That said, here are books I have or will try to use to entice non-readers into exercising their brain:

1. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I actually know non-readers who have picked this up and enjoyed it. It’s quite palatable to people who are used to the fast-pace of most television shows and movies.

2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

I think this is just a fun series for people of all ages but also has some depth.

3. Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

I’d recommend this to teens and college-aged as an introduction to Christian non-fiction.

4. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Nothing like a good mystery/puzzle.

5. The 39 Clues series

While I’m not sure what I think about Scholastic turning this into an opportunity to promote good ole American consumerism
(and deeping their wallets), but I find the stories interesting yet educational. Definitely got two little girls hooked on the audiobooks.

6. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Perhaps just because I love this world so much. But really, I think that anyone who likes science fiction movies could enjoy these books. Better than fan fiction about their favorite science fiction universe.

7. Tomorrow, When the World Began by John Marsden

For teens, but especially for teen girls who aren’t necessarily into the typical teen girl all-about-shopping-and-clothes scene.

8. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

An easy introduction to Christian biographies. Will stick with you.

9. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt

I think this would be an easy introduction for an adult Christian who was wanting to start reading to bolster their faith and think through the day-to-day implications.

10. The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker

I think these are pretty easy to get into…the fast pace helps.

Check out Broke and Bookish for more Top Ten lists

1. They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer

This book was absolutely worth the trouble it took for me to get my hands on it (I had to use inter-library loan). A good book to talk about what it would have been like to have been an average citizen in Hitler’s Germany and how he rose to power, leading to discussion of how we can avoid a Hitler to arise in our own culture.

2. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Still one of my favorite autobiographies, one that I think about regularly.

3. Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

I think dystopian books can make for great discussion.

4. Sister of My Heart by Chitra Divakaruni

I actually did read this for a book club, and we really enjoyed reading and discussing it.

5. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

While perhaps this is a little a-few-years-ago, it is a great discussion starter!

6. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Okay, I probably wouldn’t want to discuss this with any book club that really wanted to discuss this (I’d rather not discuss it with people that have totally bought into Rand’s philosophy). Still, I think that Rand brings up some excellent critiques of America and some interesting (although unrealistic) solutions.

7. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

What an interesting, illustrative tale.

8. Animal Farm by George Orwell

1984 might be my favorite, but Animal Farm would possibly make for a better discussion.

9. “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum

This really helped me to think about race issues in a new light.

10. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

An under-appreciated dystopian book that I think is a creative take on the genre.

For more Top Ten Tuesday lists, visit Broke and Bookish

A few observations:

• Working for a tech company kinda feels like coming home. I’m definitely not the nerdiest person in my department. I’m not sure I’ve ever worked with fellow nerds before. I mean, our printer’s name is “Alderaan.” I didn’t even know that was how it was spelled…

• Speaking of coworkers: they make the job. They’ve all been incredibly helpful and proactive in helping me to understand everything (or everything I’ve been able to absorb so far!).

• There’s a lot to have to learn (the software and all its functions as well as the solutions to a lot of the more common errors), but the learning is going well. Already know WAY more than I would have thought possible to learn in a week.

• I’m thankful to be trained alongside another newbie. It’s nice to have someone else to bounce questions off of. And we aren’t the only newbies…two more people will be starting in a week, so soon I won’t even be the least experienced!

• So yeah, we’re growing. So much that our department is moving to an office across the street today to a more permanent temporary location until they find a place large enough to bring the whole company back together. I only had my desk for a week, but I’m going to miss it.

• Or not…I was right next to the kitchen with free snacks, drinks (Diet Dr Pepper!), and where people frequently congregate. Probably not the best place to be long-term. My new desk is farther from the action, I think.

• Pretty much everyone I work with is in the same age bracket as me, which leads to interesting conversations. When asked what snacks and drinks we’d want at the new place, one of the guys said, “Surge!” Hadn’t thought about Surge in a long time…

• I love my new schedule. I’ll actually be working an hour earlier (7 AM!) when I’m fully trained, but I’m going to like it. Getting up before the sun is weird for me, but I’m getting used to getting up and exercising in the dark and then getting into work before everyone else. (Yes, I used “getting” 3 times in that sentence, but I’m too lazy to fix it.)

All that to say, I’m very thankful for my job. It’s amazing how much more you appreciate something when you did without for a while. But even if it wasn’t for that, this is a great place to work and I think I’m going to enjoy what I’m going to be doing.

Here are my 10 of my favorite quotes from books. If only I could write this well!

1. “He wondered for a moment if it was Mars he was looking at; then, as his eyes took in the markings better, he recognised what they were–Northern Europe and a piece of North America. They were upside down with the North Pole at the bottom of the picture and this somehow shocked him. But it was Earth he was seeing–even, perhaps, England, though the picture shook a little and his eyes were quickly getting tired, and he could not be certain that he was not imagining it. It was all there in that little disk–London, Athens, Jerusalem, Shakespeare. There everyone had lived and everything had happened; and there, presumably, his pack was still lying in the porch of an empty house near Sterk. ‘Yes,’ he said dully to the sorn. ‘That is my world.’ It was the bleakest moment in all his travels.”

- Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis, p. 96

2. “Arraigned at my own bar, Memory having given her evidence of the hopes, wishes, sentiments I had been cherishing since last night–of the general state of mind in which I had indulged for nearly a fortnight past; Reason having come forward and told in her own quiet way a plain, unvarnished tale, showing how I had rejected the real, and rabidly devoured the ideal–I pronounced judgment to this effect:–That a greater fool than Jane Eyre had never breathed the breath of life: that a more fantastic idiot had never surfeited herself on sweet lies, and swallowed poison as if it were nectar.”

– Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, p. 169

3. “Whereever you are, you should always be contented, but especially at home, because there you must spend the most of your time.”

– Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, p. 294

4. “As a general rule, people, even the wicked, are much more naive and simple-hearted than we suppose. And we ourselves are, too.”

– The Brother Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, p. 17

5. “As will be the case throughout your life, no matter how long or brief [the urge], the choice is, in the end, yours. Simply bear in mind that most every choice will have consequences, and in this instance those consequences would likely be quite grave.”

– Everything Matters! by Ron Currie, Jr., p. 4

6. “I remembered thinking how hard it was to contemplate death from a comfortable chair.”

- The Host by Stephenie Meyer, p. 127

7. “Large numbers of books always depressed her, as did people who liked to read large numbers of books.”

– Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, p. 159

8. “…you must also own Religion in his rags, as well as when in his silver slippers; and stand by him, too, when bound in irons, as well as when he walketh the streets with applause.”

– Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, p. 92

9. “And know this: people who seek only happiness never find it.”

– Blue in Snow by Orhan Pamuk, p. 350

10. “ ‘Ignorance is not a tragedy,’ said Anton, ‘merely an opportunity. But to know and refuse to know what you know, that is foolishness.’ ”

- Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card, p. 91

For more Top Ten lists, visit Broke and Bookish

1. God is definitely sovereign. He kindly overrode my own plans for my life, giving me something better.

2. Planning is good and necessary, but don’t be married to your own ideas for your future.

3. I can live on less income than I thought. Going to take advantage of this in the next couple of years to save up for long-term plans.

4. I thrive on a schedule and am rather helpless in forcing myself on a schedule without concrete items on my calendar.

5. Just because you have more time to read doesn’t mean that you will. I can almost guarantee I’ll read more in my first month at work than in the last month of unemployment (four books read).

6. My time is not my own, so I shouldn’t selfishly spend it on myself. Same is true of money.

7. Blessings freely given by God are more precious than anything you can try to grasp for.

I’m incredibly thankful that this season is over, but I wouldn’t want it to be different if I had a do-over. I can honestly say I’m closer to God and to others than  I was two and a half months ago.

I read 134 books in 2011. These are my favorite 10 books that I read for the first time in 2011:

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling

I can’t believe I waited so long to read these books. This was my favorite, I think (it’s been a few months). I’ll be re-listening to them again this spring/summer and I’m excited to do it.

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling

This is either my fave or 2nd fave HP book…will figure that out this spring.

3. My Heart in His Hands: Ann Judson of Burma by Sharon L. James

I highly recommend this biography. It will definitely deserve a re-read at some point.

4. Divergent by Veronica Roth

An excellent book by someone whose name is so similar to mine. Wish I wrote as well as she did…

5. Prodigal God by Tim Keller

I really liked this that I instantly wanted to read everything he’s written.

6. Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

I’ve had this for years…took way too long to read it.

7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I’ve been wanting to read this classic for years and finally did. So glad!

8. The Christian Imagination edited by Leland Ryken

This probably wins the title for being the book that had me change my thinking the most.

9. Love to Eat, Hate to Eat by Elyse Fitzpatrick

I’m still implementing what I learned in this book.

10. In Christ Alone by Sinclair Ferguson

As a book that simply speaks the Gospel, this is the type of book that I want to regularly be reading.

I received a lot of books for Christmas which adds to my reading excitement!

I really hope that The Journal is on your list of top ten books you’re excited to read about this year. If it is (or even if it’s not!) check out the giveaway where you can enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card!

My book reading doesn’t follow closely to when books actually come out. There are very few authors that I just have to have their latest, and those aren’t usually the type that come out with a new book every 6 months. That’s why most of these books have been out for a while. Regardless, these are the top 10 books I want to read right now:

 1. Die Young: Burying Your Self in Christ by Hayley and Michael DiMarco

I have a review copy of this that I hope to get to any day. It looks really good.

2. The Shackled Continent: Power, Corruption, and African Lives by Robert Guest

I have this on my Nook from the library, so I hope to get to it very soon.

3. Counterfeit Gods  by Timothy Keller

Ever since I read Prodigal God this fall, I’ve been wanting to read more from him.

4. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner

I’m going to get this from the library for my Nook soon.

5. Earthen Vessels by Matthew Lee Anderson

My view of the physical body has definitely not been biblical, so trying to explore the idea more.

6. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Okay, this one is actually coming out in 2012, and I’m excited for it! 

7. Relationships: a Mess Worth Making by Timothy A. Lane and Paul David Tripp

I think this will be a good read to help me think more clearly about what it means to live in community with others.

8. Crossed by Ally Condie

I hope to get this in audio, though I did read a paper copy of the first.

9. Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God by John Piper

It’d be no surprise to most people that I’d want to think rightly about thinking.

10. Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God by Paul David Tripp

You can never read enough Paul Tripp. I actually got this audiobook for Christmas from a dear friend. I laughed at first (look at the subtitle), but this book will be good for me right now as I face some life changes as well as a resource as I minister to others.

I couldn’t narrow down what books I wanted to ask for for Christmas, so I didn’t. There are 26 books on my list. Hey, that works out to one every other week, so it’s not that much of overkill, is it?

Since I couldn’t narrow it down then, I definitely can’t narrow it down now. So these are the 10 b00ks on the top of that list (that wasn’t necessarily in any order)…

So, continuing in the tradition of 25 things, 26 things, and 27 things, here are 28 things that I did while I was 28:

1. I had a tornado pass about 1/4 mile from my house, leaving me without power for 5 days. Thankful we didn’t see the destruction that I saw elsewhere in our city.

2. Watched 5 kids for a week (which was punctuated with the tornado from #1).

3. I got pneumonia (while doing #2).

4. I edited my novel to be published when I’m 29.

5. I lost my job.

6. I moved into my own place.

7. I found out I’d be an aunt for the first time (baby Bean to come any day).

8. I learned to crochet.

9. I celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time in North Carolina.

10. I made a big life-changing decision (one that I can’t share here yet).

11. I bought and put up my own Christmas tree for the first time.

12. I faced my first hurricane…and I was rather disappointed.

13. I worked 2 elections for the first time.

14. I observed Yom Kippur in my own special way.

15. I made a 30 Before 30 list and completed 4 things on it.

16. I lost 23 pounds by walking more and making simple adjustments to my diet.

17. I visited Seattle for the first time.

18. Convinced the pickiest person I’ve ever known (my dad) to try Turkish food, and even kinda liked it.

19. Reluctantly quit helping in AWANA so I could pursue counseling training.

20. Read 141 books.

21. Used an ereader for the first time.

22. Visited the Ozarks for the first time. Also added Arkansas to my list of visited states (I don’t count airports).

23. Majorly purged my belongings, especially the books on my shelves (they’re starting to look empty!).

24. Went away again with church friends to the mountains.

25. Started recording The Chronicles of Narnia for my niece.

26. Chopped my hair off (a decision I’ve never regretted).

27. Listened to the Harry Potter series for the first time and really enjoyed it.

28. Celebrated my 5th blogiversary.

I say that’s a busy year!

I also love to receive books as gifts (hint, hint)…

Here are some that I want to (and for the most part, am giving):

1. Mine! Being able to give The Journal for Christmas is why I aimed to have it published this month.

2. Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Great introduction to the Bible.

3. The Parrot Tico Tango by Anna Witte. A little girl I know is going to love this.

4. Driving My Tractor by Jan Dobbins. This one looks cute, too.

5. Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol. I loved these as a kids, and I think this is the perfect book for an adventure-loving reluctant reader in my life.

6. Harriet the Spy by Elyse Fitzhugh. Another book I loved as a child that I hope that will also be loved by the recipient.

7. The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker. Giving this to a teenage boy that I hope will read and enjoy them.

8. The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I’m actually saving this for the recipient’s 7th birthday. It was one of the first chapter book series that I read, and I hope they will be hers, too.

9. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I’ve given this in the past. It’s fun to get your friends hooked on the same series you are…

10. Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick. I haven’t read this yet, but I did give it as a gift. I do want to read it for myself, considering how much time I spend with children, even if they aren’t my own.