2015 Goals: Books!

It's that time of year again. When everyone is making resolutions for the coming year.  I always feel like a resolution is destined to fail unless you have a plan to go with it though.  One resolution I always make is to read more.  In 2013 I met my goal of 24 books, but 2014 was a pretty sad book year.  I thin part of it is that I read less at work.  I used to read on my lunch, but now I often play Scrabble on my cell or surf the net.  So, I decided for 2015, I need a better plan than just carrying a book with me.

I decided that I want to read four books a month.  (Which is way more than I read this year.  But, I have plenty of free time if I cut back on surfing the web and plenty of books, so that's the goal, at least until the snow melts- then it may be re-evaluated.)  In order to make this more apt to happen, I'm picking four books out at the end of the previous month and aiming to get through them in the coming month.

Here are my picks for January:

 

And here are the Goodreads synopses for them and how I got the book:    

The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall (won the book and DVD on a blog giveaway): What would you do to inherit a million dollars? Would you be willing to change your life? Jason Stevens is about to find out in Jim Stovall's The Ultimate Gift.

Red Stevens has died, and the older members of his family receive their millions with greedy anticipation. But a different fate awaits young Jason, whom Stevens, his great-uncle, believes may be the last vestige of hope in the family.

"Although to date your life seems to be a sorry excuse for anything I would call promising, there does seem to be a spark of something in you that I hope we can fan into a flame. For that reason, I am not making you an instant millionaire."

What Stevens does give Jason leads to The Ultimate Gift. Young and old will take this timeless tale to heart.

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney (from a library used book sale): Small-time private investigator Ray Lovell veers between paralysis and delirium in a hospital bed. But before the accident that landed him there, he'd been hired to find Rose Janko, the wife of a charismatic son of a traveling Gypsy family, who went missing seven years earlier. Half Romany himself, Ray is well aware that he's been chosen more for his blood than his investigative skills. Still, he's surprised by the intense hostility he encounters from the Jankos, who haven't had an easy past. Touched by tragedy, they're either cursed or hiding a terrible secret-whose discovery Ray can't help suspecting is connected to Rose's disappearance. . . . 

The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett (from my Secret Santa parnter): Guaranteed to capture the hearts of everyone who truly loves books, The Bookman’s Tale is a former bookseller’s sparkling novel and a delightful exploration of one of literature’s most tantalizing mysteries with echoes of Shadow of the Wind and A.S. Byatt's Possession.

Hay-on-Wye, 1995. Peter Byerly isn’t sure what drew him into this particular bookshop. Nine months earlier, the death of his beloved wife, Amanda, had left him shattered. The young antiquarian bookseller relocated from North Carolina to the English countryside, hoping to rediscover the joy he once took in collecting and restoring rare books. But upon opening an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries, Peter is shocked when a portrait of Amanda tumbles out of its pages. Of course, it isn’t really her. The watercolor is clearly Victorian. Yet the resemblance is uncanny, and Peter becomes obsessed with learning the picture’s origins.

As he follows the trail back first to the Victorian era and then to Shakespeare’s time, Peter communes with Amanda’s spirit, learns the truth about his own past, and discovers a book that might definitively prove Shakespeare was, indeed, the author of all his plays

 A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot (found at a second hand store- brand new! for 98 cents): A Chance to Die is a vibrant portrayal of Amy Carmichael, an Irish missionary and writer who spent fifty-three years in south India without furlough. There she became known as ''Amma,'' or ''mother,'' as she founded the Dohnavur Fellowship, a refuge for underprivileged children. Amy's life of obedience and courage stands as a model for all who claim the name of Christ. She was a woman with desires and dreams, faults and fears, who gave her life unconditionally to serve her Master. Bringing Amma to life through inspiring photos and compelling biographical narrative, Elisabeth Elliot urges readers to examine the depths of their own commitment to Christ.

 So there you have it!  Wish me luck. :)