see missionaries as real people, to pray for them, support them, and even join them in serving around the world.

Beth Moore writes the introduction for each month's worth of devotions.  Each month has a theme such as God's character, God's Word, prayer.  Each day has a Bible reading and a short devotional written by a Christian serving around the world.  The country in which the writer is serving is also recorded.

I am looking forward to using this devotional throughout the year.  The devotions are short but Bible based.  I really liked that each devotion has the writer and country listed.  I plan to use the devotional daily to read and to pray for the missionaries and countries around the world.  I also plan to use this with my children because the devotions are easy to read and appropriate for the family.

Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor- Chuck Black

 
Chuck Black writes allegorical novels for young people using medieval knights, princes, and kingdoms to teach Biblical truths.  His original Kingdom Series, an allegory of the New Testament set in medieval times, is one we are already using in our family.

Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor is number 5 in his Knights of Arrethtrea series, tales of knights called by the prince who face real life struggles in becoming who they are called to be.  Quinlan, called Twitch by his friends, lives in the shadow of his friend Tav.  Both have been training to be knights for the Prince, but Twitch is never confident in his ability and is always sure that he can never be as good as Tav.  When Tav's uncle, one of the Knights of Valor, tries to persuade Tav to join him in fighting the Shadow Warriors, Tav is unconvinced, but Twitch feels a call, a desire to find out his purpose.  Twitch calls on the Prince to show him the purpose for his life and pledges himself to the prince.
As a result, Twitch, now Quinlan, becomes a Knight of Valor.  He is still unsure of his ability, however; and his lack of confidence contributes to a failed battle in which their leader, Baylor, is killed.  Quinlan, burdened and weary and discouraged returns to his former life and friend.  But, he realizes Tav, as well as the other knights of his former city are all distracted now by the paythas they are keeping as pets.  Quinlan resumes his journey to serve his Prince and discover his purpose and finds out that he was meant to be so much more than he ever dreamed as he leads the other knights in a battle for his home city.

I have to admit these stories are a bit predictable.  And, my adventure reading son critiques them as being a little slow to get started and hard to get into.  But, the medieval knights, princes, and battle scene is appealing to young readers- especially boys.  The lessons learned by the characters in the story are good ones- obvious enough to be absorbed by young readers but not so obvious as to stifle the story line.  I enjoyed Sir Quinlan's story and thought the lessons learned as he searched for his life's purpose were well taught.

Quaker Summer- Lisa Samson

I discovered Lisa Samson last year and read several of her novels.  I like her writing style and real, easy to relate to characters.  I picked up Quaker Summer from Book Mooch recently.

Heather Curridge is the wife a wealthy surgeon.  She has a house up on the hill.  Her husband is dashing and intelligent and still in love with her.  Her fifteen year old son is developing into a fine Christian young man and attending an exclusive private Christian school.  The family takes vacations each year to wonderful places.  Heather has a full life, but something is missing.  When she finds herself at a downtown halfway house and then staying in a house with some Quaker sisters, all "by accident", she realizes God is doing a work in her life.  God uses her interesting summer to draw her closer to Him and to help Heather develop a purpose in her life.

Once again, Lisa Samson drew me in with the character of Heather- such a real person with real questions about the meaning of life.  I love that Lisa Samson is willing to challenge the common "Christian" thoughts on different subjects and that her characters have lives that are not always neat and tidy but are often messy, like real life.  I always walk away from her books thinking- about life, about God, and about serving other people.  Because that is really what Lisa Samson writes about.

Radical- David Platt

I have heard so much about David Platt's book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream.  I read the first chapter when the book first came out and was convicted even then.  So, I was excited to read the whole book.

Platt, pastor of a megachurch- Brook Hills- looks at how far we have come in American Christianity from radical abandonment to Christ.  He challenges believers to really look at whether or not they are living in obedience to God's commands.

Platt describes for readers how Christ is worth leaving everything for.  He shows readers over and over how the risk of following Christ is worth the reward.  He writes that as Christians, we are called to go to places of danger, places of need, and to abandon all for the sake of serving Christ in the world.  He closes the book with a challenge for believers to live radically for the next year of their lives and gives five steps to doing this.

I was extremely convicted by Radical.  It is easy for me to see how we as believers in America have moved so far from the radical commands of Christ and so close to the American dream that is pursued by the rest of our culture.  We stay close and comfortable in our megachurches with our programs and activities.  And all the while, we have forgotten that Christ's call to us is radical.  He calls us to leave everything and follow Him.  He calls us to take risks and follow him.

Platt's book has motivated me to do something different.  I really like the way he lays out an action plan at the end of the book and the fact that he asks readers to make a one year commitment to living a radical life.  I think this can be a life-changing and church changing book.  I pray that believers and churches in our country will read it and be motivated to look honestly at personal lives and their church communities.





I plan to outline the steps that Platt suggests for living a radical life and how I hope to incorporate this into my personal and our family life over the next year in my regular blog- The Courtney Six.


I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.

Word Gets Around- Lisa Wingate

 
I picked this one up at the bargain shelves of my local BooksaMillion when I went to use my birthday gift card.  I hadn't heard of the author Lisa Wingate or any of her other books. I have to say, I was disappointed with this one.

Lauren Eldridge left the small town of Daily, Texas years ago when she was involved in a tragedy that resulted in the death of her husband and another local man.  She never planned to return.  But her father pleads for her to come back to train a special horse for a movie.  Nate Heath is a screenwriter who is dragged along by his friend- Justin Shay- a famous actor- who is headed to Daily to write a screen play for Justin's new movie.  Lauren and Nate meet over the course of work on the movie, fall in love (of course), and resolve all of their personal issues in just a few chapters.

There were several problems for me.  First of all, the author chose to write in first person going back and forth between the character of Nate and the character of Lauren.  I really do not like this writing style UNLESS it is very well done.  This wasn't.  When an author goes back and forth between characters, the author has to have lots of skill in character development to keep the characters from seeming flat and to let you know what is happening to the other main character in the story when you are reading from the opposite character's viewpoint.  Unfortunately, Word Gets Around was really lacking in that character development.  When Lauren was talking, I had no idea what Nate was thinking.  When Nate was thinking, I had no idea what Lauren was doing.  The result was a very disjointed story.
The other problem I had with the book was that so much time was spent on each character facing his or her personal demons and so little time on the relationship developing that it was almost a surprise when a relationship did develop.  So little of the story had been used to talk about the two of them together and so much time had been spent on their own personal growth, that the relationship at the end of the book just didn't even fit.

So, I really didn't like this one and cannot recommend it as a good read.

An Amish Christmas

I must admit that Amish romances are not my favorite.  But, in the Christmas spirit, I thought this one looked like a good one to review for BookSneeze.

This is a compilation of four stories by different authors.  All of the stories take place around the time of Christmas and feature some of the same Amish families.  Each story focuses on the love and relationship of a different couple.  The stories are sweet and short and easy to read and feature the characters living a plain and simple Amish lifestyle.
In "A Miracle for Miriam" Miriam meets someone from her past that hurt her deeply.  Seth Fisher is a changed man after time spent in the English world and a bad accident.  He wants to develop a relationship with Miriam, but it will take time for her to accept that he has truly changed.
"A Choice to Forgive" features Miriam's sister Lydia.  Lydia has been widowed for several years.  Her husband Elam died young and unexpectedly.  Before her marriage to Elam, Lydia was engaged to his brother Daniel who left her unexpectedly on one Christmas Eve.  Now Daniel returns to the Amish life and has something to tell Lydia about the night he left.  What he says will be hard for Lydia to forgive, but for them to move forward, she must.
Sarah and David Fisher, mentioned several times in the other stories, lost a child on the previous Christmas.  In "One Child" they are visited on Christmas Eve by a young English couple stranded in a storm.  When the young wife goes in to labor at their house, Sarah, David, and the other couple have lots to learn about each other and love and God.
"Christmas Cradles"  is a bonus novella.  A few of the same families are mentioned, but the main couple in this novella is new.  Anna is a midwife taking over for her aunt on Christmas Eve.  She has three deliveries to make, and while she stays busy all evening, she gets to know Asa Mast, the silent and brooding man who is acting as her driver for the evening.

This was a very light read.  I enjoyed the fact that the stories tied in together and featured the same characters.  I felt like I got to know the people in each story well even though the stories were short.  The story lines were rather predictable and by the end I was checking to see how much longer the book was.  But, for someone who enjoys the Amish romance genre, this was a good, light read for the Christmas holidays.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Beguiled

I've long been a fan of Deanna Gist's historical romance novels.  In Beguiled, she teams up with J. Mark Bertrand, a suspense writer, to write their debut romantic suspense novel.

Rylee is a dogwalker in Charleston's wealthy South of Broad neighborhood.  When a Robin Hood style thief begins to strike the houses of her clients, Rylee quickly turns into a suspect.  Reporter Logan Woods is covering the Robin Hood crimes and finds himself developing a relationship with Rylee.  He believes she is is innocent but for some reason the Robin Hood villain is after her.  Their relationship develops even as the suspicions surrounding Rylee grow and she finds herself in great danger.

This was a great book for me for many reasons.  First of all, I LOVE the Charleston area and have been their many times.  Gist and Bertrand are very true to the surroundings and history of Charleston citing several well-known spots in the book.  Having visited the city many times, I could picture where the events were taking place.  Secondly, I really like a good romance.  I know I've said it before in my book reviews, but I'm a sucker for a sweet knight in shining armor story.  This truly was a good one.  And lastly, next to romance, I enjoy a good suspense story, a good "Who done it?" mystery.  This one kept me guessing for quite a while, and even in the end it didn't all go down the way I thought I had figured out.

It was a good story and a very good read!

Duel Citizens: Worship and Life Between the Already and the Not Yet

This Christian living book by Jason Stellman was one of my newest free Kindle reads.

Stellman talks about what it means to live life as pilgrims here on earth as we are awaiting heaven.  In the first half of the book he discusses our worship and what it should look like.  In the second half of the book, he discusses how we should live in our culture as Christians.

This was one of those deep reading, lots of doctrine books.  There were times when I really had to read and reread to decide exactly what Stellman was trying to say.  As I trudged through the book, I found myself agreeing with many things- especially when he was pointing out how our worship services have gone wrong.  There were some "ah ha" moments when I thought- "Now why didn't I think about that before?"  There were also some points he made that seemed rather foggy to me.

Overall, I thought Jason Stellman made some good points and brought up some things we do need to think about as Christians, but the book was occasionally rather too deep than it needed to be.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room- Nancy Guthrie

This little devotion book contains one family devotion for every day through Advent.  Beginning December 1, families can read a devotion each day leading up to Christmas day and then through the end of the year.  Each day has a short reading, a prayer, some discussion starters, and some other suggested Scripture reading.  Throughout the book are several places to record family discussions and observations throughout the Advent season.  Also throughout the book are some classic Christmas carols printed with their music and their history.

I was a little disappointed when I received this one to review.  Based on the description, I thought the book would have some Advent activities and some readings.  I did like the format of each day's reading.  The readings are short and easy to understand, and all of the family can listen together.  I also like that the book goes through the end of December, so that the family devotion and time spent together can continue on through the holiday season.

All in all, it is a nice little family devotion book for the Advent season.

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.