2013 Reads.

I'm going to keep a track of what I've read this year. So this particular post will be updated. Often, I hope. I love to read, but I've gotten off track a bit, so here's to diving into a bit of everything.

1. Sin Boldly by Cathleen Falsani. I really loved this. It was different and eye opening. It read like poetry to me. Reminded me a bit on 1000 Gifts in the type of writing.

2. Undaunted by Christine Caine. I saw Christine at Women of Faith this year. Her first speech rubbed me the wrong way, but wow, after hearing her story I have nothing bad to say about her. She's intense with a capital I, but this book is great. I highlighted probably half of it and it filled 16 pages in my journal with quotes. Go read it.

3. Children and the Supernatural by Jennifer Toledo. I was a little weary of this book. Judging by it's cover and all. But it was amazing. Jennifer has witnessed God using children in amazing ways. She also opened my eyes to the fact that children are part of God's family too and shouldn't be shuffled away from adults. We have a lot to learn from them. They just seem more open to hearing from God and noticing things that we as adults walk past.

4. Jewels by Danielle Steel. Don't judge. I have loved this book since I saw the movie when I was 13. Not sure it was an appropriate read at 13. It was an even less appropriate book report. Yup, I did this book as an 8th grade book report. I can't imagine was Mrs. Garcia thought of me or my mother. I still very much love it. It's one of those books I can just open a page to and know what's going on.


 

 5. Love Does by Bob Goff. I cannot say enough good things about this book. First it has a fun cover! Second it has short chapters, which I love when reading at night. There are tons of amazing stories and many many great quotes. The picture to the left is all the folded over pages that I want to quote into my journal. It's a really good read, light and funny, but full of awesomeness.

6. Start with Me, A Modern Parable. By Seaton and Blase. An easy read. Basically asking the question, where do I start? Or how do I start? I didn't really get into this too much. They tried to do combine characters to show how we all interact with one another. There were too many characters to shallowly described for me to remember who was who and what their storyline was. Out of ten, maybe a 5.

7. Christmas Is Not Your Birthday by Mike Slaughter. Easy little book to read. Getting your focus off stuff and onto Jesus during the Christmas season and during the year. Very typical stuff and kind of "Christianese". A good start if you're looking to change how you 'do' Christmas.

     8. The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan. I grabbed this as a spur of the moment buy. I didn't know going in that it was a trilogy, so now I have to go find the rest of them. A young boy wakes up being tortured and can't remember anything of the last year of his life, but he's in big trouble. It's kind of like 24 for the young adult set. Easy read, but very much a page turner.                          

  9. Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. This book is powerful. The difference one person can make in one life and in turn, a lot of lives. Denver Hall was working as a sharecropper right up into the 1960's and then becomes homeless. Ron Hall if a very rich art dealer. This is the story of how they become friends for life and redoing an area of homeless not just by serving food but by serving people. Highly Recommended.



10. Harry Potter and The Chambers Of Secrets. That's about all I have to say about that. I can read all of them. I could probably hear just one sentence and tell you what book it's from. They make me happy.







 

11. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. Rereading again. Love HP. This one is my favorite.

12. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Rereading again. This is my least favorite HP book, but I still love it, which is how great they are. :)

13. Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis. OH MY GOODNESS. I have waited ages to read this one. I didn't want to pay full price. It's been on my Amazon wish list for a long time. Tuesday night after Bible Study, there it was sitting in the church library. I squealed and grabbed it! I finished it in two nights. It's one of those books that I cant' stop talking about. There's adoption, foreign missions, non profit group, children, miracles, deep sadness, overwhelming happiness, and to top it all off Katie is only 22. She's the mother of 13 Ugandan girls. The book is amazing. It's really changing some things in my head. Slowly, ideas are forming. If and when they come to fruition it will be because of this book. 

 14. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Second favorite. Love it.

 15. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We all hate Snape (for awhile anyway)

16. My Son the Savior by Melody Carlson. This is a fictional account from Mary's point of view. I'm very intrigued by Mary. Her whole story. Being choose to carry the son of God. Being unmarried in a time where it could have resulted in her death. Explaining to her fiance, "um, sooo I'm pregnant" Enduring ridicule. Then birthing this perfectly average newborn. Raising him. We know so little of his young life, and obviously non of this book is "real" but it could be. Full of scripture and the parables. I thought it would start as a light read, baby Jesus, toddler Jesus. Yeah, not so much, it starts the night of the Crucifixion. Hard stuff to read, it took me a long time to read more than a few pages at a time. But it was well worth the read. 

17. Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst. I actually read this last year, but I've reread it this year for my Ladies Bible Study. I think it's a book I really should read often. How to recognize becoming unglued, how and why. Do you stuff or explode. Triggers. And very helpful and real ways to overcome. If you do become unglued, that God's mercies are new everyday and you are not a failure.

18. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Or Harry Potter and the never ending camping trip in the cold and being hungry a lot. But I stood in line at midnight and read for a day straight. I miss Harry Potter.  

19. Twilight. Yes, I love Twilight. Let's more on :)

20. Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. This was a church wide study along with our small group study. It's an intriguing book. A you a fan of Jesus (Yay Jesus) or a true follower. What that means and what that includes. It can really be summed up in the title. If you can get the video, the backdrop story is a really great tie in. There are a few 'ouch' moments in this book, it's not a feel good book, but it's also not a 'sell everything and move to Africa' book (unless that's something you want to do. )

21. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. This was a wonderful story about the story of making a story into a movie. If that makes sense. It's the story about making your story. Full of inspiring actions taken my normal people. It was really enjoyable and opened my journal to start my own story. 

22. New Moon, I know it's stupid fiction and I know how it ends, but I still can't read the chapter where Edward leaves her in the woods. I'm a geek. I know.

23. The Pastor's Wife by Sabina Wurmbrand. This was given to the mothers of the church on Mother's Day. We were warned that it wasn't a feel good book, but a book about how important a strong faith is. Sabina was in jail for being a Christian, lost years with her son and husband. Lost friends and family. All through it all she kept her faith. It's a hard read, but amazing. 

24. Eclipse. I was serious when I said I read these and Harry Potter over and over and over and over. 

25. UnSweetined by Jodie Sweetin. Child star turned meth head turned sober mom. Pretty much what you've read in the tabloids, but it was an interesting read. Her "rehab" stints and how they failed over and over should open eyes.

26. Mommywood by Tori Spelling. Tori is all grown up with two kids trying to be 'normal' as normal as a daughter of a producer mogul with severe mommy issues can be. Trying to raise her kids in a smaller setting than her life was. Nice easy beach read.

27. Stori Telling by Tori Spelling. Again in the mood for a pool read. Major mommy issues going on in this book.

28. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. Yeah, I know. But I can't help it.

29. Praying for Strangers by River Jordan. Brady gave this me for my birthday. It was really good. A woman makes a resolution to pray for a stranger each day. Then it turns into a books. Amazing stories and very inspiring.

 30. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman. I read this after watching the series on Netflix. The show is LOOSELY based off of the book. Basically the premise, that's it. Very little that happened in the show actually happened in the book. The book was very tame compared to the series. However, it was a great book with an eye opening looking into the prison system.

 31. The Hunger Games by Suzanna Collins. I read this before the movie came out, but I was reading about four different series at the same time and this one got shuffled to the back. I really don't remember what happened. So I'm rereading them, however, I think I'll wait to read number 2 until after the movie comes out. I tend to get mad when the movies don't follow the books.

 32. Misconception By Paul and Shannon Morell. After undergoing IVF and freezing their remaining embryos they Morell's are summoned to their fertility doctors office. Their embryo, their baby, had been mistakenly implanted into another. This is their story.






33. Inconceivable by Carolyn and Sean Savage. This flip side to Misconception. After finally becoming pregnant via IVF, the Savage's world is rocked when a mistake at the lab occurred. Carolyn was pregnant with another woman's baby. A baby that the genetic family wants. She was given two options. Terminate the pregnancy or give birth and hand over the baby. Making the life saving choice to carry the baby, the Savages embark on a nine month mission.

 34. Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor. Grabbed this in a sale bin. Cute young adult novel. I think it could have been a lot more interesting, there was a great plot going and it just flopped. Easy beach read.

35. Home Another Way by Christa Parrish. This was a great read. I devoured it. However, there's a reason I love series, I want to know what happens next. This is not a series so I don't know. And that makes me sad.








 36. Twilight. Yes again.

37. How Sweet It Is by Alice Wisler. Coming of age story. Girl is sad, girl gets a gift that comes with a price, girl learns her lesson. Easy read.

38. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. So very very good. I read it before, but I was caught up in a bunch of series so this got lost in the shuffle. I can't wait to see the movie. 

39. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. The end of The Hunger Games series. I seriously didn't want to finish it, but couldn't wait to finish it. I'll be interested in what they do with this on the big screen.