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9 / 30 books. 30% done!

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12 / 51 states. 24% done!

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27 / 52 books. 52% done!

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5 / 25 books. 20% done!

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15 / 100 books. 15% done!

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34 / 104 books. 33% done!

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31 / 52 books. 60% done!

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32 / 165 books. 19% done!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Some Forceful Reading

I've been a tad bit absent on ye olde blog lately.  A 9-day road trip to the Midwest with the fam will do that to a person!  For October Break, we drove from our home in the Phoenix area out to lovely Nauvoo, Illinois, a city founded by early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons).  It wasn't a straight-through drive—we made lots of stops—but still, wow!  We spent a lot of time in the van (you should have seen the layers of bugs I had scrubbed off it at the car wash yesterday).  A good time was definitely had by all, though, as we visited relatives, toured Mormon history sites, explored the Leavenworth/Kansas City area, and enjoyed lots of family bonding time (which mostly sounded like this:  "He's touching me!  Mom, make him stop!" and "Are we there yet?" and "I know we just passed a Rest Area and I was totally going to go, but I didn't and now I really, really need to go to the bathroom.  Can we go back?").  Yep.  Seriously, though, it was a good, enriching little vacay.

I haven't uploaded any of my pictures yet, so I'll show you my favorite from those my husband snapped with his phone:

This is my kids standing on the banks of the Mississippi River at sunset.  Cool, no?

I know everyone loves hearing recaps of someone else's family vacation, but lets talk about books, shall we?  Since it's the third day of the week, it's time for Top Ten Tuesday, a fun meme hosted by the lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish.  Today's topic has to do with books you were "forced" to read, either for school, work, or because a friend, family member, or pushy blogger (as if!) compelled you to do so.  I'm not sure if we're talking about the Top Ten Best Books We Were Forced to Read or the Worst, so I figured I'd do five of each.  Ready?  Here we go:

Top Five Worst Books I Was "Forced" To Read    


1.  The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger—I had to read this for a course at BYU (I know, right?).  Classic or not, the book's crass and vile.  I hated it.


2.  Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman—Technically, this is a poem not a novel, but oh my heck-fire, what a self-indulgent snooze fest!  Yawn, yawn and more yawns.



3.  The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand—I forced myself to read this one since it's supposed to be a grand literary classic, but man, I had a hard time finishing it.  Snooze-a-palooza.  


4.  The Heretic by Andrew Feder—Many moons ago, when I was just an infant in the book blogging world, I forced myself to read every book I received for review.  Back then they were few, far between, and mostly terrible.  This one was especially bad.  Nowadays, if I hate a review book, I just close it, but then I finished them all.  And gave them scathing reviews, which ticked off the authors (especially Mr. Feder).  Live and learn, folks, live and learn.   


5.  Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card—I've talked about my tried-to-love-it-but-still-loathe-it attitude toward this book.  After attempting to read it several times, I finally just gave up the dream.  Then, Hollywood had to go and make it into a movie and now my husband says he won't take me to see it until I finish the novel.  Bah!    

Top Five Best Books I Was "Forced" to Read


1.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis—I read this at some point in my elementary school career and I can still remember how vividly the story came to life in my imagination.  


2.  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith—This was part of the required reading for a Children's Lit class I took at BYU.  It's a lovely book, which I thoroughly enjoyed.


3.  Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery—I'm not sure if this was "assigned" reading or just something I read at the suggestion of a favorite elementary school teacher, but I fell in love with its characters, story and Montgomery's (very) descriptive prose.


4.  Cinder by Marissa Meyer—Sarah (of Sarah's YA Blog) isn't a pushy blogger at all, but she did recommend Cinder to me several times.  And very enthusiastically.  I opened the book with reluctance (I mean, robots?  C'mon!), but was sucked right in and ended up loving both Cinder and its sequel, Scarlet.


5.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling—Okay, no one really forced me to read this, but it was getting so much buzz that I had to give it a try.  This was in the days when I felt weird reading children's lit (being an adult and all), especially fantasy, which has never been my favorite genre.  Guess what?  Harry Potter changed all that.  Now, I read tons of children/teen books, fantasy and otherwise—without an ounce of shame! 

So, there you have it.  What do you think of my list?  What are the worst and best books you have ever been "forced" to read?
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End of Story by A.J. Finn

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<i>Listening</i>
My Contrary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows



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