2016 Book List

2015 Reading List

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

9 comments

  1. Brandon Sanderson is a great author! I think my favorite world in his cosmere is Roshar… but the others rea awesome too. I love your book list, I think I might have found some I’d like to read now!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. 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.

    Liked by 1 person

    • 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!

      Like

      • 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?

        Like

  3. 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!

    Liked by 1 person

    • 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. =)

      Like

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