The Books of 2006

It's amazing for me to see that I read 77 books in 2006. I had always known that I read a lot, but whew! Since my focus in 2007 is learning to speak Spanish, I doubt that I'll have such a long book list, but who knows?

I enjoyed participating in the 50 Book Challenge and think I will always keep track of my reading in the future.

How to Learn Any Language Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and On Your Own by Barry Farber (book #77) was the last book of 2006. I have been working for many hours every day on improving my Spanish. One way I find out about good books for this purpose is to find lists on Amazon that people have created. A number of the "so you want to learn Spanish" lists included this book.

His premise is simple - attack your learning from many different angles, and don't pass up a chance to interact and talk with a speaker in your target language. A summary is on our other blog, here.

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (book #76) was a really strange read. And it only reinforces my belief that more harm comes from religion than good. The main character, Nomi, is a wonderful person who had to deal with multiple rejections and ultimately was shunned by the Mennonite sect of which she had been a member. A very good read.