All the Books

So my last book post was #29 for 2015 so I have some massive catching up to do. That sounds like a boring read, so I'll give a quick list and perhaps some sarcastic remarks? Yes.

30. Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Sometimes laugh out loud funny, other times vulgar and not funny at all. Some good life advice, some interesting stories, but definitely unorganized and all over the place which led to boredom on my part. Was glad when it was over.

31. Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (yes, I have read these books 417 times, I like to read before I fall asleep if you didn't already know, and I need books that I've already read or I will stay up reading all night. whatever.)

32. The Wild Truth by Carine McCandless. I never read Into The Wild but I did see the movie. This follow-up is a heartbreaking but excellent read. There was way more to the story about how truly awful the parents were.

33. Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince (my favorite of the series)

34. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt VOnnegut. People rave about this book, and I get that it's a classic, but honestly I didn't like it much. Very weird, quite gruesome.

35. Dogwood Hill by Sherryl Woods. I picked this up at the library at random, apparently it's the 12th book in a series. I enjoyed it very much, easy and fun romantic read without being trashy. Her backstory exposition is a style I don't care for, but overall I liked it.

36. Coming Home by Karen Kingsbury. Perfect people, perfect lives. Yes, they make mistakes and face trials, but the overall air is they are the best at what they do, whatever that field may be. It's just silly. For this particular book, it's all that plus the most gut-wrenching storyline ever. You just about want to hang yourself before you get to the end, which takes forever because KK does not know when to END a story.

37. Misery by Stephen King. If you're familiar with King then you know he swears a decent amount in his books, but generally it's not excessive and fits the story/characters. Otherwise an excellent book, truly disturbing and a scary, great read.

38. A Seaside Christmas by Sherryl Woods.

39. Postcards from the Past by Marcia Willett. A bit dry and slow, but good story line and character development.

40. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

41. A.D. 30: A Novel by Ted Dekker. Overall I really enjoyed it, great story of redemption, etc. I didn't love some of the excessive stream-of-consciousness parts, where she goes on and on about her feelings, etc. I was disappointed that they left a character unresolved, but I guess we'll find out in the sequel that came out this month.

42. The Art of Baking Blind by Sarah Vaughan. Good storyline but be prepared to feel like you're reading a cookbook a lot of the time. Maybe you like that, what do I know? I found the multiple characters confusing and often had to backtrack to figure out who I was reading about when the author used pronouns instead of names. Not a ton of bad language, but the F word several times in inner monologues.

43. Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets and 44. the Prison of Azkaban

45.  The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Fantastic book! Excited to read the rest of the series and the prequel. I found it a stressful read and had a hard time keeping my eyes from skipping ahead since there were constant reveals and lots of action.

46. The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner, book 2). I was disappointed in this book. It felt draggy and I found myself skimming, in addition to hating the zombie-esque stuff.

47. Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism by Ph. D. Barry M. PRizant. A fantastic book, very encouraging and helpful, like nothing else I've read about autism.

48. Lead Me, Holy Spirit: Longing to Hear the Voice of God by Stormie Omartian. Great book, I truly enjoyed it and took many notes. A word of caution, however, that there were at least three times that she stated something as fact that were either a stretch or did not line up with scripture. Still, I felt I learned a lot from it.

49. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

50. Harry Potter and the Never Ending Dishes in the Sink. I'm kidding, wasn't sure who would have read this far....

50. For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards by Jen Hatmaker. Charming and at times very funny. More enjoyable if you remember that she is a blogger, not an evangelist or pastor.