Summer Book Challenge

Hard to believe that summer is gone. Not that I'm sad. I love fall.

This summer proved interesting for me since this was my first summer as a homeschool mom. Normally, I simply try to keep my children entertained and making sure I scheduled some "Me Time." As I made my plans for the summer, the only thing I kept hearing in my head was how children lose much of what they learned during the summer months. And when you're the teacher, that statistic matters. I didn't want to have to re-teach everything, so my summer plans included something educational. And since most of my family likes to read, (still trying to win my daughter over), I decided to do a summer book challenge. I challenged them to read ten books and challenged myself to read 20.

Now I would like people to think that I'm such a great homeschool mom that I encouraged my children to read, but I had an ulterior motive: I have too many books! Just in case you thought I was kidding, the picture to the right is one of the bookshelves in my bedroom (notice I said one. I'm ashamed to show you how many books are on the other). The two top shelves of books in the photo are all the books I bought that I haven't read (the top shelf is fiction and most of the second one is non-fiction except the row to the left. I couldn’t fit all my unfinished fiction books on the top shelf.). And that's not including the five e-books I have saved on my computer's hard drive, books I've checked out from the library and a bag o' books my sister gave me.

I love books, I'm sure that's clear. I buy new ones all the time. Unfortunately, my life doesn't always allow me to read as much as I want but I'm doing better. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to read a book a week. I've gone through some books by keeping my one-book-a-week resolution. Maybe I need to make another resolution to stop buying books (Ain't gonna happen, Captain).

My summer book challenged helped. I read 17 books. Yay, for me! I have reviewed most of the books that I read this summer, but not all of them. Here is the complete list:

1. Beyond Corista by Robert Elmer*
2. So Not Happening by Jenny B. Jones*
3. Before the Season Ends by Linore Rose Burkard*
4. The House in Grosvenor Square by Linore Rose Burkard*
5. Love Thine Enemies by Louise M. Gouge*
6. Return to Love by Betsy St. Amant*
7. Menu for Romance by Kaye Dacus*
8. Last Light by Terri Blackstock
9. Crown of Thorns by Sigmund Brouwer
10. the Incumbent by Alton Gansky*
11. Chop Shop by Tim Downs*
12. The Watchers by Mark Andrew Olsen*
13. Welcome Home by Kimberley Woodhouse*
14. Just Between You and Me by Jenny B. Jones*
15. The Knight by Steven James
16. The Prince Charming List by Kathryn Springer*
17. The Transformation: Blue Church by Terri Kraus*

* Reviewed