I can’t believe it is time to wrap up this year’s Fall Into Reading challenge hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days. I’ve always felt our lists that we make for the challenge were just guidelines, a way to be a bit more purposeful in our reading, and not hard and fast resolutions to feel guilty about not completing. I always feel it is ok to veer away from what was originally planned. Nevertheless, I think I veered the farthest I ever have in a challenge.

Here are the questions Katrina suggested for the wrap-up:

Did you finish reading all the books on your fall reading list? If not, why not?

No, I didn’t, partly because one book was much longer than anticipated and partly because I changed gears.

Did you stick to your original goals or did you change your list as you went along?

I changed because I remembered I had a Christmas book from last year plus I found a few more on sale at our Christian bookstore this year that I wanted to read during this season.

What was your favorite book that you read this fall? Least favorite? Why?

My favorites were probably Stepping Into Sunlight by Sharon Hinck and Summer Breeze by Catherine Palmer and Gary Chapman. Both were very realistic with good instruction embedded into the stories. Least favorite: Sisters, Ink by Rebeca Seitz. It’s not a bad book: I wouldn’t say don’t read it. It just didn’t really resonate with me, but it might with someone else.

Did you discover a new author or genre this fall? Did you love them? Not love them?

I did, a couple. I guess I am ambivalent — I don’t love or hate them.

Did you learn something new because of the Fall Into Reading challenge — something about reading, or yourself, or a topic you read about?

I’m learning much more then I ever wanted to know about French history. More on that later.

What was your favorite thing about the Fall Into Reading challenge?

Getting ideas from other people’s lists and actually reading books I planned to get to “someday.”

Would you like to participate in another challenge here this spring?

Sure! I enjoy them.

Here is what I completed reading:

• Home to Hart’s Crossing by Robin Lee Hatcher, reviewed here.

• The Longing, the third installment in The Courtship of Nellie Fisher series by Beverly Lewis, reviewed here.

• Sunset by Karen Kingsbury, the last in the Sunrise series, which is the continuation of the Redemption and Firstborn series, all dealing with the Baxter family, not reviewed. I enjoyed it for the most part, though I was least able to empathize with Luke’s storyline. I thought the various threads of the stories came together nicely.

• Stepping Into Sunlight by Sharon Hinck, about a woman experiencing severe panic attacks after witnessing a robbery and shooting, reviewed here.

• Sisters, Ink by Rebeca Seitz, not reviewed.

• Summer Breeze by Catherine Palmer and Gary Chapman, second in their Four Seasons series about marriage, reviewed here.

These are Christmas books I added in and completed:

• All I Have to Give by Melody Carlson, not reviewed. An okay book. I could see how the ending was going to work out pretty early on.

• A Merry Little Christmas which is a compilation of two novellas, one by Catherine Palmer and one by Jillian Hart. Another okay book. I didn’t necessarily care for the rescuer of the main character in the second book being good-looking, muscular, compassionate, and rich to boot. Not that those qualities can’t all exist in one person, but to have someone like this come along and fall in love with and rescue from all her troubles the main female character just lent a fairly-tailish unreality to the story. But I did enjoy it and would recommend it as long as it doesn’t make one long for someone like that to come along in real life.

I am currently reading:

• @ Home for the Holidays with the same characters from SAHM I Am by Meredith Efken about a group of stay-at-home moms who stay in touch via an e-mail loop.
• The complete unabridged Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I’m on page 363 of this 1,463 page book. I got bogged down in a lengthy section dealing with facts and philosophizing about the Battle of Waterloo, but that has just come to an end and the story is picking up again. I was interested in parts of this in spite of myself, but I can see why this book has been abridged. I’ve read two different abridged versions before and wanted to read the whole story once. I’ll keep plugging along. I know it has some beauitful sections to come.

Books on my original list which I did not complete:

• Every Now and Then by Karen Kingsbury
• Thread of Deceit by Catherine Palmer
• To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson about Americas’ first missionary, Adoniram Judson. I have read it before but wanted to revisit it.

I had mentioned several other possibilities I might consider in my original post, but did not add any of them. I’ve bought (and won!!) a few more, and I am looking forward to those keeping me company in the long winter months ahead.

Katrina’s wrap-up post with links to other Fall Into Reading participants is here.