My 2012 Book Picks {And some bookish questions!}

*R*

My friend Sarah was talking to me about picking her favorite list of books from 2012 so I decided that sounded like fun, and I'd do it too! :D I also have some bookish questions I've been thinking of lately to ask you all...I'm curious, sometimes, about my readers and what you all like about books.

Rachel's Top 10 Books of 2012

If you click on the links below you can read my reviews from this year.

10. "A Fragile Stone: The Emotional Life of Peter" - by Michael Card

I wanted to read this because of the memorization of 1st Peter challenge we had at MOHL blog this past year. :) I enjoyed the book so much I sent it around to my other teammates to read as well!

9. "The Mistmantle Chronicles" - by M.I. MacAllister

 I don't recommend them to everyone, but I did enjoy them as a "fun" read. They each had a "good vs. evil" biblical principles in them, even though they aren't exactly "christian" books, that I enjoyed immensely. :)

 8. "The Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans" - by T.R. Fehrenbach

Okay, so this book took me 7 months to read. It's making the list. ;) Haha. I'll always remember this year and the trip God gave me to my beloved Texas to meet some sweet "sisters". *sniff* It took me awhile to read through this book, but I greatly enjoyed learning about this great state and it was completely worth it.

7. "Wives and Daughters" - by Elizabeth Gaskell

I'd been wanting to read this since I enjoy period drama films so much and I finally did it! It's such a beautiful story, with a few differences than the film that made it even more so.

6. "Titus: A Comrade of the Cross" - Florence Kingsley {Lamplighter}

This is one of the most beautiful re-telling's of the story of the Cross that I've ever read. And not only because of the storyline, but Christ's words from the Bible have been used as the dialogue for the book!

5. "Loving the Lord with All Your Mind" - Elizabeth George

A beautiful devotional book on winning the battle of the mind over worry and fear, doubt, and what God thinks of you...and what you think of yourself, and the many other struggles we as women deal with. Very applicable to young women as well as older ones. :)

4. "The Lost Baron" - Allen French (a Bethlehem book)

To say I loved this book would be an understatement. It's a fun medieval story with great historical facts - one of the best fiction books I've read in awhile.

3. "A Peep Behind the Scenes" - Lamplighter

Such a beautiful story of God looking for His lost sheep, of looking past the masks people where to see behind the scenes. A story of hope and love.

2. Esther: A Woman of Strength and Dignity by Charles R. Swindoll

Esther has always been a favorite biblical "heroine" to me and the insights to the culture she lived in and biblical insight was so fascinating, with so many applications that can be applied to the Christian life. I'm reading through this entire series by Charles Swindoll and I've loved every single one of them thus far!

1.  “National Treasure: Changing Tides" {A Gates Family Mystery #1}
*I absolutely LOVED this series! I've only been able to read 4 so far...our library doesn't have them all and I can't afford to buy them at this point, but it's a wonderful family-friendly historical series! :D My top pick for 2012!

My *top* favorite books actually happened to be written by my friends and my sister; other books I read I only ended up giving 4 stars or less to this year...but I refuse to pick favorites from these girls writings (at least publicly). ;) Hehe. When one day they are famous author's, to be sure, I'll blab to the world how awesome I think they all are!

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The worst book I read this year was Philip Yancey's "What's So Amazing About Grace?" - I'd read some of his quotes and thought his would be a great book on grace. However, I found that not only did he not talk about grace as much as I thought he would, but he never backed up his opinions with scripture, and his stories were unrelatable to me. :( I read to chapter 3 and never finished it (which I never ever do so it was bad).

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My book total for 2012 was:

56 Books Read!!

My original goal was 24 again this year, though I wanted to read 35 - later I moved my goal to 40 and the Lord helped me able to read 56! I am so excited! :D

Historical Fiction: 17 
Other (Christian or not) Fiction: 24 
Friend Written/Rachel Edited Books: 6 
Spiritual Encouragement: 8 
Other Non-fiction: 1
5-Star Reviews: 13

Some of the books on my to-read list for 2013 are:  
Cranford (Elizabeth Gaskell), If God is Good (Randy Alcorn), A Women's Walk with God (Elizabeth George), Come Thirsty (Max Lucado), War of Words (Paul Tripp), A Jane Austen Devotional (Steffany Woolsey), The Pioneers (R.M. Ballantyne), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

*ahem* I hope to read more non-fictions next year than I managed to this year.

~*~

Okay, question time!!!

• What was YOUR favorite book that you read this year?

• What was the worst book you read?

• Which book inspired you the most?

• Which book taught you the most?

• Who was your favorite author this year? 

• What book are you most looking forward to reading next year?

I can't wait to hear y'all's answers! :D

Happy New Year & Happy Reading!
~Rachel~