Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them.~ Arnold Lobel
A poem. About books. What could be better? This one happens to perfectly state what I feel. I have an unwritten-down-so-basically-not-real unofficial list of books to be read, and I know for certain I’ll never reach the end of it, since new books are added to it faster than I can knock them off. However, I do intend to make a dent in the list this year, just like I do every year.
My goal for 2016 is twofold: To read 110 books—and learn and become more informed about the world and life from them, copy good quotes from them, and become a better writer from them. In short, to absorb them and not just breeze through them. That goal is more important to me than the numerical one, so if I fail to reach 110 but feel that I have truly delved into and become a richer person from the books, then I still consider it a success.
Like last year, number one is the first book I finished in 2016, so the highest current number will be at the bottom of the list, and it’s the book I’ve finished most recently. Also, I’m only counting new books, so if I reread a book, I’ll put it in brackets and won’t number it. If I mention it in a post, I’ll provide a link to it.
Happy reading!
// January //
1. Walking on Water ~ Madeleine L’Engle
2. Lightless ~ C. A. Higgins
3. Updraft ~ Fran Wilde
4. Not Without Honor ~ T. Elizabeth Renich
5. Ink and Bone ~ Rachel Caine
6. Nicomachean Ethics ~ Aristotle
7. The Westing Game ~ Ellen Raskin
8. Poetics ~ Aristotle
9. Paradise Lost ~ John Milton
10. The Tattooed Potato (And Other Clues) ~ Ellen Raskin
// February //
11. The Apocrypha (selected books)
12. Bands of Mourning ~ Brandon Sanderson
13. The Innovators ~ Walter Isaacson
14. Mission Possible ~ Marilyn Laszlo
15. Middlemarch ~ George Eliot
16. Calamity ~ Brandon Sanderson
17. Sense and Sensibility ~ Jane Austen
18. Simply Tuesday ~ Emily P. Freeman
// March //
19. Thrones, Dominations ~ Dorothy L. Sayers
20. Hood ~ Steve Lawhead
21. The War With Hannibal ~ Livy (selections)
22. David Copperfield ~ Charles Dickens
23. Foundling ~ D. M. Cornish
{A Ring of Endless Light ~ Madeleine L’Engle}
24. The Small Rain ~ Madeleine L’Engle
25. On the Nature of Things ~ Lucretius
26. Lamplighter ~ D. M. Cornish
27. 100 Cupboards ~ N. D. Wilson
28. selected readings by Cicero
29. Factotum ~ D. M. Cornish
30. Dandelion Fire ~ N. D. Wilson
31. The Chestnut King ~ N. D. Wilson
// April //
32. A Circle of Quiet ~ Madeleine L’Engle
33. Dragonflight ~ Anne McCaffrey
34. The Wand in the Word ~ Leonard S. Marcus (editor & compiler)
{Troubling a Star ~ Madeleine L’Engle}
{Outliers ~ Malcolm Gladwell}
35. Wuthering Heights ~ Emily Brontë
36. Eclogues & Georgics ~ Virgil
// May //
37. Frankenstein ~ Mary Shelley
38. Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle ~ N. D. Wilson
39. The Jewish War (selections) ~ Josephus
40. A.D. 30 ~ Ted Dekker
41. Immanuel’s Veins ~ Ted Dekker
42. To the Lighthouse ~ Virginia Woolf
43. The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict ~ Trenton Lee Stewart
44. Meditations (books 1-7) ~ Marcus Aurelius
45. The Chosen ~ Chaim Potok
46. The Apostolic Fathers ~ trans. by J. B. Lightfoot & J.R. Harmer
// June //
47. Alexander Hamilton ~ Ron Chernow
48. Mistborn: Secret History ~ Brandon Sanderson
49. The Promise ~ Chaim Potok
50. My Name is Asher Lev ~ Chaim Potok
51. Art and the Bible ~ Francis Schaeffer
52. How Star Wars Conquered the Universe ~ Chris Taylor
53. Dear Mr. Knightley ~ Katherine Reay
54. The Wednesday Wars ~ Gary D. Schmidt
55. Lila ~ Marilynne Robinson
56. Hamilton: A Revolution ~ Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
{Ender’s Game ~ Orson Scott Card}
{North! Or Be Eaten ~ Andrew Peterson}
57. A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold ~ Anne Elisabeth Stengl
58. The Selection ~ Kiera Cass
59. A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape From North Korea ~ Eunsun Kim
// July //
60. Vinegar Girl ~ Anne Tyler
61. Lavinia ~ Ursula K. Le Guin
62. Challenger Deep ~ Neal Shusterman
63. Storming ~ K. M. Weiland
64. The Dean’s Watch ~ Elizabeth Goudge
// August //
65. Amazing Grace ~ Eric Metaxas
66. Rise to Rebellion ~ Jeff Shaara
67. Originals ~ Adam Grant
68. To Get to You ~ Joanne Bischof
69. Two From Galilee ~ Marjorie Holmes
70. Stargirl ~ Jerry Spinelli
{When You Reach Me // Rebecca Stead}
71. Silas Marner ~ George Eliot
// September //
72. A Student’s Guide to The Core Curriculum ~ Mark C. Henrie
73. Salt to the Sea ~ Ruta Sepetys
74. Between Shades of Gray ~ Ruta Sepetys
{The Fellowship of the Ring ~ J. R. R. Tolkien}
75. Things Not Seen ~ Andrew Clements
{The Two Towers ~ J. R. R. Tolkien}
{Antigone ~ Sophocles}
76. Burial at Thebes ~ Seamus Heaney
77. The Railwayman’s Wife ~ Ashley Hay
{Oedipus Rex ~ Sophocles}
{The Return of the King ~ J. R. R. Tolkien}
78. Fierce Convictions ~ Karen Swallow Prior
{Oedipus at Colonus ~ Sophocles}
79. The Bird in the Tree ~ Elizabeth Goudge
// October //
{The Way of Kings ~ Brandon Sanderson}
{Words of Radiance ~ Brandon Sanderson}
80. Pilgrim’s Inn ~ Elizabeth Goudge
81. The Heart of the Family ~ Elizabeth Goudge
{selections from Plutarch’s Lives}
82. Sweet Mercy ~ Ann Tatlock
83. Promises to Keep ~ Ann Tatlock
84. A Time to Die ~ Nadine Brandes
{most of the Mitford series ~ Jan Karon}
// November //
{Inferno ~ Dante}
85. A Time to Speak ~ Nadine Brandes
86. Purgatory ~ Dante
87. A Time to Rise ~ Nadine Brandes
88. The Thief ~ Megan Whalen Turner
89. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ~ Rebecca Skloot
90. Paradise ~ Dante
91. Star of Light ~ Patricia St. John
92. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street ~ Jeanne Birdsall
93. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette ~ Jeanne Birdsall
94. The Penderwicks in Spring ~ Jeanne Birdsall
95. A Long Walk to Water ~ Linda Sue Park
96. The Right Thing ~ Scott Waddle & Ken Abraham
// December //
{100 Cupboards series ~ N. D. Wilson}
97. The Hawk and the Dove ~ Penelope Wilcock
98. The Butterfly and the Violin ~ Kristy Cambron
99. The Secret Keepers ~ Trenton Lee Stewart
100. Five Glass Slippers ~ Ed. by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Ah, the Nicomachean Ethics!
Have you read Plato’s Republic? I read that and Aristotle one after the other and it was interesting to see where Aristotle picked up Socrates’ ideas and developed them and where he definitely did not.
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I have indeed! I read it a few months ago, so it was fortunately still fresh on my mind as I read NE. I agree—I loved seeing the similarities and differences between them. I think a lot of people tend to mash the three (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle) together without ever realizing how different their philosophies were (admittedly, there are lots of similarities, too). Thanks for stopping by!
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True.
I also often find that Plato (or Socrates, I suppose, in this case) is misread in the Republic with regard to his intentions. Even though he very clearly states that his intent isn’t to make a blueprint for us to follow, but instead to theorize the perfect city so that we can take a few steps back and find a realistic version, I’ve come across numerous complaints about his unrealistic expectations.
This may be difficult to condense, but if you’re willing… what are your thoughts on his choices of what to abolish (art, for example) and re-define (family, for example) in his ideal city?
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Wow, this an impressive list. I love reading, but this year has been really busy school-wise, and I don’t even want to mention how many I’ve read this year. And The Bronze Bow is sooooo good!
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Thank you. =) Oh, I can relate. Fortunately, I have to read books for school, too, and I’ve included those on here.
Oh, yes, I love that one so, so much!
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*blinks* How. I’ve read only eight books so far this year, and am going through my ninth and tenth. *gazes in awe*
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Would you recommend any Agatha Christie books? ^^
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I would. They can be a little freaky (they’re all about murders, and I don’t read them at night), but if you’ve read Sherlock Holmes, you’ll be fine. I love keeping a list of my suspects, so that once it’s over, I can go back and see if I was right. I’d recommend “Cards on the Table” — that was the first of hers that I read, and I couldn’t put it down — and “Murder on the Orient Express,” which is probably her most famous. =)
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