24 Books for 2013

Okay...so one of my New Year's resolutions was to read 24 books. At least half the books were on my Kindle or my shelf waiting for me to read them. The rest I had friends put in their suggestions and picked from those. My hope was to get a good variety and hopefully some books that I'd never read otherwise. The boundaries were "nothing foul" and if it was fiction, it had to make an impact or make me think.

Without further ado, this year's list:

1) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Have you ever had that book you've always meant to read but never do...that's Les Mis for me. LOVE the musical, have had the book on my Kindle for a year, but never quite got up the courage. It's Hugo and 1400 pages...even for me, that's intimidating. So this is the year...

2) Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
While I don't agree with everything she says, I love Rachel Held Evans' blog. And I'm really looking forward to reading this book. I think it will be entertaining and educational. I've also been told by one of my friends who has already finished it that I'll like it. Amazon having the Kindle version on sale for $1.99 didn't hurt

3) Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams Into Your Comfortable Life by Jeff Goins

4) When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett, Brian Fikkert
 
5) Crazy Love by Francis Chan
I've had three books by Francis Chan on my Kindle since Easter of last year when Amazon gave them all away for free. I started Crazy Love but there are videos, etc that I wanted to make sure I got to watch and I just dropped it. So in 2013, I'll be finishing this one and reading the other two.

6) Forgotten God by Francis Chan
 
7) Erasing Hell by Francis Chan
 
8) The Hole In The Gospel by Richard Stearns
So I'm already bought into the premise but I think this book has had a huge impact...and oddly enough I haven't read it yet. In case you don't know, Richard Stearns is President of World Vision
 
9) Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
A Jewish girl becomes a Christian and writes a book about it. Of course I'm going to have to read it! And I found it at Omega books!

10) Justice Project edited by Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla and Ashley Bunting Seeber
Because I want to know what the issues are and what I can do about them.

11) Experiencing the Presence of God by AW Tozer
Because I want to read everything he wrote...and this is the start.
 
12) The Way of the Heart by Henry Nouwen
Ditto

13) You Are A Writer (So Start Acting Like One) by Jeff Goins
Because Emily and I are reading it together. I might learn something. And it's only 77 pages.

14) Team of Rivals by Doris Kearn
The book that the movie "Lincoln" was (loosely) based on and a great suggestion by Melissa.

15) Switch: How to Change When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

16) Love Is An Orientation by Andrew Marin
A guy that I have mad respect for...check out his blog...read the book. I would l-o-v-e to do a project with Marin Foundation during Pride next year. Another book along the same line I would like to read is "Torn" by Justin Lee.

17) Wild by Cheryl Strayed
If Mandy likes it enough to recommend it, gotta be good. I liked the synopsis on Amazon. Done.

18) Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand
Three people put this on the list almost simultaneously...those that didn't cheered or put it on their "to read" list...gotta be good! Another book that I'd like to read, also titled Unbroken, is by Jonathan Fisk.

19) The Color of Water by Andre Braugher

20) A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Added bonus, it's available at the OM USA bookstore!


21) What Is The What by David Eggers

22) Ethel Merman: The Biggest Star On Broadway by Geoffrey Mark
Thanks Paul! 

23) Rooftops of Tehran 
So...the person who made the suggestion didn't give the author and I found two books of this title. One a novel and one a book of poems. I'm putting them both up here. The book is Mahbod Seraji. The poems by Sholeh Wolpe.


24) Thinking For A Change by John C Maxwell

I "had" to choose 24 so these were the ones I chose for the list. It wasn't easy! However, I put most of them on my wish list. I'll definitely be reading them at some point in the future! Feel free to continue suggesting books! Talk about the books you will be reading. This was so much fun, next month I think we'll do movies!