Twinkle Lights Are the Perfect Metaphor for Joy

"Joy is not a constant. It comes to us in moments-often ordinary moments. Sometimes we miss out on the bursts of joy because we're too busy chasing down extraordinary moments. Other times we're so afraid of the dark that we don't dare let ourselves enjoy the light.

A joyful life is not a floodlight of joy. That would eventually become unbearable. 

I believe a joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together by trust, gratitude, inspiration, and faith."

-Dr. Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfectionism

The Sense of an Ending and so Much More.

You may remember me talking about a standing reading contest I have with my beloved sister, Catherine. Basically, every year we see who can read the most books and The One Who Read The Least buys The One Who Read The Most any book of their choosing.

We have been doing this for almost a decade now.

This year, we tied with 52 books each...and I hear the angels of heaven singing. Because each and every year 52 books (1 for every week) is my goal and I have consistently fallen short, always getting somewhere in the mid 30s.

...Until now.

Because this was my year and I am going to give myself 3 pats on the back to celebrate.

Without further ado, the LBG reading list of 2013.

1. The Remnant-Larry Stockstill ***

2. Three Kings-Gene Edwards ****

3. Amplified Leadership-Dan Reiland ****

4. The Witch of Blackbird Pond-Elizabeth George Speare ***

5. The Paris Wife-Paula McLain *****

6. The Book of Negroes-Lawrence Hill ****

7. The Leader in you. How to Win Friends and Influence People: Dale Carnegie & Assoc. ****

8. The Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel Hawthorne ****

9. Intended for Pleasure-Ed & Gaye Wheat ***

10. The Sun Also Rises-Ernest Hemingway ****

11. Onward-Howard Schultz ****

12. The Queen’s Fool-Philippa Gregory ****

13. The White Queen-Philippa Gregory ***

14. Her Mother’s Hope-Francine Rivers **

15. Groundswell-Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff **

16. The Red Queen-Philippa Gregory ****

17. The Kingmaker’s Daughter-Philippa Gregory ****

18. The Dinner-Herman Koch ***

19. Divergent-Veronica Roth ****

20. A Week in Winter-Maeve Binchy **

21. On the Road-Jack Kerouac **

22. The Boleyn Inheritance-Philippa Gregory ****

23. The Bee Keeper-Sue Kidd Monk *****

24. The Sense of an Ending-Julian Barnes ***

25. Naked Hope-Abby Jackson ****

26. The Virgin’s Lover-Philippa Gregory ****

27. Inside-Alix Ohlin ***

28. Insurgents-Veronica Roth ***

29. Left Neglected-Lisa Genova ****

30. Erasing Hell-Francis Chan ***

31. Celebration of Discipline-Richard Foster ****

32. Sutton-J.R. Moehringer ****

33. The Blythes Are Quoted-L.M. Montgomery ***

34. Sacred Marriage-Gary Thomas ****

35. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People-Stephen Covey *****

36. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend-Matthew Dicks ****

37. Love Anthony-Lisa Genova ****

38. The Meaning of Marriage-Timothy Keller ****

39. Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen *****

40. The Cuckoo’s Calling-Robert Galbraith *****

41. Tell the Wolves I’m Home-Carol Rifka Brunt *****

42. Wild-Chery Strayed ***

43. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer-Mark Twain ****

44. Allegiant-Veronica Roth **

45. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao-Junot Diaz **

46. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist-Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek, David Limbaugh ****

47. Tiny Beautiful Things-Cheryl Strayed *****

48. Heaven is for Real-Todd Burpo ***

49. Daring Greatly-Brene Brown *****

50. A Separate Peace-John Knowles ****

51. Reading Lolita in Tehran-Azar Nafisi ****

52. Forgotten God-Francis Chan ***

53. Finding Cinderella: A Novella-Colleen Hoover

*****=must read, brilliant, drop everything and read this book now.

****=great read. I enjoyed immensely.

***=pretty good. Not a complete waste of my time.

**=mediocre read at best.

*=I wouldn't waste your time.

And no *s is a Really Bad Sign.

What did you read and really enjoy this last year?