Books of 2011

2011 is nearly over (can you believe it?!) and I've read some great books this year. I reached my goal of 50 books; I actually went over that if I include books I read for classes. At least I completed one challenge this year!
Of the challenges I planned on doing, I only succeeded at a few. You can see the full list here. I loved the L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge hosted by Carrie. She also hosted a Narnia Challenge in July that I loved as well! I think month-long challenges are good for me. Not too long, not too short.

Though I attempted Katrina's Spring Reading Thing 2011 and Fall Into Reading 2011, I was not very successful. As I've discovered, challenges that last longer than a month don't work for me. And a year long challenge? Forget about it! I completely forgot about Amy's Jane Austen Reading Challenge. I had all of 2011 and I didn't read a single Jane Austen novel. Forgive me. I hang my head in shame.

Now on to something more uplifting. Here are my Top 5 Fiction, in no particular order:

1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
3. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.
4. The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen
5. After the Leaves Fall by Nicole Baart

Top 5 Non-Fiction, in no particular order:

1. In the Land of Believers by Gina Welch
2. Story Engineering by Larry Brooks
3. Joni by Joni Eareckson Tada
4. Thriving at College by Alex Chediak
5. The Band That Played On: The Extraordinary Story of the 8 Musicians Who Went Down with the Titanic by Steve Turner

For those of you who aren't afraid of the world ending in 2012, I'll tell you my plans. I'm going to shoot once again for 50 books, but I'll be more cautious when choosing reading challenges. I've also realized the importance of choosing books wisely. It gets harder and harder to read for fun when in the midst of school; I don't have as much time as I used to!

I'm off to read... I'm currently reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

Fall Into Reading | 2011

It's September 23rd, and Fall 2011 is here! To celebrate, Katrina at Callapidder Days is hosting her annual Fall Into Reading challenge. To join, you just have to make a list of a some books you want to read this fall, and any other reading-related goals, and work on them from September 23rd to December 21st!

I'm going with a (hopefully) more modest list since I'm a bit preoccupied with school. (It's amazing how college can put a real downer on recreational reading.) One of these, Revolutionary Characters, is actually a book for my history class that I have to write a report on (though it looks really interesting to me). And because I have little time to read for recreational purposes, I'm attempting to be more purposeful in my reading.

Books I Really Want to Read:

Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different by Gordon S. Wood. Out of the many books I have to read for school this year, this is the only school book going on my Fall Into Reading list. Though I'm reading this in order to do a report on it for my history class, it looks pretty interesting to me.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I got this as a gift, and since I've read The Grapes of Wrath (and enjoyed it), I really want to get to this book.

The Mercy by Beverly Lewis. I should be getting this in the mail in the next couple of days for review. I'm excited to finish the Rose Trilogy. I've been "off" of Amish fiction for a while, but this series actually differs from most, and I'm stumped as to how the story is going to come together in the end.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen and Lady Susan by Jane Austen. So I made this goal for myself at the beginning of the year that I would finish out Jane Austen's novels. I have yet to do so. It's been a while since I've had a Jane Austen fix anyway.


Books On the Possibly-Maybe List (Or, It's Okay If I Don't Get to These):

Bound by Guilt by C.J. Darlington. I'm partially into this already, but it isn't grabbing me as much as the first in the series did. I like the fact that it has a lot of interesting info about first edition books, and the storyline goes along well with the first book's.

Uncompromising: A Heart Claimed by a Radical Love by Hannah Farver. I won this on Carrie's blog, and I just had to start it, of course. It definitely looks like a good one!

A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliott. I still haven't gotten around to finishing this one.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. This is long, very long. I'm taking my time.

Of course, there are so many more that I would like to read. I'll include updates of my Fall Into Reading plan in my Nightstand posts.

Happy First Day of Fall, and Happy Reading!

Narnia Reading Challenge | It's Here!

It's here, it's here! The second annual Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge, hosted kindly by Carrie, has finally arrived. This is my first time with the challenge, and I'm so excited. I've only read the first three in the series - and greatly loved each one - so I am excited to continue on with The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy. If I can get to more, I will.

My library has a few Narnia-related books that I may check out. These include

• The C.S. Lewis Chronicles: The Indispensable Biography of the Creator of Narnia Full of Little-Known Facts, Events and Miscellany,
• Companion to Narnia, Revised Edition: A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia,
• Into the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles, and 
• The World According to Narnia: Christian Meaning in C. S. Lewis's Beloved Chronicles.

If anyone has read any of these I would love to hear some thoughts about them to decide which one(s) to read first.

I can't wait to spend some time in Narnia! Please click on the button above to join in or to read other readers's posts.

L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge

It's here! It's here! Today is the day that the L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge kicks-off. (Click the button to go to Carrie's original rules post.) The key to this challenge is to read some of Montgomery's titles from January 1 to January 28 in this new year 2011.

I don't really have a goal for this challenge, as in, I don't have a number of books of Montgomery's that I want to read. I do have the entire set of The Anne of Green Gables Novels, and I hope to read as many as possible. I'm hoping for at least the first three; we'll see if I can make it through them all. I'm excited to finally see what these books are like, and I'm hoping my viewpoint isn't tainted since I've watched the movie adaptations so many times.

Join the fun by clicking the button above!

Another challenge I'm in for 2011 is the Jane Austen Reading Challenge. See my post here.