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Reading Goals for 2018

Hello, fellow book-loving friends. 🙂

I love the fresh start that a new year appears to bring… and the reminder with it that, as when a new year dawns, even more so, *each day* God’s mercy is new and fresh for us {Lamentations 3:22-23}. It’s always a blessing for me to look back on the year past and see where God has led me, where I have obeyed and disobeyed, and determine to go further in obedience and reject disobedience in the new year. It’s also been helpful for me – as I know it is for many of you – to set goals for the new year. These are not “resolutions” – but prayed-over, thought-through goals by which I seek to guide my course over the next months – in submission to God and by His grace.

Since we all love books here :-), I’d like to share with you my Reading Goals for 2018…

First off, these goals are more based on the *kind* of book read, rather than the *number* of books read. This is purposeful. I know that I can read a lot of books in a year, as can anybody 🙂 , but I really want to focus on specific areas and make sure that I am balanced, book-wise.
Secondly, these goals don’t include the books that I read for historical/cultural research for my own writing. So, if you’re looking for a hint of where I’m writing next {after A Holy Passion, of course!}, you won’t find it here, probably. 🙂
Third, I hope that you’ll find some ideas here for books to read in this coming year. Of course, remember that, with only one or two exceptions, all of these books are new-to-me! 🙂 So, putting them on my list is not an endorsement/recommendation.

Enough of my chatter. 🙂 Here are my Reading Goals for 2018:

  • 20 Fiction Books – 5 classic literature, 5 historical fiction, 5 contemporary/partial contemporary, 5 of my choice
  • 20 Nonfiction Books – 5 on the writing craft, 5 biographies of great Christians, 5 general, 5 history or my choice

Some of the books on my fiction to-read list are:

  1. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (re-read)
  2. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper
  3. Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Gouge
  4. My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
  5. Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
  6. Sons of Encouragement by Francine Rivers
  7. Return to Me by Lynn Austin
  8. The Shepherd’s Voice by Robin Lee Hatcher
  9. The Mark of the King by Jocelyn Green
  10. Two Mighty Rivers by Mari Hanes
  11. The Cottage by Michael Phillips
  12. The Legacy by Michael Phillips
  13. Not Abandoned by MacKenzie Morganthal
  14. The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright
  15. Close to You by Kara Isaac
  16. A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla
  17. Dahveed: Yahweh’s Chosen by Terri L. Fivash
Some of the ones on my non-fiction to-read list for this year include:
  1. 7 Men and the Secret to Their Greatness by Eric Metaxes
  2. Mrs. Oswald Chambers by Michelle Ule
  3. The Keswick Story by John Charles Pollock
  4. The Daniel Prayer by Anne Graham Lotz
  5. Of Plimoth Plantation by William Bradford
  6. Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose
  7. Church History by Eusebius
  8. The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Marta McDowell
  9. Fierce Convictions by Karen Swallow Prior

Now, what books are on your to-read list, friends?

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