Giveaway #2.

First of all, wow - wow - WOW for the list of amazing charities yesterday.  It can be overwhelming to think of all the good that needs doing in the world, so much better to read these comments and be overwhelmed with all the good that is being done.  Keep them coming!

 
Today's giveaway:  Your favorite quotation handwritten on a 5x7 card, suitable for framing (or using on a scrapbook page or hanging on your bulletin board or giving to your best friend).

Today's question:  I'm about 20 pages from the end of the book I'm reading, and I'm heading to the library tomorrow....  What was the best book you read in the last year?  (Last year I asked specifically for non-fiction titles, and The Happiness Project became one of my favorites for the year.  Thank you!)

Comments

[chelsea]

The Help!!

[chel]

"Traveling with Pomegranates" was good (big spiritual side to that one, though- I love Sue Monk Kidd so I loved it, but some people really don't like her stuff so it goes both ways...) , as was "Sound of a Wild Snail Eating". I also liked "Sabbath", which I'm still working through. These are all non-fiction. As far as fiction, I liked "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake"- that one was a little quirky, but in the end I was reeling in a good way.

[Kathy]

The Hunger Games- thanks for the chance to win!

[shana]

Hands down "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. It starts out sad (like, really sad!) but hang in there, it's so worth it!
thanks,
shana

[kimberly]

The Home Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher...it was written in the 1920s but it explores the roles of women & men in society and in the home and the struggles still feel current today...

OH! I just read Chel's comment...The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake--that book was so...weird, but good and a great concept. I still think about that book trying to decipher more 'meanings' from it.

Thanks for doing a thought-provoking giveaway :)

[roberta v mog]

I read alot but the book that still haunts me and makes me pause and be grateful is Little Bee by Chris Cleave. What an amazing read! I just started Incendiary by him also. I hope it is as good!

Thank you for the nice giveaways!

[Erin]

Oh my! I've read a LOT of books in the past year. I have a few favourites... The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morten and The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Especially The Help. I can't get it out of my mind.

[VickiB]

The Help is definitely near the top of my list, but I have to say the winner last year was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I look at my dogs with a new view.......

[Catgirl]

I have to agree with some of the other suggestions I've seen. The Forgotten Garden, The Help, and The Hunger Games trilogy are among my favorite reads of the year.

Older books that I read within the last year and loved were I Know This Much is True, and Fall On Your Knees.

[Catherine]

My favorite this year was also Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts--not easy to read, but really life-changing. I also loved The Happiness Project! Thanks!

[Katherine A]

My favourite so far has to be 'Henley and the Book of Heroes' by Jane H Smith. Intended for young teens, but my..what spiritual truths are in there for us all. A bit of fiction, but the truth behind it is fabulous.

[MelissaPete]

The Help. Love the "sisterhood" feeling.

[Sarah S.]

I needed a light, breezy read, and Jan Karon's In The Company Of Others was a perfect fit. The rest of this year's reading consisted mostly of preschool bedtime stories... :-(

[Martha]

Great House by Nicole Krauss. Think of one of those wonderful old desks with lots of drawers, big and small, some nested inside other drawers, some secret. That's how this books is structured. I thought it was amazing.

[Claire]

i loved 'her fearful symmetry' - a real page-turner... i wasn't so enamored by 'the time-traveller's wife', but i found this a much better plot and great characters :)

[sarah c.]

I know it's YA lit, but I really enjoyed THE MOCKINGJAY trilogy.

[Sarah]

Its not non-fiction, but Bossypants (by Tina Fey) =)

[gisele]

The Book of Negros is by far the best book I have read EVER, let alone last year. It is a fictional historical novel about the slave trade, and is one of those books you find yourself reading "just one more chapter" until the wee hours of the morning.

[amelia]

Claire-- I also really liked the spookiness of Her Fearful Symmetry. really interesting book.

for favourites of the year, I'll have to choose Prospero Lost and its sequel Prospero in Hell, by L. Jagi Lamplighter. the story is such a fun mash-up of Shakespeare, mythology, fantasy, and mystery.

the third in the trilogy comes out sometime this fall, I think. I may have to re-read all of them at that point.

[Suyai]

It has to be "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I had been reading her blog for years, always learning so much... it's a GREAT book, v inspirational and life-changing (or, rather, mindset-changing). :)

[Theresa]

The Book Thief

(http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thief-Markus-Zusak/dp/0375831002)

[Ashley]

"the glass castle" - that one was a life changer for me. i read a lot, but that's the one book that i think will stick with me for a very, very long time.

[Jessica]

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell was excellent, though I think I'd like anything he writes. I know my mouth was hanging open for half of it. Loving Our Kids On Purpose is my current read... feeling as though I need to close the back cover, turn it around and start again.

[sharon from farm and fru fru]

i loved the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society...really really good book!

[Jean]

Faithful Place by Tana French - no question (all of her books have been outstanding and I've read all three this past year).