1 year 100 books!

2017, was the first year I challenged myself to read 100 books.  I honestly do not think that I have ever read that much in one year but I don’t have the records to prove it!  Thanks to Goodreads it was easy to keep up with all the books I had read.  It was fun too!  With several different book lists that come to my email I found many free and reduced books.  I also had several opportunities to visit several book sales that year.  One of the book sales was in the very hotel I was staying at on vacation.  We also went to a city known for one of the biggest bookstores-Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. 

The list of books makes me very happy.  I went outside of my comfort zone with more than a few of the choices such as “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene.   I can honestly say it was fun and rewarding.  I learned so much of the struggles of many during WWII.  I learned the opinions and values that are given to Americans when reading foreign authors.  I had an epiphany that I am not the only person who has a vast love for reading and where you can go just by reading a book. 

A few of my absolute favorites I read last year:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Baker’s Secret by Stephen Kiernan
The Beach Trees by Karen White
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
Dead Hill by John Dean
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
Great Cathedrals by Bernard Schultz
How to be Parisian (multiple authors)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen
In the Middle of the Mess by Sheila Walsh
Several of Patrick Taylor’s series about Doctor Finegal O’Reilly
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katrarina Bivold
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

I can not name all the books here, but these had an impact on me and my perspectives on life. 

“The Little Paris Bookshop,” “The Bookshop on the Corner,” and “The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend,” are the best when it comes to a good story with literature references and a general love of reading professed throughout. 

“All the Light We Cannot See,” “The Baker’s Secret,” “Beneath a Scarlet Sky,” “Everyone Brave is Forgiven,” “In Farleigh Field,” and “We Were the Lucky Ones,” were all centered around different parts of the world during World War II.  Some of these books were based on true characters and events.  It was a fascinating look at this era I have never seen or heard before.  I highly recommend each and every book mentioned. I can also thank Goodreads for recommending some of these titles, I would have never saw some of these and they were fantastic. 

All in all, I just want to pass my love of reading.  I read many faith based books as well that were encouraging and very uplifting.  I did read a few non-fiction books such as “Great Cathedrals”, I am have a love for these magnificent buildings that were made by a labor of love for God for many years and sometimes generations.  These buildings were to show God’s story and lift people out of their mundane lives.