It's the end of the year and time to look over the books that I've read this past year. Lists are an important way for me to look back and see what I've done, or in this case, what I've read.
This year I've read:
'The Gift of Sex' - Cliff and Joyce Penner (Starting the year out right, yes?! 
In all truth I am still in the middle of reading this book. It is very good, but there's a lot to glean from and put into practice. Christian based and very helpful in many, many ways).
'An Old-Fashioined Girl' - Louisa May Alcott (So good. And, yes, I read young adult novels. I've had this book since I was a teenager and just this year actually read it. A beautiful story with a sweet romance).
'The Next Right Thing' - Emily P. Freeman (If I listen to the podcast with the same name, why not read the book?)
'For Women Only' - Shaunti Feldman (I read this many years ago before I was married. Re-reading it again now, after I've been married for a few years, gave me a totally different experience and perspective. Helpful in my communication with my husband).
'Little Women' - Lousia May Alcott (I read this when I was a girl, but wanted to read it again. I've seen the 1994 version of this movie -- the one with Christian Bale, Clare Danes and Winona Ryder -- so many times I can practically quote it, but the book is so much richer in detail and beauty that it was well worth the read).
'Jacob I Have Loved' - Katherine Patterson (I read this Newbery Medal winner when I was a teen or pre-teen. Re-reading it as an adult was hard, simply because of the emotions it brought up in me. Too much teenage angst?).
'A Million Little Ways' - Emily P. Freeman (There were a few things that really stuck out to me and one very quotable passage that really helped me through a time of transitioning from my volunteer job this Spring. Timely, although I felt I already knew a lot of what she said because of being in Christian community for a long time. It wasn't really new information, just reminders).
'The Tall Stranger' - D.E. Stevenson (Ah, back to my favorite Scottish author! Always a treat).
'A Prairie Girl's Faith' - Stephen W. Hines (Interesting, although maybe not quite what I anticipated? About Laura Ingalls Wilder and how her faith influenced her life and writing).
'The Greatest Generation' - Tom Brokaw (Made me miss my grandparents! Highly fascinating real-life stories of people who were born around WW1, lived thorugh the Depression era and fought in WW2. It really did make me miss my grandparents and I was flooded with memories of them and going to their house and hearing Tom Brokaw on the NBC nightly news...you know, nostalgia).
'Emily of New Moon' - L.M. Montgomery (Thoroughly enjoyed this re-read of the first installment of the Emily books. And Emily wants to be a writer!)
'Emily Climbs' - L.M. Montgomery (Enjoyed this one too except the flowery prose and melodramatic scenes started to get to me).
'Emily's Quest' - L.M. Montgomery (By this third book I skimmed a lot of it because one, it was a re-read and two, see above; too much flowery language and over-the-top melodramatic scenes. I think Montgomery could have condensed them into two books. Did she get paid by the word?! I say that lovingly because I've always enjoyed Montgomery's writing, but as an adult it seems little, uh, too much).
'Invicible Louisa' - Cornelia Meigs (Another book that's been sitting on my shelf since I was a teenager and just now got around to reading. A biography of Louisa May Alcott. It was interesting to learn of her childhood, her many moves and her friendships with Emerson and Thoreau, not to mention her travels, writing and family relationships).
'The Puzzler' - A.J. Jacobs (Intersting and funny, but his writing is very formulaic that each chapter, although highlighting a different puzzle type, was pretty much a repeat of the chapter before).
'The Open Hearted Way to Open Adoption' - Lori Holden with Crystal Haas (Required reading for our adoption home study that we went through at the end of this year. I thought their -- the authors -- relationship was very weird...a little too close?...but it did open my eyes to how open adoptions could work).
'Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff' - Matt Paxton (I read this in bits and pieces at my mom's house and then finally checked it out of the library on my own. I've always been fascinated with organization and stuff and I love organizing things, but also enjoy reading about it too. The book gave useful and practical tips for downsizing and eliminating clutter).
'Psalms for a Saturated Soul' - Alan Frow (Alan was a guest speaker at our church this past year and a guy in our home group bought his book and we passed it around. It was basically Alan's sermon in book form. One major quote I found that helped me -- about talking to my soul as David does in the Psalms -- but the majority of it wasn't anything groundbreaking to me).
'Prayers for Today' - Kurt Bjorklund (I used this as my devotional book for the year, reading one page a day. This is a fantastic collection of prayers from believers throughout the centuries, organized under a few headlines that repeat throughout the year like 'Prayers for Wisdom' and 'Prayers for Guidance'. At the end of each day there is a segment that reads 'Prayers for Today...' and Bjorklund adds his own questions and prayers for you to think on or write or answer how you chose. I liked the guidance form, but then also the free-form at the end of each day).
'The Ragamuffin Gospel' - Brennan Manning (Can I be honest? I didn't care for it. I even skimmed the last half. It seemed to harp a lot on man's sinfulness and less on God's grace, although that is definnitely in the book. I don't know; maybe it just wasn't what I needed at this time in my life. And like a few of the books above, I feel like I've heard it all before).
'Remarkable Diaries' - A Doring-Kindersley Book (An oversized detailed book about personal diaries and journals from famous people throughout history. Lots of pictures and information. But now I want to read all the diaries I just learned about! It also made me think about how I journal and what I use my personal journal for and how that could be viewed as a part of history).
There you have it, folks. Book List 2022, complete. I read a lot more male authors this year!
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