Best 2 Next Ten

The beginning of a new year is a time of looking back and looking forward at the same time.  In that spirit, I will be writing about the best 2 books I read for the first time in 2023, and also list ten books I am either currently reading or planning to read soon in 2024.   The best 2 books I read in 2024 were  A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

In September I wrote a little about Levi here.  Levi has been many things in his career a lawyer, an independent singer song writer, a judge, a bee keeper, just to name a few.  He weaves many of those experiences into his first novel.  My favorite album of Allen's is Rivertown, a musical love letter to the history of Columbus Georgia.  Theo of Golden is also about a  river town.  The fictional southern city of Golden is an additional character among many finely developed characters.  But the characters and the setting take a back seat to the story which is about kindness, community and redemption.  Theo of Golden and is available in multiple places, including Rabbit Room, Amazon, and at Levi's website.

In preparation for the launch of his book, Levi wrote several pieces on his blog about writing.  In one, he talked about the novel A Gentlemen in Moscow by Amor Towles.  I was intrigued, so I borrowed it from my local library.  

A Gentleman in Moscow is about a man who is under house arrest for over 20 years in a Moscow Hotel.  It takes place almost entirely in the hotel, you would imagine this would make for one claustrophobic read, far from it!

Towles like Levi successfully makes the setting a pivotal character in this book.  The 2016 novel will soon be a television series on Showtime. I was sad to finish both of these books and am looking forward to rereading them again soon.  Which brings us to  our Next Ten ....

This will generally just be a list of 10 books, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I will also be entering a small update on my progress in my quest to read Fellowship Of The Ring before my 60th birthday,.

Dreyer's English - Benjamin Dreyer

Eugene Onegin - Alexander Pushkin

Concise Theology - J.I. Packer

1984 - George Orwell

Write Better - Andrew T. Le Peau

Royko - F. Richard Ciccone

Fellowship of The Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien 

I obtained the book from my local library, although my son has since informed me that he has several copies he could lend me.  I have finished the first chapter.  

The Periodic Table of D.C. - Melanie Scott

Theo of Golden - Allen Levi

A Gentleman In Moscow - Amor Towles

Note: I have already completed one book on this list since, I started writing this post a few days back.  When I have finished reading 4 more books, I will post a new Last 5 Next Ten.

A New Years Resolution or A Tolkien Gesture

 Today is J..R.R. Tolkien's birthday.  I have long been an admirer of his work.  It started when I went on a field trip in school to a puppet version of The Hobbit.  On the occasion of my first trip to Mackinaw Island, my parents purchased me a set of his Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.  It was never actually intended to be a trilogy, it was published in 3 parts due to it's bulk and in case it proved to be a failure.

It of course was not a failure, being one of the best selling and most loved books of all time.  I on the other hand have failed many times in my attempts to read or even listen to the entirety of Fellowship of The Rings, the first installment of the work.  This is a cause of some embarrassment for me, and also a point of friction between myself and my son, who had read all 3 installments while he was still a tween. 

I am actually a much bigger fan of his fellow Inkling C.S. Lewis and generally read all 7 books of Chronicles of Narnia every year.  I have decided in honor of Tolkien's birthday that I will attempt yet again to read this magnificent tome.  Two years ago I was successful at my attempt to finish Moby Dick, this year I hope to finish LOTR. I will start  to read it this Winter and attempt to complete it by the end of Spring.  If I still haven't finished it by the beginning of Summer, I will complete the rest by listening to an audio version.  I will give myself to September 2nd, which is the day Tolkien died.  This years it falls on my eldest daughter's 25th birthday, and  thus a easy to remember due date.  If all goes well I will repeat the process in 2025 and 2026 for the final 2 installments.  I will update my progress here with my installments of Last 5 Next Ten. 

The first 40 days of Reading 2023

 One of my Januarying tasks was to get back into reading and listening to books.  Last year, I pretty much stopped reading altogether at the end of July. As I referred to here and here. August through December of 2022 was a crazy busy time of my life; as a result, some things got dropped and books certainly didn't get picked up.

Over Christmas Break I started reading again.  Today is the 40th day of the year and so far I have finished 8 books.

They are  Listed by Title, Author, How obtained, How Consumed

Dead Center                                  David Rosenfelt          Hoopla                Listened to from phone

Heaven                                           Randy Alcorn             Own                    Read (to self)

Dryer's English                               Benjamin Dryer         Local Library     Read (to self and others)

A Big Day for Baseball                  Mary Pope Osborn     Classroom         Read (to self)

Big Nate: Welcome To My World   Lincoln Pierce           Classroom         Read (to self)

Play Dead                                        David Rosenfelt          Hoopla             Listened to from phone

Billy Graham: America's Pastor      Geoff & Janet Benge  Hoopla             Listened to from phone

Unnatural Death                               Dorothy L. Sayers      Hoopla             Read from my Ipad. 

That's 8 books finished in 40 days.  There are 365 days this year which means to find out how many books I'm on pace to read in a year you would just multiply 8 times 9.125 which us of course 73 books.  

I guess since I've mentioned the last 8 books I've read I've also technically mentioned the last five as well  That being said, here are 10 books that I am currently working on or hoping to get too soon.

The Annotated Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen Annotated and Edited by David M. Shapard.

The Last Sweet Mile - Allen Levi

Write Better - Andrew T. Le Peau

Gentle and Lowly - Dane Ortlund

Luke - The Gospel of Amazement - Michael Card

What To Do on Thursday - Jay E. Adams. 

75 Readings - An Anthology

Heroes of the Faith - Gene Fedele

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club - Dorothy L. Sayers

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer

If I were to complete all 10 of these books in the next 40 days Then I would be on pace to finish 81 books by year's end.  My wife is sure to annihilate any kind of total I should accumulate as she is a reading machine.  

For those familiar with my reading ways you may wonder why there are no C.S. Lewis books on the docket. This is by design.  I do plan to read all of the Chronicles of Narnia this year as I've done most every year since I was 16.  The difference this year is I decided to put them off a little bit and concentrate on other books at the beginning of the year. .  When I do get to them, I have decided to read them in alphabetical order rather than chronological or Narnian historical order as I have in the past.  This means I'll start with The Horse and His Boy and end with the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  

It's good to have started the year on a reading note.  Hopefully, I'll be back soon with news of 5 more books completed.

Love,

Dave

 

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #4: Whose Body? (Plus Next 10)

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #4: Whose Body?:   

This was not only my 4th book of Summer Reading but my 30th book of the year. This puts me on pace to read 67.17 by year's end.  My last 5 books read were Bury The Lead by David Rosenfelt and the first 4 books of my summer reading lists including this one.

Next Ten

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Knowing God - J.I. Packer

Between Heaven & Hell - Peter Kreeft

Little House on The Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ - Michael Card

 

Inside the Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Devin Brown

Writing Poetry from the Inside Out - Sanford Lynne

What to do on Thursday - Jay Adams

The Collected Short Stories of Louis Lamour - Vol I

 

Last 5 Next 10: Summer Reading Preview Edition

 

I like to apportion 100 days of each year for summer reading.  These 100 days generally fall between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.  This year the 100 days start on Sunday May 29th, the day before Memorial Day and end on Labor Day on September 5, 2022. As I mentioned in Moby Dick: My White Whale my only real goal for these 100 days is to finish listening to Moby Dick.  I always read at least 10 books during the Summer and expect I'll get at least that many again.

LAST FIVE

First Degree - David Rosenfelt

Listened to on Hoopla

4/28/2022

Until Tuesday - Luis Carlos Montalvan

Borrowed from Library - Read

5/1/2022

The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis

Listened to Via Hoopla

5/1/22

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones

Borrowed from library. Read

5/5/22

Neal Cotts: The Lefty Who Would Not Quit - Jim Pransky

Own - Gift from boss - Read

5/20/22

NEXT TEN

 

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

God's Forgetful Pilgrims - Michael Griffiths

The Case For Easter - Lee Strobel

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ- Michael Card

Between Heaven & Hell - Peter Kreeft

Bury The Lead - David Rosenfelt 

Little House on the Prairie  - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Inside The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Devin Brown

The Collected Short Stories of Louis Lamour - Vol I

I finished book #20 on 4/18 and finished book #25 on May 20th.  5 books in 32 days is not great but it is a pace to finish 57 books in a year.  Based on my rate since January 1st I am on pace to read 65 books this year.  I imagine with a strong effort this summer those projections will increase.  

Last 5 Next 10 Tax day Edition

As it turns out I didn't finish any books in the  traditional way since our last edition.  Each year I read the chronicles of Narnia through.  I have been doing this for about 40 years.  This year I decided to mix it up a little and listen to the books being read rather than reading them myself.  4 of the 5 selections here are from the CHronicles of Narnia and the only one that wasn't was a comic book anthology.

Voyage of The Dawn Treader- C.S. Lewis

Listened to via Hoopla

4/1/22

The Essential Defenders - Len Wein

Read myself, borrowed from a friend.

4/1/22

The Silver Chair by C.S, Lewis

Listened to via Hoopla

4/6/22

The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis

Listened to Via Hoopla

4/14/22

The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis

Listened to Via Hoopla

4/18/22

Ten books I am currently reading or planning to read soon are .

God's Forgetful Pilgrims - Michael Griffiths

The Case For Easter - Lee Strobel

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Love, Dance & Egg Rolls - Jason Tanamor

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones

Until Tuesday, A Wounded Warrior and The Golden Retriever who saved Him - Luis Carlos Montalvan

First Degree - David Rosenfelt 

Inside The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Devin Brown

Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007 - Roger Ebert

The Collected Short Stories of Louis Lamour - Vol I

I finished book 15 on 3/24 and finished book 20 today (4/18). This means I completed 5 books in 25 days.  Over the course of 1 year at that rate I would finish 73 books.  In the first 108 days of this year I have averaged reading 1 book every 5.4 days.  If I keep up that pace I should finish approximately 68 books by years end. I am not sure I can sustain such a pace this month while completing the a to z challenge.  But after the challenge I hope to finish a lot of these books I've been working on.  

Last 5 Next 10 Spring Break edition

I am currently on Spring Break and I hope to get a lot of reading finished.  Here is what I have read and or listened to since 2/15/22

 

The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

Listened to via Hoopla

3/9/22

Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis

3/11/22

Listened to vis Hoopla

Open and Shut - David Rosenfelt

3/14/22

Read to self borrowed from library

The Hawk and The Dove - Steve Ditko

3/20/22

                                                        Read via Hoopla

                                                            Born Again - Charles Colson

                                                            3/24/22 Listened to via Hoopla

It would be pretty easy to assume that most of my reading is taking place on my phone these days.  That is not actually to the case.  I am reading a number of books the old fashioned way but have been mainly finishing the electronic ones.  Over Spring break I hope to finish a few of the ones I've been plugging away at.

Ten books I am currently reading or planning to read soon are .

Essential Defenders Volume II - Len Wein

God's Forgetful Pilgrims - Michael Griffiths

Big Nate - Vol 1 - Lincoln Pierce

Love, Dance & Egg Rolls - Jason Tanamor

Renegades, Born In The U.S.A.  - Bruce Springsteen & Barack Obama 

Until Tuesday, A Wounded Warrior and The Golden Retriever who saved Him - Luis Carlos Montalvan

Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis 

Inside The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Devin Brown

Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007 - Roger Ebert

The Story of God - Walter Wangerin

I finished my last book on 3/24 but today is 3/31 so I'll give you stats for both days. from 3/9 to 3/24 I finished 5 books in 16 days.  That's a book every 3.2 days.  If that could be sustained it would mean 114 books finished in a year.  As of today there have bee 90 days in the years and I have finished 15 books which is a book every 6 days which makes about 61 books for the year.  

Last 5 Next 10 - 2nd 5 of 2022 Edition

 Here are 5 more books I have finished this year. 

Big Nate Aloha by Lincoln Pierce

Read via Hoopla

2/6/22

Hawkeye: My life as a weapon by Matt Fraction

Read via Hoopla

2/7/22

Fish in a Tree by Linda Mullaly Hunt

read last chapter to class I was subbing for 

borrowed from library read to self

2/12/22

Blue Like Jazz By Donald Miller

Listened to via Hoopla listened to a great deal of it with my wife

2/13/22

The Return Home - Elliott J. Anderson

Received as Christmas Gift 

Read some to myself read some out loud to my wife who is also reading it

2/15/22

As often happens there was a rather long lull between the 5th book I finished on 1/22/22 and the 6th book I completed on 2/6/2.  However, I then completed 4 more books in 9 days. The first 5  were at a rate of 4.4 days a book and the 3nd 5 were just a little slower at a rate of a book every 4.8 days.  Still at my pace over the last 5 books I'll finish an additional 64 books before the end of the year.

Ten books I am currently reading or planning to read soon are .

Fodor's Essential Greek Islands

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Collected Short Stories of Louis La'mour Vol I\

God's Forgetful Pilgrims - Michael Griffiths

Born Again - Chuck Colson

Big Nate - Vol 1 - Lincoln Pierce

Love, Dance & Egg Rolls - Jason Tanamor

Little House on The Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Renegades, Born In The U.S.A.  - Bruce Springsteen & Barack Obama 

Until Tuesday, A Wounded Warrior and The Golden Retriever who saved Him - Luis Carlos Montalvan

 

Last 5 Next 10 first 5 0f 2022 edition

Last year I tried to chronicle all the books I read in 2021 and failed miserably again but did not fail as miserably as I had failed in previous years.  This year I will attempt the same format I endeavored last year with one notable exception. When I finish 5 books I will write what they were and how I read them but will make no attempt at reviewing them in any way shape or form.  If I feel like reviewing one of these books I will do so in a separate post. Here is what I have finished from the beginning of the year until January 22nd ...

 A Fragile Stone by Michael Card

Listened to via Hoopla

1/2/2022

Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo by Betty White

Acquired interlibrary loan (read to self)

1/13/2022

Peanuts A Tribute to Charles M Schulz

borrowed from local library

read to self

1/13/2022

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

Own

read to self

1/17/22

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

listened to parts at school 

read entire book on phone via Hoopla

1/22/22

I finished 5 books in 22 days a rate of 1 book every 4.4 days.  At that rate I will have finished 82.95 books by the end of the year.

Ten books I am currently reading or planning to read soon are .

Fodor's Essential Greek Islands

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

Collected Short Stories of Louis La'mour Vol I\

God's Forgetful Pilgrims - Michael Griffiths

Fish in A tree - Linda Mulally Hunt

Blue Like Jazz

Renegades, Born in the USA - Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen

The Return Home - Elliott J. Anderson

Little House on The Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

 Hawkeye Vol 1: My Life as a Weapon

Last 5 Next 10 Vol IV: Tying up Lewis ends.

I have less than a month now before I return to my substitute teaching schedule otherwise known as my day job.  I  still have 2 night jobs and plenty of things to do during my off hours but I have found  the time to get some reading in and am ready to report on my recent accomplishments in that regard.

Last 5 Books

I am using my HDOLL rating system.  Each books falls somewhere between hate and love with dislike okay and like coming between those extremes.

Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis

Why I chose this book: C.S. Lewis is by far my favorite author and The Chronicles of Narnia is by far my favorites of his books. Each year, I reread the entire series.   This year I am reading them in Narnian chronological which is why I am starting with The Magician's nephew.

Type: Book (read myself)

How Obtained: I have several copies of this book, this copy I obtained when our church decided to no longer have a church library and gave away all their books.

Rating: Loved. 

World of Wonders - Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Why I chose this book: On a trip to Barnes and Noble I saw that this book was their 2020 book of the year.  It seemed interesting, so I ordered it from our local library.  

Type: Book (sometimes read to myself, read some chapters to my wife.)

How Obtained: As stated I ordered this book  from my library. My wife went to pick up the book for me and realized that we gave a copy of that  book to our daughter for Christmas. She decided to let the library lend their copy  to the next person in line and I read my daughter's copy.

Rating: I loved this book.

Sooley - John Grisham

Why I chose this book: My wife borrowed this from the library and recommended it to me as she knows I'm a big fan of Grisham and basketball.  

Type: Book

How Obtained:  Borrowed from my local library.

Rating: Between okay and liked. I'd give a fuller review but I'm afraid to ruin the ending and Grisham has already beat me to the punch on that score.

The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis

Why I chose this book: as part of my annual reading of the chronicles of Narnia.

Type: Paperback Book

How Obtained: I own several copies

Rating:I love this book.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

Why I chose this book: I chose this book as part of my annual reading of Chronicles of Narnia.  I decided to listen to it and listened to it mostly while getting steps.

Type: Audio Book (Cloud Library)

How Obtained: borrowed from my library using Cloud Library

Rating: Love this book

Note: To anyone who thinks I goofed on the Narnian Chronologcal order, I did not.  I listened to most of this book prior to reading Horse and His Boy,  as it takes place beffew minutes of wardrobeore the very end of Lion Witch and the Wardrobe.  When Aslan leaves near the end of the book, I read Horse and His Boy and  then listened to the final few minutes of Wardrobe

2021 Book Stats as of  7/19/21

Previous estimate as of  7/06/21 31.22  books by the end of the year, 

After I finished Defenders Vol I yesterday I also finished book # 16 for the year.  This is fairly common as I am often reading multiple books at the same time.  I'll include that book in my next post but will include it in my projections for the year.  

Current estimate as of 7/19/21 After reading 20 books in 200 days I'm on pace to o read 36.5 books  by the end of the year. 

 

10 Books I'm  Reading or Planning to Read Soon

God's Forgetful Pilgrims - Micahel Griffiths 

A Gospel Worthy of Your Life - Bill Mills

Laura Ingalls Wilder , A Storybook Life - Janet & Geoff Benge

Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder

News of The World - Paulette Jiles

Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

Essential Defenders Vol II

The Answer is ... Reflections on My Life- Alex Trebek

The Big 50 Chicago Bears - Adam L Jahns

Last 5 Next 10 Vol III

 Summer is the time traditionally where I do a lot of reading. So far this Summer, I have read more than the anemic pace I set for myself at the start of the year.  I don't have that much to show for it as I am currently reading several books at a time but hopefully will be finishing a mess of those soon.  Here's what I've been up to recently.

Last 5 Books

I am using my HDOLL rating system.  Each books falls somewhere between hate and love with dislike okay and like coming between those extremes.

How To Hold Animals - Toshimitsu Matsuhashi

Why I chose this book: Our library has a section near the check out stations that I liken to the impulse buy aisle next to the check out aisles at a retail store.  I wondered why anyone would write, read or publish this book.  But my curiosity got the better of me.

Type: Book (read myself)

How Obtained: Borrowed from local library

Rating: Between okay and liked. 

In The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Why I chose this book: As a substitute teacher I often end up reading parts of books to my classes to never encounter them again.  Being a big Jackie Robinson fan I decided to check this book out.

Type: Audio Book through my phone

How Obtained: I borrowed this book  from my library using the Hoopla app.  

Rating: Between Liked and Loved,

The Brave and the Bold Team-Up Archives Vol I

Why I chose this book: A few weeks ago I took my niece to our local library as she was visiting us for s few days.  I grabbed a couple of comic books off the graphic novels shelf to peruse while she read her books.  

Type: Hard Cover Book

How Obtained:  Borrowed from my local libray.

Rating: Solid like.

Black Widow Vol 1: The Ties That Bind- Kelly Thompson

Why I chose this book: I saw this book on the shelves at my local library and picked it up as the Black Widow movie was opening later in the summer and I thought it might be a good read in preparation for the movie

Type: Paperback Book

How Obtained: Borrowed from local library

Rating:Solid Like

Essential Defenders Vol I

Why I chose this book: In May I visited my friend Patrick.  He has an entire room in his house  dedicated to his comic book collection.  He had  a number  of volumes of The Defenders  which was a group of mostly loner super heroes that served as the last line of defense for humanity.  He was kind enough to lend me the first two volumes.

Type: Paperback Book

How Obtained: Borrowed from friend

Rating: Closer to Like than Okay.

2021 Book Stats as of  7/6/21

Previous estimate as of  5/25/21 25.43 books by the end of the year, 

After I finished Defenders Vol I yesterday I also finished book # 16 for the year.  This is fairly common as I am often reading multiple books at the same time.  I'll include that book in my next post but will include it in my projections for the year.  After reading 16 books in 187 days I'm on pace to o read 31.22 books  by years end. 

 

10 Books I'm  Reading or Planning to Read Soon

Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Unaborted Socrates - Peter Kreeft

News of The World - Paulette Jiles

World of Wonders- Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Schulz and Peanuts - David Michaelis

Essential Defenders Vol II

150 Glimpses of The Beatles - Craig BrownTT

The Answer is ... Reflections on My Life- Alex Trebek

The Big 50 Chicago Bears - Adam L Jahns

Sooley - John Grisham

 

Last 5 Next 10

 I enjoy reading and I enjoy writing.  It is sometimes difficult for me to write about either writing or reading.  Each Summer I try to read books and then post short reviews on one blog or the other.  Each summer I fail miserably in the review department.  I started strong but I can't keep up with the individual posts.  This year I'm going to try something different.  let's see how I do.  After finishing 5 books, I will mention them here and then list off ten books that I am either in some process of reading (I read several books at a time) or am planning to read soon.  

Before I begin, lets define what I mean by reading. I mean by reading either reading the printed page, reading an on line version of a book,  or listening to a book on tape, c.d., play-a-way or on line or being read to by someone live or reading to someone live.   I am less reticent about this practice than I was when I wrote Is listening the new reading? a couple years back.

LAST 5 BOOKS READ

I am using the following  scale. to quickly rate these books:

hate dislike okay like love

 

Dick Allen: The Life and Times of a Baseball Immortal by William C Kashatus

Why I chose this book: I have been a White Sox fan since 1972 and Dick Allen was a big reason why I became a fan and was my first White Sox hero. Mr. Allen passed away in the latter part of 2020 and I have been finding out more about him since then.

Type: Book (Read it to myself)

How Obtained: Inter-library loan through my local library.

Rating: Closer to Like than Love

The Quick and the Dead by Louis L'Amour

Why I chose this book: Allen Levi, one of my favorite musicians reccommended the works of Louis L'AMour by singing about him.  In "The Reason I Read Louis L'Amour" Levis distills a basic L'amour plot and in the chorus describes the basic recipe for a L'Amour book ...

A little bit of gunfire, a little bit of romance, a little bit of mystery and a little bit of gore. No matter what fix he's in, you know the good guy's gonna win. That's the reason I read Louis Lamour.

This and other Allen Levi songs and albums are available at band camp.

Type: Book (read it to myself)

How Obtained: Borrowed from collection at my local library.

Rating: Much closer to like than okay.

Rider of Lost Creek By Louis L'Amour

Why I chose this book: For the same exact reason I read The Quick and the Dead. In fact, I borrowed them at the same time from my local library.  

Rating: I liked this a little better than Quick and the Dead, a solid Like.

I am a Church Member - Thom S Rainer 

Why I chose this book: It is part of the curriculum for church membership in our church. 

Type: Book (alternated reading it to my wife and having her read it to me)

How obtained: Our church gave it to us as part of the membership class.  

Rating: It was a pretty good book, but Amy and I noticed several typo's.  We enjoyed the experience of reading to each other a little more than the content so I'll give it a solid Like.  If I had just read it to myself, i'd probably rank it just below the L'Amour books. 

 

Utah Blaine by Louis L'amour

Why I chose this book: I enjoyed the first two L'Amout books so I picked up 2 more the next time I was at my local library 

Type: Book (read to myself)

Rating: Between Like and Love, but I'm pretty sure that one of the draws of L'Amour's fiction is that whichever of his books you happen to be reading it becomes your new favorite. ( I am currently reading my 4th L'Amour and I think I like it just a little better than this one.)  

2021 Book Stats as of 3/13/21

5 books read in 72 days that's an average of 1 book read for every 14.4 days.  Those numbers are a little skewed as I didn't finish my first book of the year until February.  Even so, at that rate I should finish 25 books this year.  I do expect that projection to go up in future installments but we shall see,

10 Books I'm Reading or Planning to Read Soon

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Hank Aaron: Groundbreaking Baseball Slugger - Doug Williams

 

How To Win The Culture War - Peter Kreeft

Hondo - Louis L'Amour

Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Humor and the Presidency - Gerald Ford

For the Love of Mike - Mike Royko

Schulz and Peanuts - David Michaelis 

Jimmy Stweart, Bomber Pilot - Starr Smith

Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder 

I would not be surprised if at my next installment I have read books that are not on this list, nor would I be surprised of some of the books on the next 10 list drop off for a while or permanently.  I am very eclectic and  this certainly shows in my reading choices.  

You'll notice that there is been no attempt made my be at all to review any of these books.  I do leave the door open to that possibility in the future. I think that will work better in my goal of chronicling my reading foot print for the year 2021.