So last year my New Years Resolution was to read a book a month. It's because I have a terrible time sitting down and reading a book. I was actually very successful. I wanted to share my book list here for fun.
January
Sherlock Holmes Vol 1
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I enjoyed finally reading the famous detective stories. There is one novel that has quite an interesting view of Mormons, but other than that I found them to be really enjoyable. And they are actually a pretty easy read. The stories are short, so that made it easier for me to get through.
February
.
. .As a Thief in the Night
By: Roger K. Young
This was a book my Dad loaned me about the second coming. I found a lot of things interesting. Some things I wasn't sure if I believed-- they were the writers opinion. Other things were a little hard to swallow. But it was a pretty good read.
March
The Cleansing of America
By: Cleon Skousen
This book was a gift from a friend a couple Christmas's ago. I started reading it and really enjoyed it, but I got off track, so I never finished it. I decided my New Year's Resolution was a perfect opportunity to get it read. And I really enjoyed it. I gave it to my Dad to read, and he wasn't sure if he believed everything it said, but I still found it interesting.
April
Daughter's in My Kingdom: The History and Work of The Relief Society
Truth be told, this book was short and kind of hard to get through. At times I found it inspiring and touching. At other times I just really struggled to read it. It was good, and I learned some new things about the Relief Society. But there were also things that were just a little too ideal for me.
The next few months get a little hazy. I can't remember what I read when. So I hope I have it right.
May
Emma
By: Jane Austen
I'm not quite sure if it was because I read it on my phone, or if I'm just not a Jane Austen fan, but I did not enjoy reading
Emma. It gave me a headache. I love Jane Austen's stories, but I don't know if I could read another one of her books. However, Pride and Prejudice is up on the book shelf calling my name, so we'll see if I give it another go.
June
Common Sense, Rights of Man and other Writings
By: Thomas Paine
It
took me two months to read this. It was kind of hard to get through,
but I still really enjoyed it. It gave such a good insight into what,
politically, was going on during the American Revolution and America's
first years as a country. It was so interesting to read a factual book
that took place during such a rich time in history. I know that sounds
weird because I've read and studied history. But this was different. I
guess because he was actually writing it while living through those
times. He sort of lost me in his other writings when he talked about his
belief in God. That's when it got really hard to get through. But I
still enjoyed it.
July
Finished
Common Sense. . .
Started
Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball
After getting through
Common Sense. . . I needed something small and easy to read. I thought the church manuals of
Teaching of the Presidents of the Church would be a good place to look. I haven't ever actually read these books. I decided to read Spencer W. Kimball's because I knew he had a hard life, and I thought it would really help me with what I was struggling with at the time. I was wrong. I'm not saying the man wasn't an inspired, incredible and amazing man. Just that it was so ideal. Incredibly ideal. A little too ideal for someone like me to read at this point in my life. I now know why President Kimball's book The Miracle of Forgiveness has been the cause of so many missionaries coming home. I just felt that I could never achieve the things he said I needed to achieve to get to the Celestial Kingdom. It made the book a little hard to get through. But I finally finished it
August
It's Book Club time!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By: Mary Ann Schafer and Annie Barrows
I LOVED this book! It was so awesome. I felt so connected to the characters, and I was so sad when it was over. It was like I had to say goodbye to some really good friends. It was such a great read. I seriously couldn't put it down. And it was the first book that I read as part of my Book Club. My friend started a book club, and I LOVE it. I love the people. I love the books. And I love going every month. Seriously, some of the most amazing people I've ever met are part of this book club. I'm so glad they let me be a part of it.
September
The Great Divorce
By: C.S. Lewis
This was the second book for our book club.
This was a great book too. It has such awesome insight. The ending is a little abrupt, and I got a little confused sometimes, but it is extremely quotable, and has some awesome lessons in it.
October
The Secret Daughter
By: Shilpi Somaya Gowda
A book club selection.
I can't even begin to describe what this book means to me. It sounds kind of silly, but it was kind of life changing for me. It was so emotionally draining, but in a good way. And one of the main characters, Kavita, will forever be a best friend to me, even though she's not real. She was just so amazing. And she went through so much. And through it all she stayed so incredible and good. Just from reading about her, as a character in a book, I felt stronger myself. I wish I could have known her. I wish I could have been there for her during her hard times. If only someone as amazing as her told me she thought I was amazing to than I could believe it till the day I died. I seriously feel so close to this story. It sounds so strange considering I just read it, but I seriously fell in love with it.
Started
The Scarlet Pimpernel
By: Baroness Orczy
November
As a Man Thinketh
By: James Allen
This was another book club book.
It really is an interesting read. It really gives you an idea of how you can really control everything about your life just by learning how to control your thoughts. It was pretty awesome, and pretty short so I don't have much more to say about it.
Finished
The Scarlet Pimpernel
By: Baroness Orczy
I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel. I've always loved the story, but I have never read the book. I have to say, the book was awesome. My only disappointment was that it was all told from Marguerite's point of view. I was hoping to see more from The Scarlet Pimpernel's point of view. But I still loved it. And I highly recommend reading it. It's easier to read than most classics because I believe it was written in the 1940's or 1950's.
December
The book club took a break this month.
The Christmas Sweater
By: Glenn Beck
My brother gave me this book a couple Christmas's ago, and I never read it. Well what better time than to read it now. I really enjoyed it. I found it was pretty easy to read, and most the time I didn't want to put it down. Some things were frustrating about it, but that's just because I felt like the main character wasn't really allowed to feel. But when I got to the end my lesson was learned, and I was almost in tears. It really has a good message, and I really just enjoyed it.
Started
A Tale of Two Cities
By: Charles Dickens
So that concludes my book list for the year. I don't think I got it exactly right, but that's pretty much what I have read this year. I loved this resolution, and I loved getting to enjoy all these good reads. It was so nice to know that I had accomplished these things, and it was so nice that it gave me some new things to talk about. Even though I'm sure I drove people crazy. The whole reason I joined a book club was so I could actually discuss books with people. But once a month was not enough. I still had to talk about them all the time. I even gave some of the books to my parents to read.
Who knows what this years New Years Resolution will hold. Maybe I'll finally publish a book :)
I'll end the post with a photo. It was the last photo from my December Photo A Day Challenge. I know it sounds stupid, and probably seems a little conceded, but taking a picture of myself, just myself, was a huge step for me to take this year. Not only did I take it, but I didn't delete it. I edited it a little, but still it's a huge step. It's just been so long since I've been able to confidently do something like this for myself. And posting it here, and on facebook, is a huge step for me. I know it may not seem like it, and it may seem sort of silly, but it really is a big step for me :).
