In March of last year I finally got around to writing out a book list for the year.  By then I had already finished two or three books and felt all confident about the year ahead.  See, I am a really good starter.  I come up with great ideas and I can be pretty creative, but I am not really a strong finisher.  I need accountability and helping hands to keep me on track and moving forward.  Let’s see how I did last year. . .

If you were here last March, you may remember I chose five areas of life I want to focus on when picking books to read:
Special Needs (S)
Parenting (P)
Marriage (M)
Theology (T)
Daily Living – Practical (L)

Then I listed three books for each category and a few extras to fill in along the way.  Okay, here’s how the list turned out:
S – Unlocked
Smokin’ Seventeen
The Help
Breaking Dawn
T – Through His Eyes
L – Shopping for Time
L – 1.  Total Money Makeover (2/3)
T – 2.  Disappointment with God (2/3)
L – 3.  1000 Gifts (1/2)
P – 4.  Intentional Parenting
P – 5.  Bringing the Gospel to Covenant Children
P – 6.  You Can’t Make Me
L – 7.  Between Walden and the Whirlwind
T – 8.  Prodigal God
T – 9.  Almost Christian
T – 10.  Respectable Sins
S – 11.  Same Lake Different Boat
S – 12.  Our Special Needs Child
S – 13.  Expressing Faith in Jesus – Church Membership for People with Cognitive Impairments
M – 14. Love and Respect
M – 15.  The Respect Dare
M – 16.  Love that Lasts – when sinners say I Do

What a sad sad state of affairs.  It’s almost enough to cause one to shrink away from making a list for 2012.  Thing is. . . I need a place to put my thoughts so I can go and look when I am thinking, “What should I read next?” (Yes, Honey, I DO think that sometimes.)

There’s a stack of books in front of me now and several of them will go on my list.  I am NOT going to categorize them or be all fancy.  I am just going to write them down and maybe in a month or so you could shout out in a comment or on Facebook and ask me what I’m reading and if I am being faithful.  YOU could be accountability and a helping hand to keep me on track.

Let’s see. .
1.  Simplify – Joshua Becker
2.  Inside-Out Simplicity – Joshua Becker
3.  Organized Simplicity – Tsh Oxenreider
4. Simple Ways to be More With Less – Courtney Carver
5.  1000 Gifts (gotta finish this!!) – Ann Voskamp
6.  Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment – Jeremiah Burroughs
7.  Expressing Faith in Jesus – Ron Vredeveld (If I can find a copy – out of print)
8.  Give Them Grace – Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson
9.  Meaning of Marriage – Tim Keller
10.  Washed and Waiting – Wesley Hill
11.  Explosive Eighteen – Janet Evanovich
12.  Heat Wave – Richard Castle
13.  Naked Heat – Richard Castle
14. Heat Rises – Richard Castle
15.  Women Food and God – An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything – Geneen Roth

Okay, so it’s ambitious! Last year I read seven books and this year I make a list with more than double that.  I am aiming high people.  “Aim for nothing and you’ll hit it every time,” right? I am halfway through 1000 Gifts, ten pages left in Simplicity, and have to have a chapter in Keller’s book done by Wednesday.

What about you? What are YOU reading in 2012?