Luggage and Literature

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - St. Augustine

Favorite Books of 2016

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In 2016 I read some really fantastic books! And although there were slumps in my reading life, there were months where most of the books were home runs. I tried to limit this list to my top 10 favorites, but I simply could not do it. So without further ado, here are my 25 favorite books of 2016, including links to the post where I reviewed each of them if you’d like to read more about what I thought about them and go to Amazon and purchase them.

 

  1. A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper (What I Read January 2016)
  2. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (What I Read January 2016)
  3. After the War is Over by Jennifer Robson (What I Read January 2016)
  4. The Magician’s Lie by Greer Macallister (What I Read February 2016)
  5. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (What I Read February 2016)
  6. The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper (What I Read Cayman Islands)
  7. Moonlight Over Paris by Jennifer Robson (What I Read Cayman Islands)
  8. The Apostle by John Pollock (What I Read March 2016)
  9. The FitzOsbornes at War by Michelle Cooper (What I Read March 2016)
  10. Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson (What I Read Bonne Terre)
  11. Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay (What I Read April 2016)
  12. In Cold Storage by James W. Hewitt (What I Read June 2016)
  13. The Big Short by Michael Lewis (What I Read June 2016)
  14. The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison (What I Read June 2016)
  15. Wreckage by Emily Bleeker (What I Read July 2016)
  16. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Frederick Stonehouse (What I Read Northern Michigan)
  17. David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (What I Read August 2016)
  18. Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes (What I Read September 2016)
  19. The Scent of Lilacs by Ann Gabhart (What I Read September 2016)
  20. The Cello Suites by Eric Siblin (What I Read September 2016)
  21. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (What I Read October 2016)
  22. The Black Violin by Maxence Fermine (What I Read October 2016)
  23. The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane (What I Read Guadeloupe)
  24. The Last Dive by Bernie Chowdhury (What I Read December 2016)
  25. Things that Matter by Charles Krauthammer (What I Read December 2016)

2016 PopSugar Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

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I just completed the 2016 PopSugar Reading Challenge. It was a great way to read books in different categories than I might typically read. I’ll definitely be doing another reading challenge in 2017. Here is the wrap-up of the categories and what I read each for them. I hope you’ll find inspiration for your reading in 2017!

A book based on a fairy tale: Swept Away by Vanessa Riley

A National Book Award winner: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

A YA bestseller: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

A book you haven’t read since high school (I don’t really like re-reading books, so I changed this category to A book you should have read in high school): Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A book set in your home state: In Cold Storage: Sex and Murder on the Plains by James W. Hewitt

A book translated into English: Young Babylon by Lu Nei

A romance set in the future: Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind by Anne Charnock

A book set in Europe: Trust To A Degree by Horst Christian

A book that’s under 150 pages: The Side Hustle Path: 10 Proven Ways to Make Money Outside of Your Day Job (Volume 1) by Nick Loper

A New York Times bestseller: Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson

A book that’s becoming a movie this year: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

A book recommended by someone you just met: The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

A self-improvement book: More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity by Jeff Shinabarger

A book you can finish in a day: The Third Reich: Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany, World War II And The Last German Empire by Frank D. Kennedy

A book written by a celebrity: Mentoring Matters: What Every Mentor Needs to Know by Tom Osborne

A political memoir: Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics by Charles Krauthammer

A book at least 100 years older than you are: The Adventures of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

A book that’s more than 600 pages: Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace

A book from Oprah’s Book Club: Paradise by Toni Morrison

A science-fiction novel: The Death Cure by James Dashner

A book recommended by a family member: Wreckage by Emily Bleeker

A graphic novel: Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross

A book that is published in 2016: The Moonlit Garden by Corina Bormann

A book with a protagonist who has your occupation: Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham

A book that takes place during Summer: Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard

A book and its prequel: The Fever Code by James Dashner

A murder mystery: The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

A book written by a comedian: Modern Romance: An Investigation by Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg

A dystopian novel: The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

A book with a blue cover: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

A book of poetry: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda

The first book you see in a bookstore: The Magician’s Lie by Greer Macallister

A classic from the 20th century: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A book from the library: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

An autobiography: Stars Upside Down: a memoir of travel, grief, and an incandescent God by Jennie Goutet

A book about a road trip: On the Road by Jack Kerouac

A book about a culture you’re unfamiliar with: Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende

A satirical book: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

A book that takes place on an island: A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper

A book that’s guaranteed to bring you joy: After the War Is Over by Jennifer Robson

 

 

What I Read (July 2016)

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Every month I try to read at least one book from the following categories: nonfiction, devotional, and fiction. And this year I’m doing things just a little bit differently than in the past. Since I decided to participate in the 2016 PopSugar Reading Challenge, I’m also going to be listing which category my books fulfill. If you want to join in on the fun, you can check out the list of categories here! This is What I Read in July 2016, my brief book reviews and recommendations, and there were some great books.

Books Finished:

Wreckage by Emily Bleeker

2016 PopSugar Challenge: a book recommended by a family member

My sister-in-law Charla recommended Wreckage. And I’d picked as part of the Kindle First program quite some time ago, but hadn’t gotten around to reading it. I can’t believe that I hadn’t read it before! I don’t want to give too many details for fear of giving away the plot, but essentially it’s about two people who are in a plane crash and end up on a deserted island, and the lies that they later tell. Let me tell you, this book is fantastic!  I had a hard time putting it down, and recommend it very highly.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

This classic is the story is of a man named Ethan Frome and his unfortunate and difficult existence. He is crippled from an accident; while his wife has a mysterious (and probably made-up) illness. His wife’s relative comes to live with them to help care for the house and prepare meals. The book is a relatively easy read, but depressing. I definitely didn’t see the twist at the end coming.

All About Jesus: The Single Story from Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John by Roger Quy

This wonderful book essentially blends the gospels together into a single unified story of Jesus. It’s not a substitute for reading the gospels themselves, but is a refreshing addition. I liked seeing how the different perspectives of the apostles meshed together.

Hanover House by Brenda Novak

I’ve never read anything by Novak before, but after this short prequel to her upcoming series, I doubt this will be the last that I read of her. I’ve already added the next entry of the Evelyn Talbot Chronicles, Her Darkest Nightmare, to my kindle wish list. The series is about a woman who was tortured and nearly killed in her teenage years, which has caused her to study psychopaths for a living. Still dealing with the trauma, her life is not full, until she moves to Alaska to run a facility to study psychopaths. The book was fast-paced and engaging.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

2016 PopSugar Challenge: a classic from the 20th century

This is actually a short story, upon which a motion picture is based. But the short story is much more humorous than the movie, which is much more serious. I enjoyed both, but they are very different. The story is of a man who ages backwards–he is born old and gets younger over the course of his life, until he’s an infant in his old age.

A House for Happy Mothers by Amulya Malladi

This story follows an American-Indian woman who is infertile and opts to hire a surrogate in India, as well as the Indian woman who becomes her surrogate. It felt like an honest portrayal of what would be an incredibly emotional and difficult situation. Although not fast-paced, it was an engaging read.

 

Books Abandoned:

None.

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