Fall into Reading Update

Here are the books that were on my Fall into Reading list. The ones I read are crossed out, so I did pretty well. I actually started all of the other books remaining on the list as well. I seem to have misplaced Mere Christianity, which I started a long time ago, so hopefully that will turn up again. I also read a few other novels that weren't on the list. I didn't write reviews for most of them, but I've linked to those I did review below.

Fiction:

• Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor (Stephanie Barron)
  

• Hazardous Duty (Christy Barritt)

• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)

• Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
  

• The Railway Children (Edith Nesbit)
  

• Velma Still Cooks in Leeway (Vinita Hampton Wright)

• Hollywood Nobody (Lisa Samson)

• Doesn't She Look Natural? (Angela Hunt)
  

• A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini)

• The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle)

• Sophie's World (Jostein Gaarder)

Non-Fiction:

• The Jesus Creed (Scot McKnight)
  

• Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)
  

• The Well-Adjusted Child (Rachel Gathercole)

• Justice in the Burbs (Will and Lisa Samson)
  

• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver)
  

I enjoyed all the books that I read, though a couple of them (Hazardous Duty and Doesn't She Look Natural?) didn't quite live up to my expectations. I love Angela Hunt and liked the book overall, but I really think one particular plot point at the book's conclusion was completely unbelievable, even though I'm used to suspending my disbelief with her unusual, "expect the unexpected" plots.

Best Novel: A Thousand Splendid Suns (this one is actually at the top of the list for everything I read in 2007, as is The Kite Runner)

Most Pleasant Surprise: Velma Still Cooks in Leeway (you may have never heard of this book, but I loved it; if you're interested in edgy Christian fiction, find some of Vinita Hampton Wright's) and Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor

Most Thought-Provoking: A Thousand Splendid Suns; The Well-Adjusted Child; and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Most Fun: Hollywood Nobody, The Railway Children, and Northanger Abbey

I'll probably try Sophie's World again later, although it's sort of a strange book that's both a novel and a course in philosophy and I couldn't get into it when I put it down in favor of something else.

Despite being perhaps the most well-known fictional character ever, Sherlock Holmes didn't make it onto my reading list until this fall. I really enjoy reading Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes stories in between the other books I'm reading and should finish with that volume of stories about him soon.

The Jesus Creed is one I'll be working on for a while, as it's a book to be chewed on and read with the Bible as a devotional.

I have to take Animal, Vegetable, Miracle back to the library, but I'll probably recheck it later, as it's interesting to read about Barbara Kingsolver and her family's experience intentionally eating only food produced in their area (including on their own farm) for a year. I've mostly skimmed through it, and although I don't share all of her opinions, I appreciate her active support of and advocacy for family farms and local growers. I'm going to start looking into community-supported agriculture in our area. We've visited our local farmers' market before, but it's rather disappointing (except for the bread!).