Here are my 10 personal favs from 2013...
10. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
I took a young adult lit class this year for my major. It was constructed in a way that you read a ton of young adult books in a short period of time so that you would be able to recommend books to your students. Some of the books we read were painful, but I really loved this book. I will definitely be recommending it to my kids and students. Good writing, great moral.
9. On Writing by Stephen King
This is a nonfiction writing memoir by Stephen King. I have never read any of his horror books, but I loved his voice in this book. One of the most personal and vulnerable pieces of writing I've ever read. I still think about this book often, and I finished it months ago.
8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I still haven't seen the movie :/ but I loved this book. I liked the twist of having the whole book narrated by Death. I loved that the protagonist is a little girl that loves books. A good piece of World War II fiction. The story was engaging and well written.
7. Teaching Adolescent Writing by Kelly Gallagher
This is more of a textbook, but I loved reading it. It is the best academic text that I have read about teaching writing. Instead of talking about everything in the abstract or discussing different educational theories, Gallagher gives you specific situations, examples, and rules that he lives by as a teacher. It made so many concepts concrete for me. I recommend it for all English majors, English teachers, or anybody who wants to know how to better teach writing to teenagers :)
6. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
This book gets placed in number 6 because it is the book that slapped me across the face this year. I thought I had Jodi Picoult all figured out and was pretty determined to not be thrown off by her writing. I'm still ticked because she totally nailed me. RBH will witness that as soon as I finished reading The Storyteller, I stormed out of the room and walked around for a good ten minutes. She tricked me. Okay. Whatever. This is some good entertaining fiction you might enjoy.
5. Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton
I have a new womancrush on Edith Wharton. I feel like I should throw on a lacy gown and make sure that I look refined before I open my book. I loved Jane Austen in high school (hi, I'm a cliche) because I loved reading from a female author and I loved her criticism. Although Edith Wharton was totally after Austen's time, I love her for the same reasons. Except that she is American...even better ;) Why did nobody introduce me to her till I was in college? I don't know. But its a shame. She is the first woman to ever win the Pulitzer Prize for heaven's sake! Anyway. Moral of the story = maybe I will only read Edith Wharton in 2014. It would be great.
4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
This was another book I read for YA Lit class. It is a semi-autobiographical representation of Sherman Alexie's experiences growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. It was stinking funny and stinking sad. I felt emotions, man. Good stuff.
3. Night by Elie Wiesel
One of those books I should have read years ago but just never got around to it. After umpteen weeks of RBH telling me to just sit down and read it...I finally did. (Did you notice there are 3 World War II/Holocaust/Shoah books on this list? RBH read like 576 books for his Shoah class...he read the hard ones and I read the easy ones ;) Anyway back to Night: you can't really say "this book is great! I loved it!" because that is not how you feel when you are done. I definitely didn't smile the rest of the day. I put it as #3 because it impacted me. It stuck to me for a couple of days and wouldn't leave me alone. That is normally how I judge a book: if I finish a book, put it down on the table, and the book stays there? it really didn't do much for me. If it follows me around the house for a couple days? We've got a winner.
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I started reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes after RBH and I saw the last movie together and we realized that neither of us knew a lot about the different stories of Sherlock Holmes (and we can't STAND IT when we don't know about something like that :). I kind of sort of maybe completely fell in love. There is a reason for so many of the spin offs/knock offs/references--this is good stuff. Every detective show/book gets a little something from Sherlock Holmes. It is so clever and classic. I will definitely be reading more in 2014
1. Women and the Priesthood by Sheri Dew
This book is #1 for me this year. For months I felt like I had studied and ranted about the same thing: women that don't love being women and why? When I found out Sheri Dew had written Women and the Priesthood...I didn't even wait for it to go on sale or slide down to a cheaper price. Guys. I got it right away. That is crazy for me. (Okay okay so RBH bought it for me...just because I really couldn't shut up about it). It was worth it. I felt so validated in the things I had been thinking and feeling; I fell even more in love with womanhood, and my testimony of my own divine nature and purpose increased. Sheri Dew wrote it perfectly, in my opinion. As disciples of Christ, we are given so much that we don't even cherish or take advantage of. The Father has given us everything we need; He has promised us all that He has. The filth of the world says we are supposed to be one thing, but we know better. We know that we have the potential to be incredible. So lets step up and be incredible, shall we? Read it. And then live it.
Okay ACTUALLY....the real #1 goes to There's Something Sticky in My Shoe! by Ronda Terrell
I had this book sent to me by my sister-in-law's mother, and I loved it! The coolest thing? She is the author. This is a creative children's book that will get any child's imagination rolling. In a world full of distracting technology, this book is a great addition to helping children relate to books at a young age; they will DEFINITELY relate to this one. I can't wait to read it to our little Hatchlings.
I can't wait for the reading of 2014. I already love book #1 of 2014: I Am Malala. It is going to be a good year, ya'll!
Read on!
