Guest Post: My Favorite Books

Hello! I should probably make “Hello!” my greeting from now on kind of like the greeting of Cooks vs. Cons on Food Network (which is “Hello, chefs!”) My friend, Anna, wrote this article this summer (so you may notice some things that are not up to date such as her grade). More details on when Anna will be posting will come later; hopefully, by the beginning of next year.

By the way, tomorrow is the 500th anniversary of Reformation. At her blog, Anna has an article about this: http://annasfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-reformation-500.html. I am very sorry; I didn't plan for this huge day in history because my schedule is a little off with my posting a week in advance. I would have loved to cover this topic myself, but didn't find the time to so you will just have to read Anna's instead. And here's an article about the history of Halloween as well. Also, if you are interested, History Channel has a subscription feature where you can learn about what historical events happened on a particular day. For example, today is John Adams birthday (Happy Birthday!). I recommend subscribing to that. Here is her article.

Guest Post: My Favorite Books

My name is Anna Pool, and I am a fifteen-year-old homeschooled sophomore (I will be a junior in fall 2017) who loves to read and write. I run my own blog (check it out: annasfamilyblog.blogspot.com) and co-write a blog with two of my friends (that’s at tajnewsblog.blogspot.com). I also have written quite a few stories, about six finished and at least fifteen unfinished at the last tally. Yes, I’m a lot better at starting stories than finishing them.

My love for writing stemmed from a love of books. I started writing my first book after I read Redwall by Brian Jacques. It was very inspiring, and that is the story that I have worked the most on since I started writing (entitled The Great Tale of Joshua Mouse or Daro). It is not finished, however, and is unlikely to ever be completed. Needless to say, my ability to come up with plots was not very well developed at age ten.

So, it’s with that preface that I come to the meat of what I wanted to write about today: books. I’m going to share some of my favorite books that I have ever read. Though this is a pretty big list, it’s only probably the top five percent of what I’ve read in my lifetime. I read a lot. My goal is to help find some books that you might enjoy reading (hopefully as much as I enjoyed reading them)!

Without further ado, here’s the list:

Any books by Randy Alcorn

I was introduced to Randy Alcorn a long time ago, when I read his book Heaven: for Kids. However, it was just last summer that my mom showed me a whole new facet to Randy Alcorn’s writings: his fiction. It is some of the best fiction I have ever read. They have amazing plots (especially one called Deception) and he is really good at describing scenes and people.

The only fiction book of his that I felt wasn’t really that good was Edge of Eternity. All the others I would recommend one hundred percent. Though as a little note, I would probably check with your parents if you’re on the younger end, since some of the topics discussed can be a little disconcerting. But the books deal with those subjects in a very Biblical way, it’s just the discussing of them that can be a little unsettling.

The Pharaoh’s Daughter (and Miriam) by Mesu Andrews

I read this book very recently, and it almost immediately made it to my list of favorite books. It focuses on the life of Moses’ Egyptian mother – called Anippe in the books. It is really good. The plot, the character development, everything is on par.

I really enjoy historical fiction books, especially historical fiction books based on the Bible. This one fits all of those categories. I liked the author’s note at the back of the book that explains how she got the story from the Bible and from other archeological finds of Egyptian history. It was fascinating.

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

This is a book written by Alex and Brett Harris for teenagers specifically. It talks about the low expectations society has of teenagers, and that those low expectations are bad for us. It encourages teenagers to “do hard things” and rebel against low expectations people have of teenagers. It is a great book, and I would highly recommend every teenager read it.

Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins

These are also historical fiction… Go figure. Technically, however, they aren’t historical. They’re books based off of the prophecies in Revelation. So, I like to call them prophetical fiction. I started reading this series last fall. In three months I had read all of them (thirteen books in all) and that’s with several weeks’ breaks while I was waiting to find the next one at a thrift store or yard sale.

I really like these books because… I love historical fiction (in case you hadn’t noticed) and I love the book of Revelation (it’s my favorite book in the Bible) and these books are those two mashed with epic characters and plot into a thirteen-book series of awesomeness. What is there to not like?

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss

This is the oldest book on my list. It was published in 1869. It’s about a girl named Katherine (or Katy for short) and it’s written in a diary format from when she is sixteen until she’s in her forties or thirties. The biggest thing in this book is the character development (especially of Katy), which is amazing.

The book focuses on Katy’s spiritual life as she goes through various trials and joys. Even though she lives in the early 1800s, she is still very relatable, as are many of the feelings and fears she has about her faith.

Books by John MacArthur

John MacArthur is a pastor at a church in Santa Clarita (about two hours away from where I live). He has written a lot of books about the Bible. I have not read all of his books, but not often does one not teach me something. They are well written and contain a bunch of Scripture references, so you can see where he’s getting the basis for the various statements he makes.

My favorite John MacArthur books include The Glory of Heaven, Saved Without a Doubt, and Slave, though there are many others that I like just as much.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I hope you’ve heard of these books. If you have not, shame on you. I’m more understanding if you have not read them – they are long. But that is not going to stop me from telling you to read these. I think every person at some point in their life should read these books at least once. The Lord of the Rings books are classics, written very well by a man who knew his languages (he seriously invented two to four languages just for this book, depending on how you count, plus an alphabet for several languages).

And I couldn’t leave the discussion of Lord of the Rings without mentioning The Silmarillion. That book is the history of Middle Earth, mostly before the happenings of the books proper, and fills so much in on the history, languages, culture, geography, and lore of Middle Earth. If you enjoyed Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion is a must read. It is fascinating.

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And those are my seven favorite books or book series. I could add many more, including First Century Diaries, Elsie Dinsmore, and some C.S. Lewis books, but that’s the top few.

I hope you enjoyed reading this list and I hope you gathered some new books to read. Or if not, that you gained a better appreciation of the books on this list (because they all are so good).

If you have any books you’d think I would enjoy, comment below and tell me what they are. I’m always on the lookout for new books, since I read so fast. Thanks for reading!

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            I hope that you enjoyed that article. I made some spelling and formatting corrections, and I just wanted to say so. I will see if I can get Anna to write on my blog about her writings and maybe how what she read influenced what she wanted to write. I know that it was that way for my writing and reading. But meanwhile, you can read the blogs that Anna mentioned in her article. She is also starting a new blog in 2018, so I will keep you updated on that. Alright, come back next month as I began talking about writing for NaNoWriMo. Find out what that is in the next article.