The Bookshelf

The following is going to be a list of ALL the books I read for 2011 and beyond. I will list the book, the author, whether they were personal choice, book club reads, school or self/home improvement, faith based reading or other.

AUGUST
1. The Cat Who dropped a Bombshell – Lilian Jackson Braun (Personal choice). I found the book fun, but very slow paced and some story lines never really got explained. Maybe they get sorted in further books, but I prefer books that are not run-ons in other publications, meaning the story line filters over to another book.

2. Morality For Beautiful Girls – Alexander McCall Smith (Personal choice). This was my first taste of the #1 Ladies Detective Agency books, which several of my friends had suggested to me. I liked it so well, I am now starting my second book of this series.

3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Personal choice). I liked this book, and the short mysteries too. Made me hanker after some good Agatha Christie or even some more Sherlock Holmes stories.

4. Blue Shoes and Happiness = Alexander McCall Smith (Personal choice). Once again enjoyed the writing style of this author and the insight into the culture of Botswana along with the entertaining story line.

JULY
1. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold (Personal choice). The story was just okay, by no means did I love or connect with this story nor most of the characters in it. I couldn’t find any real place of understanding into what I suspect was suppose to be the meat of some of the characters. I also found many aspects of the story line to be too much, and oddly not enough in other places.

2. Fat Fanny, Beanpole Bertha and the Triplet boys – Barbara A. Porte (Personal choice). As silly as it sounds, it was the name of this book which made me pick it up and read it. It is a children’s book, but I enjoyed the story and will be reading it to my children too.

3. The Doctor’s Sweetheart – L.M. Montgomery (Personal choice). This book was a collection of short romance stories. A couple didn’t have that feel to me, but the rest were sweet, funny, and sweet and funny too.

JUNE
1. The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch (Personal choice, but I have suggested it to the book club). Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found Randy’s positive outlook on life so amazing. It is how I would wish I would react if faced with the same inevitable outcome at such a young age. The reality is, I probably wouldn’t though, I worry about stuff too much when I’m walking through those refining fires. The book made me want to know this man more and so I went searching. I hope some of his joy and positivity have rubbed off on me. After reading the book, I decided to also watched his lecture on youtube, plus interviews with him and his wife, Jai. I very much enjoyed them.

MARCH
1. Hey World, Here I Am – Jean Little (book club suggestion. I learned I’m not terribly fond of reading poetry books for book club. I think you read with the expectation that you must find something or there is something you missed if you didn’t find some deeper purpose in the poem(s). Whereas prose gives you the freedom to just sit back and be entertained and maybe you’ll find a deeper meaning within the story line, and maybe you will just be entertained.)

FEBRUARY
1. Look Through My Window – Jean Little (kind of both personal choice and bookclub. I really enjoyed this story and it moved fast and I got involved with the characters immediately.)

2. Kate – Jean Little (again, kind of both a personal choice and a book club choice. Also really enjoyed this book. I like this author’s writing style and think I might read more of her books).

3. A Virtuous Woman – Kaye Gibbons (personal choice. I liked the book. I think there is a deeper meaning in it somewhere, but I am not finding it. Perhaps I’ll read it again later).

JANUARY
1.The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley (personal choice. I liked it, though it wasn’t a page turner for me)

2. Wednesdays Letters – Jason F. Wright (personal choice. I enjoyed it and was engaged right from the beginning.)

3. Star of Light – Patricia St. John (Homeschool. Both my son, 13, and I liked this book. Not deep, but enjoyable)

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Personal choice. I really liked this book. The style, humour and history kept me turning the pages)