By CARLA OFFENBURGER
COOPER, Iowa, Feb. 2, 2016 — I know many of you follow my yearly reading list. It was a good reading year in 2015, in fact, a record year for me. I finished it having read 66 books, including the Bible, cover to cover. Hallelujah. Amen.
Here’s my full list, with my favorite books in bold:
“The Monuments Men,” by Robert Edsel.
“The Art of Stillness,” by Pico Iyer.
“The Quilter’s Legacy,” by Jennifer Chiaverini.
“The Thirteenth Tale,” by Diane Setterfield.
“Summer at Tiffany,” by Marjorie Hart.
“Flirting with Felicity,” by Gerri Russell.
“The Good Lord Bird,” by James McBride.
“The Mermaid’s Sister,” by Carrie Anne Noble.
“The Husband’s Secrets,” by Liane Moriarty.
“The Holy Bible,” by a variety of writers. (My church, Plymouth Congregational in Des Moines, offered this project, “Plymouth Reads the Bible in 90 Days,” so I joined in — and did it.)
“The Secret Garden,” by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
“Before You Know Kindness,” by Chris Bohjalian.
“The Little Princess,” by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
“Strong Inside,” by Andrew Maraniss.
“Necessary Lies,” by Diane Chamberlain.
“My Happy Life,” by Rose Lager Rants & Eva Erickson. (I read this one with my granddaughter Lindsay Offenburger.)
“Helen of Sparta,” by Amalia Carosella.
“The Road to Character,” by David Brooks.
“600 Hours of Edward,” by Craig Lancaster.
“The Moonlight Palace,” by Liz Rosenberg.
“Miramont’s Ghost,” by Elizabeth Hall.
“Lila,” by Marilynne Robinson.
“The Last Days of Dogtown,” by Anita Diamant.
“Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania,” by Erik Larson.
“Sorcery & Cecelia OR the Enchanted Chocolate Pot,” by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer.
“The Invention of Wings,” by Sue Monk Kidd.
“The American Lady,” by Petra Durst-Benning.
“Mrs. Poe,” by Lynn Cullen.
“A Fall of Marigolds,” by Susan Meissner.
“The Boston Girl,” by Anita Diamant.
“10-10-10,” by Suzy Welch.
“Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen.
“Plain and Simple,” by Sue Bender.
“Things We Set on Fire,” by Deborah Reed.
“The life-changing magic of tidying up,” by Marie Kondo.
“The Orphan Train,” by Christina Baker Kline.
“Blessings,” by Anna Quindlen.
“Eleanor vs. Ike,” by Robin Gerber.
“Jane Eyre,” by Charlotte Bronte.
“The 46 Rules of Genius,” by Marty Neumeier.
“Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,” by Alexandra Fuller.
“Bliss Remembered,” by Frank Deford.
“When You Were Mine,” by Elizabeth Noble.
“Girl Waits with Gun,” by Amy Stewart.
“All The Light We Cannot See,” by Anthony Doerr.
“Ordinary Grace,” by William Kent Krueger.
“Jesus and the Disinherited,” by Howard Thurman.
“The Paradise of Glass,” by Petra Durst-Benning.
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” by Truman Capote.
“Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons,” by Lorna Landvik.
“Plainsong,” by Kent Haruf .
“Leaving Church,” by Barbara Brown Taylor.
“Emma,” by Jane Austen.
“Women and the Priesthood,” by Sheri Dew.
“Nancy Clancy Secret of the Silver Key,” by Jane O’Connor. (With granddaughter Lindsay.)
“Mr. Darcy’s Little Sister,” by C. Allyn Pierson.
“Nancy Clancy Star of Stage and Screen,” by Jane O’Connor. (With granddaughter Lindsay.)
“Pretty Is,” by Maggie Mitchell.
“The Storyteller,” by Jodi Picoult.
“Dare to Dream, Dare to Act,” by Terry Rich.
“Only Time Will Tell (The Clifton Chronicles #1),” by Jeffrey Archer.
“The Uncommon Reader,” by Alan Bennett.
“The Sins of the Father (Clifton Chronicles #2),” by Jeffrey Archer.
“God with Us: Stories of Christmas,” by David Ruhe.
“Best Kept Secret (Clifton Chronicles #3),” by Jeffrey Archer.
“Thanks, Help, Wow,” by Anne Lamont.
You can write the columnist at carla@Offenburger.com or comment using the handy form below here.
