Books I read (and liked) last year

I am not the best book club member.

Many months I show up for our meet up having not read the featured pages.

Sometimes I begin the book, then get bored or distracted, never to finish what I started.

The conversation is always a lot more fun when I've actually read the entire book for that month.

If you are looking for something interesting to read, then I offer to you a short list of my favorites.  These are the few I read and liked out of our 12 club reads, read last year.

Heaven is For Real is a story of a young boy who emerges from a life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven.
Colton, the four year old, is the son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven.
He survives the surgery and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room.
Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and that we should be ready for a coming last battle.

I'm always interested in stories shared on near death experiences and found this one to be compelling. I felt like the little boy's account was sincere in the beginning, though as the story progressed and he continually recounted what he saw and felt, it seemed a bit enhanced.  This may have been due to all the attention and interest  he gained in repeatedly telling of his experience.

~3 stars~

Every time you dress, you assert your identity. With style, you tell the world your story. In that way, style affords you opportunities to think about your appearance as a quality of your creative character. The Little Black Book of Style helps you to explore your own fashion voice—the piece of you that joyously revels in the glamorous experience of creating your best self. From cultivating good taste to guarding against definite fashion faux pas, Nina Garcia offers readers the ultimate guide to follow when it comes to dressing their best.

  I liked it and would describe this as a fun, light read. It made me want to revamp and simplify my closet.
I was reminded that style doesn't have to be complicated or expensive.
When I finished this book I gave it to my 16 year old daughter who loved Garcia's style of writing and found a few new tips to incorporate into her own wardrobe.

  ~4 stars~

 We live in a time when the practice of representative government in the United States of America is under siege from both the left and the right. Scandals abound. We are first shocked, then wearied, to learn that our national leaders have feet of clay. We live in a time, in short, which demands that we return to our origins to discover the common principles that make us essentially American. Our Sacred Honor reveals those common principles. They are articulated by the flawed but deeply admirable men and women who first wrote what it is to be American. The pledge made by the Founders to one another that hot July day in 1776—the pledge of "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor"—has been redeemed many times in the centuries since, but the nation they founded has never failed to profit from their example.

With a corrupt government currently overseeing our educational system who love to change the facts on the divine intervention, and the truth about the morality & great courage of our founders, every parent should have this book in their home.  We must do what we can to retain and teach the incredible miracles and history on which our country was found.

  ~5 stars~

 Stepping back into a time when fledgling advertising agencies were active partners with consumers and everyday people saw possibility of participating in all kinds of commercial & advertising contests, Terry Ryan tells how her mother kept their  family of ten afloat by writing jingles and contest entries.

 I think I love the 50's -something about that time period just speaks to me.  This book was one of my favorites!  Quickly finishing it from beginning to end - a sure sign that this would be a keeper- I'd recommend this entertaining read to others.

~5 stars~

An awe-inspiring, often hilarious, and unerringly honest story of one mother's exercise in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards-and the costs-of raising her children the Chinese way.
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Amy Chua's iron-willed decision to raise her daughters, Sophia and Lulu, her way-the Chinese way-and the remarkable results her choice inspires.

  I found this book fascinating.  It made me tired just reading all she did and demanded as a mother. I'll admit, after reading this approach, I felt rather lazy as a parent.  Lazy and tired.  Though I don't agree with every facet of this kind of parenting, nor do I have that kind of drive within, I do agree that we in America could do much better in not coddling our children so much and we would do well in raising our expectations regarding the abilities and potential of American children in general.

~4 stars~

And now we are off to a new year with a whole fresh list of books to read!

I'll be sure to let you know which ones I end up liking the best! 

Always on the look-out, I'd love to know

what fun, interesting, or inspiring books did you read last year?