This reading month was a little crazy: no reading at all while finishing up a big project and then a lot of reading while taking a break from life for about a week, then sporadically through the holidays. A little unbalanced, I suppose, but I did finish enough good books for me to call it a decent reading month!
I'll be back early January with my 10 Favorites of the year, along with what did and didn't happen on my 18 in 2018 list, along with a new one for 2019. Now, onto the book list:
*He Who Dreams by Melanie Florence - This was a quick little YA book that I saw was the Langley Book of the Year on an endcap and with the topic (pow wow dancing) and big font I figured I could read it in a few sittings. I enjoyed it, but I don't know if I'd pass it on as a recommendation. The language was a bit too simple though the theme was well-done and positively executed.
*Dear Farenheit 451 by Annie Spence - I laughed out loud with this book so much, and had zero expectations of it being funny, so I was pleasantly surprised with this one! I knew it was about a librarian writing letters to her favorite books in the stacks (how charming is that idea? Sold!) but it is so hilarious that I'm thinking it might just make my Top 10 list for this year.
*The Two-Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle - Sigh. The last Crosswicks Journals memoir savored this year, for the fourth year in a row, at Christmastime. This was a perfect ending to her 4-part memoir series as it is about her marriage to Hugh Franklin, who has appeared in all others but never to such an intimate degree. The book starts well--history of both of their upbringings and then the time before their meeting until into their years as a married couple, parents, and walking through illness side by side. Oy, this one is a tear jerker but written in that beautiful L'Engle way-where you're so glad you're human and get to experience the wonder that is life: full of possibility, regret, and love for others.
*Stretched Too Thin by Jessica Turner - This book is a bit out of my wheelhouse because the subtitle is How Working Moms Can Lose the Guilt, Work Sarter, and Thrive, and although I work, I don't work outside the home. I think this book could be really valuable to those parents and who work a 40 hour job outside the home, but I related very little with it, as our lifestyle is so different than the average family. We do everything together so I don't feel like I have to put all my intentionality into the 3-4 hours before bedtime with the kids, etc. Turner gives some really good practical ideas, but man alive am I glad I have the choice I've made because I honestly don't think I'd do either well. Hats off to you, ladies, and put your dang feet up!
*Becoming Madeleine by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy - This was a short biography written about L'Engle from her two oldest granddaughters. I enjoyed all the historical documents put in the book including old report cards, letters back home to her mother, and family photos, but although it's an interesting idea, it wasn't my favorite. Maybe because it wasn't her writing, or maybe it was because it didn't dive deep (I think it was about 130 pages long), but I'll let you know how the next one goes next month(!). Nope, not joking. It's in transit right now.
*Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan - Oooook. So. A title that I feel a little uncomfortable with but for all it's hype it's worth it. The movie was not...I stopped it after 30 minutes because I felt like it was a disaster to the book! I loved it. I loved the rom-com at the middle of the book of course, with the family drama, but more than anything I loved the culture that seeped out of this book about the world of Singapore and its inhabitants, history, food, and slang. I would read this book just for the footnotes. Though I really didn't want this to happen--I now have to read the other two of the series. Sigh. I'm hooked.
*Left Neglected by Lisa Genova - Genova is the author of well-known book Still Alice about a woman who gets early and aggressive Alzheimers. This book is another neuroscience novel about Left Neglect--the symptoms of not being able to engage with everything (from your body to what's in your vision line) that is on the left. Bizarre, right? I had never heard of it, either. Although it's not quite as much of a page-turner as Still Alice, I really enjoyed it, learned something (love learning about the brain #nerdalert) and I find Genova's writing to be enjoyable. It's concise, not overly descriptive, and smart.
*Wheras by Layli Long Soldier - This book of poetry was something I came across in Krista Tippett's interview on her podcast, On Being, with the author awhile back. The interview was so beautiful I knew I had to get my hands on her book of poetry, and it did not disappoint.
Read Aloud with Kids
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin - This fast-paced novel was a race to find out whodunnit, and whogetsit, and whoishe? all in one fascinating game that involves seeming strangers-turned-neighbors, a chess board, and a mansion and millions dollar prize. It was intriguing to my kids, and they liked it well enough, but I found this story very tedious to read aloud. I think if it were read to oneself it would be more enjoyable, and much more of a page-turner. I found the long chapters to be just that--too long, but the story idea was fun.
The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeline L'Engle - I always try to read my kids a chapter book around Christmas, and my all-time reigning favorite is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. I did enjoy this first introduction to the Austin family (whom I hope to continue meeting in L'Engle's Austin series). It was short and sweet, and followed--literally--the twenty four days before Christmas in the family where each day something Christmas-y was done. I read this right after we'd do our daily Jesse Tree tradition, and some of the 'days' were pages long and others were a sentence or two! I liked the story, but although the kids enjoyed it, too, (especially the ending) it felt rushed. I don't think reading it this way worked well for the story, to be honest.
The True Gift by Patricia MacLachlan - This was another short Christmas chapter book I found that I'd seen a review of, and it was very sweet, and well written. Not saccarhine sweet but not cliche either, and with a hilarious and heartwarming ending. Really good, and with a cute White Cow but sitll no Herdmans!
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