The List of books I want to read has grown at an alarming rate. Here’s the list from the beginning of this year, with additions; the ones in bold print or with links are the ones I’ve actually read so far. I also graded them. I’m rather stingy with the A’s.
84 Charing Cross Road–Hanff
A Mango-Shaped Space–Mass
Acts of Fait–Caputo A-
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn–Twain
After the Ball–Beard
Airborn–Oppel B+
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Grace–Norris
Another Place at the Table–Harrison
Armey’s Axioms–Armey
Bad Ground by W. Dale Cramer B
Balkan Trilogy–Manning C-
Behind the Burqa–Yasgur
Beyond Stateliest Marble: The Passionate Femininity of Anne Bradstreet by Douglas Wilson C
Beyond the Summerland–Graham.
Black as Night–Doman
Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation that’s Changing Your World–Hewitt B-
Book of Seven Truths–Miller
Brief Intervals of Horrible Sanity–Gold
Canterbury Papers–Healey
Captains from Castile–Shellabarger
Case Histories–Atkinson C
Chamomile Mourning–Childs C-
Chasing Hepburn–Lee
Children of Men–PD James A-
Christianity for Modern Pagans–Kreeft
Cold Mountain–Frazier
Covenant Child–Blackstock
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night–Haddon
Cut and Run–Pearson C+
Disappearing Duke–Freeman-Keel
Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It by Phillip Longman
Enna Burning–Hale
Erling’s World–Walker
Facing East: A Pilgrim’s Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy–Mathewes-Green A
Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future by Ben J. Wattenberg
Flame Tree–Lewis B+
Game of Kings–Dunnett
Gilead–Robinson A
Girl Meets God–Winner
Glimpses of Truth–Cavanaugh
God I Love by Joni Eareckson Tada B+
The Goose Girl–Hale B+
The Great Gatsby–Fitzgerald
Great Improvisation–Schiff
Growing Pains: Diaries and Drawings from the Years 1908-1917–Gag
Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age–Schultz
Heartbreaker–Garwood
Home Fires Burning–Stokes
Home Invasion–Hagelin
Housekeeping–Robinson
The Idiot-Dostoevsky
Improbable–Fawer B+
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies–McCall Smith A-
Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children–Paterson B
Ireland–Delaney
John Halifax, Gentleman–Dinah Mulock Craik
Jonathan Edwards, A New Biography–Murray
The Keeper’s Son–Hickam C
The Kite Runner–Hosseini A
Kitty, My Rib–Mall
Kristen Lavransdatter–Undset
Lamb in Love–Brown
Last Storyteller–Noble
Levi’s Will–Cramer B+
Lord Vanity–Shellabarger
Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum Peril and Romance–Jocelyn
Mad Mary Lamb–Hitchcock
Magnus–Brouwer
Mark of the Lion Trilogy–Rivers
Maul and the Pear Tree-P.D. James
Michaelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling–King
Miniatures and Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen–Leithart
Miss Marjoribanks–Margaret Oliphant
Monkeywrench–Tracy
Mystic Rose–Lawhead
Nectar in a Sieve–Markandaya A-
Never Let Me Go–Ishiguro
New Way to Be Human–Peacock
Nightbringer-Huggins
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.-McCall Smith A
Oceans Apart by Karen Kingsbury C+
Once Upon a Marigold–Jean Ferris B
Ordeal by Innocence–Christie
Paris to the Moon–Gopnik
Peace Like a River–Enger A
Plain Truth–Picoult
Please Stop Laughing At Me–Blanco
Power of the Powerless–De Vinck
The Princess Academy–Hale
Prophetic Untimeliness–Guinness
Rating the First Ladies–Johnson
Riding the Bus with my Sister–Simon B+
Right Turns–Medved B
Sacred Way–Jones
Safely Home–Alcorn
Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter–Cahill
Scaramouche–Sabatini
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrandt A
Sea of Trolls–Farmer B
Secret Radio–Massi
Shackleton’s Stowaway–McKernan
Shadow of the Bear–Doman
Shadowmancer by G.P. Taylor B
Silent Speaker–Stout B+
Strangers on a Train–Highsmith
Switherby Pilgrims–Spence
Tathea–Perry.
Tears of the Giraffe–McCall Smith A-
Tenant of Wildfell Hall–Ann Bronte
Testimonies–O’Brian B
The Eight–Neville
Thief Lord–Funke
This Vast Land–Ambrose
Thirteenth Juror–Lescroart
Time Lottery–Moser D
The Time Traveler’s Wife–Niffenegger C-
Twilight Children–Hayden
Wide as the Waters–Bobrick
Wild Strawberries–Thirkell
Word Freaks–Fatsis
Year of the Warrior–Walker
Year of Wonders–Brooks B+
Should I take any of these off my list? Dare I ask: should I add any books to my list?
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Thank you, thank you, thank you…. for gifting your list to your readers. I keep a reading list of what I have read and what I plan on reading. Always on the look-out for books to add. I wish more bloggers would list books. It is VERY helpful, especailly since you rated them. Our reading is similar. I read The Poisonwood Bible this summer and was not as offended as I thought I would be. Well-written and thought provoking. While I was reading I had that surreal sensation of being there (you know, wondering if I might have Malaria, being startled at a sound because it might be a lion) Sometimes I was more in the Congo that in SC. Blessings, Kim
Sorry to post twice… just noticed your invitation to recommend books. I liked the Josephine Bonaparte trilogy which starts with The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. It is fiction but well-written, accurate and informative. I also liked the Jasper Fford novel The Eyre Affair. I would give it a definite “A”.
Well, personally I was very much non-plussed by Cold Mountain… but that may just be me! Word Freak is a lot of fun. A little heavy on profanity… but it is a fascinating book, especially for the Scrabble junkie.
Armey’s Axioms will be a quick read.
Unless you know something I don’t (that’s a loaded generalization), Erling’s World is not a book. The Year of the Warrior is the title you’re looking for. It has the adventures of Erling Skjalgsson.
I was excited to see Ireland and The Mark of the Lion trilogy on your list. I read Ireland by Frank Delaney a month or so ago and absolutely loved it. I plan to buy it (I read our library’s copy) – and plan to use the stories told from Irish folklore and history as a part of a unit study on Ireland when my kids are a little older. The Francine Rivers trilogy contains three of my favorite books — I re-read them on a semi-annual basis. I know that they are “Christian fiction” but I believe them to be well-written, with authentic, fully-drawn characters.
What a list. I think I’ll have to come back and go through it with a pen and paper at some point. As it is, I see some of my own list items up. I just started dabbling in Kreeft’s annotated Pensees, “Christianity for Modern Pagans” – it’s excellent. You may also be interested in Garry Wills’ annotated (and very fresh) translations of Augustine’s “Confessions.”
Re: Cold Mountain, it’s written memorably, and arguably could classify as “literature.” (If I’m not mistaken, the NY Times thought so…) Just depends on what you hope to achieve by reading it.
I don’t know how interested you are in the works of C.S. Lewis, but he wrote a fantastic trilogy of stories called Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. Perelandra being my favorite, i highly recommend them.
Good luck with your list, you’ve got some great stuff there!
I loved the Mark of the Lion trilogy-Rivers and Glimpses of Truth–Cavanaugh. I also was not impressed with Cold Mountain. I would like to read that biography about Johnathan Edwards.
We read Inkheart and Thief Lord by Funke, and vastly preferred Inkheart.
When I click on the link to The Keeper’s Son by Hickam I get a different review. Is that Homer Hickam, or somebody else?
I really appreciate you sharing this list!
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