2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

Once again I'm going for 60 books. No set schedule, I just read whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it. Five books a month is doable.

1) 1/4/2024 Turning the Storm by Lee Jackson The third book in the After Dunkirk series. The year in 1941 and we have a british family who is involved in many different parts of the war. I've gotten to know the characters now and find the books interesting. Lesson: Just do your part.

2) 1/11/2024 A.D. 33 by Ted Dekker Story of desert bedu who meet Yeshua and learns from him and witnesses his crucifixion. They learn the way, but they forget the way. Isn't that true of all of us. Lesson: We need to remind ourselves constantly. We tend to forget.

3) 1/13/2024 The Politically Incorrect Guide to Communism by Paul Kengor A re-read for me. I am trying to learn more about communism so I can better fight it. And teach it to young people who think socialism is good. Lesson: 100 million dead just in the 20th century from communism.

4) 1/20/24 The Giant Awakens by Lee Jackson Again the Littlefield family takes us through all the hotspots of World War II. There's a lot about intelligence and manipulation here - mostly associated with Paul. We have commando raids. We have arguments between the Allies. We have people trusting Stalin.... Lesson: Things are never as they seem.

5) 1/29/2024 Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs Of Legendary Ace Robin Olds by Robin Olds Listened to this on Audio. It was personal to me since my Dad was a fighter pilot during these same years. Loved it when he told Johnson, end the war by winning it! Lesson: Military people need to be people who do the right thing.

6) 2/8/2024 The Company by Robert Littell This book has been on my shelf forever. I really liked it but it was hard to read at parts. Starts post war Berlin. Budapest. Cuba. Afghanistan. The 1991 attempted coup in the USSR. Spies, double agents, cutouts, lies, deception, death, torture. Lesson: I'm so glad I didn't get the job at the CIA when I was 22.

7) 2/9/2024 The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties by Jonathan Leaf Listened to this on audio. Lots of interesting information and since I've been reading about the Cold War and Vietnam in my most recent books it was good background information. The author claims that the sixties was mostly conservative. Maybe, but that is not the way history has been written. Lesson: Don't trust the historians.

8) 2/12/2024 "Here Are Your Gods": Faithful Discipleship in Idolatrous Times by Christopher J.H. Wright Loved this book when he was talking about the bible and what Christians are called to do. But his writings about politics turned me off. He's a believer in the main stream media narratives. So maybe 3 stars. Lesson: Christian writers need to talk about Christianity and what Christians can do not about how stupid they are when they vote for the wrong person. It's a turn off.

9) 2/12/2024 The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin A dual point of view WW2 novel. A woman of the resistance in Lyon whose husband is missing and a young American woman working in the embassy library in Lisbon. The first part of the story was slow and a bit repetitive, but the ending was good and satisfying the way everything came together. Lesson: With enough persistence you can make things happen.

10) 2/15/2024 The Second Mrs. Astor by Shana Abe Interesting novel about the young Madeline Force and her romance and marriage to the older John Jacob Astor. And of course the shipwreck of the Titanic. Lesson: Don't put your faith in technology.

11) 2/17/2024 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel A re-read for me. The first time I read it I was confused with all the time jumping and the appearance of characters in random situations. It was a lot better this time. There were several characters that led us through the stories. It was satisfying how it came together at the end. Lesson: Art transcends the collapse of civilization.

12) 2/25/24 Pray First: The Transformative Power of a Life Built on Prayer by Chris Hodges Since I've been trying to pray more consistently I thought this book would help. It did. Lesson: Pray using models like the Lords prayer to give your prayer structure.

13) 2/27/24 Helen of Troy by Margaret George Excellent, educational and entertaining. Written in the voice of Helen who is cursed by her beauty and by the gods to cause all kinds of disasters. Paris too. Lesson: The worldview in this book is that humans are toys of the gods who use them/us for entertainment.

14) 3/2/24 Why We're Catholic: Our Reasons for Faith, Hope, and Love by Trent Horn I'm trying to read more books about the faith. I recently realized that although I am a Catholic I really don't know alot about it. This one has a lot of good information and good explanations for what and why we believe. Lesson: We are Catholic so that we can go home and be with God.

15) 3/4/24 CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys: How and Why Us Agents Conspired to Assassinate JFK and RFK by George Crile Lesson: The CIA is not a force for good.

16) 3/7/24 Riding the Tempest by Lee Jackson Lesson: Northern Africa, Italy, Norway, preparing for the invasion. Still have two more books in this series to go. Lesson: Keep fighting.

17) 3/17/24 The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn Novel about a Russian female sniper from WWII. Parts good, parts ridiculous. Lesson: Don't miss.

18) 3/25/24 The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner Interesting historical novel about a young Irish woman and her interesting life that takes her to San Francisco for the 1906 earthquake. Satisfying read. Lesson: Don't marry someone unless you really know them.

19) 4/5/24 Driving the Tide by Lee Jackson The Littlefields and d-day and other issues mostly around the European theater of WW2. Almost done with the series. Pointed out a terrible issue where the resistance in the south of France was told to mobilize around the time of the invasion, that they would get military help. But the military help never came and the resistance and their families were exposed to Nazi retaliation. Hopefully the next book will let me know what happened. One more in the series. Lesson: Don't trust the promises of the government.

20) 4/7/24 Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century by Christian Caryl Interesting history of some of the major events of 1979. I remember 1979 well and wish there was more American events in the story. The author focused on China, Great Britain, Afghanistan and Iran. Definitely learned a lot. Lesson: Free markets are the way to get people out of poverty.

21) 4/13/24 The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray So I have been not drinking lately and wanted to read some books about sobriety. This one was really good. Horrifying.. Lesson: Why do we drink so much? What is it we really want? It doesn't usually have anything to do with liquor.

22) 4/14/24 Drinking Games by Sarah Levy Another quit lit book that I listened to on audio. Oh my the horrifying stories of the black outs and injuries and hangovers and having sex with people you don't even know. These girls (see book 21) were right when they realized they had to quit drinking or die. I enjoyed the life they described after they quit. Lesson: Drinking can lead to misery, so why take the risk?

23) 4/19/2024 Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential by Tiago Forte My daughter recommended this book. I always keep a lot of notes in different places and I was hoping this book could help me organize them better. I've always been more a systems person than a goal person, though. I think there are some ideas I would try, but my systems work pretty well for me already. Lesson: Capture ideas and articles and thoughts that resonate.

24) 4/20/24 How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People by Pete Greig Excellent book on prayer. It started out simple, but branched out into many different types of prayer. I really like the way he told stories about both answered and unanswered prayers. Lesson: Keep praying, God remembers all your prayers.

25) 4/23/2024 The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly Read this because we were going to England on vacation! Three time periods, three women, centered around the same garden. Pretty entertaining. Lesson: Gardens take a lot of work.

26) 5/2/2024 Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis I try to read this book every couple of years. Written by such a wise thinker. Lesson: The whole history of humanity is the story of people trying to find happiness in something other than God.

27) 5/10/2024 Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon Based on a real story. An Austrailian reporter marries a Frenchman right before WWII. She gets involved in the Resistance. And it is amazing what she accomplishments. But an old flame of her husband causes many problems. Lesson: Fight for those who can't fight for themselves.

28) 5/15/2024 Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton Fun book about searching for dinosaur bones in the wild west. Including two professors who hated and sabotaged each other's efforts. Plus gunfights and crooks and a young man who finally learned to fight for what was important. Lesson: Do what you know is the right thing to do.

29) 5/20/2024 Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud A Christian perspective on how to not let others take advantage of you. Lesson: We are supposed to serve, but not be used.

30) 5/20/2024 Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams Excellent novel set in WW2 and then the cold war. Involves twin sisters, some State Department workers with communist tendencies, and a Soviet woman true believer. I liked the writing - will have to read this author again. Lesson: Being a traitor is never a good thing.

31) 5/26/2024 Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb I read Fool's Errand not realizing there were so many books before it. So I am beginning from the beginning. I liked this book. I liked the pacing. I liked Fitz. The intrigue and the magic were so interesting. I'm so lucky that I have this whole set of novels to read in front of me. Lesson: You never know who is your friend or your enemy.

32) 5/30/2024 A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers I've had this trilogy on my shelves for a long time and finally decided to read the first one. It was a great read. About the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the early church told through the eyes of some very interesting characters. Lesson: Sometimes it is the slave who is the most free.

33) 5/31/2024 The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis Listened to this on audio. Definitely learned a lot and am looking at the Cold War a bit differently. Too bad we didn't learn the lessons of the period, however. Seems like we are moving back to totalitarian rule in so much of the world. Lessons: Free markets and free people are the best methods for happy nations, however, too many want power and control over the people. And once they get it, they have a hard time giving it up.

34) 6/4/2024 The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon Historical Fiction/mystery by an author I've read recently and liked. The main character is a midwife in main and there is all kinds of stuff going on in her town. Enjoyed the tension and the stories of the births. Lesson: Life is hard for women in the 1790s in the winter.

35) 6/12/2024 Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb Poor Fitz. Hardly anything goes right for him in this book except for Nighteyes. And Burrich. But I don't get the people who follow Regal. He's so evil, why would anyone want to even be near him? I don't get it. Lesson: Serve the king as best as you can but be careful of treachery...

36) 6/17/2024 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King Enjoyed this memoir from Stephen King. And the instructions he gives on how to be a writer: 1) Write a lot and 2) Read a lot. And let the story be the main thing. I like King's books, always have. He seems like a nice guy in this book. Just wish he wasn't such a jerk on social media. Lesson: Read a lot. Get rid of your TV and read.

37) 6/22/2024 A Guide to Christian Meditation by John Bartunek Short book with a 4 word guide telling you how to do Christian Meditation. I hope it helps with the distractions. Will give it a shot. Lesson: You need focus to be able to pray.

38) 6/26/2024 Everything's Eventual by Stephen King A bunch of stories written by the master. Some were really scary. Had to read during the day. I really liked the Roland tale from the Dark Tower series. I miss the Dark Tower. Will have to re-read it someday. Lesson: Don't stop in graveyards when you are hitchhiking at night.

39) 6/29/2024 Code Warriors: NSA's Code Breakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union by Stephen Budiansky Scary book about the NSA and the cold war. Tons of issues about how the intelligence agencies worked together or not. Lesson: They have all our information, no one is stopping them. They think they know best.

40) 6/30/2024 Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid I may need to come back and edit this, since I'm still processing a lot from this book. There are so many themes. Women wanting what they want. Priorities. Art. Trying to be the person you were meant to be. Some of it I really didn't like. But all-in-all pretty good. Lesson: Making it all about yourself is not a good way to live.

41) 7/4/2024 Misery by Stephen King Wow, what a scary book! And there was nothing supernatural. Neither of the main characters had any special powers. Just a writer and his crazy sociopathic fan. I had to put it down sometimes just to catch my breath. Lesson: Don't drive during a Colorado snowstorm especially after a few drinks.

42) 7/7/2024 The Outsider by Stephen King Not as scary as Misery, but I enjoyed it more. How do you explain the unexplainable? Good story, good characters, scary situations. Has a little of the Dark Tower in it. Lesson: A person cannot be in two places at the same time, but sometimes you have to believe the unbelievable.

43) 7/11/2024 An Echo in the Darkness by Francine Rivers Excellent novel about the faith of a woman. The second in the series. Loved both of these books. Hadassah is so inspirational. Lesson: Keep praying and listing to the Lord.

44) 7/16/2024 Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen Wilkin Excellent book on how to study the Bible. Very inspirational. I'm doing a Bible study by this author right now on the Sermon on the Mount and I wanted to know about her background. Lesson: The Bible is not a self help book, it's a book about God.

45) 7/19/24 Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys Young adult novel about a group of people trying to escape the Russians in Germany at the end of WWII. They board a ship called the Willhelm Gustloff which was sunk by a submarine. A novel written around a true event. 9500 people died. Incredible. This is a moment in history I did not know about. Lesson: Reading historical fiction motivates me to learn about the events in the story.

46) 7/24/2024 The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government by David Talbot Another book about the evil done by the intelligence agencies post World War II. He focuses mostly on Allen Dulles and has several chapters on the Kennedy's. Lesson: The deep state has been around a long time.

47) 8/4/2024 Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb A long book... Eventful. But Fitz survives. How he survives, I really can't figure out. I knew it at the beginning of the book because I had read one of the later books by accident before. I enjoy these books, though. I like the image of the skill. Reaching out with your mind. Kind of like prayer. Will continue reading these books. Exciting, full of tension, full of magic, full of heroism. Lesson: There's always a way out.

48) 8/11/2024 In the Flesh: My Story by Michael Gabriele I think I bought this book for Frank and he read it in the hospital while sick and dying. That thought gives me comfort. Basically it's a first person version of Jesus's story. The scenes of the passion are pretty horrific. Lesson: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

49) 8/14/2024 Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman Entertaining novel about some crazy young girls who are allowed way too much freedom. They have no limits set on them. What were their parents thinking? Anyway, bad stuff happens. Duh. Lesson: Keep a close watch over teenage girls.

50) 8/20/24 The Cold War's Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace by Paul Thomas Chamberlin Lot's of violence throughout the world during the peace of the cold war. Was hard to read. Lesson: most violence against people is from their own governments.

51) 8/26/2024 A Chain of Thunder by Jeff Shaara First book I've ever read about the siege of Vicksburg. I think since it's so overshadowed by Gettysburg it is easy to overlook. Standard Shaara historical novel. Well researched and informative. Lesson: The South has a hard time with people from Pennsylvania.

52) 9/1/2024 Red Sky Mourning by Jack Carr Another entertaining thriller from Mr. Carr. Enough real life stuff to make it believable. But how many times can Reece survive against overwhelming odds? How many times can he possibly save the world? Still I like reading these books. Lesson: Don't put your faith in technology.

53) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Classic that I had not read before. The language was a bit verbose and the sentences long. I found I understood it better on audio, so I mostly listened to it. Parts were riveting. Parts were boring. The bloodthirsty mob of the French Revolution was the scariest character. Lesson. - Everything comes back around.

54) Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner Written before the Obama presidency when journalists were still journalists. Once again I am disgusted by the way the intelligence community plays fast and loose with life in general and how much they did that completely failed. Lesson: Don't put your faith in princes or spies.

55) 9/19/24 Insomnia by Stephen King A long book but it was worth it at the end. Old people are the heroes! I loved that. I loved the layers of the world. I also liked the Dark Tower tie in. Lesson: We really do have no clue at what is really going on around us.

56) 9/29/24 The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson I love how this author writes. This read like a novel to me. So much pride, so much self delusion... Then you get a civil war. Lesson: people need to constantly examine what they think is necessary or not.