Midyear Book Update

We've just crossed the halfway point of the year.  I've read 64 books so far totaling 16,813 pages -- an average of about 90 pages a day.  I am honestly a bit surprised by that as it never feels like I'm reading that much.  I've continued reading more fiction and have been reading lots of books about marriage and the like lately.  Although I am enjoying the fiction, I'm realizing that biographies really are my favorite.  People are fascinating and there are really so many interesting things to be learned from them -- and their successes and failures; that's probably why I'm drawn to biographies. 

Here's a list of books I've read since my last update; as usual my favorites are bolded.

1. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
2. God's Generals: Why They Succeeded and Why Some Failed by Roberts Liardon
3. The Bean Trees: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (this book is terrible by the way) 
5. The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley 
6. Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg
7. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life by Scott Adams
8. Teach Us to Want: Longing, Ambition and the Life of Faith by Jen Pollock Michel 
9. Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God-Given Influence by Jenni Catron
10. The Sacred Year: Mapping the Soulscape of Spiritual Practice -- How Contemplating Apples, Living in a Cave and Befriending a Dying Woman Revived My Life by Michael Yankoski
11. The Pioneer Spirit by Dutch Sheets
12. The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence 
13. The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible by Mark Batterson
14. Dreams: God's Voice in the Night: Interpret Your Own Dreams with Ease and Accuracy by Barbara Lardinais
15. 30 Years a Watchtower Slave: The Confessions of a Converted Jehovah's Witness by William J. Schnell
16. A Trip around the Sun: Turning Your Everyday Life into the Adventure of a Lifetime by Mark Batterson, Richard Foth, Susanna Foth Aughtmon 
17. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
18. Jesus Prom: Life Gets Fun When You Love People Like God Does by Jon Weece
19. Grace for Parents by Brandi K. Harris
20. The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership by James C. Hunter 
21. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
22. The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, Ernest Howard Shepard 
23. When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne
24. Now We are Six by Alan Alexander Milne
25. Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard by Liz Murray
26. Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture by Adam S. McHugh
27. What Keeps You Up at Night? How to Find Peace While Chasing Your Dreams by Pete Wilson
28. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
29. Throwing Shadows by E.L. Konigsburg
30. Sex and the Soul of a Woman: How God Restores the Beauty of Relationship from the Pain of Regret by Paula Rinehart
31. Dangerous Surrender: What Happens when You Say Yes to God by Kay Warren 
32. Loved Back to Life: How I Found the Courage to Live Free by Sheila Walsh
33. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco, Margery Williams, Michael Hague
34. Sacred Influence: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands by Gary L. Thomas
35. Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong by Susan Blumberg-Kason
36. Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage by Fawn Weaver
37. So Long, Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us by Beth Moore
38. Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis
39. Love Walked in: A Novel by Marisa De los Santos

Books so Far in 2015

Here's a list of books I've been reading this year.  This year, I initially planned to focus less on the number of books I read in favor of choosing to read (at least) 12 classics this year.  Well, that plan has fallen by the wayside as I've read exactly zero classics this year.  However, part of the original intent behind this goal was to incentivize quality over quantity.  Last year I found myself reading short books (250 pages or less, usually) so that I could mark them off my list.  This year, I've decided just to read what I want regardless of how long the book is, and I've noticed the books I've read are decidedly longer (iReaditNow, the app I use, says they're averaging about 300 pages and as long as 700).  As a result I've read fewer books but read about 7500 pages so far this year (not including reading for work).  I've also found myself drawn to more fiction stories, which is a surprise and a departure from what I usually read.  Below are the books I've read so far this year.   Like usual, my favorites are bolded.

1. Me Before You: A Novel by Jojo Moyes
2. The Veil by Blake K. Healy
3. Living a Life of Fire: An Autobiography by Reinhard Bonnke
4. What Every Bride Needs to Know: The Most Important Year in a Woman's Life by Susan DeVries
5. What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage by Paul David Tripp
6. Atlas Girl: Finding Home in the Last Place I Thought to Look by Emily T. Wierenga
7. What Every Groom Needs to Know: The Most Important Year in a Man's Life by Robert Wolgemuth
8. Birthing the Miraculous: The Power of Personal Encounters with God to Change Your Life and the World by Heidi Baker
9. Fly a Little Higher: How God Answered One Mom's Small Prayer in a Big Way by Laura Sobiech
10. 3500: An Autistic Boy's Ten Year Romance with Snow White by Ron Miles
11. The Sacred Search: What If It's Not about Who You Marry, But Why? by Gary Thomas
12. Becoming Fearless: My Ongoing Journey of Learning to Trust God by Michelle Aguilar
13. The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating by Andy Stanley
14. Wife Number Seven by Melissa Brown
15. Chasing the Dragon: One Woman's Struggle Against the Darkness of Hong Kong's Drug Dens by Jackie Pullinger
16. Scary Close (International Edition) by Donald Miller
17. The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
18. The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
19. Nanny Returns by Nicola Kraus
20. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen
21. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
22. Boundaries: When To Say Yes, How to Say No by Henry Cloud
23. Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius
24. The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond by Bill Hybels
25. M.C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton

Wrapping up a year of reading

This year, I think reading was my lifeline.  It helped me to escape.  It helped me to learn.  It helped me to relax.  It helped me when I was people-d out.  In so many ways, reading (and writing) helped me this year.  Reading has become a part of who I am; I am a lover of Jesus, a lover of people (but an introvert, so don't get too crazy), a friend, a learner, and a reader.

I started out wanting to read 50 books this year; about one a week.  As I neared that goal early in the summer (the amazing summer without a job and full of relaxation), I realized I might be able to do 100 books in a year.  With two days left in 2014, I'm calling it.  The final count for the year is 117.  I would never have guessed that I would have been able to read so many books, or that I would have enjoyed it so much.  I would have never guessed it would have become a lifeline in a stressful and hectic season of life; a way to survive when life outside felt out of control and unbelievably stressful.  But it has been so good.

Without further ado, here are the books I've read since I last updated my list (and the list before).  Once again, my favorites are bolded.

1. Unstoppable: Running the Race you were Born to Win by Christine Caine
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry
3. Finding Blue by Lois Lowry
4. Messenger by Lois Lowry
5. Son by Lois Lowry
6. I Like Giving by Brad Formosma
7. The Story of Marriage by John and Lisa Bevere
8. Fire and Fragrance: From the Great Commandment to the Great Commission by Sean Feucht and Andy Byrd
9. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
10. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
11. Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
12. How I Changed my Mind about Women in Leadership: Compelling Stories from Prominent Evangelicals edited by Alan F. Johnson
13. Making Vision Stick by Andy Stanley
14. God’s Whisper Manifesto by Andi Cumbo
15. From this Day Forward: Five Commitments to Fail-Proof Your Marriage by Craig and Amy Groeschel
16. Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet: Tasting the Goodness of God in All Things by Sara Hagerty
17. Speak by Nish Weiseth
18. The Invisible Girls by Sarah Thebarge
19. Let’s All Be Brave: Living Life with Everything You Have by Annie Downs
20. God Knows my Name: Never Forgotten, Forever Loved by Beth Redman
21. Lady in Waiting: Becoming God's Best While Waiting for Mr. Right by Jackie Kendall and Debby Jones
22. A Life of Miracles by Don Schulze
23. You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado
24. God is Able by Priscilla Shirer
25. A Story Unfinished: 99 Days with Eliot by Matt Mooney
26. Heidi by Joanna Spyri
27. The Hardest Peace by Kara Tippetts
28. Connected by Erin Davis
29. Tables in the Wilderness by Preston Yancey
30. Living Courageously: You Can Face Anything, Just Do It Afraid by Joyce Meyer
31. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
32. Mended by Angie Smith
33. The Beauty of Broken by Elisa Morgan
34. The Millennials by Thom S. Rainer and Jess W. Rainer
35. Wild: from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
36. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
37. The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
38. Title Pending: Things I Think About when I Make Stuff by Justin McRoberts
39. Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn’t Give Up by Larissa and Ian Murphy

Books I've Read This Year, part 2 and my Reading Goal

This summer I read a ton -- in parks, at restaurants, at the water park.  It was so incredibly relaxing, and I loved learning about new things and escaping into new ideas and fictional places I was reading about. When I realized I'd finished 50 books by mid June, I wondered to myself, "Can I read 100 books this year?"  I figured I'd give it a shot, but only as long as I was enjoying it and not letting this become a stressful goal.  I figured I would have no shot at meeting the goal if I didn't read 75 books by the time school started.

School (at least reporting to school for me) starts tomorrow.  I made it through 78 books so far this year.  This means that in order to read the remaining 22 books required to reach 100, I have to read about a book a week, with a week or two where I read two books.  That's totally achievable.  Here we go!

Below is the list of books I've read since I last updated my list.  Once again, I've bolded my favorites.

1. Seriously Mum, What’s an Alpaca? by Alan Parks
2. Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World by Tsh Oxenreider
3. Let Hope In by Pete Wilson
4. Husbands and Fathers by Derek Prince
5. Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequest
6. Signs, Wonders, and a Baptist Preacher by Chad Norris
7. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
8. Lincoln’s Battle with God by Stephen Mansfield
9. International Bank of Bob: Connecting our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time by Bob Harris
10. The Jesus Blueprint by Dave Buehring
11. Be Real: Because Fake is Exhausting by Rick Bezet
12. The List: Figuring Out Prince Charming, the Corner Office, and Happily Ever After by Marian Jordan
13. I Know their Hearts by Jeff Olson
14. Passion: The Bright Light of Glory by Louie Giglio
15. Captive in Iran: A Remarkable True Story of Hope and Triumph amid the Horror of Tehran's Brutal Evin Prison by Maryam Rostampour, Marziyeh Amirizadeh
16. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
17. The Power of a New Identity by Dan Sneed
18. Sojourner Truth: American Abolitionist by W. Terry Whalin
19. Voice in the Night: The True Story of a Man and the Miracles That Are Changing Africa by Pastor Surprise, Bill Johnson and David Wimbish
20. Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
21. Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis
22. Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
23. When God Breaks your Heart by Ed Underwood
24. Fashioned to Reign: Empowering Women to Fulfill Their Divine Destiny by Kris Valliton
25. One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land by Priscilla Shirer
26. Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
27. Humility by Andrew Murray
28. Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker

Books I've Read This Year

I just finished my 50th book so far this year (technically, I started and in a couple cases finished some during Christmas Break which began in late December).  Here's a list of what I've read so far this year. My favorites are bolded -- this is a lot more variety and fiction than I usually read, but I've enjoyed the variation.

1. Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey
2. Bittersweet by Shauna Niequest
3. Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
4. Anything by Jennie Allen
5. My One Word by Mike Ashcraft
6. Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
7. Undaunted by Christine Caine
8. Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? (and Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
9. Grace, Gold, and Glory by Gabrielle Douglas
10. Wednesdays were Pretty Normal by Michael Kelley
11. Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung
12. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
13. Divergent by Veronica Roth
14. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
15. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
16. A Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership by Stephen B Sample
17. The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
18. Akaine- Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry by Akaine Kramarik
19. I Will Carry You by Angie Smith
20. Murder in the Yoga Store by Peter Ross Range
21. Sex and the Single Christian Girl: Fighting for Purity in a Rom Com World by Marian Jordan Ellis
22. Jumping through Fires: the Gripping Story of One Man’s Escape from Revolution to Redemption by David Nasser
23. 7 Keys to Prophetic Maturity by Sam Medina
24. Learning to Love: Passion, Compassion, and the Essence of the Gospel by Heidi Baker
25. Amazed and Confused by Heather Zempel
26. God Smuggler by Brother Andrew
27. 7 Men by Eric Metaxes
28. Theodore Roosevelt by Lewis L. Gould
29. Comedy Driven Leadership: Think Like a Comedian, Move Forward Like a Leader by Jonathan Herron
30. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
31. Holy Spirit: an Introduction by John Bevere
32. Forgotten God by Francis Chan
33. They Speak with Other Tongues by John Sherrill
34. Culture of Honor: Sustaining a Supernatural Environment by Danny Silk
35. Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequest
36. Free in Christ: A Complete Handbook for Spiritual Deliverance by Pablo Bottari
37. Smart Money Smart Kids: Raising the Next Generation to Win with Money by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze
38. Moment Maker by Carlos Whittaker
39. Singing through the Night: Courageous Stories of Faith from Women in the Persecuted Church by Anneke Companjen
40. Wonder by RJ Palicio (+ the Julian chapter)
41. Switch on Your Brain: the Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health by Caroline Leaf
42. The Fault in our Stars by John Green
43. Gladys Aylward: the Little Woman by Gladys Aylward
44. The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson with John and Elizabeth Sherril
45. Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea
46. When you Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
47. Beyond the Ancient Door by James A. Duhram
48. Chasing God: One Man’s Miraculous Journey in the Heart of the City by Roger Huang
49. Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found our Way out of the Mormon Church by Lynn K. Wilder
50. The Life and Prayers of Joan of Arc by Wyatt North

Books I've Read Lately

This fall has been hard, but good.  I have really worked really hard to be reading and learning in preparation for what's next.  Here's a list of what I've read since last time.

General and for Fun

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling (reread)
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Small Groups and Discipleship

• Small Groups with Purpose: How to Create Healthy Communities by Steve Gladen
• Follow Me by David Platt
• Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches that Make Disciples by Jim Putman
• Community is Messy by Heather Zempel (reread)

General Spiritual Development

• Barefoot Church by Brandon Hatmaker
• Leaders who Last by Dave Kraft
• Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel
• Unrelenting Prayer by Bob Sorge
• All In by Mark Batterson
• Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization, and Deliverance by Karl Payne
• Am I Called? by Dave Harvey
• Lioness Arising by Lisa Bevere
• Reckless Faith: Embracing a Life without Limits by Kevin Harney

I'm taking a bit of a break from reading spiritual books for awhile, even though I love them.  I am instead going to read fiction, biographies, and other books that are completely for fun for awhile.  I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird now, and may make my way through the rest of the Harry Potter books next.  A friend even convinced me to read Redeeming Love, which on the surface sounds terrible but I am going to give it a shot because I trust this friend and have heard so many good things about the book. I feel like the Lord is telling me to enter into His rest, and I will tell you what -- for me who wants answers and wants to figure this thing out, it is proving difficult.

Books I've Read so Far this Year

One of the best part of this summer -- which I really would like to write more about at some point -- has been the bandwidth to spend time reading and learning.  Things got a bit out of control this last month (understatement??) and my reading time was cut down quite a bit, but nonetheless I was able to read a lot.  Here's what I've read so far this year.

General and for Fun

• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way we Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown
• Five People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
• 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker
• When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert
• Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
• Love Does by Bob Goff
• A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
• Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley

Small Groups and Discipleship

• CMYK: the Process of Life Together by Justin McRoberts
• Dog Training, Fly Fishing, and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century by Ted Haggard
• Creating Community: 5 Keys to Creating a Small Group Culture by Andy Stanley and Bill Willts
• Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas
• Disciples are Made Not Born by Walter Henrichsen and Howard Hendricks

General Spiritual Development

• Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning (reread)
• Knowing God Intimately by Joyce Meyer 
• Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson
• Primal by Mark Batterson
• In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson (reread)
• Soul Detox by Craig Groeschel
• Crazy Love by Francis Chan
• The Battle Belongs to the Lord by Joyce Meyer
• The Bible (technically, restarted it in October but finished in June; reread)
• Basic Training for the Prophetic Ministry by Kris Vallotton and James Goll
• Live to Make a Difference by Max Lucado

Anyone have any book recommendations??