I’ve decided I’ll keep a post of the books I read during my time here. I have a lot of time to read, so I’ve already read quite a few books. I’ll update as I finish more books.
The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks – Sept. 2010 (I didn’t write down the exact date)
Typical Nicholas Sparks – but I enjoy. This one is about a soldier who finds a picture of a girl while he is stationed overseas. His comrades think this becomes his lucky charm. After he is discharged from the military, he decides to seek out the woman in the photo.
Africa United – Soccer, Passion, Politics and the First World Cup in Africa by Steve Bloomfield – 22 Sept 2010
This book was about the effects of soccer in Africa; how soccer can unite a country even when it’s in a war. I don’t follow soccer so a lot of the names went over my head, but this was a really interesting and good read.
Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson – 26 Sept 2010
This was about the 1900 hurricane in Galveston. So interesting! Historical and scientific but with a personal touch.
Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks – 3 Oct 2010
Another typical Nicholas Sparks – I just can’t seem to not read these! My guilty pleasure. This one follows the movie – a journalist finds a message in a bottle and writes about it in her column. More people call in to say they too have found a message in a bottle to and from the same people as the letter she found. She goes on a search for the man whom she has fallen for over the letters she reads.
Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen – 17 Oct 2010
Very cute young adult book. Told in two different forms – one chapter is the boy talking and the next chapter is the girl. Very good story! The boy moves into a new neighborhood and immediately the girl comes to play and falls in love with his blue eyes. They are in the same grade and she tries to befriend him while he tries to keep his distance.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson – 21 Oct 2010
I really enjoyed this one and want to read the others in the trilology now. Very good suspense novel. I watched the movie and it was not very good but I recommend the book even though it can be quite intense at times. There’s a lot to this story and many subparts that end up coming together in the end.
Einstein’s God – Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit by Krista Tippett – 4 Nov 2010
I wish I read this with a book club because there were so many things that would be great discussion topics. The authors that were interviewed in the book are authors I would like to read now. I love books that discuss how science and spirituality co-exist.
The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – 11 Nov 2010
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe – 17 Nov 2010
Life, The Universe and Everything – 23 Nov 2010
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish – 16 Dec 2010
Mostly Harmless – 19 Dec 2010
These were interesting reads. I’m glad that I read them, but they were a little weird at times. And I had some really weird dreams while reading!
The End of Someone Else’s Rainbow by Robert Rossner – 24 Nov 2010
This was in my school library and I decided to check it out. The story was a little lacking to me; it had a good plot but needed some development. Not that I’m a literary critic by any means but I just think it could have been a lot better. A guy gets out of prison and goes back to his home town to find it has changed and grown a lot over the past 20 years. A cop follows him because he suspects that the ex-convict still knows where the money he stole 20 years ago is hidden and is determined to catch him again. The town librarian befriends the ex-convict and they become unlikely friends.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – 14 Dec 2010
Another young adult read. This was very good and I think would bring up good discussions in a classroom. It’s about a young boy who is a Native American and lives on a reservation. He had “water on the brain” when he was born and has some disabilities. But he is smart and funny and decides to go to the “white” school for a better education. This creates a lot of problems within the reservation because many people there feel he is betraying them.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – 7 Jan 2011
American classic. It took me awhile to get through the book, but it was also one that was hard to put down. I now want to re-watch the movie.
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks – 11 Jan 2011
An interesting thing about this book is that he wrote the screenplay first before writing the novel. Miley Cyrus, after watching A Walk to Remember, wanted to do a movie based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. This book is the result of that. A teenage girl has to go live with her father over the summer. Both she and her father are piano players and composers, but she refuses to play ever since her parents divorced. The summer unfolds and she becomes close to her father once again and also falls in love with a local boy.
Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn – 14 Jan 2011
An amazing book that everyone should read! It’s about “Turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide”. The book talks about maternal mortality, sex trafficking, female genital cutting, how girls are less likely to be educated, among other oppressions on women around the world. It gives specific cases of how some women overcome these obstacles and reach out to help others. It’s empowering, but also tragic to read.
A Time to Die by Wilbur Smith – 21 Jan 2011
A novel set in Southern Africa – it has action, adventure and romance. It was nice read and I’m looking forward to the next book I have to read by the same author. A woman goes with her father to Africa (Zimbabwe) on an African safari to hunt large game. The guide is a veteran guerrilla fighter who thrives on the hunt. They push themselves to find the elusive elephant, Tukutela, the Angry One. Their hunt pushes them into a civil war across the border in Mozambique and they must fight to survive.
Elephant Song by Wilbur Smith – 6 Feb 2011
Another novel set in Southern Africa. I’ve enjoyed reading both books by this author, but both endings were a little abrupt. This one more than A Time to Die. But I still enjoyed reading. This book was about a journalist who films the “real” Africa. Showing things such as having to kill elephants so that they are not over populated and destroy their own feeding grounds. There were a lot of different parts to the story and it was a good read.
