Book List 2018

This past year, I decided to do the Pioneer Book reading challenge, which I think I mentioned on my last post. Mostly, I wanted to earn the $50 gift certificate they were offering as a reward, but I also thought it might be fun to stretch myself in my reading a bit. I usually only read books in the public domain, so it was different having to look for more recent books this year.

There are a few reasons I normally stick with the older stuff. First off, it's now free for me to read those books thanks to my Kindle, and I'm a cheapskate. Second, I can generally count on the older content having better morals and being far less objectionable. Even when I've read books about people behaving badly, those characters and their actions are depicted negatively. That's obviously a major plus in my book! Finally, I generally hold the opinion that I may as well spend my reading time on books that have stood the test of time and proven their merit already rather than waste my time on books that might be popular now, but will fall off of anyone's radar after a handful of years. This year, I've put that theory somewhat aside in hopes of finding some more contemporary gems that might give me the sensation of having been among those who enjoyed a future classic in it's heyday. It's been fun trying to asses what may or may not fall into that category.

One of the other reasons I enjoyed doing this challenge was that I found myself reading far more often to progress better in it. I adopted habits like stringing up my hammock after work to read for a couple of hours. This lead to some interesting conversations, like a chat with a motorcycle cop passing by and a 6th grade teacher who wanted to take a picture to show his students that one can read anywhere. So it was a fun project that I really enjoyed taking on. Without further ado, here's the list. I've included the category each book fulfilled from the challenge if I read it for the challenge.

1. Whom the Lord Loveth: The Journey of Discipleship---Neal A Maxwell (relationship book)
2. The Invisible Man---HG Wells (historical fiction)
3. The Hiding Place---Corrie ten Boom (tear jerker)
4. The Mysterious Affair at Styles---Agatha Christie (set outside us)
5. A Wrinkle in Time---Madeline L’Engle (Newberry award)
6. The Jungle Book---Rudyard Kipling ( nature book)
7. War of the Worlds---HG Wells (author born before 1900)
8. The Lost Hero---Rick Riordan (first book in series)
9. The Son of Neptune---Rick Riordan (paperback thriller)
10. Increase in Learning---David A Bednar (learn new skill)
11. The Mark of Athena---Rick Riordan
12. House of Hades---Rick Riordan
13. I am Malala---Malala Yousafzai (Nobel prize winner)
14. The Blood of Olympus---Rick Riordan (summer book)
15. Mary Poppins---PL Travers (favorite from childhood)
16. The Book Thief---Markus Zuzak (book tomade movie)
17. The Little Prince---Antoine de Saint-Exupery (blue cover)
18. The Chosen---Chaim Potok (1960 bestseller)
19. Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral---Phillis Wheatley (poetry)
20. The Habit Blueprint---Patrik Edbald (self-help classic)
21. Washington: The Indispensable Man---James Thomas Flexnor (National Book Award)
22. Oh The Places You’ll Go---Dr. Seuss (90s NYT bestseller)
23. My Antonia---Willa Cather (Western)
24. Chasing Vermeer---Blue Balliett (Edgar award)
25. Against All Odds: How Margaret Thatcher Won the 1975 Tory Leadership Election---Stephen Robinson(biography)
26. The Good Earth---Pearl S Buck (pulitzer prize)
27. All's Well That Ends Well---William Shakespeare (play or novella)
28. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress---Robert Heinlein (Hugo winner)
29. The Little Nugget---PG Wodehouse (recommended)
30. How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz---Jonah Winter (musician)
31. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library---Chris Grabenstein (Agatha award)
32. Jurassic Park---Michael Crichton (employee pick)
33. Act in Doctrine---David A Bednar
34. The Red House Mystery---A.A. Milne
35. Frankenstein---Mary Shelley (customer pick)
36. Curtain---Agatha Christie (1970’s bestseller)
37. Medea---Euripides (high school)
38. A Brief History of Time---Stephen Hawking (1980 Nyt)
39. The Napoleon of Notting Hill---GK Chesterton
40. Man's Search for Meaning---Victor E. Frankl
41. Christmas with the Prophets---Laura F. Wills (holiday book)
42. The Book of Mormon

There were some categories that lead me to books I was really interested in reading, while there were others where I was hard pressed to find something that interested me. Often, in those categories, I ended up choosing a quick children's book I could count on not being too scandalous or time-consuming.

There were a few that were of particular note during the year. The first that springs to mind is that I ended up fairly accidentally reading both Agatha Cristie's first and last book (except for one published posthumously). Both involved Hercule Poirot and his friend Hastings solving a murder at the same mansion many years apart. It was cool to see some similarities between the books while also appreciating the changes in the characters over the course of many years, both in the book and in Christie's writing career.

Another somewhat unplanned addition to the list was Frankenstein. I've always loved that book, but I've read it multiple times before, so though I'd kept it on my potentials list, I'd planned to do something else to fit the customer pick category. Then, when Halloween rolled around, I realized that 2018 actually marked the 200th anniversary of Frankenstien's publication. That tipped the scale on it, so I devoured that book in the course of a week just before Halloween.

My least favorite book of the year was Chasing Vermeer. I'd been looking into it as part of my work as a librarian for a k-8 school with the thought of maybe adding it to our collection, but I found the end to be a pretty big disappointment, so I'm glad I read it before purchasing it for the school, because I don't think it fit what I was looking for.

The most challenging book of the year was A Brief History of Time. I knew it was a classic science book written for the masses, so I thought I could handle it fine, but I guess I'm dumber than the average bear because I found it pretty challenging still. Some of the content I found very interesting and understandable, but there were a couple of chapters where I felt completely lost more or less the whole time. It took me a long time to get through the book, despite the fact that it's actually pretty short, but I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment when I finished it.

It's pretty hard to choose favorites, but if I cheat a bit, I can make it work. I'd say my favorite fiction book of the year was The Chosen. I've liked Chiam Potok since high school, so it was cool to read one of his books that was new to me. I find Judaism endlessly interesting, plus Potok is just a compelling author, so it was a highly enjoyable read. It also lead me to pick up several non-fiction books on Israel that I'm slowly working through as well as motivated me to watch a few documentary series about Israel and Judaism.

The runner-up in the fiction category was The Good Earth. The story was well told and presented an interesting view of rural Chinese life. I was so frustrated with Wang Lung's overall treatment of his wife, O-Lan, who was very poorly rewarded for her undying loyalty and dedication. That was hard to get over, but I'm sure it was a realistic portrayal of the way things were at the time, unfortunately.

My favorite non-fiction book was a harder choice. There were a number of solid contenders, but in the end the one I most enjoyed was doubtless Washington: The Indispensable Man. I read this around Independence Day, and it was a really cool way to deepen my gratitude for living in this incredible country. I learned a lot about Washington, who is now more than ever my favorite Founding Father. I liked how it gave me a good sense of his imperfections along with his admirable qualities. Seeing both sides made him seem much more like a real person than an unapproachable figure. I felt like I got to know a good new friend, one who I'll be excited to meet in the next life.

Other contenders for best non-fiction book included I am Malala, which was a heartbreaking, yet inspiring glimpse into a society I don't understand well. It really opened my eyes to some of the challenges and beauties of the Muslim world. It was also a very compelling story well told. I felt very sucked into it. I really only read this book because it happened to be selected for a Book Group in my ward that I felt I should participate in, but I was richly rewarded in reading it for it's own merits.

I also appreciated reading both The Hiding Place and Man's Search for Meaning. Both had me uncharacteristically crying while reading, though when the horrific injustice of concentration camps is being described, I suppose it would be inhuman to react otherwise. It seems like I was on something of a World War II kick this year when you factor in that I also read The Book Thief again for book club as well as getting half way through a history of LDS congregations in western Germany during WW2. It wasn't entirely intentional to read so much about that period, since The Book Thief was chosen by others in the club and Man's Search for Meaning just happened to be on sale on Amazon over the Christmas season, but I at least had enough interest lingering in my mind to embrace these little accidents of chance.

Perhaps the appeal of WW2 lies partially in how the lines between good and evil seem pretty distinct in retrospect in that conflict, so we can learn lessons everyone can agree on, which seems pretty rare these days. Still, there are times the lines seem more blurred in the tales of Nazis in the camps who showed degrees of mercy to prisoners, though they still participated in the atrocities. Though it is tempting to say that all Nazis were evil, I think the more you read about WW2, the more you realize that people are never quite that simple. We are all some mixture of good and evil, it just happens that those shades within us individually get more clearly illustrated in times of major duress. Frankl spends a deal of time talking about how that was as much true in the case of the prisoners as well as the captors. Not everyone endured their situation with the same grace. Reading about these various individuals often made me reflect upon what might be revealed about me in times of distress. I'm fairly confident that I will never have to endure anything like what so many faced in concentration camps, but I will doubtless also have opportunities to likewise show my own true colors. I hope that I might have the moral strength of character demonstrated by Corrie ten Boom and the mental acuity and resilience of Victor Frankl.

That covers most of the highs and lows of the reading year. It was a good experience, though also one that required me to stretch and learn. I hope that I will be able to maintain at least some of the good habits I've developed, though I think I will be more relaxed in my selections this coming year