My Bookshelf

Reading… meeting people, going places, learning history. Keep up with my tastes, current reads, and future wishes here on my Bookshelf page.

favorite genres: historical fiction, social science fiction, classics, craft how-to’s, anything published by DK

read so far 2009 (most recent first, with 1-5 * rating):

Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians by James Gilchrist Lawsom *****
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins ****
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen ****
Hermit of Peking by Hugh Trevor-Roper ***
The Secret Life of Bees ****
Alice in Wonderland ***
Joshua in the City by Joseph Girzone *****
The Creative Family by Amanda Soule *****
The Contemporary American Short Story **
Same Kind of Different as Me *****
This Side of Heaven by Karen Kingsbury ***
The Quilt ***
Room of Marvels by James Bryan Smith ***
Beyond the Valley by Al & Joann Lacy ***
Meet the Austins by Madeline L’Engle **
Perelandra by C.S. Lewis ****
Stones of Fire by Isobel Kuhn *****
Hinds’ Feet on High Places *****

to-be-read:

Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

wishlist:

The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
Portraiture: Creative People Photography by Bryan Peterson
Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera by Bryan Peterson
China (DK Eyewitness Book) by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Deliberate Life: The Ultimate Homesteading Guide by Nicole Faires

massive bookshelf AND simplicity?!

Well, yes and no. My bookshelf is only massive in the virtual world. I buy books used from other expats who advertise in classifide ads. I also trade books via post or meet-ups, coordinated by Bookcrossing. And when I finish a book, I only keep it if it’s so good I plan to read it again… which I’m quite practical about, after years of realizing how rarely I’ll ever read especially a fictional novel twice…. or if it’s a book I’ll keep referring back to again and again (craft books, for example).