2016 Reading List {Fiction}

2016 Reading List {Fiction}

What books do you plan on reading in 2016?

Do you plan what you will read, or just read what happens along?

My 2014 Reading List [Fiction} books was a first.   I used to go to the library, find what I like, bring home a big stack, and proceed to read.  No plan.  That changed in 2014.  To read more on how the list came to be, read Reading Priorities {What I Learned in 2013}.

The second year my 2015 Reading List {Fiction} was published.  Due to circumstances which I created, namely packing up and relocating, I was unable to complete the list this year.  My list for 2016 is comprised of the remaining titles from 2015 and a few others.

That being said, here is the plan. Specific authors, chosen for their clean writing style, clean content, moral characters, and in most cases a strong element of faith being lived in a character’s life.  Faith being a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that is.

I am super pleased to report that my 2014 and 2015 fiction reading was edifying and wholesome.  Not a shred of regret for doing this.  I have had more excellent new authors and readers introduced to me than I have time to read.  It has been a blessed year of reading, far beyond my expectations.  Read more about what I read on Top Reads in 2014 and Top Reads in 2015.

Here’s my 2016 Reading List {Fiction}, authors first, then titles and authors:

My authors are:

Lynn Austin

Sarah Sundin

Anne Mateer

Maureen Lang

Miss Read

Ann Tatlock

Stephanie Grace Whitson

Jan Karon

Eugenia Price

Patricia Bradley

Sylvia Bambola

Donna Fletcher Crow

Wendell Berry

My books are:

All Things New  by Lynn Austin

A Home for My Heart  by Anne Mateer

Rebekah’s Treasure  by Sylvia Bambola

Promises to Keep   by Ann Tatlock

Through Waters Deep  by Sarah Sundin

On Sparrow Hill  by Maureen Lang

Glastonbury by Donna Fletcher Crow

Emily Davis by Miss Read

Tyler Row by Miss Read

Sarah’s Patchwork  by Stephanie Grace Whitson

A Common Life: the wedding story  by Jan Karon

Beloved Invader  by Eugenia Price

Jayber Crow  by Wendell Berry

 Winter in Thrush Green  by Miss Read

A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin

Gone Without A Trace by Patricia Bradley

I used to be able to get all of these authors through my public library, and I’m hoping to do the same in my new library.  If your church has a library that may also be a good source for Christian fiction.  I am also starting to blog for books in 2016.  That is a way to get free copies of new releases.  The question is whether or not my favorite authors will be among the choices.

Check out my Goodreads account for a complete list of Want to Read books.  There are numerous new authors I am anxious to read, some of whom I follow on Twitter.

You might also be interested in reading the 2015 Favorite Author List post and the 2015 FICTION AUTHOR INDEX.

What about you?  Do you have a list?  What are your reading plans for 2016?

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2015 Favorite Author List {Read}

This is our second year presenting the  Favorite Author List {Read} for 2015.  To compare this year’s list with last, go to Favorite Author List {Read} for 2014.

There is a link list in the sidebar with Favorite Authors.  It is based on the 4- and 5- star rating in my Goodreads’ reviews, simply a total for all books read by the author.

The Favorite Authors who are dead do not have links, and therefore are not on the link list.  The list in this post is all-inclusive, in alphabetical order.

Top Eleven by average ratings (4- and 5- stars only):

1. Lynn Austin (5.0)
2. Stephanie Grace Whitson (5.0)
3. Ann Tatlock (4.5)
4. Ann H. Gabhart (4.3)
5. Patricia Bradley (4.0)
6. Jan Karon (4.0)
7.  Anne Mateer (4.0)
8.  Eugenia Price (4.0)
9. Miss Read (4.0)
10. Rayanne Sinclair (4.0)
11. Sarah Sundin (4.0)

Top Ten by total 4- and 5- star ratings for all books read:

1. Lynn Austin (25)
2. Miss Read (25)
3. Ann H. Gabhart (24)
4. Jan Karon (22)
5. Sarah Sundin (21)
6. Ann Tatlock (17)
7. Stephanie Grace Whitson (15)
8. Francine Rivers (13)
9. Jane Kirkpatrick (13)
10. Anne Mateer (12)

Sadly, I was only able to read for the first six months of the year, and one month at the end, and my wonderful public library source for books is gone (or rather I am gone from it).  The reviews for these books have not been posted.  I apologize for the lapse, and plan to get back on track shortly, and am hopeful to find new sources for these wonderful authors.

You may have noticed a change in the order this year.  Some series by my hitherto favorite authors were not to my liking.  You can wait for the reviews to come here, or you can check them out on Goodreads (bottom right sidebar).

Hearty thanks to these wonderful authors, for providing great reads!

Who are your favorite authors?

2015 Favorite Author List {Read}

A Bibliophile’s Dream House {Read}

The most important room in my dream house is the library, with it’s floor to ceiling, wall-to-wall book lined shelves.  If I had my way, I would have kept every book I ever had, and kept building shelves to accommodate all my books.

But I don’t live in my dream house, and for all my life, wherever I have called home, the public (or college) library has been my favorite place.  The library is  A Bibliophile’s Dream House {Read}.

Children’s room, Racine Public Library

One of the highlights of my 2013 Road Trip was visiting the new library in the town where I grew up.  The Kilton Public Library is on Main Street, diagonally across from the (tiny) old library, which I frequented as a kid.  The new library, built in 2010,  is state-of-the-art-green, with heat-censored lighting and awesome air conditioning (it was extremely hot and humid when I was there).

Let’s take a tour of the old and the new.  Some of these photos I’ve shared before (still searching for the post):

The rear entrance of the new library, where I entered from the parking lot.

The front entrance of the new library opens onto Main Street.

The old W. Lebanon library on Main Street.

The old library was sold by the city of Lebanon to a developer who has put it back on the market, according to this September 2014 article in the Valley News.

The new library is across the street from the old one.

Windows from the old library encased in the wall between the adult and children’s sections of the new library.

Front of the old W. Lebanon library, with replacement windows for stained glass ones.

Rear section of old W.Lebanon library.

Basement of old W.Lebanon library housed the police station.

View of new W.Lebanon library from across Main Street. Those trees weren’t there in the 1960’s when I waited for the school bus on that corner :). Neither was the tire store, but everything else is the same (the buildings, not their occupants).

Side view of the new W.Lebanon library from Tracy Street.

And that is the pictorial story of my earliest bibliophile days.  Looking at these photos of the new and the old, brings back so many memories.  This side street is the one we walked down daily, sometimes several times.

I remember eating nickel ice cream bars walking up this street.  Chocolate eclairs were my favorite.  Bob’s Market, the Red Cross Pharmacy, the Post Office, Dairy Queen — oh, yes, and the library — were all within a block of this street.  My house was a block to the north of it.

Small town girl.  Bibliophile.  Lover of history and architecture (my father was an architectural  draftsman).  Good times.

Where did you get your love of reading?  What was your library like?  

Have you visited the places of your beginnings?  

What made you who you are today?

Thank you for journeying with me today, and letting me share a bit of history with you in A Bibliophile’s Dream House {Read}.

Racine children’s room

Racine children’s room