I have been in school nearly everyday for the past four years. (Yes, even 6 weeks of summer because I was part of Upward Bound, a college readiness program.) Now that I am graduated, and awaiting my first college year, I want to make sure that I am continuing to learn and improve myself as a whole person.
In order to do so, I have written out a book list of 50 books I hope to read before the year is complete. Some of the books are Christian-inspired, while others are classics or books recommended for first year college students. I may do book reviews, I may not…it depends on time, interest, and whether or not I have anything to say! 🙂 You can try clicking on the colored book name to see if a book review has been done on it.
What are the benefits of reading? (Well…to name a few…)
1. My vocabulary improves, so that I have a more eclectic word choice.
2. My writing skills improve by being exposed to different writing styles.
3. Reading enhances my knowledge. (It’s great for learning new things.)
4.Reading enhances my memory, and the Lord knows I need it!
5. Reading reduces boredom: It’s fun to be engrossed in a great book.
So now that we’ve established that reading is AWESOME,
Here’s my reading list for the remaining year of 2011*:
1. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt
2. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
3. Seize the Day by Saul Bellow
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan
6. The Stranger by Albert Camus
7. My Antonia by Willa Cather
8. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
9. One Thousand Gifts: A dare to live fully right where you are by Ann Voskamp
10. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
11. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
12. Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoevski
13. Made to Crave: Satisfying your deepest desire with God, Not Food by Lysci Terkeurst
14. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
15. Invisible Man by Ralf Ellison
16. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
17. Forgotten God: Reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan
18. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
19. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
20. A Passage to India by E.M. Forester
21. The Scent of Water: Grace for Every Kind of Broken by Naomi Zacharias
22. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
23. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
24. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Harding
25. How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski
26. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
27. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
28. The Trial by Franz Kafka
29. Live to Make a Difference by Max Lucado
30. Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
30. Modesty: a fresh look at a biblical principle by Nam M. Pamer
31. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
32. The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
33. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex and Brett Harris
34. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
35. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
36. Sula by Toni Morrison
37. The Top 100 Women of the Christian Faith: Who they are and what they mean to you today by Jewell Johnson
38. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Conner
39. Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen
40. Animal Farm by George Orwell
41. A Young Woman After God’s Own Heart: A Teen’s Guide to Friends, Faith, Family, and the Future by Elizabeth George
42. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
43. Great Tales and Poems by Edgar Allen Poe
44. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
45. Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working by Craig Groeschel
46. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
47. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
48. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinback
49. The Old Testament by God
50. The New Testament by God
*This book list is subject to change as the year progresses, whether from being added to, or taken from, though the total will always be a minimum of 50. I will update this post, as it changes. I will also color the books as I finish them.*
If you have read any of the above books, and you have a positive or negative critic, tell me in the comments! Or if you are making your own book list, let me know some of the books you are choosing to read this year.
Zealous Dedication 