Finished January 2012
Oh, how I love Rick's children's books. And he mentions Pikes Peak.
2. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (fiction)
Finished January 2012
Rick once again helps solidify my Greek/Roman mythology in a fun, interesting way.
3. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (fiction)
Finished February 2012
Sometimes I inadvertently learn some history through fiction. This time I learned about Ethiopia and medicine. It was kind of cool.
4. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (fiction)
Finished March 2012
Now I understand why it is called the Jungle Book and not Jungle Boy or Mowgli. The book is really numerous short stories about animals mostly in the jungle. Slightly interesting.
5. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (fiction)
Finished April 2012
Embarrassingly true that I read this...AND it made me cry.
6. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (fiction)
Finished April 2012
Couldn't...stop...reading...about...the pants! It made me cry again.
7. Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (fiction)
Finished April 2012
Still going...
8. Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (fiction)
Finished May 2012
Yep
9. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares (fiction)
I guess this is this year's version of a fluffy series. Except this one is way less depressing and icky than the Hunger Games trilogy....way less popular and probably respected, but less icky.
Finished May 2012
Ann made me cry again! I really liked how she ended this series. It had some surprises, and I feel like I could identify with each of the 29 year old characters in different ways.
10. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction)
Finished May 2012
I really liked this book. And I felt like I learned a lot about Mexican history, Frida and Diego Rivera, communism, Asheville, and America during and after WWII. Really good.
11. The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde (fiction)
Finished May 2012
Fun, nursery crime mystery.
12. Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with China's Other Billion by Michael Levy (nonfiction)
Finished June 2012
Well written and insightful about interior Chinese life, their view of America, and one man's Peace Corps experience.
13. Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction)
Finished July 2012
I'm really digging her books right now
14. Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction
Finished July 2012
The importance of family, dealing with the past, and finding our place in this world.
15. Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction)
Finished July 2012
I learned a lot about some of the Cherokee nation issues and culture.
16. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (fiction)
Finished July 2012
I read this book in an evening, but will be thinking about it for a long time. What is the importance of literature, discussion, non-distracted time to think? This book is probably more important now than it was in the 1950s when it was written.
17. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction)
Finished August 2012
What should the role of a missionary be and what can he or she do to be culturally sensitive? Should they do more teaching or learning? Should those be in equal parts? How does living in a different culture and country change the rest of our lives? These were some of the questions invoked by this book. Again, Barbara Kingsolver books are fascinating, and I really like her character development and the things she teaches through her books about different peoples, history, and, of course, the big questions she makes me think about.
18. Kim by Rudyard Kipling (fiction)
Finished November 2012
A lot of old English words that are no longer used mixed with India specific terms helps explain why I couldn't get through this book when I was in high school. I made it this time and learned a lot about India during Queen Victoria and the relationship between the British and native people and their respective lives. Besides, it was a great tale of crossing cultures, religion, and friendship.
19. Wild Swans by Jung Chang (nonfiction)
Finished November 2012
Although this book took me several months to read, and was interrupted by Kim, it really was very good. The stories of these three generations of women during 20th century China was CRAZY (life during KMT vs. communism, the Cultural Revolution, etc.). I feel so badly for the people that endured such a fearful and restricted time period. I'm glad Jung finally had the freedom to tell her story, although apparently her book is still outlawed in China.
20. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction)
Finished December 2012
This was another good book, I just wish I had read it before the second book in this series.
21. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction)
Finished December 2012
Barbara's newest book, and very much so. It was timely dealing with global warming, our mobile world, the views different regions of our nation have about each other.
22. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Finished December 2012
A play about a family of African Americans in the '50s. I read that Martin Luther King Jr. highly respected Hansberry.
23. The Crucible by Arthur Miller (fiction)
Finished December 2012
Glad I read this after the books about China. False accusations from children...horrible.
24. A Long Way Gone by Ismael Beah (nonfiction)
Finished December 2012
A Sierra Leone child soldier's story.
25. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (fiction)
Finished December 2012
Wow, that was a long slew of depressing books. This was my least favorite of them. But Foer is quite creative with his modern structure and his imaginings of how a non-native English speaker would talk and write without the ability to practice with a native speaker.
26. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (fiction)
Finished December 2012
Much better than the prior book.
