So how did I do with the challenge I gave myself here?
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - done and loved it. Reads like a novel but is unbelievably true.
Sunrise on the Battery - done and found it a thought provoking and enjoyable read
Sacred Marriage - wasn't even able to crack it open
Possession - didn't get to it
The Bait of Satan - still working on with study group. Very challenging and very good. Promotes lots of discussion
Angel Sister - finished
The Wishing Trees - done. Sad story. Felt like I traveled to the places in the story along with the characters, though.
How to Bake a Perfect Life - Set aside. Couldn't get into the story after the description of the sexual exploit of a teenager.
The Orchard - Done. A sweet love story. Learned lots about the perfume and flavor industry.
Faithful - Still reading
The Secret Life of Bees - didn't get to it
So 5 completely done and 2 half finished. Out of eleven. Yikes. But in all fairness, I did add a few review books as they came along:
Softly & Tenderly - enjoyed. Looking forward to the next in the series awaiting on my coffee table
The Encounter - quick, easy, moving
Hope Underground - Amazing true story
So all together I read 8 and 2 halves. And I did read a portion of one book I set aside. Not bad considering how busy my life has been lately. I don't know if I could name a favorite this time around. A lot of the ones I finished were really good. But if pressed, I'd probably make it a toss up between "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" and "The Orchard". Least fave would have to be the one I set aside. And I set it aside because I was no longer interested in the story after the young teenager's sexual experience was described in way more detail than I wanted to know. Call me a prude. I just don't like that in my reading.
Most of the author's for me were new this time around. All except for Ann G. Gabhart whom I discovered in the last challenge. I can tend to get "stuck" with certain authors as once I discover I like them I want to read everything they've written. So if was fun this time to branch out so much and to branch out a bit from the Christian genre which is my usual reading fare.
I learned lots this time around within the stories whether they were fiction or not. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" taught me stuff about scientific research, it's history, and ethics that I had no idea about. Sorta scary actually. "The Wishing Trees" took me to countries I'll never visit with beautiful descriptions of the lands and culture. "The Orchard", though fiction, taught me things I never knew about the perfume and flavor industry that I totally didn't even imagine. Very interesting.
If you're interested in reading any of my full reviews you can go here and scroll down to #32 - 39.
Thanks Katrina for organizing challenge and allowing us to share all our great reads! To read other's wrap ups (and probably get more ideas for great reads) you can join the wrap up party here!
13 comments:
oh darn!!!! i actually have the house to my self tonite after we celebrated Claire's #13 bday....(the girls and dave went to a concert and I wanted to work on the FFF) i wrote about her birhtday milestone last nite and posted it but thot the reading challenge was for TOMORROW! ARGH...well, I'm gonna work on that AND the fff and hopefully one will be up tomorrow a.m. before work! lol.....read the Secret LIfe of Bees....it is SOOOOOOOOOO good!! and i couldn't get into Sacred Marriage either although i LOVED LOVED LOVED Sacred Pathways about our spiritual temperaments and how we feel closest to God.....but that marriage one I only read the first 2 chapters and quit! lol.....you did really well tho Susanne...Autumn is a busy time...i have more success in reading over hte summer when I am home or on vacation!
It looks like you've read quite a lot in this busy time of the year. Maybe you can get to The Secret Life of Bees in January - I really enjoyed it a couple years back. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
So why do I feel better that you didn't finish your list either? ha. We can blame it partly on those pesty review books. :-) I love 'em but they mess up my little schedule.
I love all your snippets with the titles. Helps me to know what to add to my TBR list.
Even though I don't read a lot of fiction, I totally agree with you that we can learn lots from both nonfiction AND fiction.
Don't know if I'll have time tomorrow to swing by for FFF or not. Got to get the last-minute things done for Christmas. So in case I don't, have a very Merry Christmas!
I really want to read Henrietta Lacks, my book club read it but I wasn't able to read it at the time -boo! Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Definitely going to look into The wishing Trees and The Orchard, too!
I think you did a great job! I am so bad about putting books aside.. I should do it when I don't love it.. but instead I read it.. don't love it then don't feel like reading for a while :-P
Great list - the cover of Faithful is pretty and makes me want to check it out. I have bookmarked your 2011 review page to check out later as I saw several interesting-looking books (Lazarus Awakening for one).
Merry Christmas to you and your family!!
You have read so much and as I flit around all the lovely blogs linked up to the wrap up party I find a common theme that no one completed hehe but we all had great fun and learned lots on the way. Congrats on what you read and wishing you and your family a merry christmas
I like how you wrote up your review and the picture too. I think I have some books to add to my pile!
Missional Mama
I agree about detailed sexual exploits in books. Less is more, and especially when it comes to teens, do books really need to go there? I'm sick of any program that has a teen in it covering that territory.
But enough of that. Softly and Tenderly sounds really good. Looks like a good group of books.
Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah! I had forgotten about 'The Immortal Life . . . " and remember that you made that one sound extremely interesting.
Yes, I'd drop a book if it opened up with sexual exploits of a teen in particular. =/
Sounds like you made good use of your reading time.
And one more time because I can:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Love your organized summary here! I didn't read everything on my list either--I actually read more books NOT on my original list, chuckle.
I learned a lot from the books I read this fall too--especially Unbroken, The Poisonwood Bible, Kisses from Katie--and several others really made me think. Thus, I call it a successful "fall" into reading! ;)
I want to read Henrietta Lacks! I've heard so many good things about it!
I really, really want to read The Immortal Life... So glad to hear you liked it! And I'm with you. The explicit stuff turns me off, pushes me away, and makes me unlikely to try that author again. The thing is, most of the time, it's not even necessary -- authors can get the point across without the explicitness. Thanks for being part of FIR '11!
Post a Comment