Books to read in 2016

"Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established." Proverbs 16: 3

One of my most important reflections about the last year has been in the area of self care.

Which, if I'm being honest, is an area of my life that is not only lacking, but that I totally and completely suck at.  You know when you look at before and after photos of our Presidents?

Yeah.  Sometimes I feel a little like that when I see myself in recent years.  I'm looking and feeling much more on the after side of things than any person should - and I don't get to tap out after 8 years.

So, in the spirit of doing a better job of taking care of myself - since, let's be honest, retiring to Hawaii to make a million dollars per speaking engagement and enjoying lifetime salary and health care are not on the agenda - I have made a commitment that is absolutely huge for me: getting back to my once-upon-a-time English-major-roots by reading.

Not just a little, either.  I've decided to read 25 books this year - 25 books that are for me.  That I desire to read for one reason or another.  Because it's fun.  And because I matter!

If you are a seasoned reader, 25 books in a year probably doesn't seem like much to you.  For me, though, to actually commit and take the time to read a book - let alone 25 - is a huge, giant, gargantuan step.  Big.  Think King Kong climbing the Empire State Building.  There is a good chance that reading 25 books of my choosing for my pleasure may be more than I've read in the six and a half years since I got pregnant with Leah.

No joke.

So, mostly for the record, but also in case anyone else loves to read and is interested, here are the books I'm going to tackle. In absolutely no particular order, except that in which my library can get these holds in for me:

1. Future Men by Doug Wilson
2. God Rest Ye Merry by Doug Wilson
3. My Life for Yours by Doug Wilson
4. One Thousand Gifts by Anne Voskamp 
5. Messy Church by Ross Parsley 
6. Searching for Sanity by Lindsey Bell
7. Strong and Kind by Korie Robertson
8. The Life Giving Home by Sally Clarkson
9. The Martian by Andy Weir 
10. God Help the Child by Toni Morrison 
11. Paper Towns by John Green 
12. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 
13. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn 
14. Things You Won't Say by Sarah Pekkanen  
15. Beautiful Womanhood by Sandy Ralya
16. Be Still my Soul by Elisabeth Elliot 
17. Busy Homeschool Mom's Guide to Daylight by Heidi St. John
18. Educating the Whole Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson 
19. Mom Needs Chocolate by Debora M. Coty
20. Soundbites from Heaven by Rachel Carman
21. The Daily Five by Gail Boushey
22. Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman
23. Learning to Read: Lessons from Exemplary 1st Grade Classrooms by Richard Allington
24. Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson
25. Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker 

John 10:10, My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.

Wish me luck... I'm going for it!

Three books I've read lately

Someday, I'll again put reading at the top of my list of things to do.

In case you were wondering, I have a degree in reading.  A Master's in how to help others do it.  I only bring up this overly-pretentious pedigree because I also have to shamefully admit that I totally stink at reading.  In the temporal sense, not the literal one; I can read as you may have concluded by the fact that I'm writing - usually they go hand in hand - I just kinda don't.

I've read for work.  I've read the baby books.  Our kids are seriously well versed in Fancy Nancy, Seuss and all things Eric Carle.  Reading for me, though?  Just for fun?  A book I chose for no other reason than I felt like reading it... I hear people still do that in some remote and backwards parts of the country.  I miss reading desperately, and yet it's one of those things that never quite makes it into my list of daily priorities.

I'm trying to remedy that, at least a little.  I'm not revolutionizing anything, but I did set a few literary-type goals for myself in 2014.  You can see I'm not trying for a marathon, just a quick little sprint to dip my toes back in the water before the baby comes.  I've made it through three of five books I set out to read - not nothing, considering the number of books I read for pleasure last year was exactly zero!

Review: Slow to start, and lacking the story arch I anticipated.  Lots of dates, lots of names, lots of art I had to Google in order to place.  BUT ALSO... AMAZING.  I do believe that somehow the men and women of the past were simply made of stronger stuff than I care to ever have to face.  Sometimes, history is better than fiction.

Review: With all the wonderful, creative YA fiction out right now, this one registers as white noise.  Among the ranks of the post-apocalyptic, dystopian-future fiction that has taken off in the last three years, this one starts cleverly enough.  Unfortunately, for me the characters fell flat and the plot was a bit too predictable in its attempt at the standard, earth-shattering Ender's Game, "Katniss, there is no District 12" plot-twist department.  This hasn't been done before, exactly, and yet the whole time I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew what was coming. 

Review: Written by a trio of siblings, this book reads not only as a "how to " manual for positive sibling relationships, but also an answer to the question, "why bother?"  It is a wonderful, Biblical take with very practical wisdom, written in a way that gives enormous credit to the maturity, spirit and self-efficacy of children.  The only drawback for me at this juncture was that it will be much more useful when my own children are ready to internalize the message!  I'll have to remember to get it again in a few years.

I may need to up my list a little, because, though I'm satisfied with my progress, I also realize that I could be reading more if I weren't wasting my down time waiting for library books to come in.  Like right now.

So while I'm waiting... what have you read lately?  Suggestion me!

Books to read in 2014

When I was in high school and college, I devoured books.  I read them adamantly.  Shakespeare, Chaucer, Austen, Steinbeck, King, Bronte - and that doesn't even begin to touch the books I read just because I love them (cough, Harry Potter 36 times).  

I could sit down with a book, read all day and have it finished before dinner.  The first Twilight - which I read as part of one of my Masters classes, because I have the best job in the world - I read in about 5 non-stop hours.  And if I recall correctly, the second I closed it there was a late-night Barnes and Noble run for the second.

Ahhhh, those were the days...

Two children in, I can't even remember the last time I read a book start to finish without a massive chasm of interruption and tasks to complete until I can't recall the names of the characters, let alone the plot of the story.

Partly, it's because I'm a snob.  I want to read a book that I absolutely fall in love with and can't put down.  These days, I totally judge a book by its cover.  If I'm not convinced I'm going to love it, I instantly decide it's not worth my investment of time.  I used to love going to the library, picking up a book at random and reading it just for the heck of it.  Anymore, that idea seems like a gigantic waste of energy.

But the time has come that I miss reading, and so one of my goals for the year is to do it a little more often.  Because, let's face it, my days of reading are limited again; come August, my brain will be mush and I'll go back to collapsing into bed completely and totally spent - if I'm even that lucky.  

So here's the list.  I'm starting small, they're books I'm pretty sure I can get through - even though they're a far cry from, you know, Shakespeare and Bronte of my days of yore...

No time like the present to start prepping.  I'm seriously hoping the library has this one, since on Amazon it can be mine for the low, low price of $58.99.  Yeah - that's not happening!

One of my greatest goals in parenting.  Whatever else happens, if I raise kids who love God and love each other, mission = accomplished.

'Cause... so cool.  Nuff said.

Sally Clarkson is my hero.  I absolutely adore her wisdom, humor and commitment to raising whole, Godly children.  I read this one, and if you haven't, borrow my copy!  You won't regret it!

Because, well, teen fiction has never failed me before...

So there you have it!  Five books in the next 7 months.  Once upon a time, I would have scoffed at that number, but sadly I'm pretty sure it's close to the same number of books I've read since Leah's been born, if you don't count kids' books.  I get an A in kids books, so that's not nothing... right? 

How about you?  Any suggestions for this outta-the-game-gal?  Any books you're dying to read?

Grateful for

Target.

And the fact that, when we visited Target today, Miss Leah began pointing out all the letters she knows.  Which, as it turns out, is pretty much all of them. 

The "Merry Christmas" signs?  She rocked them.  She knows all the letters in "Starbucks Coffee" (hmmm... imagine that...). 

She even knows a handful of lowercase letters, which we haven't worked much on.  And, if you're wondering how the kid got so smart, it's in part because I let her watch TV.  Seriously.  If you haven't tuned in to SuperWhy, you're missing out.  That's a shameless TV plug from a reading teacher, it's that good.    

Sure, she confuses W and M.  And sometimes T and I, depending on the font of the letters.  But the girl knows her letters, and we had so much fun finding signs and pointing them out.  I absolutely adore that a trip to the store can become such a learning experience. 

While we're at it, I'm pretty darn thankful for all the reading that goes on in our house.  I hope that's always the case. 

Smart happens everywhere. 

Don't be judgin'

I am not a "teen" literature fan.

Okay, so I may have dabbled in it from time to time, but I read Michael Crichton when I was in 5th grade.  I read The Tempest at 12 and The Illiad at 15 (or I tried, anyway.  That counts). 

Yes, I may have read the Twilight series like 10 times
. 
Sure, I've read Harry Potter so often that I can recite much of books 1-4, as we discovered when Casey began reading them outloud to our daughter.

Oh, and yes, I chose Harry Potter to read to my unborn/newborn child. 

That doesn't prove anything.  I still don't like teen fiction. 

But I love the latest book I'm reading:

It's awesome!  Where was this book when I was nursing and up all night?  Where was this book when I couldn't sleep the first three, four, five months of Leah's life?!  I had all those hours in the middle of the night, and I wasted them worrying, when I could have been reading! 

Now, Leah is FINALLY sleeping through the night, and I can't go to bed because I'm too enthralled by what is happening in this stupid book!!!

Oh, and of course, it's teen fiction.  I mentioned that I love teen fiction, right?