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What were your top 3 favorite books that you read this year?


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It's sooo hard to choose, especially since I read about 2-3 books a week:D

 

Let's see...my crit partners both had books come out this year, so I'm partial to those, LOL!

 

Return to Love, by Betsy St. Amant, and Marriage Masquerade, by Erica Vetsch.

 

I also REALLY loved The Familiar Stranger, by Christina Berry. This was her debut book and highly enjoyable.

 

There were tons of books I enjoyed, which makes picking favorites this year much more difficult than last year.

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Wow! I thought reading 3 magazines this year was an accomplishment :lol:

 

But I did manage a few books. My favorites were

The Plantation Mistress by Catherine Clinton It was fabulous! Nonfiction, it described the world of the woman in the south before and during the Civil War. Scarlett O'Hara it wasn't!

 

Tell the Court I Love My Wife - Race, Marriage, and Law - An American History by Peter Wallenstein chronicles interracial marriages from the 1600s to the present. I found it fascinating how perceptions of interracial marriage changed from then to now and how each state/region had their own rules.

 

I also read several compilations of James Thurber. He can make me laugh so much, out loud even! His short stories are perfect for me when I need not so serious relief. Most people know his story The Catbird Seat and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Those are good, but some of his others are beyond hysterical. And his cartoons are funny as well - even thought they were drawn in the 20s.

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The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter (favorite fiction of the year)

Cheaper by the Dozen by Gilbreth Jr. (fiction)

Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill (nonfiction)

In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & the World it Made by Cantor (nonfiction)

 

 

Oh, I have a ton but the above were a few I read for fun.

 

My favorite nonfiction book of the year was Christless Christianity by Horton.

Edited by Daisy
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The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter

Cheaper by the Dozen by Gilbreth Jr.

Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill

In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & the World it Made by Cantor

 

 

Oh, I have a ton but the above were a few I read for fun.

OOH, I own a copy of the Keeper of the Bees that I have had since I was maybe 12 or so. I read it every year. I also have a copy of The Girl of the Limberlost by Stratton-Porter as well. My grandmother read it as a child and had me read it to her when she was in her 80s but couldn't see it any more. I just adore any books by Stratton-Porter!

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Fiction:

The Cloister and the Hearth (Reade)

Baron in the Trees (Calvino)

The Sunne in Splendour (Penman)

 

Nonfiction:

Victorian London: The Tale of a City (Picard)

The End of Education (Postman)

Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development (Dweck)

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I have not. Is it faithful to Banks' story?
IMHO, it would be impossible to make a point-by-point film adaptation into a workable movie, but the director's choices leave it very faithful in spirit. The setting is changed to rural British Columbia (the director is Canadian). One element not found in the book is the brilliant inclusion of a double (triple?) edged storybook motif not found in the book which serves to tie it together thematically (I'm being vague so as not to give anything away). Oh, and Sarah Polley is nothing less than breathtaking. I wish she worked more often, but she's very picky these days.
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Great idea for a thread!

 

Off the top of my head...

 

In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom

 

Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project

 

Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America

 

The Shack

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I'm interested in hearing about books of any kind including religious literature

 

 

(Children's) The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) by Roald Dahl - we actually audiobooked this. It's read by the late Natasha Richardson and she did a stellar job. The story is hilarious!

 

(Adult Fiction) Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans - I audiobooked this one too. A very sweet and touching love story and relatively "clean" (no cursing or blaspheming).

 

(Devotional) Daily Readings from the Life of Christ by John MacArthur - hubby gave me this one as an early Christmas gift. I love it!

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Wow, this is actually hard to answer since I read so often! Great thread idea though as I'm happily adding to my book list for 2010 :)

 

Here are the three I can think of right now...

 

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

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Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics / Liping Ma

A must-read.

 

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain / John Ratey

How exercise helps us mentally, including our ability to learn. If you're not motivated to exercise, this book might do the trick.

 

Dandelion Wine / Ray Bradbury

I just plain ol' love the way he writes.

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I have several books that I've had sitting on the shelf that I just haven't felt like reading. I like the authors/series but I just... want something else, maybe. I think what I want is for someone to just tell me a good story. What does stand out, in my memory are 2 series:

 

The Hunger Games and Starting Fires by Suzanne Collins. YA fiction. Older dd is reading book 2 now and dh is reading book 1. We are all liking the books enough to want to know what will happen next.

 

 

The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. Fantasy (adult content and quite a bit of cursing and not for little eyes.) It's what a real fantasy/ sword and sorcery type world is really like, if there were such a thing.The good guys are far from perfect and the bad guys are bad and sometimes it's hard to tell who's which. I came across the first book completely by accident and read through the series as quick as I could.

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The Narnia series aloud to my kids

The Scarlet Pimpernel

It Takes A Village Idiot

 

this year I started many books and didn't finish them.

My Life in France by Julia Child was one...

Becoming Jane Austen was another, can't remember them all.

I didn't do a whole lot of reading this year either. I hope to do better in the new year.

I just finished The Heretic's Daughter and am now reading Cleopatra's Daughter.

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The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter (favorite fiction of the year)

Cheaper by the Dozen by Gilbreth Jr. (fiction)

Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill (nonfiction)

In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & the World it Made by Cantor (nonfiction)

 

 

Oh, I have a ton but the above were a few I read for fun.

 

My favorite nonfiction book of the year was Christless Christianity by Horton.

 

Cheaper by the Dozen is probably the funniest book I've read. I remember reading it while I was 8 months pregnant. I had to keep putting in down because it hurt to laugh. Christless Christianity looks good. I'll have to see if I can borrow it from my dad. I'm sure he has it!

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Coop by Michael Perry..non-fiction memoir about a northern WI man starting a new life with a wife, step-daughter, baby on the way, and a farmette. Funny. Interesting in the way he tries to live green and come to terms with his religious raising as a new father.

 

Anathem by Neal Stephenson..speculative fiction about a planet where scientists have been separated in monastery-like organisations from the general population for thousands of years. Math, astronomy, philosophy, neo-platoism, geometry, parallel universes, aliens, religion. Has some flaws but a really fascinating tale.

 

Three Way Tie:

A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert Sapolsky...non-fiction story covering 20 years with a baboon troop in Kenya, plus wanderings through Africa. Funny, full of human (and animal) foibles.

 

Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic by Reinhold Neibuhr ...an early work from the famous theologian and social activist. Thoughts/memoir of the time he spent in Detroit as a pastor of a small church. I was shocked at how his feelings on WWI were similar to my own feelings about the Iraqi War.

 

Breads from La Brea Bakery by Nancy Silverton...sourdough primer

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http://www.amazon.com/Well-Always-Have-Paris-Stories/dp/0061670138/ref=pd_sim_b_2 Ray Bradbury. Breathtaking collection of short stories

 

http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780312369422-0 Great collection of short stories in genre of fantasy and horror. The House of the Seven Librarians literally took my breath away. I think it might be true.

Heavy Sand by Rybakov http://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Sand-Anatoly-Rybakov/dp/0140055355 More than you want to know about life for the Jews in Russia. Devastating.

 

Good Omens by Terry Prattchet and Neil Gaiman (on audiobook) who knew there was great humor to be found in the apocalypse??? Seriously if you like dry wit and satire this is not to be missed.

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Life of Pi (loved this one)

Most of the Outlander series

The Lost Symbol (just for fun on a long flight)

 

I am hoping to get a lot of reading done in 2010!

 

I loved Life of Pi too...all but the last chapter....sigh.....

 

 

Ds and I just read and loved The Hunger Games and the 2nd book(can't think of its name right now).

 

We also loved (even though it is really for the younger teen set) The Mysterious Benedict Society. Just plain fun with a mystery twist.

 

~~Faithe

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http://www.powells.com

Good Omens by Terry Prattchet and Neil Gaiman (on audiobook) who knew there was great humor to be found in the apocalypse??? Seriously if you like dry wit and satire this is not to be missed.

 

 

Did you read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman? He's seriously twisted--like Stephen King for young readers...... that said I read Coraline and am now reading M is for Magic (short stories). I'll have to check yours out.

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Oh, that's tough...Just three?

The Book Thief

Water for Elephants

The Historian

 

Hey, we think a lot alike! :001_smile: (Will have to check out Water for Elephants, as I haven't read that one yet.)

 

Good Omens by Terry Prattchet and Neil Gaiman (on audiobook) who knew there was great humor to be found in the apocalypse??? Seriously if you like dry wit and satire this is not to be missed.

 

I'm reading this right now & LOVING it. I'm finding it hilarious. (Elizabeth, have you read "Hogfather" by Terry Pratchett? It was my holiday read this year, lol, and was pretty humorous.)

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Hey, we think a lot alike! :001_smile: (Will have to check out Water for Elephants, as I haven't read that one yet.)

 

 

 

Careful--that book is mentioned on that other thread a couple of times along with A Time Traveler's Wife (which I also enjoyed). :)

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