Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Book List 2016

The simple thing would be to link you to My Year in Books on Goodreads, BUT I started putting together a list of all the books I read starting back in 2008, so it just seems the thing to do. Because of Goodreads, I know that I read fewer books this year, but it will still be fun to go through them, and see how many pages and how many hours of reading I had in 2016.


Also, once again I'll link to any reviews I did. I started out with good intentions to review more of the books I read, but I'm not sure how I did. I guess we'll find out.

January
  1. Orphan Train - Christina Baker Kline - 278 pages
  2. Barefoot Summer (Chapel Springs #1) - Denise Hunter (audio) - 7 hrs 27 min
  3. The Darke Toad (Septimus Heap #1.5) - Angie Sage - 96 pages
  4. Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel - David Limbaugh - 406 pages
  5. March - Geraldine Brooks (audio) - 10 hrs 22 min
780 pages | 17 hours and 49 minutes

February
  1. Family (Firstborn #4) - Karen Kingsbury - 345 pages
  2. American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History - by Chris Kyle (audio) - 10 hrs 22 min
  3. Caretaker (Caretaker Chronicles #1) - Josi Russell - 325 pages
  4. Forever (Firstborn #5) - Karen Kingsbury - 346 pages
1016 pages | 10 hours 22 minutes

March
  1. Guardians (Caretaker Chronicles #2) - by Josi Russell - 394 pages
  2. The Fixer - by Joseph Finder (audio) - 9 hrs 38 min
  3. The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands - Lysa TerKeurst (audio) - 6 hrs 31 min
  4. Forever (Firstborn #5) - Karen Kingsbury - 346 pages
740 pages | 16 hours 9 minutes

April
  1. The Good Girl - Mary Kubica (audio) - 10 hrs 38 min 
10 hours 38 minutes

May
  1. Choose Joy: Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts - Sara Frankl, Mary Carver - 208 pages
  2. I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist - by Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek (audio) - 14 hrs 47 min
  3. The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline (Enola Holmes #5) - Nancy Springer (audio) - 3 hrs 9 min
208 pages | 17 hours 56 minutes

June
  1. The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins (audio) - 10 hrs 59 min
  2. Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story - Andrea Warren (audio) - 1 hr 26 min
12 hours 25 minutes


July
  1. The Elijah Calling: The Hidden & Revealed Messiah! (Restoring Truth #1) - Ken Mentell - 487 pages
  2. Magyk (Septimus Heap #1) - Angie Sage (audio) - 12 hrs 10 min
  3. Landon Snow and the Auctor's Riddle (Landon Snow #1) - R.K. Mortenson (audio) - 6 hrs 30 min
487 pages | 18 hours 40 minutes

August
  1. The Passage (The Passage #1) - Justin Cronin - 897 pages
  2. An Invisible Client - Victor Methos - 240 pages
  3. The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #1) - Erika Johansen (audio) - 14 hrs 30 min
1137 pages | 14 hours 30 minutes

September
  1. The Invasion of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #2) - Erika Johansen (audio) - 18 hrs 4 min
  2. How It Went Down - Kekla Magoon (audio) - 7 hrs 10 min
25 hours 14 minutes

October
  1. The Twelve (The Passage #2) - Justin Cronin 626 pages
  2. Fractured - Catherine McKenzie 492 pages
  3. Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad - M.T. Anderson (audio) 10 hrs 20 min
1118 pages | 10 hours 20 minutes

November
  1. You Can't Do it Naked: From Exposed to Fully Clothed in the Armor of God - Kim M. Snyder 116 pages
  2. All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven (audio) 11 hrs 4 min
116 pages | 11 hours 4 minutes

December
  1. Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) - Amie Kaufman (audio) 11 hrs 41 min
  2. Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament - Michael P.V. Barrett 328 pages
  3. Torn from Troy (Odyssey of a Slave #1) - Patrick Bowman (audio) 5 hrs 28 min
  4. The Murder Game - Julie Apple 300 pages
  5. David and the Psalms - Michael J. Ruszala 184 pages
  6. Our Presidents & Their Prayers: Proclamations of Faith by America's Leaders - Rand Paul 160 pages
972 pages | 17 hours 9 minutes

  • Total books - 38 (compare to 43 in 2015)
  • Total pages - 6574 (compare to 6533 pages in 2015)
  • Total time - 182 hours 16 minutes  (compare to 200 hours in 2015)
Page counts courtesy of Goodreads; audio lengths courtesy of Audible.

I even wrote a review for 20 of the books, so that's a little better than last year. Scrolling through the list, I see several books that I really meant to write a review for, but somehow I just didn't do it. I think that maybe I think too hard about it and write these great reviews in my head, and then I just never get around to actually posting a review. Because when I sit down to type it, all those things I was going to say just don't seem to be there anymore. I just noticed that there's a new feature on Goodreads that lets me see, and share if i want, my highlights and notes from the Kindle books I read. Perhaps having that to easily look at will help for future reviews? I guess we'll see.

How many books did you read in 2016?  I'd love to hear some suggestions for my 2017 reading list.

*if you happen to click any of the book covers and buy  from Amazon, they say they'll pay me a small percentage.  Every little bit helps, and I thank you for your support!





Tuesday, January 10, 2017

$3000 College Scholarship Essay Contest

I just received this information about a scholarship opportunity.

anti-smoking ad 3The scholarship is sponsored by Mig Vapor, a company that creates products designed to help people reduce their dependency on tobacco, and each semester they award $3,000 scholarships to students who help bring awareness to the dangers of smoking.

The scholarship recipients are selected through an essay contest with the winning essays to be selected on the basis of how well-written, compelling, and persuasive they are.

Applicants must be a full-time student at an accredited four-year or two-year university, community college or junior college, or a graduate degree program. There are no costs associated with submitting an application for this scholarship, and the application deadline for Fall 2017 semester scholarships is May 31st, 2017.

For more information, be sure to check out the MigVapor Scholarship Essay Contest page. Feel free to share this with anyone you know who might be interested.