Sarah the Librarian

Total Books Read: 85  of 100 Read Books I Own: 9 of 15 He's Where the Joy Is: Getting to Know the Captivating God of the Trinity  by Tara-Leigh Cobble Anne of Ingleside  by L. M. Montgomery (re-read) Faraway: Fairy Tales for the Here and Now  by Rainbow Rowell, et. al. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts  by Rebecca Hall The Truth About White Lies  by Olivia A. Cole Mark of the Raven  by Morgan L. Busse When Morning Comes  by Arushi Raina Revelation Bible Study: Extravagant Hope  by Margaret Feinberg Romans: Good News That Changes Everything  by Melissa Spoelstra Total Series Read/Caught Up On: 4 of 5 Beartown by Fredrik Backman Loose Ends by Rebekah Weatherspoon The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang To Love Your Enemy by Jungyoon and Taegon As for subject matter reading, I love doing Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, even if I simultaneously chafe at someone else telling me what to read, leaving me scrambling to finish t...

I just barely got through my 100 book goal this year (and I'll admit, there were a lot of children's books padding that total), but I have to say I really enjoyed what I read. So now, without further ado, my favorites from what I read this year: The Holy Bible  - This was, without a doubt, my biggest reading accomplishment of the year. A feat I've attempted several times, but 2016 was the year I was successful. Reading this epic work as a whole helped me make sense of the less exciting parts and get a much better big picture view of the work as whole. Hamilton: The Revolution  by Lin-Manuel Miranda & Jeremy McCarter  - Was there anything I was more obsessed with this year than  Hamilton ? That's why this annotated script interspersed with short pieces about the show that's revolutionized Broadway has to be on this list. In 2017, I have tickets to finally see the production in Chicago. White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America ...

This was the first year I did reading challenges , and I think I picked them well. Other than reading books I owned, I did great (and I got much closer to my failed goal than I expected). Setting a goal for finishing series, really pushed me in that respect and also taught me that it's okay to let a series go, even if I liked the first one. Unless I can't wait to find out what happens next, it's probably not worth my time. Reading books with titles starting with all the letters of the alphabet was a fun way to look at my to-read list in Goodreads and jump around and pick some things that had been sitting there awhile. I was also super psyched to hit my Goodreads goal of reading 100 books for the year. I've dreamed up some interesting challenges for myself for 2015, so I'll lay those out in another post, but to wrap up 2014, I'll list my favorites as I usually do - Top 5 ranked with a little explanation of why they were so fabulous and 10 honorable mentions lis...

In recounting my favorite books read this year, it might be a little obvious that I'm working in a public library again. More recent works, more super popular works, and if you look at my Goodreads account, you'll see that I read way more books this year (audiobooks and my long commute make for happy listening) at 89, but that was still short of my goal for the year of 100. Despite expecting a baby next year, I'm still planning to try for 100 again. My Favorites: Zealot  by Reza Aslan (2013) : Comparing the historical Jesus of Nazareth to the biblical Jesus Christ is a pretty audacious task, but Aslan, an experienced religious scholar manages to be respectful while still questioning almost everything about the facts of Jesus's life. Part of the way he gets away with this is by beginning his book with a long discussion about the relationship between truth and fact. Maybe not for everyone, but anyone interested in the life of Jesus of Nazareth should give it a tr...

Generally I do a really terrible job of reading books right after they come out, so I doubt that aside from Gone Girl  there are many books published in 2012 that I actually read in 2012. Instead this is a list of my favorite books read for the first time in 2012. Signing Their Rights Away  (2011) by Denise Kiernan - I was blown away by how fun, informative, and flat-out readable this collection of short biographies of the signers of the Constitution was. The chapter titles are clever, the stories pull out fun facts, yet still manage to tell the important history of the early years of this country, and the cover folds out to be a life-size replica of the Constitution. This is just a quality project all-around. Thirteen Reasons Why  (2007) by Jay Asher - I finally got to this recent YA classic about a girl who kills herself and then leaves tapes behind explaining her reasons why. You'll pick it up because it's about the important issues of suicide and bullying, but you'...