Everyone else seems to be posting about their new readings plans and I'm anxious to start making mine but I really do want to look back over this past year first. It was a banner year for my reading. I beat my Goodreads record by reading 123 books this year so I'm setting my goal this year for 100. I never want my goal too high that feel numbers driven but having an actual numerical goal really helps me pick up a book and not social media. And I want to continue to incorporate more audiobooks now that I'm learning how to make the work for me. (high speed like 1.5+, non-fiction still narrative in style and bluetooth earbuds so the dog doesn't get tangle on our walks).
Top Fiction
Stephen Fry's Heroes and Mythos - So much fun. Alternated between audio and e-book and enjoyed it both ways. I'd love to get to his Troy and Odyssey eventually too.
Anthony Horowitz's Mysteries - I read several and thoroughly enjoyed them and am just waiting for our library to get more. I do love old books but sometimes its nice to read something written in our century. Especially when it means that the author can keep writing things! (Nothing is more depressing than finding an author you love, reading everything they've written and knowing there will never be more. So sad.) Although I also read several Agatha Christie mysteries this year and I'm fairly certain I will never read every single thing she's written, at least not before forgetting who did it in earlier ones and being able to re-read those :-)
Vittoria Cottage - D.E. Stevenson is quickly becoming one of my favorite safe/cozy reads. They aren't ground breaking but they are delightful and I'm never sad to spend an evening in one of her worlds. Vittoria Cottage might be my favorite of hers so far.
Piranesi - This one is strange and I totally get why some people do not like it. But I did.
The Chosen - I'm trying not to repeat my Classics Challenge reviews which is making this fiction section difficult but this one deserves a repeat. I still have to read the sequel but I own it so I'll get there soon.
Top Nonfiction
Welcome to the Orthodox Church - I'm not Orthodox so I'm hardly qualified to say if this actually a good overview or not but I enjoyed learning about the different perspectives in areas of theology and I spent a lot of time thinking about and talking this over with basically anyone who would listen.
Freedom's Daughters - Started this last year and worked slowly on it but I'm glad I did. It's dense and can be a bit dry at times. But not an area I was well versed in before and I learned a lot.
The Narnian - Biographies aren't my top genre but this one was good. I did this on audio and it was one of the first audiobooks I successfully finished by myself (we do lots of audiobooks in the car with kids and they do a ton but I often struggle but I only had (free) access to this as an audiobook so I made it work and I'm glad I did). I'm doing the Lit Life Podcast reading challenge this year so I need more biography recommendations, both living and dead, so share ideas please!
Range - This is the type of non-fiction I can just devour. I found it fascinating.
Live Not By Lies - Another one that got my thinking and talking. Very relevant to our times.
I also read a lot of non-fiction related to parenting but I won't get into details with how I found/did not find those helpful for child privacy reasons but there are a few books that I wish existed (or maybe they do and I just wish I knew what they were!). About parenting, and specifically homeschooling 2e kids and balancing family/parenting/self-care when you have special needs in your family. I think probably because the moms who are really qualified to write it are too busy living that life to write a book! I plan to re-read Different by Sally Clarkson because that seems to be the closest I can get to the ideas I'm looking for. I really got a lot from it a few years ago but I'm in a new stage now and might get different things from it.
Top Middle Grade Books
I read quite a bit of middle grade fiction this year, some pre-reading, some reading along with kids so we could discuss and some... just because I wanted to.
The Giver Quartet. I had read the Giver as a tween/teen but this time I read the whole series. There are some issues with the series as a series and her world building isn't perfect but it is well written, sucks you in and gives you quite a bit to ponder for a middle grade series. I read this very quickly when I was sick in bed one week but I'm sure I'll re-read with the kids in the future.
The War that Saved My Life/The War I finally Won - I had to pre-read these as I'd heard conflicting things but I enjoyed them and Lucy loved them.
Sweet Home Alaska - Cute story. Would make a good short read-aloud.
Top Read-alouds
Astrid the Unstoppable - Someone needs to translate more of Maria Parr's books because we have loved her. I liked Adventures with Waffles slightly more but this one was still really good. When you need a really funny, laugh out loud book, but one that still had a lot of heart and sweetness, look no farther. Both are in my mental "to read aloud AGAIN in a few years pile"
A Year of Miss Agnes - Sweet. Shorter than I expected but would go well with Sweet Home Alaska (I'd say this one is a bit deeper). The friends that lived with us this summer had been living in Alaska for a while so my kids were interested in learning more after hearing about their experiences so these two filled that need a bit).
The Christmas Camera/Eric's Christmas Camera - I went ahead and linked to this because its probably harder to find. So good! Alta Halverson Seymour has a whole set of Christmas Around the World books I will be getting them all and rotating through them because we all really liked reading this throught out December.
A Place to Hang the Moon - This one is technically cheating because I still have one chapter left to read to the kids but I'm confident the book is not going to go off the rails at this point. Very sweet. My kids are getting a bit tired of "war kids shipped off to the country" books at this point but they got over that quickly. I loved how much personality she gave each of the three kids.
I also went on a bit of a DE Stevenson binge this year, but haven't read Vittoria Cottage yet. I'll have to find that one at the library! I really enjoyed Stevenson's The Baker's Daughter. It reminded me of James Herriot's books, in that the sense of place is so strong and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOne biography I really enjoyed was The Brontes by Juliet Barker. It's quite long, but it was so thorough and interesting!