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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

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My Progress:


9 / 30 books. 30% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
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- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
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International:
- Australia (1)
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- England (5)
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My Progress:


12 / 51 states. 24% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

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10 / 50 words. 20% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


15 / 50 books. 30% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

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32 / 50 books. 64% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

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27 / 52 books. 52% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

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21 / 40 books. 53% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


13 / 40 books. 33% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

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5 / 25 books. 20% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

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17 / 26.2 miles. 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

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15 / 100 books. 15% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

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34 / 104 books. 33% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

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31 / 52 books. 60% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

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32 / 165 books. 19% done!
Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Top Ten Tuesday: Just Because It's Your Birthday Doesn't Mean I'm Going to Read the Books You Recommend!


Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is kind of a strange one.  In honor of her birthday (Happy birthday, Jana!), our TTT host is playing book wish fairy.  Here's her explanation of Top Ten Birthday Wishes:  My birthday is today, so celebrate with me by granting the wishes of your friends! This is a popular thing to do on Twitter, but today we’re blog hopping. List the top 10 books you’d love to own and include a link to a wishlist so that people can grant your wish. Make sure you link your wishlist to your mailing address [here’s how to do it on Amazon] or include the email address associated with your ereader so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if you’d like. Don’t feel obligated to send anything!  I'm not much for Twitter, so I've never heard of this phenomenon.  If I were rich enough, I would absolutely grant everyone's bookish wishes.  Unfortunately, I haven't won the lottery recently (or ever since I don't gamble), so I'm going to ignore today's prompt.  I am going to sort of stick with the birthday theme, though.  How's that?  Rogue, but not too rogue! 

Once upon a TTT, someone (I wish I could remember who, but I can't—if it was you, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!) made a list of the top ten books her husband had recommended to her that she'd never read.  Since my husband's birthday was on Saturday, I thought it would be fun to use this as my list topic today. 
 
My husband and I will have been married for 24 years in August.  We were attracted to each other because we have a lot in common.  We were reared in similar environments with similar values.  We like (mostly) the same types of music.  We both enjoy traveling, learning, eating, talking, researching family history (we are 8th cousins once removed, after all), etc.  People even say we look alike!  When it comes to our reading preferences, though?  We're miles apart.  He prefers non-fiction, whether it's the newspaper, online articles, a biography, or some deep, philosophical tome.  When he does reach for fiction, it's almost always sci-fi or something highly satiric or allegorical, all of which I usually avoid.  Because of this great divide in our reading tastes, I rarely take his recommendations, poor guy.  To be fair, he doesn't take mine either, so I guess we're square.  At any rate, I decided to create a list of the top books he's recommended to me in recent years that I still have not read (and, honestly, probably never will).
  
Before we get to that, though, be sure to click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl to wish Jana a happy birthday and to join in the TTT fun.

Top Ten Books My Husband Has Recommended to Me That I Will Probably Never Read


1.  The Martian by Andy WeirAs much as I enjoyed the movie version, this novel is such a snooze fest that I couldn't get past the first few chapters.  Way too many details for me.  


2.  The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis—This is one of my husband's very favorite books.  It's a religious allegory about a bus ride that goes from heaven to hell.  When the hubs tried getting me to listen to The Great Divorce on audio during a car trip, I promptly fell asleep.  I did enjoy the on-stage production we watched of it, but I'll likely never actually read the book.  Sorry, honey!


3.  Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl—I have considered reading this classic philosophical text by a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, but I've never gotten around to it.


4.  2001: A Space Odyssey and sequels by Arthur C. Clarke—Space + allegory?  Hard pass.


5.  The Gift of the Devil by Emily Ayars Smith—A very wise friend of ours just published this book about her experiences with life, God, and Satan.  My husband is probably the book's biggest fan and has bought multiple copies to share with others.  I probably won't read this one only because, as a general book reviewing rule, I don't read books written by people I know.  Too awkward.

6.  Greenlights by Matthew McCounaughey—I'm not sure I've ever witnessed my husband enjoying a memoir as much as he did this one.  He says the book is irreverent, but hysterical.  I do like McCounaughey, so maybe I'll get around to this one eventually.  Who knows?


7.  Anything by Terryl and/or Fiona Givens—Terryl Givens is a professor of literature and religion who writes deep, intellectual books about spirituality, Mormonism, Christianity, and other topics.  His wife is an equally knowledgeable teacher and scholar.  My husband is a huge fan of them both (he and Terryl are also distant cousins).  I'm sure they're both awesome, but reading their writing makes my head hurt.  If I have to re-read a sentence ten times to understand it, I'm out.  I'll just get the highlights from my husband, thank you very much. 


8.  Healing Your Family History by Rebecca Linder Hintze—We have numerous copies of this slim book laying around the house, but I've never actually picked one up and read it.  I don't know why since I'm very interested in family dynamics and family history.  This one is about patterns that develop in families and how to get rid of the harmful ones.  My husband has found it very helpful and always recommends it to people.  I honestly have no idea why I haven't read it yet.


9.  Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card—I have a love/hate relationship with Card's books.  This one falls in the latter category.  I've tried to read it several times and I just can't get past the first chapter or two.  It doesn't resonate with me at all.


10.  Muddy by Dean Hughes—I've actually read a number of books by Hughes, who writes historical fiction for both teens and adults.  He mostly focuses on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  His newest series, which starts with Muddy, is based on the experiences of early members of the Church who were called by Brigham Young to settle the Muddy River Valley (what is now Nevada), among whom were some of my husband's ancestors.  Polygamy was practiced in the Church at this time and the series focuses largely on the challenges and difficulties that arose from the practice.  Like many members whose families have long been associated with the Church, my husband and I both have polygamists in our family lines.  His were excellent at the practice, having many wives and numerous children.  Mine were more like polygamy dropouts.  Only a couple of them engaged in the practice and none of them had more than two wives at a time.  In fact, my great-great-grandpa only lasted for a year or so as a polygamist before he had an argument with Brigham Young that resulted in him leaving the Church, abandoning one of his wives, and high-tailing it out of Utah, never to return!  Anyway, my husband enjoyed Muddy quite a lot.  He says it's interesting and entertaining.  I'm sure he's right, but honestly, I don't want to read about plural marriage.  Like my ancestors, I just don't have the stomach for it!

There you are, ten books my husband has recommended to me that I probably won't ever read.  What do you think of his choices?  Have you read any of these?  What books has your spouse/significant other recommended to you that you have totally ignored?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!             

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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
End of Story by A.J. Finn

Listening

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



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