Well, February may be a short month, but my reading pile sure wasn't. I read more books this month than I have in any single month since I've been keeping track - January 2013.
The books on the top of the shelf are the ones I read this month. The shelf below it is the rest of the library books I have checked out at the moment. So it looks like two-three good months and I should be caught up. HA. If only I could keep from checking out more books between now and then.
For the month of February...
Total books: 9
Total pages: 2,048
Total inches: 9.25
Year to date
Total books: 14
Total pages: 4,346
Total inches: 17
The books I read, in the order I read them -
- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell - about the way our minds work even without us realizing it
- How to Study the Bible by RA Torrey - The best book I've ever read on Bible study methods. Very complex Bible study methods. I used this as the basis of a lesson I taught in our church ladies' group this month.
- Hidden Valley Homestead by Helena Linn - This is written by a local ranch woman. It's her third book and I've enjoyed them all - mostly because of the local setting. Definitely not a literary wonder, but I like them anyway.
- Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen - I really enjoyed this book. It's a story about a Vietnamese immigrant family with a connection to Rose Wilder Lane (daugter of Laura Ingalls Wilder) and much of the story is info about Rose ... though I did have to research to figure out what parts were true and what was fiction. It inspired me to read my next book...
- Let the Hurricane Roar by Rose Wilder Lane - This story was a blend of the Little House info - the couple lived on Plum Creek, were named Charles and Caroline, and a locust infestation killed their wheat crop. But it doesn't match up with the info in the Little House on the Prairie series at all. It's like an alternative reality for them. Once I figured that out, it was an interesting story. But I think you have to let go of any memory of the Little House books you've read. It is interesting to note that Rose's book was written before Laura's, and there is some argument that Rose may have written or at least heavily edited Laura's books.
- War Stories of a Wyoming Sheriff by Hank Ruland. - This was written by one of our former local sheriffs. I happened to be reporter at the only paper in town when he was sheriff, and I met with him every week during that time, so many of the stories were familiar to me. That made it an interesting read. But the writing and grammar are really horrible. It's more like a first draft than a finished copy. Still, I enjoyed it.
- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - another brainy book ;) I'm kind of on a kick here lately with figuring out how the brain works, what makes us successful, and how all that relates to autism (which this book doesn't cover, but that's my current interest). I really learned a lot from this book and want to refer back to it. One of the most interesting ideas was that a person can become an expert at anything - music, a particular subject, etc. if they put enough time into studying it. The magic number seems to be 10,000 hours. It's a pretty interesting book with a lot of published scientific studies to back up the claims.
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - This is a fairly depressing book about children dying of cancer. The narrator is particularly blunt about everything. But it was well written. I didn't think it was quite as spectacular as all the hype would have you believe, but it was very well done. I see that there is a movie coming out about it, and from the trailer it looks like they stuck pretty close to the book. The actors really don't fit what I had pictured in my head though.
- The Spark by Kristine Barnett. This book was really helpful to me. Kristine is the mother of an autistic boy who is literally a genius. I found this book really inspiring and it gave me a lot of practical ideas to try with our five year old.
%2B076.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment