My reading list in 2011 turned out to be a lot different than I planned. My goal was to read a bunch of biographies about people who had done crazy things for the Lord, people like J. Hudson Taylor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jonathan Edwards, and the like.
But then in April I realized that if I broke it down to a small number of words a day, it would only take about six months to write a middle grade novel. I started working on an idea I had been toying with for a while, and from that point on started reading books like I was going to write. Thus, there are a lot of middle grade and young adult novels on the list.
I’ll try to post a few thoughts about the books and my recommendations for the year. Until then, here is the list of the books I read in 2011:
- 1/5-11: John G. Lake: Apostle to Africa, by Gordon Lindsay
- 1/12-16: I Am The Clay, by Chaim Potok
- 1/23-28: The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum
- 1/30-3/18: The Biography of J. R. R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle-Earth, by Daniel Grotta-Kurska
- 2/17-3/2: The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey
- 3/2-12: The Case For Christ, by Lee Strobel
- 3/18-5/11: The New Testament, by Jesus
- 5/12-21: The Heavenly Man, by Brother Yun
- 5/22-27: Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand
- 5/27: The Secret of Platform 13, by Eva Ibbotson
- 5/31-6/2: The Sword, by Bryan Litfin, ebook
- 6/2-5: The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness
- 6/10-17: The Ask and the Answer, by Patrick Ness
- 6/17-18: Story of a Girl, by Sara Zarr
- 6/19-22: The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau
- 6/22-25: The People of Sparks, by Jeanne DuPrau
- 6/26-30: When My Name Was Keoko, by Linda Sue Park
- 7/1-2: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
- 7/2-4: The Prophet of Yonwood, by Jeanne DuPrau
- 7/5-14: The Diamond of Darkwood, by Jeanne DuPrau
- 7/15–30: The Journey of Desire, by John Eldredge
- 7/31–8/1: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
- 7/31–8/9: UNTITLED: Thoughts on the Creative Process, by Blaine Hogan
- 8/2–5: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
- 8/11-20: Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, by John Piper
- 8/20-21: Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
- 8/21–9/3: Suprised by Oxford, by Carolyn Weber
- 9/5-11: Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
- 9/14-17: The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
- 10/18-22: The Skin Map, by Stephen R. Lawhead
- 10/23-29: Comrade J, by Pete Earley
- 10/29-11/6: The Dagger Quick, by Brian Eames
- 11/6-12: The Floating Islands, by Rachel Neumeier
- 11/12-19: Incident at Big Sky: The true story of Sheriff Johnny France and the capture of the Mountain Men, by Johnny France and Malcolm McConnell
- 11/20-29: Airman, by Eoin Colfer
- 12/1-20: Nearing Home, by Billy Graham
- 12/20-22: The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner
Free reading tip: You might ask, “How the heck do you know exactly what you read?” At the beginning of the year I simply grab an index card and use it as a bookmark. I write down the date I start a book and the date I finish it. I’m looking forward to looking back after several years of reading and seeing a detailed list of all that I have read.
Jesse Koepke 
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