This year's big accomplishment was that, for the first time in the 13 years I've been keeping track, I made it to 100 books. For those who are wondering how, both of my primary jobs facilitate reading time. For homeschool, we do a very read-aloud based approach to education, so dozens of these books are part of our homeschool year. For lawyer work, I spend a lot of time driving around to see clients / attend meetings and court, so many of these are audiobooks listened to while driving. If you took out these two chunks, my book list would be much much smaller.
As far as reading motivation, I continue to believe that finding a book you really want to get back into (and having a steady stream of good recommendations, whether this is provided by friends and family or Instagram or End of Year lists) is by far the most important reading motivator. And then finding the format that works for you is going to be key reading facilitator #2. I never thought I'd become such an audiobook junkie, but this is what works for me right now. I would love to hear your thoughts about how you motivate and fit in reading.
Without further ado, here are my favorite books of the year! (Selections in all categories are listed in random order; I copied and pasted my full list of books from the year below the blog post.)
Fiction Top 10:
1. "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson - A book about two sisters who survive multiple tragedies and keep going. Recommended for those who love beautiful writing and exploring themes of loneliness, how people keep going through struggle, and how family can wreck you and save you.
2. "Dust Child" by Nguyen Phan Que Mai - Really enjoyed this novel that is mostly set during the Vietnam War with some flash forward to the present, and the myriad, lasting effects on the Vietnamese women and American soldiers who coupled during the war, and also on children born to these couples.
3. "Trust" by Hernan Diaz - Intriguing, layered story featuring a wealthy American family and their experience of the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression, told from 4 different perspectives. This one will keep you guessing until the end.
4. 'You Think It, I'll Say it" by Curtis Sittenfeld - Short stories on modern American life with a really sharp observation of human dynamics.
5. "Broken Country" by Claire Leslie Hall - Historical fiction featuring a love triangle, which is normally not my favorite kind of plot device, but this one really hooks you in and keeps you hanging on.
6. "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky - Consistently named as one of the best novels ever written, I'm not going to try to sell this one in a blurb.
7. "The Hawk and the Dove" by Penelope Wilcock - This novel is a series of vignettes about a group of monks and how they learn to love and serve each other through all the challenges that come with interacting with human beings. This author really has a knack for conveying deep truths in simple stories.
8. "Martyr!" by Kaveh Akbar - Amazing writing and really good portrayal of depression and addiction and how those things relate to trauma.
9. "The Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey - Perfect January read. Fairy tale re-telling, set in 1920s Alaska, ponders the highs and lows of the human experience.
10. "The Bright Years" by Sarah Damoff - I really enjoyed this multigenerational family saga, and especially enjoyed the portrayal of alcoholism and the complex, long-lasting way it affects everyone in the family even as lots of love remains.
Christian Non-Fiction Top 5:
1. "Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life" by Craig Groeschel - very helpful, practical suggestions, grounded in both Scripture and science, on fighting back against negative, self defeating thoughts.
2. "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton - Chesterton's writing style is witty and circular; it feels like you're going down a rabbit hole until he gets to the punchline and you see how he's been building up to it the whole time. I appreciate his emphasis on the wonder and joy found in Christianity, and also how he found it to be a key that opened the lock to many paradoxes / life questions.
3. "Reading Genesis" by Marilynne Robinson - This book is part commentary and part literary analysis. Robinson spends lots of time pointing out the humanness of the characters, particularly the patriarchs, and commenting on what the choice to show these very flawed characters says about our God and our faith. She's comfortable dwelling in mystery and hard questions, and points out that Genesis is also comfortable in these spaces.
4. "Teach Your Children Well: A Step-by-step Guide for Family Discipleship" by Sarah Cowan Johnson - This was a very practical, encouraging guide to family discipleship through the different ages and stages of parenting.
5. "Learning Evangelism from Jesus" by Jerram Barrs - Using stories from the Gospels, this book showed how Jesus approached each person as an individual, understanding the whole of their situation and heart, and tailoring his relationship with them accordingly.
Memoir and Poetry Top 5:
1. "You Better Be Lightning" by Andrea Gibson - Some reviews describe this poetry collection as political, which some of it was, but most of it was much more a captivating, beautifully written description of the universal human experience, both the hard and the wonderful.
2. "Counting the Cost" by Jill Duggar - Super interesting behind the scenes look at what it was like to grow up Duggar and then transition into adulthood and figure out what you believe, how you want to live, and how to walk the line of having good boundaries and still stay involved with the family.
3. "Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery" by Catherine Gildiner - I found this book absolutely fascinating. The depths of what humans go through, the ways therapy can (and can't) help, and ultimately redemptive since these are success stories.
4. "Dream Work" by Mary Oliver - Always lifts my spirits to read a Mary Oliver collection of poetry.
5. "A Marriage at Sea" by Sophie Elmhirst - Gripping real life story of a couple that is shipwrecked at sea for months, and how they survive both the elements and the relational challenges come with that.
Homeschool Top 5:
One of my big goals in homeschool read-alouds is to find books that provoke wonder and spark the imagination - all these books did this in some way.
1. "The Selfish Giant and Other Classic Tales: Six Illustrated Stories": Oscar Wilde - Fun book of fairy tales that we mostly hadn't heard before and that are entertaining for older kids as well.
2. "Slow Down: 50 Mindful Moments in Nature" by Rachel Williams - Outstanding nature book with beautiful illustrations and just the right amount of facts without bogging you down. They choose nature phenomenon that are both interesting and relatable.
3. "The Glorious Impossible" by Madeleine L'Engle - Shows pictures of Giotto's frescoes that depict Christ's life, with commentary on each story that illuminates and inspires.
4. "Richard Halliburton's Second Book of Marvels: The Orient" by Richard Halliburton - We did this book for geography, and it tells of an explorer in the early 1900s having adventures and making discoveries of long forgotten places across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
5. "God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew - Really enjoyed this exciting, adventure-filled account of missionary work in Communist countries during the Cold War era.
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