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Two Months of Book Thoughts

Well, let's just say that the last two months have been absolutely crazy busy. And even though I have read a ton and almost non-stop, I just have been lazy and not taken the time to sit down, take a break and write. Tonight that changes. I am enjoying the quiet and coolness of the evening while trying to focus on writing. 

 The last two months have been filled with weddings (4 weekends in a row), church events, trips home, bonfires, post-season Cardinal baseball and lots of work. It's been good. Just very busy. But surprisingly, in the midst of all the busyness, I managed to spend a lot of time reading. In looking back, I really have no idea how I managed to read so much. And I didn't really read small books. Quite a few of them were 350+ pages long and I was breezing right through them, one after another. I enjoyed pretty much everything I read over the last two months and many of them have been added to my re-read list. 

 This month is Adoption Awareness month. The type of adoption that has to do with the life and well-being of an orphaned child. Not a pet. And since adoption is such an important thing to me and something that my husband and I want to do as we begin and grow our family in the years to come (not til after student debt is paid and he is closer to be doing with his Masters), I am devoting this month to reading about adoption (international and domestic) and foster care. I am also going to the International Conference On Missions in Kansas City in a few weeks and so books on Christian missions will also be read this month as my excitement and passion for missions is refueled through the conference.

I am excited about what I have been reading and what I plan to read. I am finding more and more that reading is a way for me to continue my education, to refresh what I was taught in undergrad and a way to fuel my various passions. I am also loving being introduced to new writers and new types of books. As much as I love my Classics, I am enjoying stretching out into some more of the fantasy (Percy Jackson) and historical fiction (Philippa Gregory) genres. And I am just really content with my reading choices right now. I can't explain it any other way. 

 Well, with all of that rambling done and out of the way... here are my combined stats for September and October. Enjoy and happy reading! 

 Books read this month: 
SEPTEMBER: 
The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
The Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan  
The Journals of Jim Elliot by Jim Elliot (edited by Elisabeth Elliot) 
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer
Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot

OCTOBER:
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Why Not Today by Matthew Cork & Kenneth Kemp 
The Boleyn Inheritance by Phillipa Gregory
The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan (a Percy Jackson and the Olympians companion book)
The Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades by Rick Riordan 
Great American Speeches edited by Gregory Suriano
Speechless: Living in Awe of God's Disruptive Grace by Steven Curtis Chapman
Choosing to SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope by Mary Beth Chapman
Hands & Feet by Audio Adrenaline  
Raising Up Young Heroes by Efrem Smith
 
Favorite book read this month: 
SEPTEMBER:
 All of them... for real. 

OCTOBER:
Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman... 
this is seriously one of the best books I have ever read! 


Least favorite book read this month: 
SEPTEMBER:
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffry Chaucer...
parts of it were good, but it was a struggle to get through at times

OCTOBER:
Great American Speeches edited by Gregory Suriano... 
there were some great speeches, but overall I just had no interest in them. 
It probably didn't help that I started reading them out of frustration with our 
current President and the government shut-down. 


Number of pages read this month: 
SEPTEMBER:
3,230 pages

OCTOBER: 
3,315 pages  

Number of pages read this year: 
28,013 pages

Number of books read this year: 
96 books

Number of Classics read so far: 
18 of 76

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