My unofficial goal for 2016 was to read a book for each week in the year and to attempt reading as many new-to-me or diverse subject topics as possible. As I read, I would write a little brief summary of what I had read. My book list for 2016 is as follows:
1) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert--a story of a stupid woman who could never be satisfied. Had several lovers, spent all her husband's money, then committed suicide when she realized all the money was gone and her lovers had lost interest (375 pages).
2) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley--dystopian society in which people are genetically engineered and created for specific social classes and jobs. Promiscuity reigns and everyone belongs to everyone. A psychologist takes his current girl to New Mexico to a savage reservation and brings back an uncivilized man born in the wild. He questions the purpose of this society and eventually goes insane as he tries to purge himself of the corrupted civilization even as they try to surround him with media attention for the entertainment of the masses (259 pages).
3) Four Dead in Ohio by William A. Gordon--an account of the Kent State massacre and the subsequent pursuit for justice for the victims which ultimately fell short of achieving any justice (208 pages).
4) Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee--Scout realizes the South is racist, fights with Atticus, and then things go back to how they were. Stupid, unnecessary sequel (278 pages).
5) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery--a bizarre children's classic about a man who crashed in the desert and hallucinated an encounter with a little prince from another planet who spoke with wisdom of love and friendship and the important things in life (80 pages).
6)Prairyerth by William Least Heat-Moon--an amazing tribute to Chase County, Kansas, and life in a county full of small towns and open prairie skies (622 pages).
7) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes--a woman becomes caregiver for a quadriplegic man who decides to end his life. Before he dies, he teaches her how to live a bigger and better life than that for which she is settling (369 pages).
8) Native Son by Richard Wright--an impoverished black man in 1930 Chicago accidentally kills a white woman in a moment of terror. Once he kills, he feels that he finally has some power over his own life and tries to gain more power. His attempts spiral out of control and he is eventually caught and executed for his crimes, despite his defense that he had been living in a life of oppression and hatred and had just been trying to break out and gain control of his social circumstances (430 pages).
9) Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova--an inside look at an Irish Catholic family in Boston as their patriarch, Joe, is diagnosed with Huntington's Disease and 2 of the 4 children are found to be gene positive, destined to also have HD (335 pages).
10) Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery--a French culinary critic--known for his amazing gastronomy skills and his terrible people skills--recalls his life via flavors and experiences with food from his death bed (156 pages).
11) The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern--a magical circus pits two star-crossed lover magicians against each other in a vague dual. Could have been a really breathtaking story idea but was very poorly executed (387 pages).
12) Storm Kings: The Untold Story of America's First Tornado Chasers by Lee Sandlin--non-fiction account of the history of tornado identification and storm preparedness in America. Fascinating spread from Ben Franklin discovering electricity to storm wars of scientists arguing about tornado origins to the creation of storm predicting protocols (260 pages).
13) The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon--you have neighbors. There are things you should know about them. Church-wide book study for Easter (184 pages).
14) The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan--an extensive look at the causes and stories of the Dust Bowl throughout the Dirty Thirties (312 pages).
15) The Lipstick Gospel by Stephanie May Wilson--a memoir account of a woman's transformation from party girl to Christ follower, realizing that God is not boring or anything less that living life out loud (77 pages).
16) East of Eden by John Steinbeck--a good man grows up with a rough and tumble brother. The good brother (Adam) marries a terrible woman, believing her to be perfect. She sleeps with him and his brother and gets pregnant with twins. Adam and his wife move to California where she gives birth before shooting Adam to escape the life of domesticity. Adam is stunned but raises the twins (Cal and Aron) with the help of an Irish man named Samuel and a Chinese man named Lee. Meanwhile the wife takes on the name Kate and takes over a whorehouse after killing the head madame. The twins grow up, with Aron being holier than thou and Cal being very deeply aware of his depravity. After trying and failing to win his father's love, Cal tells Aron the truth about who their mother became. Aron feels unclean and enlists in WWI. Adam finds out and has a stroke. Cal struggles with sin and guilt but receives redemption after Aron dies in battle and Adam blesses Cal with the word "timshel" or "thou mayest" with his dying breath (601 pages).
17) Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez--a star-crossed love story between a Mexican girl and a black boy in 1937 east Texas and set against the New London School Explosion (399 pages).
18) Slade House by David Mitchell--a bizarre and delightful haunted house book about two immortal occultist twins who maintain their immortality by luring people into fantasy worlds every 9 years through a magical portal in a London alleyway and then stealing their souls. Eventually defeated by a fighter for good, but one twin may have survived by returning as an unborn baby bent on future revenge; the cycle continues (238 pages).
19) A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris--a story about three generations of Native American women, their struggles, and the love they have for their next generations paired with the conflicts they feel about the previous generation (372 pages).
20) Our Town* by Thornton Wilder--a three act play about life in a small New Hampshire town and the childhood, marriage, and death of Emily (and her husband, George) (129 pages).
21) Pawnee Bill: A Biography of Gordon Lilie by Glenn Shirley--an account of Pawnee Bill and his life as a hunter, trapper, teacher, cowboy, white Indian chief, boomer, conservationist, and Wild West shomwan (233 pages).
22)The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children with Autism and Related Disorders by Dr. Mary Lynch Barbera--reading for work based on the question "what can I do to better work and interact with my clients who are on the spectrum?" (171 pages).
23) The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett--a story about the building of a cathedral and the surrounding battle betwen good and evil, state and church. Too long to summarize effectively; if you want to remember the full plot go read the Wiki summary (978 pages).
24) Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes by Wendelin van Draanen--in this installment, Sammy ends up with an abandoned baby and sets out to find its mom, only to find that the mother was being hunted by a gang. Sammy gets involved and saves the mom and reunites the family through her teen sleuthing. Read to someday finish all the Sammy Keyes books, a goal I've had since I was about 14 but forget about every few years (277 pages).
25)King John by Shakespeare--France and England are battling over who should lead England. At one point the battle meets at a village and the warring kings ask the villagers who they believe should be king and they basically reply "we don't care", which is basically the sentiment felt while reading this play. Part of a larger goal to read all of Shakespeare's works (26 pages).
26) Rebecca* by Daphne du Maurier--a young woman marries a wealthy Englishman and feels constantly overshadowed by her husband's late first wife, Rebecca, until the terrible details surroudning Rebecca's death are revealed (386 pages).
27) Bad Girls by Jan Stradling--short stories about 22 infamous women and their effect on history (279 pages).
28) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy--Russian realist novel comparing one relationship seeking thrills in an affair and one relationship of Christian domestic life. The first ends in pain and tragedy, the second endures through pain with joy and love. For a lengthier summary, go to Wiki (894 pages).
29) Little Town on the Prairie* by Laura Ingalls Wilder--the little house installment in which Laura becomes a teenager, enjoys town life, begins to court Almanzo, and studies to become a teacher. Read in attempt to re-read all Little House novels (307 pages).
30) The Elegance of the Hedgehog* by Muriel Barbery--a French concierge who wants to hide her intellect from the world, a precocious 12-year-old determined to commit suicide on her 13th birthday, and a Japanese diplomat all converge to discover beauty in the world and how love and wonder can change hearts (325 pages).
31) Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple--a quirky book about a dysfunctional family with a disappearing mother who, it is discovered in investigation, is merely trying to find a placed to thrive (326 pages).
32) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows--a young journalist post-WWII becomes connects with a small island of people who created a literary society to safely partake in community during the five year German occupation (274 pages).
33)A Wind in the Door* by Madeline L'Engle--I re-read this book because I love the concept of Naming someone, of knowing who they are to help them reach their full potential, but in re-reading this book I felt like such a hippie on a drug trip (240 pages).
34) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne (and some minor assistance by Rowling)--a script of a play about Harry and Ginny's son, Albus. It's a Wonderful Life meets Harry Potter. I think I'll keep my original canon of seven books, thank you very much (308 pages).
35) Dark Places by Gillian Flynn--with the financial aid of a society obsessed with solving crimes, a woman goes on a quest to uncover the truth of how her family was brutally murdered 25 years ago to potentially free her brother from prison, where he is serving time for the massacre (345 pages).
36) Lord of the Flies by William Golding--boys left to their own governance on an island face the conflict betwen governing powers and individual thirst for control (243 pages).
37) Blue Like Jazz* by Donald Miller--a beautiful and spiritually refreshing re-read to remind myself of how far I've come since 19 and of the idea of Jesus on a dirt road walking towards me (240 pages).
38) The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane--a man in the Union army wonders if he can be brave enough to face battle. He runs away at his first battle but later returns to be a flag bearer in another battle with his regiment (109 pages).
39) Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson--a detailed account of the Lincoln assassination, the Seward assassination attempt, and the flight of John Wilkes Booth southward to escape his punishment for murder which ultimately ended in a showdown in a southern barn between Booth and Union troops in which Booth was shot (388 pages).
40) The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin--a widowed middle aged bookseller's life changes forever when he adopts an orphaned girl and begins to invest in his community (258 pages).
41) House Rules by Jodi Piccoult--an 18 year old with Asperger's is tried for murder; the result was learning that he was merely covering up for his brother who had accidentally caused the death of the victim (532 pages).
42) Landline by Rainbow Rowell--a woman discovers a magical phone that allows her to communicate with her husband in the past, which solves her marriage problems in the present as she remembers all she loves about him. So, so good and sweet and marriage positive (308 pages).
43) Eugene Onegin by Pushkin--a young man inherits his uncle's farm, rejects the affections of Tatyana, kills his best friend in a futile duel, and then regrets his actions when he is reunited with Tatyana and she rejects his advances in order to remain faithful to her husband (222 pages).
44) The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig--a story about a family of boys, the schoolteacher that brings their one room schoolhouse to life, and the housekeeper brought from the east to care for the family in the aftermath of the mother's death. This book had so much potential to be a really sweet and poignant look at prairie life but then the last chapter turned it into a weird conspiracy of sorts that left me as the reader unsatisfied with the story (345 pages).
45) Selections by Washington Irving--reviewing Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle in honor of the Halloween season (57 pages).
46) Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist--I love Shauna, and it's always a pleasure to read her words, but this book just didn't relate to my life right now. I believe someday I will pick up this book and find it to be the perfect fit but this season of life is already characterized by rest and connection, and for that I am truly blessed (234 pages).
47) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski-- it's like Holden Caufield found a manuscript about a haunted house from hell and tried to tell us about it. Like, I don't even know what I read but I was so intrigued and completely engaged in the labyrinth (644 pages).
48) Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday and William Duffy--an autobiography about the career of Billie Holiday and the struggles she faced with racial tensions and drug addiction (224 pages).
49) Selections from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--short stories read included A Case of Identity (a stepfather who wants to keep his stepdaughter's income disguises himself as a suitor and breaks her heart to keep her away from marriage or dreams of leaving his household), The Boscombe Valley Mystery (an Australian man kills a fellow countryman to prevent his daughter from learning of his past as a robber; the dead man's son was suspected but the daughter of the murderer loved the son of the dead man and sought his freedom), The Five Orange Pips (Sherlock takes on the KKK as they travel to England to exact revenge on an ex-Klan member), The Man with the Twisted Lip (a man fakes his own kidnapping in order to keep hidden from his wife his profession of faking life as a beggar), Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (a jewel thief hides his gem inside a Christmas goose), Adventure of the Speckled Band (a cruel doctor obsessed with exotic animals attempts to kill both his stepdaughters by snake bite in order to keep their inheritance for himself), and Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb (a fantastical account of an engineer getting hired for a secret job where he almost loses his life due to mysterious happenings, only to be summarized in one page as: counterfeiters) (157 pages).
50) East to Dawn by Susan Butler--the extensive biography of the amazing Amelia Earhart (407 pages).
51) The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas--really good but confusing to summarize. It could boil down to a story of the conflict between government and Catholicism. It also tells the stories of four men devoted to the king and how they devoted their services to protecting individuals related to the well being of the French royalty or to foiling the plans of the Cardinal. It could also be summarized as a young Musketeer's conflict between innocent love for the queen's chambermaid and passionate love for the evil woman working under the cardinal's orders to wreak havoc on the political systems under the king. For fuller summary, go to Wiki (628 pages).
52) Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer--a riveting survivor's account of the perils and hardships of climbing Everest and what it was like to experience tragedy of half of his team dying or being seriously injured in an unexpected storm disaster (288 pages).
53. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe* by CS Lewis (208 pages).
54. Prince Caspian* by CS Lewis (195 pages).
55. Voyage of the Dawn Treader* by CS Lewis (223 pages).
56. Divergent by Veronica Roth--dystopian society in which people are sorted according to personality: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, or Erudite. Book follows Tris, a girl from Abnegation who chooses Dauntless but is secretly Divergent. She trains to become Dauntless but then faces obstacles when she learns that the Erudite are using Dauntless as mindless soldiers to attack Abnegation (487 pages).
57. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain--the story of Hadley Richardson, first wife of Ernest Hemingway. Fictionalized account of their courtship, marriage, and eventual divorce after his infidelity with a friend of hers (314 pages).
(17,886 pages read this year)
*denotes a re-read work
Top 10 Books I Enjoyed Most This Year (in no particular order):
1. Prairyerth by William Least Heat-Moon
2. Storm Kings: The Untold Story of America's First Tornado Chasers by Lee Sandlin
3. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
4. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
5. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
6. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson
7. The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
8. Landline by Rainbow Rowell
9. East to Dawn by Susan Butler
10. The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas
Books I Didn't Enjoy At All
1. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
2, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Overall Best/Most Memorable Book of the Year:
Prairyerth by William Least Heat Moon. Libby gave me this book last Christmas since it is all about the Flint Hills of Kansas. It was a long read but I breezed through it. It told the stories of Chase County, Kansas, and sent my heart longing to explore more in my area while falling more deeply in love with Kansas and her culture.
1) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert--a story of a stupid woman who could never be satisfied. Had several lovers, spent all her husband's money, then committed suicide when she realized all the money was gone and her lovers had lost interest (375 pages).
2) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley--dystopian society in which people are genetically engineered and created for specific social classes and jobs. Promiscuity reigns and everyone belongs to everyone. A psychologist takes his current girl to New Mexico to a savage reservation and brings back an uncivilized man born in the wild. He questions the purpose of this society and eventually goes insane as he tries to purge himself of the corrupted civilization even as they try to surround him with media attention for the entertainment of the masses (259 pages).
3) Four Dead in Ohio by William A. Gordon--an account of the Kent State massacre and the subsequent pursuit for justice for the victims which ultimately fell short of achieving any justice (208 pages).
4) Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee--Scout realizes the South is racist, fights with Atticus, and then things go back to how they were. Stupid, unnecessary sequel (278 pages).
5) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery--a bizarre children's classic about a man who crashed in the desert and hallucinated an encounter with a little prince from another planet who spoke with wisdom of love and friendship and the important things in life (80 pages).
6)Prairyerth by William Least Heat-Moon--an amazing tribute to Chase County, Kansas, and life in a county full of small towns and open prairie skies (622 pages).
7) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes--a woman becomes caregiver for a quadriplegic man who decides to end his life. Before he dies, he teaches her how to live a bigger and better life than that for which she is settling (369 pages).
8) Native Son by Richard Wright--an impoverished black man in 1930 Chicago accidentally kills a white woman in a moment of terror. Once he kills, he feels that he finally has some power over his own life and tries to gain more power. His attempts spiral out of control and he is eventually caught and executed for his crimes, despite his defense that he had been living in a life of oppression and hatred and had just been trying to break out and gain control of his social circumstances (430 pages).
9) Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova--an inside look at an Irish Catholic family in Boston as their patriarch, Joe, is diagnosed with Huntington's Disease and 2 of the 4 children are found to be gene positive, destined to also have HD (335 pages).
10) Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery--a French culinary critic--known for his amazing gastronomy skills and his terrible people skills--recalls his life via flavors and experiences with food from his death bed (156 pages).
11) The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern--a magical circus pits two star-crossed lover magicians against each other in a vague dual. Could have been a really breathtaking story idea but was very poorly executed (387 pages).
12) Storm Kings: The Untold Story of America's First Tornado Chasers by Lee Sandlin--non-fiction account of the history of tornado identification and storm preparedness in America. Fascinating spread from Ben Franklin discovering electricity to storm wars of scientists arguing about tornado origins to the creation of storm predicting protocols (260 pages).
13) The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon--you have neighbors. There are things you should know about them. Church-wide book study for Easter (184 pages).
14) The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan--an extensive look at the causes and stories of the Dust Bowl throughout the Dirty Thirties (312 pages).
15) The Lipstick Gospel by Stephanie May Wilson--a memoir account of a woman's transformation from party girl to Christ follower, realizing that God is not boring or anything less that living life out loud (77 pages).
16) East of Eden by John Steinbeck--a good man grows up with a rough and tumble brother. The good brother (Adam) marries a terrible woman, believing her to be perfect. She sleeps with him and his brother and gets pregnant with twins. Adam and his wife move to California where she gives birth before shooting Adam to escape the life of domesticity. Adam is stunned but raises the twins (Cal and Aron) with the help of an Irish man named Samuel and a Chinese man named Lee. Meanwhile the wife takes on the name Kate and takes over a whorehouse after killing the head madame. The twins grow up, with Aron being holier than thou and Cal being very deeply aware of his depravity. After trying and failing to win his father's love, Cal tells Aron the truth about who their mother became. Aron feels unclean and enlists in WWI. Adam finds out and has a stroke. Cal struggles with sin and guilt but receives redemption after Aron dies in battle and Adam blesses Cal with the word "timshel" or "thou mayest" with his dying breath (601 pages).
17) Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez--a star-crossed love story between a Mexican girl and a black boy in 1937 east Texas and set against the New London School Explosion (399 pages).
18) Slade House by David Mitchell--a bizarre and delightful haunted house book about two immortal occultist twins who maintain their immortality by luring people into fantasy worlds every 9 years through a magical portal in a London alleyway and then stealing their souls. Eventually defeated by a fighter for good, but one twin may have survived by returning as an unborn baby bent on future revenge; the cycle continues (238 pages).
19) A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris--a story about three generations of Native American women, their struggles, and the love they have for their next generations paired with the conflicts they feel about the previous generation (372 pages).
20) Our Town* by Thornton Wilder--a three act play about life in a small New Hampshire town and the childhood, marriage, and death of Emily (and her husband, George) (129 pages).
21) Pawnee Bill: A Biography of Gordon Lilie by Glenn Shirley--an account of Pawnee Bill and his life as a hunter, trapper, teacher, cowboy, white Indian chief, boomer, conservationist, and Wild West shomwan (233 pages).
22)The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children with Autism and Related Disorders by Dr. Mary Lynch Barbera--reading for work based on the question "what can I do to better work and interact with my clients who are on the spectrum?" (171 pages).
23) The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett--a story about the building of a cathedral and the surrounding battle betwen good and evil, state and church. Too long to summarize effectively; if you want to remember the full plot go read the Wiki summary (978 pages).
24) Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes by Wendelin van Draanen--in this installment, Sammy ends up with an abandoned baby and sets out to find its mom, only to find that the mother was being hunted by a gang. Sammy gets involved and saves the mom and reunites the family through her teen sleuthing. Read to someday finish all the Sammy Keyes books, a goal I've had since I was about 14 but forget about every few years (277 pages).
25)King John by Shakespeare--France and England are battling over who should lead England. At one point the battle meets at a village and the warring kings ask the villagers who they believe should be king and they basically reply "we don't care", which is basically the sentiment felt while reading this play. Part of a larger goal to read all of Shakespeare's works (26 pages).
26) Rebecca* by Daphne du Maurier--a young woman marries a wealthy Englishman and feels constantly overshadowed by her husband's late first wife, Rebecca, until the terrible details surroudning Rebecca's death are revealed (386 pages).
27) Bad Girls by Jan Stradling--short stories about 22 infamous women and their effect on history (279 pages).
28) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy--Russian realist novel comparing one relationship seeking thrills in an affair and one relationship of Christian domestic life. The first ends in pain and tragedy, the second endures through pain with joy and love. For a lengthier summary, go to Wiki (894 pages).
29) Little Town on the Prairie* by Laura Ingalls Wilder--the little house installment in which Laura becomes a teenager, enjoys town life, begins to court Almanzo, and studies to become a teacher. Read in attempt to re-read all Little House novels (307 pages).
30) The Elegance of the Hedgehog* by Muriel Barbery--a French concierge who wants to hide her intellect from the world, a precocious 12-year-old determined to commit suicide on her 13th birthday, and a Japanese diplomat all converge to discover beauty in the world and how love and wonder can change hearts (325 pages).
31) Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple--a quirky book about a dysfunctional family with a disappearing mother who, it is discovered in investigation, is merely trying to find a placed to thrive (326 pages).
32) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows--a young journalist post-WWII becomes connects with a small island of people who created a literary society to safely partake in community during the five year German occupation (274 pages).
33)A Wind in the Door* by Madeline L'Engle--I re-read this book because I love the concept of Naming someone, of knowing who they are to help them reach their full potential, but in re-reading this book I felt like such a hippie on a drug trip (240 pages).
34) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne (and some minor assistance by Rowling)--a script of a play about Harry and Ginny's son, Albus. It's a Wonderful Life meets Harry Potter. I think I'll keep my original canon of seven books, thank you very much (308 pages).
35) Dark Places by Gillian Flynn--with the financial aid of a society obsessed with solving crimes, a woman goes on a quest to uncover the truth of how her family was brutally murdered 25 years ago to potentially free her brother from prison, where he is serving time for the massacre (345 pages).
36) Lord of the Flies by William Golding--boys left to their own governance on an island face the conflict betwen governing powers and individual thirst for control (243 pages).
37) Blue Like Jazz* by Donald Miller--a beautiful and spiritually refreshing re-read to remind myself of how far I've come since 19 and of the idea of Jesus on a dirt road walking towards me (240 pages).
38) The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane--a man in the Union army wonders if he can be brave enough to face battle. He runs away at his first battle but later returns to be a flag bearer in another battle with his regiment (109 pages).
39) Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson--a detailed account of the Lincoln assassination, the Seward assassination attempt, and the flight of John Wilkes Booth southward to escape his punishment for murder which ultimately ended in a showdown in a southern barn between Booth and Union troops in which Booth was shot (388 pages).
40) The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin--a widowed middle aged bookseller's life changes forever when he adopts an orphaned girl and begins to invest in his community (258 pages).
41) House Rules by Jodi Piccoult--an 18 year old with Asperger's is tried for murder; the result was learning that he was merely covering up for his brother who had accidentally caused the death of the victim (532 pages).
42) Landline by Rainbow Rowell--a woman discovers a magical phone that allows her to communicate with her husband in the past, which solves her marriage problems in the present as she remembers all she loves about him. So, so good and sweet and marriage positive (308 pages).
43) Eugene Onegin by Pushkin--a young man inherits his uncle's farm, rejects the affections of Tatyana, kills his best friend in a futile duel, and then regrets his actions when he is reunited with Tatyana and she rejects his advances in order to remain faithful to her husband (222 pages).
44) The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig--a story about a family of boys, the schoolteacher that brings their one room schoolhouse to life, and the housekeeper brought from the east to care for the family in the aftermath of the mother's death. This book had so much potential to be a really sweet and poignant look at prairie life but then the last chapter turned it into a weird conspiracy of sorts that left me as the reader unsatisfied with the story (345 pages).
45) Selections by Washington Irving--reviewing Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle in honor of the Halloween season (57 pages).
46) Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist--I love Shauna, and it's always a pleasure to read her words, but this book just didn't relate to my life right now. I believe someday I will pick up this book and find it to be the perfect fit but this season of life is already characterized by rest and connection, and for that I am truly blessed (234 pages).
47) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski-- it's like Holden Caufield found a manuscript about a haunted house from hell and tried to tell us about it. Like, I don't even know what I read but I was so intrigued and completely engaged in the labyrinth (644 pages).
48) Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday and William Duffy--an autobiography about the career of Billie Holiday and the struggles she faced with racial tensions and drug addiction (224 pages).
49) Selections from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--short stories read included A Case of Identity (a stepfather who wants to keep his stepdaughter's income disguises himself as a suitor and breaks her heart to keep her away from marriage or dreams of leaving his household), The Boscombe Valley Mystery (an Australian man kills a fellow countryman to prevent his daughter from learning of his past as a robber; the dead man's son was suspected but the daughter of the murderer loved the son of the dead man and sought his freedom), The Five Orange Pips (Sherlock takes on the KKK as they travel to England to exact revenge on an ex-Klan member), The Man with the Twisted Lip (a man fakes his own kidnapping in order to keep hidden from his wife his profession of faking life as a beggar), Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (a jewel thief hides his gem inside a Christmas goose), Adventure of the Speckled Band (a cruel doctor obsessed with exotic animals attempts to kill both his stepdaughters by snake bite in order to keep their inheritance for himself), and Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb (a fantastical account of an engineer getting hired for a secret job where he almost loses his life due to mysterious happenings, only to be summarized in one page as: counterfeiters) (157 pages).
50) East to Dawn by Susan Butler--the extensive biography of the amazing Amelia Earhart (407 pages).
51) The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas--really good but confusing to summarize. It could boil down to a story of the conflict between government and Catholicism. It also tells the stories of four men devoted to the king and how they devoted their services to protecting individuals related to the well being of the French royalty or to foiling the plans of the Cardinal. It could also be summarized as a young Musketeer's conflict between innocent love for the queen's chambermaid and passionate love for the evil woman working under the cardinal's orders to wreak havoc on the political systems under the king. For fuller summary, go to Wiki (628 pages).
52) Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer--a riveting survivor's account of the perils and hardships of climbing Everest and what it was like to experience tragedy of half of his team dying or being seriously injured in an unexpected storm disaster (288 pages).
53. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe* by CS Lewis (208 pages).
54. Prince Caspian* by CS Lewis (195 pages).
55. Voyage of the Dawn Treader* by CS Lewis (223 pages).
56. Divergent by Veronica Roth--dystopian society in which people are sorted according to personality: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, or Erudite. Book follows Tris, a girl from Abnegation who chooses Dauntless but is secretly Divergent. She trains to become Dauntless but then faces obstacles when she learns that the Erudite are using Dauntless as mindless soldiers to attack Abnegation (487 pages).
57. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain--the story of Hadley Richardson, first wife of Ernest Hemingway. Fictionalized account of their courtship, marriage, and eventual divorce after his infidelity with a friend of hers (314 pages).
(17,886 pages read this year)
*denotes a re-read work
Top 10 Books I Enjoyed Most This Year (in no particular order):
1. Prairyerth by William Least Heat-Moon
2. Storm Kings: The Untold Story of America's First Tornado Chasers by Lee Sandlin
3. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
4. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
5. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
6. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson
7. The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
8. Landline by Rainbow Rowell
9. East to Dawn by Susan Butler
10. The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas
Books I Didn't Enjoy At All
1. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
2, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Overall Best/Most Memorable Book of the Year:
Prairyerth by William Least Heat Moon. Libby gave me this book last Christmas since it is all about the Flint Hills of Kansas. It was a long read but I breezed through it. It told the stories of Chase County, Kansas, and sent my heart longing to explore more in my area while falling more deeply in love with Kansas and her culture.
