Fire of the Covenant by Gerald N. Lund - 2017 Reading Challenge

I decided as part of my 2017 Reading Challenge that I would share a short review of each book I read for the challenge. You can read the details of the challenge for yourself, it's a mix of specific book titles and themed months. January is a theme month: A book already on your shelf that you've never finished.

I chose Fire of the Covenant by Gerald N. Lund. I have had this book on my shelf for at least a year or two but just never pulled it off the shelf to read. It is the story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies. If you have never read a book by Gerald N. Lund you may wonder how his historical fiction writing works. He inserts some fictional families into the historical events for us to journey with. It was very interesting to begin in Europe and watch the gathering of people from many countries who emigrate across the ocean. You follow them across a new country and learn of the preparations put in place for them, the decisions they faced, and the choices they made at each point.

Each chapter I would wonder what was a device of the author and what was based on actual events. I love that the author does his research and then shares notes and excerpts from actual pioneer journals at the end of each chapter. I would devour the notes for the chapter, read the journal entries, and then dive back in to the story for another chapter. By the end of the book I was in awe of the experiences of men, women, and children who were determined to gather together with their people.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy historical fiction!

My 2017 Reading Challenge Plan

At the beginning of 2016 I decided I wanted to keep track of the books I read. I kept a list in my planner for months. By the beginning of August I had read 75 books and decided that I was done with my list keeping. It was interesting to look back at my list and see book titles that I read, loved, loathed, or reread because they were so good.

For 2017 I want to do something different. I looked at some reading challenges online but nothing was exactly what I wanted. I decided to organize a reading challenge of my own and invite people I knew in real life or online to join me in a private Facebook group for the challenge. We'll be doing a hybrid reading challenge. On one month we will read a specific book together and on the next month we will each choose our own book to fit a group theme. It's low-key, just chatting in the FB group. If there is a month where someone is too busy or simply not interested in the book or theme they can skip it and pick back up with the next month.

I decided that it would be fun to post about each book I read as the year goes along, so consider this your advance notice! Our plan is as follows:

The Reading Gateway 2017 Reading Challenge
January (Anything!)	A book already on your shelf that you’ve never finished.
February (Classic)	Persuasion by Jane Austen
March (Encouragement)	An inspirational, self-help, or religious book.
April (Historical)	Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
May (Mystery & More)	A mystery, ghost story, or thriller.
June (Fantasy)	The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time series, Book 1)
July (Travel/Geography)	A book set in another country.
August (Biography)	The Mark of a Giant: 7 People Who Changed the World by Ted Stewart
September (Fairy Tale)	A spin on a fairy tale, a retelling.
October (Science Fiction)	I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
November (Nonfiction)	A book that will make you smarter.
December (Memoir)	Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

Have you ever participated in a reading challenge? What books will you be reading in 2017?