I was a little distracted last week to post on this topic when it was an official Top Ten Tuesday. No matter, I can talk about it today!

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 love http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/search/label/Top%20Ten%20Tuesday. Much better than some unwanted trinket! I’m actually giving a couple of these as ebooks this year, which unfortunately is not a straight-forward process. Barnes and Noble needs to get their act together!

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.

This is actually a hard list, as I hope to read a few books this winter that I’ll receive as gifts…but I haven’t received them yet. But I’m sure that I’ll be able to come up with 10 books that I already have access to:

1. Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer

2. The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther

3. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

4. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

5. The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene

6. Black Wealth/White Wealth: a New Perspective on Racial Inequality by Melvin L. Oliver

7. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

8. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

9. Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber

10. The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria