Summer Reading

I know, I bet all of you have been dying to know all the books I've read this summer. Maybe it hasn't been the thing you've looked forward to most about August, but you're interested. Unless you're not and then you can stop reading now and might I ask why you clicked on this blog in the first place?
You thought I read a lot of books last summer, but I went a little crazy listening to books on CD to make my housekeeping job more interesting. So here it goes. Brace yourselves.

  1. Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall (recommended by my good friend Jamie. It was about someone growing up in FLDS faith and how she got away and helped me understand the mindset of those who are a part of groups similar to that)
  2. The Little Russian by Susan Sherman (I'm still fascinated by Eastern Europe and Russia int he 1920s, 30s, and 40s; this was a historical fiction novel about someone from that time)
  3. Jane Austen by Carol Shields (I was beginning my Austen craze and watched a bunch of the BBC movies of her books and read some short biographies)
  4. Victor Hugo and his World by Andre Maurois (Though I was a little disappointed in some of Victor's moral behavior, I liked learning more about the man who wrote so much good)
  5. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (Not a huge fan of Dickens still. The characters didn't develop enough for me to get attached to them, but I still liked the story)
  6. Austenland by Shannon Hale (I love Shannon Hale and thought she did a great job with this creative novel)
  7. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman (I felt like real historian because pretty much every Mormon history major has read this objective biography of the founder of our religion. There was a lot of information, but I felt like I understood Joseph more. I'm grateful for all he did in helping people come closer to Christ)
  8. Jane Austen: A Life Revealed by Catherine Reef (see above comment about Austen biographies)
  9. Once Upon a Curse by E. D. Baker (too fluffy and sophomoric)
  10. Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen by J. K. Rowling (my second German novel!)
  11. Girl, 15, Charming, but Insane by Sue Limb (apparently I'd read this before, but forgot. It was forgettable and kinda weird)
  12. Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame by Lisa Simpson (I approve of children reading this to introduce them to greater literature)
  13. 1776 by David McCullough (Every history major should probably have read this too)
  14. His Last Bow: Short Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (finally got around to reading Holmes too)
  15. The Great Bridge by David McCullough (possible the most detailed book of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. If that interests you, read it. If not, don't)
  16. Sherlock Holmes: The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz (a great Sherlock novel! loved it)
  17. 1984 by George Orwell (how I love my distopian literature)
  18. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and other stories by Leo Tolstoy (I may or may not have understood the bigger picture from this book...)
  19. Evolution, Me, and other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande (still one of my favorite teen novels)
  20. Henry V by William Shakespeare (not my favorite Shakespeare play)
  21. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by A. Conan Doyle
  22. All is Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (If you want to know what war is like, read this. It's better than a war movie)
  23. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (who knew there were so many adventures and plot twists?)
  24. Common Sense by Thomas Paine
  25. The Renaissance by Paul Johnson (For those of you who don't know, this is one of my two favorite time periods.)
  26. Utopia by Thomas More (now I know why we don't have any other utopian novels)
  27. Lord of the Rings (BBC Radio) by J. R. Tolkien (it was an abbreviated, dramatic version of the trilogy. I liked the real books better. duh.)
  28. The Two Towers by J. R. Tolkien
  29. The Return of the King by J. R. Tolkien (it only took me 19 years, but I finally got around to these books too. So much magic!!)
  30. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (I know, I'm reading all the classics and finding out how wrong Halloween traditions are)
  31. Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (loved it! that's all I can say)
  32. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (not only am I an official nerd for reading The Lord of the Rings, but I'm finally a woman too. How could you not love this book?!)
  33. The Plague by Albert Camus (good old theater of the absurd)
  34. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (I was introduced to this allegory by the children's show Arthur and finally read it as a young adult)
  35. The Sin Eater by Gary D. Schmidt
  36. Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt (Even though I read a plethora of amazing books this summer, I think this was my favorite. Tears shed while reading > 50)
And that is all the books I completed this summer. I'm partway through Anna Karenina right now and like it, but it will take me a while to get through it all. 
Good job if you made it all the way through reading that list. Now imagine reading all those in four months. Crazy, eh? I cut down on the commentary, especially towards the end, but someday I'll have a book club and talk about all the ideas I came up with while reading. That day is not today however, and I'm off to Provo in two days to go read some textbooks!

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