2009 Reading List

I took a little unplanned bloggy break to celebrate Christmas and go to Las Vegas with my in-laws to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. This was our second trip to Vegas this year (which was totally unplanned). You can read about our first trip here. We had fun and did a lot of different things than we did when we went in June. I hope to get some pictures up soon, but I am not going to stress out about it because I have a TON of stuff to do tomorrow.

Anyway, at the end of the year, I like to do a little "here is what I read this year" list. Sadly, the list is not very long this year. I hope to do better in 2010! My list from the first half of the year is here. From that list, I did finally finish reading "Blood of Flowers" (on the plane ride home today). It was not as good as "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and it ended kind of abruptly, but it was still a good read and I am glad I finally finished it. I also read:

"Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham. This book is about an ex-NFL football player, who goes to Europe to play in the Italian football league. Like most of Grisham's non-legal fiction, the subject matter and the story was not very interesting to me. I think my husband would have liked reading it. It did make me want to visit Italy ... or at least go eat some yummy Italian food.

"The 19th Wife" by David Ebershoff. This story tells two parallel tales of polygamy. One from Brigham Young's infamous 19th wife who divorced him and caused quite the controversy in the Mormon church and the other from a modern-day murder mystery that took place in a polygamist-cult. Although fictional, this story is full of accurate history about the founding of the Mormon church (beginning with Joseph Smith) and Ann Eliza Young was a real person. The modern-day mystery is also very compelling and kept me up late at night reading to find out "who done it." I look forward to reading more of Ebershoff's historical fiction.

"The Same Kind of Different as Me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. This book is based on a true story and very inspiring. It is about an affluent couple who began working with a homeless shelter in Fort Worth, Texas and helped changed a city. It will make you want to be a better person. It will change the way you look at the homeless population. It will make you want to make a difference in someone's life.

"Lost and Found" by Carolyn Parkhurst. This book is set around an Amazing Race-type reality show competition. There was quite a cast of characters to say the least, but most of them were pretty stereotypical I thought. It was a quick read, but not a great one. If you like reality TV competitions, you will probably like the book okay.

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. This book is set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962 during the peak of the civil rights movement. It is about black maids and the women they worked for. I had heard great things about this book and it did not disappoint. This is the fastest I have read a book all year.