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