Books I Read in 2020

 It's the annual book blog!  Here's a visual graphic of the books I read in 2020 (thanks Goodreads!).  Scroll down to read my favorites.  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

First, a few thoughts on this particular year in reading --

How my reading life was different in 2020

The first thing that was different for me was that I got caught up on a lot of backlist titles.  In a normal year, the vast majority of my reading is new releases.  I rely heavily on the library for this content, and then, thanks to library due dates, I fail to get to titles that we own.  This year, due to the pandemic, our local library did not loan out physical books for about half the year, so it "forced" me to get to many of these backlist titles that I sincerely wanted to read, but had been gathering dust on the nightstand table.  So there was less fiction, more heavy stuff, and less new releases in all genres.  (It felt really good to get through much of the backlist, but I am SUPER looking forward to the library opening back up.  I currently have 86 titles on hold, and if the pandemic spike lasts much longer, I'm going to have to rent a U-Haul to pick up all the waiting books :)

The second thing that was different was that there was a LOT of time at home with the kids, so many of the books on this list are middle grade.  With travel and activities all canceled, and with school looking different (particularly in the spring), we had a lot more home based family togetherness than usual.  One of the ways we used this time was to read several middle grade chapter books together.  I read a book a few years ago called "The Read Aloud Family:  Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with your Kids" by Sarah Mackenzie (highly recommend!), and she shifted my mind frame about when and how to read to kids.  Instead of trying to herd them all in when they're happily playing something else, it works really well to read at times when they are already having to sit still.  So we do a lot of read alouds during meals / snacks, and during bath.  Again, this is aided by pandemic life - if dinner was our only time together, we would just use that time to catch up - but when you're eating together six times a day and conversation topics include things like "what's your 4th favorite color", it's nice to sometimes have something else to fill the time.  As life returns to normal, it will be harder to do this as much - but it can still work well on breaks and vacations.  It had never occurred to me to combine eating and read aloud - I hope this tip works well for others! 

Without further ado, here are my favorite reads of the past year:

Favorite Fiction (in random order)

1.  "Jack" by Marilynne Robinson

2.  "Rodham" by Curtis Sittenfeld

3 & 4.   "Plainsong" and "Eventide" by Kent Haruf

5.  "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu

6.  "Such a Fun Age" by Kiley Reid

7.  "Long Bright River" by Liz Moore

8. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" by J.K. Rowling

9.  "The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennet

10.  "The Brutal Telling"  by Louise Penny

Favorite Other

Memoir - "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah

Christian Living - "New Morning Mercies:  A Daily Gospel Devotional" by Paul David Tripp

Poetry - "Why I Wake Early" by Mary Oliver

Humor - "Wow, No Thank You" by Samantha Irby

Other Non-fiction - "Hidden Valley Road" by Robert Kolker

My favorite thing about this particular annual blog is the conversation it produces, so I would love to hear from you!!:

1.  How was your reading life different this year?

2.  What was your favorite book (or books) you read this year?

3.  If you read any of these same books, what did you think?

The Weary World Rejoices

It's the Christmas season!  Often during Advent, I write something along the lines of "I now interrupt your busy schedule of parties and shopping and cookie exchanges to say REMEMBER THE DARKNESS" - see, e.g., An Advent Reflection and Already, Not Yet.  (I'm being kind of silly with this intro, but if any of you are struggling with the darkness of this year and how to mesh that with Christmas season, those might actually be better posts for you than this one.)  

But this year, with darkness being a much harder thing to miss, I think it's a great year to focus on the wonder of the season.  I deeply feel the line "A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices" - because, like many of you, I'm feeling weary - and I want to think about how and why we're rejoicing (isn't a little rejoicing much needed in 2020?).  Here are some of the things I'm thinking about:

1.  Beauty all around - I tend to be a very functional and minimalist decorator, but I LOVE when our Christmas tree goes up, and I love decorating it with special ornaments that bring back memories.  I love that Kenny puts up outdoor Christmas decorations, and I love driving around town and seeing more lights go up every day.  I love that it's the time of year where you're encouraged to make the rich, flavorful appetizers and desserts (this year it might be just for your household - do it anyway!!) and burn fragrant candles.  Most of all, I love Christmas music, and I love how you can hear it playing everywhere from gas stations to church choirs.  Extravagant beauty that feeds all our senses abounds during this season - notice it, let it bring joy.  

2.  The Christmas story - There are so many miraculous pieces to this story.  A barren older woman becomes pregnant with the child who will be the messenger.  A virgin birth.  Angels make multiple appearances.  Everyone from shepherds to wise men come to visit this baby (the International Epic party that Zoey was hoping for :).  There's a mega star to guide the way.  Can you imagine being a part of any of this??

3.  The values emphasized at Christmas:  In this world where we've gotten so good at screaming at each other about everything, what a wonder that there is a season where the following virtues are celebrated:  Light.  Hope.  Peace.  Joy.  Love.  Goodwill towards Men.  New Life.   It's beautiful!!

4.  The main event - All of the above is great, but it's really just sign posts leading us to the biggest thing we celebrate at Christmas:  God came to earth as a human child, and He did it to save us all.  THIS is the place from which all the rest of the beauty flows.  And in this year of struggle, we are in such a good place to see our need for the hope that Christmas brings.

Merry Christmas to you all!  Tell me how you're seeing beauty in this Advent and Christmas season!

Thankfulness in 2020

I traditionally write a gratitude blog in November, but, not gonna lie, I'm really struggling to do it this year.  A quick scroll through any news site, any social media feed, or any lived experience of the year 2020 will give you ample reason to question doing the grateful thing this year.  But that is exactly, exactly, when we (and I'm putting myself at the top of that list) MOST need to work through the discipline of gratitude.

I read a book on gratitude, since it's not coming very naturally this year.  The book is called "Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and I would highly recommend it.  This one is great for 2020 because it makes a point of observing throughout that gratitude is not just for when you're happy and everything's going your way - it's for the hard times, too.  This blog is not a full review or summary of the book, but I want to attribute it because DeMoss really helped shift my perspective and spark these thoughts.  Okay, so, gratitude in 2020...

Why is gratitude important during hard times?

1.  I'm guessing for many of us, anxiety has been a heightened feature of 2020 (see, e.g., global pandemic and presidential election).  I'm a seasoned worrier, waaaay before 2020 (before parenting, even, but that kicked it into a much higher gear :).  One of the best ways to address anxiety is through thankfulness.  

In Philippians (verse pictured below), the equation is Pray + Gratitude = Peace.  You give your worries over to God, remember all the things you have to be thankful for, and receive the peace that passes understanding.  What a beautiful, sought after gift!  (Especially for us Enneagram 9s...)

2.  Another thing that's prominent in my mind and heart when times are tough is complaints.  I'm not saying that there's not a time and place for getting things off your chest, but at some point, your whole life perspective parks itself mostly in complaint or mostly in gratitude.  While it takes some work to pivot away from complaints and find gratitude in hard times, it's definitely a more pleasant place to dwell.

What does gratitude look like in a year like this?

• Remembering the affirmative good things in your life, as specifically as possible - especially in terms of people.  Through 2020, through times when Josh had lots of hospitalizations - it's your family that walks through it with you, the people that think to bring you food, to send a text, to make the phone call, to make the (positive) Facebook comment - that keep you going.  Also, whatever other things are helping you get through:  songs, books, adult coloring books?, a stunning sunset, your pet, and the list goes on...
• Spiritual blessings, which will always hold even through the hardest of times (and will often mean the most during these times):  things like God's love, mercy, and faithfulness.  It's also helpful to remember the verses promising that trials can help strengthen our endurance, character, and hope. (See Romans 5.) 
• Adjusting perspective: yesterday I was feeling a bit annoyed to be picking up take-out, in a mask, yet again, rather than going out to a restaurant - but WHAT A THING that restaurants prepare food for us; that in Reno, NV, we can be ordering food from many different parts of the world (birria tacos was our food of choice yesterday); that we have a warm house where we can enjoy this food safely; and that we have the money to purchase this food.  When you think through all of these things, and think about how much harder and/or a bummer it would be if any one of these things wasn't true, it's hard not to be grateful.

What is it not?

Gratitude should never involve a denial of reality.  So, for example, it doesn't mean:

• Pretending to be okay when you're not.
• Forgoing laments when you experience real sadness
• Not speaking up on behalf of the marginalized 

It doesn't mean you should deny, ignore, or repress the hard parts of life, on behalf of yourself or others.  It means that, even as you walk through the hard times (maybe especially as you walk through the hard times?), it helps to remember all you have to be thankful for.

What about having a sense of humor?

This is great!  Humor is also a great way to adjust perspective, and it's one more thing to be thankful for.  The Nevada memes got me through election week.  Here's my favorite 2020 meme I've seen this week, for which I'm grateful:

I would love to hear some things you're grateful for, friends!   Sending love to you in this weird, memorable, 2020 Thanksgiving month.