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Yes, there’s another book, but it’s an e-book, so I couldn’t exactly take a picture of it since it’s on the picture-taking device. |
Category: Books
Books Read in 2015
Books Read Altogether: 152
Fiction: 121
Non-fiction: 31
Re-reads: 15
New reads: 137
Reviewed: 23 (plus 3 children’s books)
E-books read: 102
Physical books read: 50
Whatever the Cost – Book Review
Questions Jesus Asks – Book Review
– Explore the unique paradox of Jesus’ divinity and humanity
– Be challenged by the questions Jesus asks each of us
– Learn more about Jesus and find the answers to your own life’s questions.
John 17:3 tells us: “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” There is no higher purpose in life than the knowledge of God through His Son. Prepare to learn far more about God and the nature of Jesus than you thought was possible. Jesus asks penetrating questions that cut passed the pretense and reach the target of our hearts.
A Happy Little Milestone
Then there are days when I can actually see results with my writing and my world grows a rosy hue and I feel like dancing around and hugging everyone and celebrating.
Yesterday was the first time I signed one of my Cool Critters of the Ice Age book which is a notable milestone. Having a new book out and seeing people interested in it and buying it makes my little heart happy. It’s as if I’m getting to share a special part of my world with someone else and that is a honor.
I grew up loving to read and pouring over books for hours at a time. I would dream of one day meeting an author or, gasp, even being one. And now I have that spectacular privilege of meeting children who love to read, too.
These happy times help me to keep my focus during the long hours of writing and editing and remind me that what I am doing really does make a difference.
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What about you? What is one way you encourage yourself to keep going?
I’m at the Creation Museum this week, y’all, so if you’re in the area you should really stop by!
Book Snob: Six Things that Make My Readerly Heart Happy
4. A book that makes me laugh or cry. And double points if the book can make me do both. Triple points if I’m doing both within a couple of minutes of each other.
It’s not hard for me to engage in a book. I express myself best through the written word and I connect really easily through the same medium. It does take something special for me to get close enough to a character for me to actually cry for them though. And laughing out loud? It makes me want to hug the book when that happens. (Except when it’s in public and… Yeah. I have some embarrassing stories I’m not going to be sharing… Just be forewarned: It’s not always appropriate to laugh. Especially when people don’t know you’re reading.)
5. When the cast of characters is unique and easily distinguishable and small enough to keep track of. It’s so easy to get lost when a whole slew of characters are tossed at me like balls at a dunking tank. I like having a few close characters who I can really delve into and learn about and cheer on. I’m totally a character-driven reader.
6. When the ending is satisfying. Endings generally leave me moaning and knocking the book down a half a star or so, so when I find an ending that leaves me content I’m on the moon. I’ve never been able to peg what exactly makes a good ending, but they’re beautiful.
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What about you? What are some things that you like to find in books?
Book Snob: Six Things that Make Me Cringe
4. Having a crashing conclusion where everything happens at once. I mean, why not have the main characters nephew be born, her brother-in-law die and her boyfriend propose all within a few hours of each other? Because none of these events inspire very much emotion and that way we can gloss over each individual happening and numb the main character to everything so we don’t have to try and explore any of the emotions. Cha-ching. Perfect out for the author and perfect let-down for the reader.
5. When a delicate subject is handled harshly/not handled at all. Seriously. If a character dies (especially unexpectedly) give the other characters some time to grieve. And while there are some people who use humor to diffuse a tense/heart-wrenching situation, not everyone does that. So, to have all the family members sitting around the hospital waiting room telling jokes and laughing and never taking time to grieve (other than crying) isn’t realistic at all. There is more to grief than tears and jokes.
6. Having characters gloss over huge betrayals and offering insta-forgiveness and right away being like lets-go-back-to-the-way-it-was-before when the betrayer says he/she’s sorry. Especially if the betrayal resulted someone getting hurt or even killed.
Yes, I get the idea of forgiveness. I can even understand how an author would want his/her Christian character to forgive right away because God forgives us. But surely, surely there’s still room for internal struggle and doubt, even if it is brief.
Plus, realistically? If someone who you thought you knew well suddenly turns into someone else and after your world explodes comes limping back telling you that they really have changed and asking you to 100% believe them again? Humm… Common sense tells me that this relationship should be taken slowly because they’ve obviously fooled you once. Who’s to say they’re not doing it again?
My list could continue, but I’ve purged my snobby bookish brain enough for today, so I shall stop.
Of course I’d be delighted to hear some of the things that make you cringe when you read so I can learn from you and not make those mistakes myself… Ah, the joys of reading!
What I’ve Been Reading
I’ve also read four fiction books (one of them that I’ll be reviewing on here soon) that add up to 1,215 pages of reading. Combine that with the 376 pages of fiction (It really felt like more! I’m always shocked at how much easier it is for me to fly through fiction compared to non-fiction, even though I really do like non-fiction). That adds up to 1,591 pages which is kinda a lot of reading for five days. (About 318 pages a day.)
One reason I took this reading blitz is because I’m still mind-tired from finishing When Life Hands You Lymes. I have been working on plotting my next book though (which is the second book in the Creation Quest series) and I’m hoping to begin writing it today. Thankfully I have a good grasp on what’s going to happen with this story and it should be really easy to turn out. A couple weeks from now I think I’ll be ready to move on to my next project. Excitement.
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What about you? What are some of the books you’ve been reading recently? I’d be delighted to hear!
Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Non-Fiction Books On Your To-Be-Read-List
7. Getting Things Done by David Allen
Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books From My Childhood I would Love to Revisit

This is another one of those books that was read to me when I was a little mite. My mom was the one who read this book to us and she read it when I was four and she was expecting my little sister. There was a crazy feeling about a decade later when I read the book for myself and suddenly realized Wait a second! This is the book Mom read to us…
