2011 Books Read

January

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

February

Snow Day by Billy Coffey

Bookends by Liz Curtis Higgs

Desperate Hours: The Epic Story of the Rescue of the Andrea Doria by Richard Goldstein

It's All About Him: Finding the Love of my Life by Denise Jackson

March

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

Radical: Taking Back your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt

April

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

May

The Lord of the Rings, unabridged, by J.R.R. Tolkien

June

Brother Andrew by Gregg Lewis

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

July

Mockingjay (#3 Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

2010 Books Read

January

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad

February

The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory

The Penny by Joyce Meyer

March

The Other Queen by Phillipa Gregory

Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

Me, Myself and Bob: A True Story about God, Dreams and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer

What Difference Do It Make: Stories of Hope and Healing by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

April

Literary Hoaxes: An Eye-opening History of Famous Frauds by Melissa Katsoulis

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortensen

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis

Savage Summit: True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2, the World's Most Feared Mountain by Jennifer Jordan

A Red State of Mind: How a Catfish Queen Became a Liberty Belle by Nancy French

May

Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season by Nick Heil

The Great Christmas Bowl by Susan May Warren

A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media by Bernard Goldberg

June

Cherries in Winter: My Family's Recipe for Hope in Hard Times by Suzan Colon

The Compassionate Touch by Doug Wead

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir by Bill O'Reilly

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

July

The Magicians Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Admission by Travis Thrasher

Thin Air by Bette Nordberg

August

The Sea of Monsters: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2 by Rick Riordan

The Titan's Curse: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3 by Rick Riordan

The Battle of the Labyrinth: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4 by Rick Riordan

The Last Olympian: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #5 by Rick Riordan

I Saw Him in Your Eyes: Everyday People Making Extraordinary Impact by Ace Collins

September

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

October

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Christian Athiest by Craig Groeschel

November

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

December

The Christmas Scrapbook by Phillip Gulley

21 Fiction

19 Fiction

40 Total

The Bookseller of Kabul

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

Non-fiction

Any book with "book" in the title catches my attention and when it's in the bargain bin at Big Lots, so much the better. (a little B alliteration going on there...). I was very curious about "The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seierstad because I hoped it would give me a glimpse into the life of a shopkeeper and book-lover in Afghanistan. And like the author, I was surprised at what I found.

The story is poignant but each troubling scene is relevant to understanding the life of the Afghani's. Seierstad does help readers understand the hard-scrabble existence with unique details about the bookseller's household and business.