2013 books

 2013 ... (i'm writing this intro towards the end of the year) .... for 2013, my goal was not to read 100 books .... i had other priorities ... one was to do 5000 pushups ... which i finished in june .... but didn't document, ya know? how boring would that be. 50 push ups. yup 50 more. and 50 more.
... and i've sorta documented my books ... just cause i like to ... but this list won't be as compelling as other years, perhaps or maybe as complete ... maybe a book list will move back up in priority for 2014.

1...four boots one journey by jeff alt ... i like journey books ... and this was a back packing journey for a married couple.... makes me want to backpack.

2....breaking TWIG by deborah epperson ... wow. twisted. a very unpredictable dark book!

3.....the statistical probability of love at first sight by jennifer smith .... that's about the best title of a rom com book EVER ... ha.... young teen love and transatlantic flights ... light and easy

4......edgewood by karen mcquestion ... i get her books as kindle deals .. and always enjoy them .... this one was way different: young adult sci fi ....

5....hey joe by jerry beller ... i know the author! enjoyed the book very much. want to go to jamaica now quite badly ...and , in fact, would like to move somewhere exotic for a bit.

6 ...matchmakers 2.0 ... debora geary

7.....to love a witch by debora geary .... yay.

8.....a different witch by debora geary .... i love the many, many characters in this book ....

9......a celtic witch by debora geary .... i'm on a mission to read every book by this author.

10.... have and to code by debora geary .... more from the happy witch series

11.....swordfights and lullabies by debora geary .... a short one from the witch series that i love.

12.....sh*t my dad says by justin halpurn ... yes, funny.

13-19
no.1 ladies detective agency
tears of the giraffe(No.1 ladies detective agency)
morality for beautiful girls(No.1 ladies detective agency)
the kalahari typing school(No.1 ladies detective agency)
the full cover of life (No.1 ladies detective agency)
in the company of cheerful ladies (No.1 ladies detective agency)
all by alexander mccall .... good series .... set in africa .... love the characters ....

june

20....key west: tequila, a pinch of salt and a quirky slice of america ....by jon breakfield
yay! i started this in the plane on the way to key west. great stuff ... a traveling couple from the uk end up not leaving keywest after their week long vacation. funny.

21.....wonder by rj palacio ... yes ... awesome book ... read it because my rising seventh grader has it for summer reading .... so good. so well done.

22......penelope by anya wylde ... light, fun, funny romcom kindle deal .... regency england and fancy ball gowns and highway bandits and dowagers and one cross dresser. good stuff.

23......slammed: a novel by colleen hoover. LOVED this.  slammed refers to slam poetry ... and i suppose metaphorically slammed by life throwing curve balls, being hard. very worthwhile.

24......just this once (escape to new zealand) by rosalind james .... kindle deal .... liked it .... want to go to new zealand ....

25.....the hazards of skinny dipping ... by alyssa rose ivy ... free kindle book .... fine for free.

26.....traveling with pomegranates by sue monk kidd and her daughter ... read it for book club .... a travel memoir (sort of) with back and forth chapters between the two ..... i liked the travelness of it ... and the greek mythology bits ... but didn't love it like smk's other books.

27.....do or di... a down on her luck kid channeling princess diana .... enjoyable.

28.....stranded by chris tebbets and jeff probst ... kid book by survivor guy .... shipwreck ... total cliffhanger ending ... i imagine my youngest and i might keep reading the series .... liked it.

29......sugar rush (entangled bliss) by rachel astor ... light fun romance centered around candy. i've never read a candy book before.

30.....fever 1793 by laurie halse anderson ... reread.... strong historical fiction .... good read.

i am sure i read more books than that in the first half of the year. oh well.
july

31....family magic, the hayle coven series by patti larsen ..... witchy thriller .... with a demon dad .... and a girl denying her power..... i like witch books. not sure i'll read more in this series.

31....the summer i learned to dive
and
32......the year i almost drowned... both by shannon mccrimmon .... yes. liked them enough to read both. great characters. the first was an expecially compelling story.

33.....build a man by talli roland ... inexpensive (maybe free) kindle book .... quirky, odd, ok.

34....across the creek (book 1 of jesse and sarah) by jeremy asher .... good ... not sure i'll read the others.  liked the characters more than the story.... or maybe liked the back story better than the now bits.

35......the fault in our stars by john green ... absolutely extraordinary and beautiful and wonderful and sad and hopeful.

36.......100 ideas that changed art. i read and reread this ... or sections of this, quite frequently. i like to think it is making me smarter and more art aware .....

seven harry potter books .... cause i love them. i watched all the movies with little e.beck.artist
37.....harry p and the sorcerer's stone ... hagrid is particularly awesome
38.....harry p and the chamber of secrets .... maybe my fave.
39.....harry p and the prisoner of azkaban ... i love sirius black and how much he loves harry
40...harry p and the goblet of fire ... i love the dragons ... and i love the two other schools and their quirkiness .....
41....harry p and the order of the phoenix ..... oh! i despise delores umbridge. ick.
42....harry p and the half blood prince..... it bugged me that harry was so secretive.
43.....harry potter and the deathly hallows ... i find this one frightening. so scary.


44.....and then there were none.... agatha christie ... cause sophie had to read it for school.

t45......he giver,
46.....gathering blue,
47....the messenger,
48......son ....
all by lois lowry ....... read each one after little.e.beck.artist did.... she was re reading all but the last one. it was new to us. all excellent.

49.....the art of happiness ... by the dalai llama .... i wanted to make me wiser ... i don't think it did. but i liked it.

50....called to be: devotions by teens for teens.... i'm looking for a good resource for the occassional sunday school lesson ... this was good .. not great...

51...no plot, no problem by chris baty ... nanowrimo book .... trying to decide if i'm going to do nanowrimo this november ... i'm not.

52.....i'm not her ... by janet gurtler .... ah ... sad ... but good ... teen angst book ... cancer ... did like it a lot though.

53.....where'd you go bernadette? by maria semple. I ADORE THIS BOOK... super funny ... well written ... awesome.

54.....castle cay .... a mystery ... by lee hanson .... a friend died ... a weird island ... lost memories .... ok mystery

55.....boomerang bride by fiona lowe ... australian girl duped by american ... stranded, unmarried, in her wedding dress....

56.....what happens in scottland stays in scottland .... by jennifer mcquestion .... an author i enjoy ... not her best go ... but super inexpensive on kindle and a light, easy read....

57.....the last girlfriend on earth and other love stories by simon rich ... funny collection of short stories

58.....remember this ... by shae buggs ... a dopey, happy, light romance .... funny.

59....beautiful ruins ... by jess walter.... this is a gorgeous read ... stunning imagery and complex story ... made me realize i haven't been reading many "good" books ... just fun,happy, light,or easy ones.

60.....eleanor and park by rainbow rowell.... i wish my name was rainbow. sigh. i loved this book. it's a teenage angsty book about differences ... but has a compelling plot and story line and excellent ending.

61....billy collins ... the trouble with poetry and other poems ..... GRAND

62.....billy collins ... picnic, lightning ... YES

63.....the complete poems of e.e. cummings.... i've never read all his poems. now i have. some are still completely mysterious to me. some are laugh out loud awesome.

64.....live boldly by mary anne radmacher ... so lovely. serene. i think it made me calmer ... wiser .... so so lovely.

65....this will never happen again... by david cain ... the writer of one of my favorite blogs, raptitude .... some of his writings collected in a book ..... self help, self awareness sort of stuff ... i liked it, cause i like him and his style and his outlook (though i don't actually know him)

66.....love does. by bob goff. feel good inspirational book by an extraordinary guy.

67.....stargirl by jerry spinelli .... little.e.beck.artist picked this for her book report book ... girl.beck.artist said it was on of her favorite books in middle school ... so i read it and loved it .... such a great book..... be yourself. i'm glad my girls like it.

68.....a summer down under... by adrianna blakeley ... australia! romance! light read.

69....the christmas pearl ... dorothea benton .. my book club christmas book ... liked it ....

70.....a bush christmas ... by margareta osborn ... cause i'm australia obsessed AND it's nearing christmas

71.....dash and lily's book of dares .... i loved this... awkward teens and a notebook passed back and forth.... very nice read. loved it.

72......christmas in camelot by brenda jernigan .... happy, light, easy, king arthur stuff to get me in the holiday spirit.

73.....class of 98 ... by a. player .... a. player is married to girl.beck.artist's english teacher. and the book was awesome.... she asked me to buy it and she read it in a single night .... staying up late over thanksgiving break ... so now i've read it as well ... i really enjoyed it ... YA ....romance ... time travel ... the description sounds super goofy but the book is super well done and compelling. power of friendship.

74.....happiness junkie .... a 12 step program to find inner peace and change your life .... by carrie albers ... this title sounds like i could have written it! ... but the introduction is a crazy good GRAB and i couldn't have written that at all ... extraordinary!

and WAY out of order.....
i just remembered i read (not on kindle where i could see i'd read it)

75. rules of civility .... kinda gatsby-ish ... liked .. good book for book club .... didn't love it ... i wanted  to shake them all and tell them to buck up .....

76. the light between the oceans ... mostly sad ... australia .... well done ...