Books I've Read in 2010

January --
1. Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen
2. The Pig Who Sang to the Moon by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
3. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
4. Foxe's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
5. I'm Perfect, You're Doomed by Kyria Abrahams

February --
6. We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
7. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
8. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
9. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

March --
10. Meridian by Alice Walker
11. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
12. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
13. Book Lust by Nancy Pearl

April --
14. Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen
15. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
16. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg

June --
17. The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
18. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

July --
19. Mercy by Jodi Picoult
20. The Binding Chair by Kathryn Harrison
21. South of Broad by Pat Conroy

August --

22. Pledged by Alexandra Robbins
23. The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
24. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

September --
25. Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde

Books I've Read in 2009

January--
1. The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer
2. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
3. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
4. Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver
5. Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson
February--
6. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (library)
7. Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding
March --
8. A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
9. Skin Deep by Karol Griffin
10. The Shack by William Young (borrowed)
11. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
April --
12. We're Just Like You, Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark
13. Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding & Correcting Common Dog Problems by Cesar Millan
14. Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood
15. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
16. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
May--
17. A Tale of Two Sisters by Anna Maxted
18. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
June--
19. Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fanny Flagg
20. Horseradish: Bitter Truths you Can't Avoid by Lemony Snicket
21. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
22. Stop in the Name of Pants! by Louise Rennison
July--
23. Undead and Unemployed by MaryJanice Davidson
August--
24. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
25. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (borrowed)
26. Part of Me by Kimberly Willis Holt
27. The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler
September--
28. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
29. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
October--
30. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
31. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (library)
32. A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons
33. Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss
November--
34. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (library)
35. Impulse by Ellen Hopkins (library)
36. Identical by Ellen Hopkins (library)
December--
37. Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson
38. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
39. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
40. Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin

Books I've Read in 2008 *STICKY*

January--
1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
3. Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot
4. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
February--
5. Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
6. The Worst Day of My Life So Far by M.A. Harper
March--
7. Backwater by Joan Bauer
8. Making the Cat Laugh by Lynne Truss
9. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
10. Divining Women by Kaye Gibbons
11. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris
12. The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe
April--
13. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
14. Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
15. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
16. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
17. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
18. Love is a Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison
19. Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah
20. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
21. The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra
22. Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend by Robert James Waller
23. Digging to America by Anne Tyler
May--
24. Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult
25. The Year my Life Went Down the Loo by Katie Maxwell
26. The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
27. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
28. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
June--
29. No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running by John Bingham
30. Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson
31. The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks
32. Child of my Heart by Alice McDermott
33. What we Keep by Elizabeth Berg
34. Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich
35. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
36. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
37. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
38. The Pearl by John Steinbeck
39. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
40. How to be Popular by Meg Cabot
41. Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
42. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
July--
43. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
44. I Feel Bad About my Neck by Nora Ephron
45. Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
46. Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
47. Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
48. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
49. Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
50. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
51. Give it All to Him by Max Lucado
52. Naked by David Sedaris
53. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
54. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
August --
55. The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson
56. Stuart Little by E.B. White
57. Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
58. Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier
59. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
60. Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
61. The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
62. The Girls by Lori Lansens
63. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
September--
64. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
65. Looking for Alaska by John Green
66. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
67. Burned by Ellen Hopkins
68. Terra Infirma by Rodger Kamenetz
69. Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
70. The Mediator #6 : Twilight by Meg Cabot
71. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
72. Somebody's Baby by Charlotte Allen
October --
73. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
74. Night by Elie Wiesel
November--
75. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
76. Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler
77. He's Just Not that Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
78. Second Glance by Jodi Picoult
79. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
December--
80. The Girls by Lori Lansens
81. Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller
82. More Letters from a Nut by Ted L. Nancy
83. Paper Towns by John Green
84. The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg

Books I've Read in 2007

Books I've read in 2007:
January--
01.In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
02.Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf et al.
03.Random Acts of Badness by Danny Bonaduce
04.Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan
05.The Tall Pine Polka by Lorna Landvik
February--
06.Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
07.Life of Pi by Yann Martel
08.Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
09.The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson
10. Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
11. A Deadly Secret: The Strange Disappearance of Kathie Durst
12.The Awakening by Kate Chopin
13.My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
14.The End by Lemony Snicket
15.Separation Anxiety by Karen Brichoux
16.SOS Titanic by Eve Bunting
March--
17.The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket (borrowed)
18.Fatality by Caroline B. Cooney
19.Bless Your Heart, Tramp and Other Southern Endearments by Celia Rivenbark
20.Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
21.Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama
22.Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
23.Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
24.Knocked Out by my Nunga-Nungas by Louise Rennison
25.Dancing in my Nuddy-Pants by Louise Rennison
26.Away Laughing on a Fast Camel by Louise Rennison
27.Then he Ate my Boy Entrancers by Louise Rennison
28.Roseanne: My Life as a Woman by Roseanne Barr
29.Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
30.Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett
April--
31.The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
32.Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz
33.The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
34.Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule
35.Couplehood by Paul Reiser
36.The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
37.I Believe in Miracles by Kathryn Kuhlman
38.Ripped at the Seams by Nancy Krulik
May--
39.1984 by George Orwell --Dystopia Challenge Book
40.Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper
41.The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg
42.A Widow, a Chihuahua, and Harry Truman by Mary Beth Crain
43.The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
44.Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
45.Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood by Julie Gregory
46.Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller
June--
47.Seven from Heaven by Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey
48.Open House by Elizabeth Berg
49. Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber
July--
50. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
51. Safe People by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
52. PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
53. Unless by Carol Shields
54. Never Change by Elizabeth Berg
55. Startled by His Furry Shorts by Louise Rennison
56. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
57. Apocalipstick by Sue Margolis
August--
58. Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
59. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld --Dystopia Challenge Book
60. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld --Dystopia Challenge Book
61. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (audio book)
62. Specials by Scott Westerfeld --Dystopia Challenge Book
63. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (audio book)
64. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
September--
65. No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark
66. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
67. Working Dogs by Colleen Needles and Kit Carlson
68. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (audio book)
69. Notes from a Liar and Her Dog by Gennifer Choldenko
70. Animal Farm by George Orwell
71. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
72. The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory
October--
73. Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
74. Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
75. The Boy on the Bus by Deborah Schupack (borrowed)
76. The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel
77. Witness For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson by Amber Frey
78. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
79. The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro
80. Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
November--
81. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell
82. The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
83. Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
84. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
85. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Wllhoite
86. Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
87. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel
88. The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
December--
89. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
90. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
91. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
92. Strange Fits of Passion by Anita Shreve
93. Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith

Here are some passages I've enjoyed from this book. I'll do a few at a time because I've used all of my post-it tabs and have to jot down some of the earlier passages to I can take those tabs out and reuse them!

The idea that everybody else approaches the Bible with baggage and agendas and lenses and I don't is the ultimate in arrogance. To think that I can just read the Bible without reading any of my own culture or background or issues into it and come out with a "pure" or "exact" meaning is not only untrue, but it leads to a very destructive reading of the Bible that robs it of its life and energy. -- page 54

It is as if the smallest amount of light is infinitely more powerful than massive amounts of dark. -- page 74

Being a Christian is about engaging the mind and heart more and more, not shutting them off or letting someone else think for you. The writer Peter urged Christians to be alert. Paul tells his listeners in Thessalonica to test everything and hold on to the good. -- page 86

People hurt us and harm us, and we end up carrying around these debts they owe us wherever we go. To forgive is to refuse to carry those debts anymore. -- page 90

Why do we do the things we do? Many people react to and are driven by these deep, unspoken forces. They are strong and they dictate huge areas of our lives. And it is possible to be a good Christian and go to church services and sing the right songs and jump through the right hoops and never let Jesus heal your soul. -- page 118

I'm learning that very few people actually live from their heart. Very few live connected with their soul. And those few who do the difficult work, who stare their junk in the face, who get counsel, who let Jesus into all the rooms in their soul that no one ever goes in, they make a difference. They are so different; they're coming from such a different place that their voices inevitably get heard above the others. They are pursuing wholeness and shalom, and it's contagious. -- page 120

So this disciple gets out on the water and he starts to sink, so he yells, "Jesus save me!" And Jesus says, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Who does Peter lose faith in? Not Jesus; Jesus is doing fine. Peter loses faith in himself. -- page 133

I have been told that I need to believe in Jesus. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that Jesus believes in me. I have been told that I need to have faith in God. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that God has faith in me. -- page 134

Beating others up about who and what they are not is going the wrong direction. It is working against the purposes of God. God is not interested in shaming people; God wants people to see who they really are. --page 142

I heard a teacher say that if people were taught more about who they are, they wouldn't have to be told what to do. It would come naturally. When we see religious communities spending most of their time trying to convince people not to sin, we are seeing a community that has missed the point. The point isn't sin management. The point is who we are now. -- page 144

All of the bad parts and the ugly parts and the parts we want to pretend never happened are redeemed. They seemed pointless and they were painful at the time, but God retells our story and they become the moments when God's grace is most on display. We find ourselves asking, am I really forgiven of that? The fact that we are loved and accepted and forgiven in spite of everything we have done is simply too good to be true. Our choice becomes this: We can trust his retelling of the story, or we can trust our telling of the story. It's a choice we make every day about the reality we are going to live in. --page 146

God makes us in His image. We reflect the beauty and creativity and wonder of the God who made us. And Jesus calls us to return to our true selves. The pure, whole people God originally intended us to be, before we veered off course. Somewhere in you is the you whom you were made to be. --page 150

It is trusting that I am loved. That I always have been. That I always will be. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to prove anything or achieve anything or accomplish one more thing. That exactly as I am,I am totally accepted forgiven and there is nothing I could ever do to lose this acceptance. God knew exactly what he was doing when he made you. There are no accidents. We need you to embrace your true identity, who you are in Christ, letting this new awareness transform your life. -- page 151

This is our invitation. To trust that we don't owe anything. To trust that something is already true about us,something has already been done, something has been there all along. To trust that grace pays the bill. -- page 152

We reclaim the church as a blessing machine not only because that is what Jesus intended from the beginning but also because serving people is the only way their perceptions of church are ever going to change. This is why it is so toxic for the gospel when Christians picket and boycott and complain about how bad the world is. This behavior doesn't help. It makes it worse. It isn't the kind of voice Jesus wants His followers to have in the world. Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn't as bright as it could be. -- page 166

If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody. And this is because the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. -- page 167

Oftentimes the Christian community has sent the message that we love people and build relationships in order to convert them to the Christian faith. So there is an agenda. And when there is an agenda, it isn't really love, is it? It's something else. We have to rediscover love, period. Love that loves because it is what Jesus teaches us to do. We have to surrender our agendas. -- page 167

Very few people in our world are offering anything worth dying for. Most of the messages we receive are about how to make life easier. The call of Jesus goes the other direction. It's about making our lives more difficult. It is going out of our way to be more generous and disciplined and loving and free. It is refusing to escape and become numb to and check out of this broken, fractured world. -- page 169

Ultimately our gift to the world around us is hope. Not blind hope that pretends everything is fine and refuses to acknowledge how things are. But the kind of hope that comes from staring pain and suffering right in the eyes and refusing to believe that this is all there is. It is what we all need - hope that comes not from going around suffering but from going through it. -- page 170

I am like you. I have seen plenty done in the name of God that I'm sure God doesn't want anything to do with. I have lots of reasons for bailing on the whole thing. I am also like you because I have a choice. To become bitter, cynical, jaded and hard. Anybody can do that. A lot have. Hatred is a powerful, unifying force. And there is a lot to be repulsed by. Or, like you, I can choose to reclaim my innocence... We can reclaim our idealism and our belief and our confidence in the big ideas that stir us deep in our bones. We can commit all the more to being the kinds of people who are learning how to do what Jesus teaches us. -- pages 176-177

Drowning Ruth

This is a somewhat mysterious story about two sisters and their two children.

I thought the writing was interesting because more and more of the backstory is revealed with each chapter. Also, different characters get a chance to tell the story for their own points of view occasionally.

This was a part I especially liked:

Carl knew he'd done the right thing. He'd almost killed a man, almost changed everything, but then he hadn't. At this moment, life was as promising as it had been yesterday. Yesterday he hadn't seen that promise, but this morning he did. He'd teetered on the edge of disaster, but he hadn't fallen. --pages 220-221.

I would have liked to have seen some resolution at the end with Carl's misconception of Mattie's "affair". I would have liked for Amanda to tell the truth. It bothered me that she lied so much.

Water for Elephants

This was my second experience listening to an audio book. This was read in a really entertaining way. The reader(s) had different voices for different characters and he (they) really seemed to capture the characters' personalities.

It's the story of a young man in veterinary school. He's training to become a vet so that he can go into practice with his dad. He's getting an excellent education at Cornell. Disaster strikes. His parents are killed in a car wreck right before his final exam. He goes home to identify the bodies and learns that his mom and dad had gone in to debt. The story is set during the depression and many of his father's clients had not been able to pay their vet bills. He had accepted other forms of payment like food because he could not stand to watch an animal suffer and felt an obligation to help everyone that he could. Jacob (the main character) also learns that his parents had taken out a mortgage on their house to send him through vet school. There is nothing for Jacob. The bank takes the house and anything that would have been Jacob's inheritance.

He is so shaken up by his parents death and the realization that everything is gone (he had no other relatives) that he cannot complete his final exam. He has lost everything and he's lost the degree that his parents sacrificed for.

What's a guy to do?

He "accidentally" joins the circus, of course! When he becomes a "vet" with a traveling circus he meets lots of unsavory characters, averts some disasters, doesn't quite avert other disasters, and introduces us to several circus animals who become important characters in their own ways.

The book switches between the 90 (or 93, he can't remember) year old Jacob who is in a nursing home telling his story and the younger version of himself.

It's an interesting story. It's hard to believe that this is the author's first novel.