This year, I was able to get quite a bit of reading done. Probably mostly due to the fact that we didn't move this year. (Moving years are always pretty dead reading years.) I'm especially glad to see such variety on this list: memoirs/autobiographies, journalistic endeavors, travel narratives, theology, cookbooks, health resources, fiction, educational philosophy, large family accounts, Christian living, and even finance/business are all genres I gleaned from over the last twelve months! Nothing like continuing ed and professional development, right?
If you've read this blog for very long, you know I'm really passionate about reading, and about encouraging others to read. Filling our minds matters. How we fill our minds matters. We should be learning, and growing, and thinking, and being challenged and shaped. "Walk with the wise, and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm" (Proverbs 13:20) - we are always walking with someone; we need to be selective about who we're walking with, where we're going, and how we're getting there. Books are an easy, accessible way to find ourselves in the company of the wiser-than-ourselves.
So, without further ado, here are 2018's books!
Asterisks indicate re-reads from previous years; titles in bold are books I read for the first time this year and especially hope to read again someday. This list doesn't contain books I read aloud to/alongside the kids.
1. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (1/8)
2. The Town that Food Saved by Ben Hewitt (1/27)
3. The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul (2/06)
4. Wild by Cheryl Strayed (2/15)*
5. The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (2/23)*
6. Mother and Son: The Respect Effect by Emerson Eggerichs (3/1)
7. The Duggars: 20 and Counting by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar (3/7)*
8. A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot (3/21)
9. My Southern Journey by Rick Bragg (3/23)
10. Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (3/28)
11. The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson (4/2)
12. If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home by Lucy Worsley (4/17)
13. The Big Tiny by Dee Williams (4/23)*
14. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs (4/25)
15. Growing Up Amish: A Memoir by Ira Wagler (4/30)
16. The Fourth Trimester by Kimberly Ann Johnson (5/3)
17. My Life as an Amish Wife by Lena Yoder (5/17)
18. The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison (5/17)
19. The Digital Mom Handbook by Audrey McClelland and Colleen Padilla (5/18)
20. The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler (5/26)
21. Plain Faith by Ora Ja and Irene Eash (6/09)
22. Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour (6/10)*
23. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan*
24. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (6/28)
25. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
26. Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton*
27. WomanCode by Alisa Vitti (8/13)
28. Future Men by Douglas Wilson (8/21)
29. Your Healthy Pregnancy with Thyroid Disease by Dana Trentini and Mary Shomon (8/26)
30. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (8/30)
31. Prune by Gabrielle Hamilton (9/15)
32. L'Abri by Edith Schaeffer (9/16)*
33. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish (9/23)*
34. The Postnatal Depletion Cure by Dr. Oscar Serrallach (9/23)
35. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (9/25)*
36. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto (9/27)
37. The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy L. Sayers (9/28)
38. What to Expect When No One's Expecting by Jonathan V. Last (10/12)
39. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (10/18)*
40. Graze by Suzanne Lenzer (10/28)
41. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (10/30)
42. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (11/5)*
43. The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking (11/6)
44. God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet (11/14)
45. Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing by Douglas Wilson (11/26)
46. The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
47. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (12/10)*
49. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (12/26)*
50. The Silver Lining: A Practical Guide for Christian Grandmothers by Nancy Wilson (12/28)
51. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (12/31)*
(Ugh, I hate that I didn't quite finish the Harry Potter series before the end of the year - the list looks so incomplete! I finished Deathly Hallows on January 2. So close!)
I don't have many specific reading goals in mind for 2019. I find that my ability and attention span waxes and wanes with different seasons, so a year is a long time to plan for. If I'm biting off smaller chunks of time to work with, I think over the next month or two, I'd like to focus my reading time on deepening my knowledge of and passion for mothering, homemaking, and life planning. I have quite a few Sally Clarkson books on deck, as well as a couple from women from Canon Press (Nancy Wilson, Rebecca Merkle, Elise Crapuchettes). I'd also like to find something a bit 'breezier' to turn to when I'm in the mood for some fiction - I'm thinking Little Women? Any other suggestions?
And that is a glimpse of one specific area of my life I've been working to cultivate! For more about how I find the time to read this much in the midst of normal, busy life (raising a large family, homeschooling, doing ministry, and juggling regular pregnancies/newborns), check out this post. (The end of the post also contains links to all of my past reading lists since I started keeping track in 2010! If you're curious.)
Did you read anything good last year? Any recommendations you'd make? Any reading goals you're setting for 2019?
2 comments :
i love that you read so much. it is fun watching you grow and getting the benefit from gleaning from what you've been reading as you share or adopt certain language or practices that becomes part of our culture. and you should TOTALLY count the read alouds you plow through or are part of at family dinner table (like The Wind in the Willows for example).
interested people are interesting people
Post a Comment