Book Review, 2011

I read 25 books in 2011. 2 were re-reads.
5 were autobiographical.
4 were non-fiction.
16 were fiction.

Apparently I needed a lot of escape this year, because I was way heavier on fiction than I normally am. This was a good year for me as far as finding a lot of books I really enjoyed. Normally, when I look back over my list for the year, there are only 1 or 2 that really stand out and that I say, "Oh, yeah, I really loved that one." This year, there are at least a handful that I not only liked, but would read again.

Picking my favorite is tough, because in a year where I read A Tree Grows In Brooklyn and The Help and was introduced to Anne Perry for the first time?? It's really difficult to decide.

I have to go with Encompassing Charity, however, because it completely broadened and expanded my understanding and now sits in a short stack of books that I refer to as my "life textbooks." There are a few books that have so overwhelmingly and profoundly taught me things that change who I am and how I feel about core principles, that I mark them to death with highlighters and scribble in the margins as I consider how what is written fits into and expands what I already know, and they become books that I go back to again and again. Encompassing Charity has become one of these books for me.

For my least favorite, I'll say Bossypants. It has gotten such buzz and I love Tina Fey, but I wasn't thrilled with it. There was a chapter or two that were really good, but a lot of it was dismissive and snarky--and not in a good way. I love snark and sarcasm when it's done well, I just didn't feel like this was.  It didn't help that I read 2 Nora Ephron books, one before Bossypants and one after, because Tina really suffers by comparison. Nora is a genius at the New York humor. I still love Tina, she's just no Nora Ephron.

So, what are you going to read this year?


On my "to read" list:

The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, the Harry Potter series

quote of the week...

"We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger." 


~Tad Williams

quote of the week...

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

--Elizabeth Stone


I am feeling this one a lot at the moment. I have a piece of my heart in Tomball, Texas...and now another piece in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. Not to mention bits and pieces scattered around town at middle and elementary schools during the day.

quote of the week...

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim, swim."


--Dory, Finding Nemo

quote of the week...

"It is our choices that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities."


--Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets


My children have been after me for years to read these books...and I may, now that I have read this quote.

car conversations...

Marin: You are SO pretty, Momma. You are just beautiful....You should be a super model, because you are so pretty....You should! But you probably can't be a supermodel, Momma....because you are so busy...because you are a mom, and a young women's president, and you work. So...you probably can't be a supermodel.

Me: Yes, Marin. THAT is why I can't be a supermodel. Lack of time.

Quote of the week...

"A year from now you will wish you had started today."


---Karen Lamb