Readers, Writers, Authors, Life Changers

For the first time in over thirty years, I kept a Reading List this year. Thanks to this blog and the widgets and the gidgets they have here, I decided to keep posting and recording the names of the books I read this year(for the most part- I'm sure I forgot to write down some of the books, but I think I got most of them).

When you think about a book's influence on you, how a book can be used to challenge you, soften your heart, make you hope again, influence your perspective, make you want to weep, or run onward- you realize a book is no small thing.

I'd like to honor these authors listed below. Some of these books I loved, some I enjoyed, some moved me mightily, and some I didn't care for- but I still learned something- SOMETHING- from each book I read.

So here's my reading list from September '07 to early November '08:

• Blue Sky July (a memoir)- Nia Wyn
• Courage and Craft: Writing Your Life into Story - Barbara Abercrombie
• Here If You Need Me: A True Story -Kate Braestrup (Nov 08)
• The Blue Cotton Gown: A Midwife's Memoir - Patricia Harman
• Cancer Is a B***h: (Or, I'd Rather Be Having a Midlife Crisis)- Gail Konop Baker (Oct.08)
• Blink - Malcolm Gladwell (interesting, to say the least!) (sept 08)
• Follow the Stars Home- Luanne Rice
• Light of the Moon- Luanne Rice
• Digging to America- Anne Tyler (August 08)
• The Shack- William P. Young (Wow!)
• Weary Warriors, Fainting Saints- Joyce Meyer
• The Success Principles- Jack Canfield (interesting!)(July '08)
• My Sister's Keeper- Jody Picoult (a deep and moving story. Loved it)
• Inside the Investor's Brain- Richard L. Peterson (interesting !)
• Amazing Grace- Kathleen Norris
• The Best Year of Your Life- Debbie Ford (May 2008) (life-changing principles)
• Rise and Shine- Anna Quinlan
• Lost & Found (a Memoir) - Kathryn Slattery (honest!)
• Get Out of that Pit- Beth Moore
• Blue Like Jazz- Donald Miller
• Live Like You're Blessed- Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook
• Donkeys Still Talk (Hearing God's Voice When You're Not Listening)- Virelle Kidder (March 2008)
• A Three Dog Life (a memoir)- Abigail Thomas
• Crazy for God- Frank Schaeffer (not a light read at all!)
• Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear- Max Lucado
• Chicken Justice... by Steve Coffman (light reading)
• Dangerous Surrender- by Kay Warren (Feb 2008)
• Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field- Melissa Nathan
• Austenland- by Shannon Hale (just a bit of light reading)
• The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen- Syrie James (a lovely read)
• Bird by Bird- Anne Lamott (fuel for writers)
• The Secret Life of Bees- Sue Monk Kidd
• Waking the Dead- John Eldredge
• The Mermaid Chair- Sue Monk Kidd
• The Flip Side (Break Free of the Behaviors that Hold You Back)- F. Flippen
• The Journey of Desire- John Eldredge (loved this!! -thought provoking!)
• The Identity Code- Larry Ackerman (First book I read in Jan. 2008)
• I Wear the Maternity Pants in this Family- Susan Konig
• A Place to Call Home- Martha R. Carr
• Walking in Your Own Shoes- Robert A. Schuller
• A Walk with Jane Austen- Lori Smith (Great book to read with a cup of tea)
• Heaven is Real- Don Piper
• What's So Amazing About Grace? Philip Yancey (Loved this)
• The Richest Man Who Ever Lived- Steven K. Scott
• Dealing with the Crazy Makers- Dr. David Hawkins
• Talent is Never Enough- John Maxwell
• How Starbucks Saved My Life-M.Gill
• Become a Better You- Joel Osteen
• Right People,Right Place, Right Plan- Jentezen Franklin
• No Man is an Island- Thomas Merton
• A Short Guide to a Happy Life- Anna Quinlan
• Thinking Like Your Editor- Rabiner & Fortunato
• A New Kind of Normal- Carol Kent
• Thinking about Tomorrow by S. Crandell
• Reposition Yourself- T.D. Jakes
• You, Inc.- H. Beckwith
• Knit Together:Discover God's Pattern for Your Life- D.Macomber
• When I Lay My Isaac Down- Carol Kent (oh this is gripping!!)
• Laughing in the Dark- Chonda Pierce
• The Promise of the Second Wind-Butterworth & Merrill
• A Life Unleashed-Christine Caine
• What Happens When Women Say Yes to God- Lysa TerKeurst
• Pathway to Purpose- Katie Brazelton
• Running to The Mountain- Jon Katz (love his honesty and his style of writing)
• Katz on Dogs-Jon Katz
  
• It's All Too Much- Peter Walsh
• Communicating For a Change- Andy Stanley (September 07)

HOW ABOUT YOU? Read anything lately that's changed your life-even just a bit??

I'd love to know what I should read NEXT!