Fall Into Reading 2011 Wrap Up

Today is the wrap up for the Fall Into Reading Challenge.  How on earth did that come up so fast?  That means there is only  4 more days until Christmas!  Now that's a reality check.  Help Me!

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!

And Speaking of Books

This was a great summer of reading for me.  So far, I've been able to finish nine books in total and hopefully will be adding one more before the official first day of summer.  I've reviewed some of them on this site (here, here,  here , here, and finally, here) for you, but I've gotten a touch behind so for the review of the following, you can scroll down to their respective numbers on my book blog located here under the 2011 reviews.

#25

 #26

                               

#27

#28

I really tried to read a variety of stuff this summer.  Nothing too terribly heavy, as it is summer after all.  But looking back over the list, I see that I have 5 out of the nine books that could fit into the historical fiction category.  Oh well.  They were at different time periods and about totally different subjects, so I guess I'll let myself off the hook for that.  Kinda, sorta.  :v)

Now my mind is already starting to play with this coming up in the fall.  

There are just so many books I want to read.  And I can't stay off my library's website and add more to my "For Later" shelves.  Decisions, decisions.  Not to mention the fact that my own book basket in my closet is totally overflowing.  I can't seem to stay away from library's book sales, either, it seems. Or their shelves.   Or the bookstore.  Ahhh, it's an addiction, I tell ya.  But a good one.  Right?  Hello?  But I have a plan for the upcoming challenge for choosing my books.  I'll share that when the Fall Into Reading post goes up.  But I'm curious.  How do you choose your books you want to read?  Do you go to book sites?  Or are you a shelf browser?  Do you randomly buy books, trade books, borrow books or are you deliberate?  If you have overflowing piles how do you choose which ones to read at the that time?  Enquiring minds want to know.