Literary Pursuits

Reading Challenge Update

I’ve recently joined Goodreads to more easily track my reading. You’ll notice the widget in the sidebar shows the books I’m currently reading. And yes, I usually have 3 or 4 going at once.

I’m starting to be more purposeful in my reading again and picking titles that line up with the categories in the 2016 Reading Challenge that I’m working on. Here are a few titles I’ve read recently that fit in there (the pictures are clickable with affiliate links to Amazon in case you’re interested):

 A Book for Children: Cotton in My Sack by Lois Lenski. This is an out-of-print book that I remember reading when I was a child. My mother says she remembers reading it when she was a child, too. Granddaddy was a cotton farmer when Mother was growing up, so she picked her share of cotton herself. Rebecca and I recently enjoyed this book again as a read-aloud.

 A Book Published in 2016: My Sister’s Prayer by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould. Interesting plot with two parallel story lines– one set in the present, one in the early 1700s. The stories both explored sister relationships and both had intriguing twists that kept me turning the page.

 A Book About Suffering: Rachel’s Tears by Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott. This past April marked the 15th anniversary of the tragic shooting at Columbine High School near where we lived in Colorado. A friend there loaned me this book about one of the girls who was killed that day. A very moving story.

 A Book About the Church: Why “Bible Study” Doesn’t Work by Dr. Gerry Lewis. Excellent thoughts on how we have been doing Bible study wrong, with very practical tips on making it more effective.

 

Plus a few more books that don’t fit in the actual Challenge categories:

 A Novel About Parenting: Balancing Act by Kimberly Stuart. This was a light read. It is currently FREE on Kindle.

 A Historical Novel: Bandit’s Hope by Marcia Gruver. Book 2 of the Backwoods Brides series. Interesting characters and setting. I enjoyed it, but I think it would have been better to have read Book 1 first.

 A Regency Romance Novel: An Elegant Facade by Kristi Ann Hunter. Book 2 of the Hawthorne House series. The story was a little slow in the middle, but I liked the characters and the storyline. I have the feeling I would have enjoyed the “slow middle” more if I had read the previous novel.

 A Vintage Novel: The White Lady by Grace Livingston Hill. Just ’cause I’ve been on a GLH kick lately.

What have you been reading lately? Any recommendations to add to my To Be Read list?

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