My Reading List

Because I think it’s fun to swap ideas for reading material, I thought I would post a blog about what I’ve been reading this year, and what I hope to read by the end of it. Also, in return, I would appreciate any book recommendations from any of you! For the first time in quite awhile, I am reading in my free time and enjoying it. High school and college pretty much killed my desire to read, but now that I am out of school and have more time, I’m loving it again like I did before! I’m trying to read a variety of things, to mix it up a little. It’s basically a mix of classics and spirituality/faith based books to help feed the gap I feel from not being able to understand parts of church or Bible studies, and from not having people around to ponder over things and have discussions with. And some other random selections thrown into the mix as well. Some I've chosen, some were lent to me, some were just what I had access to.

BOOKS I’VE ALREADY READ:
“Animal Farm” by George Orwell
“Welcome Forward – Field Guide for Global Travelers” by Susan Lang and Rochelle Melander (*If any of my fellow volunteers are reading this, it IS the little orange book they sent us in the mail. Yes, I was THAT desperate for reading material. :-)
“When God Writes Your Love Story” by Eric and Leslie Ludy
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
“To Kill a Mockingbird – the Cliffnotes” (*Because I am that big of a nerd, and really miss school. This made me feel like I was in a lit class discussion again, it was nice.)
“The Power of Praying” by Stormie Omartian
“The Pianist” by Wladyslaw Szpilman
“A Simple Path” by Mother Teresa
“Pride & Prejudice - PENGUIN READER” (*Penguin Readers are revised versions of classic novels, created especially for foreign English-language learners…so they are simplified and shortened. I read them instead of the originals because they were what I had access to.*)
“Schindler’s List - PENGUIN READER”
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” by Mark Haddon
“Searching For God Knows What” by Donald Miller

BOOKS I’M IN THE PROCESS OF READING:
“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Europe From a Backpack” edited by Mark Pearson & Martin Westerman
“Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis
“Insider’s Guide to Freelance Writing - Get a Freelance Life” by Margit Feury Ragland

BOOKS THAT ARE ON MY SHELF, WAITING PATIENTLY TO BE READ:
“Surprised by Hope” by Vickie Baker
“Leave Yourself Alone” by Eugenia Price
“1984” by George Orwell
“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott
“The Sound of the Mountain” by Yasunari Kawabata
“The Reason for God – Belief in an Age of Skepticism” by Timothy Keller
“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
“The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
“Bridget Jones Diary” by Helen Fielding
“The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis
“Damn! Why Didn’t I Write That?” by Marc McCutcheon
“Soul Weavings – A Gathering of Women’s Prayers” edited by Lyn Klug

Ok, it’s a bit ambitious and ridiculous to be reading so many books at once, but we’ll see how it goes.