it's the little things...

Assuming I don't sit around and finish something over the next few days, here's my list.  I spent too much time on NYT Games at the end of the day instead of reading.  I'm changing that for 2025 as my reading list is way too short compared to the last few years.   More audiobooks this year than years past (but still definitely heavier on actual books I can hold in my hand).  We also finished the Harry Potter series as a family--so I guess that may explain the shorter list, in part.  But we started a book club (BC) that has helped me branch out on reads a little bit.  Finally, favorites.* Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Dirty Thirty Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Nineteen Steps The Only One Left Things My Son Needs to Know About the World Best Wishes, Warmest Regards Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows The Woman in Me Tom Lake Remarkably Bright Creatures* None of This is True The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store* Queen Charlotte Ordinar...

Books read this year, favorites in bold.  Also a big favorite is reading the Harry Potters as a family. 1. Blue Shoe 2. Gone Crazy in Alabama 3. Beartown 4. Going Rogue 5. How to Trap a Tiger 6. The Foundling 7. Mr. Pengachoosa 8. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer 9. Shadow School Dehaunting 10. The Way I Heard It 11. The Stories We Tell 12. The Rabbit Hutch 13. Raymie Nightingale 14. Crenshaw 15. Other Birds 16. The Seven Good Years 17. Inside Out and Back Again 18. The Bandit Queens 19. Spare 20. Louisiana's Way Home 21. I'm Glad My Mother Died 22. Beverly Right Here 23. It Starts with Us 24. Daisy Jones & the Six 25. Nora Goes Off Script 26. House on the Cerulean Sea (again) 27. The Seat Filler 28. The Upside of Falling Down 29. Anxious Children, Anxious Parents 30. The Woman in the Library 31. The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell 32. Diana: In Her Own Words 33. Creative Mending 34. The House Across the Lake 35. Playing With Anxiety: Casey's Gui...

I still tried to read daily but less stress on myself than last year.  I think it's safe to say I'm back in the routine of reading and I love it.  Some of these were family reads--I'm so glad we've moved beyond picture books.  * were my favorites. How To Stop Time* Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse The Last Thing He Told Me Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue* Wonder Seeker Don't Put a Cactus in the Bathroom The Summer Job Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow Game On: Tempting 28 Call Us What We Carry The Four Winds Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian part of the first Bridgerton book The Supernatural Society A Gentleman in Moscow The Nest State of Terror Wish You Were Here We Were Never Here The Mysterious Benedict Society The Seven Day Switch Porch Lies The Personal Librarian* Red, White, and Royal Blue The Art of Gruene Beautiful World, Where Are You Big Panda and Tin...

It was a banner year for reading!  One of my goals was to read 21 minutes a day in 2021.  I was successful 97% of days (only missed 10).  And obviously read a lot more than 21 minutes on many days...  Really reading again (after not reading many non-kid books over the last decade) helped me feel like I was claiming something for myself.  What an idea! 1. The Girl With the Louding Voice 2. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry 3. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise 4. Better Than Before 5. To Kill a Mockingbird 6. The Twenty-One Balloons 7. Dark Water Rising 8. The Book of Lost Names 9. Diamond as Big as the Ritz (novella) 10. Fried and Prejudiced 11 & 12. Nancy Drew #1 and #3 13. Locker Hero (audiobook) 14. New Kid (audiobook) 15. Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day (audiobook) 16. Fortune and Glory: Tantalizing 27 17. The Sidewalk Story 18. West With Giraffes 19. Attracting Native Pollinators 20. Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale 21. Percy J...

Seems like a lot of good books this year.  And a more reasonable amount that I've read for myself (although, as usual, many kids/YA books). Tricky Twenty-Two Turbo Twenty-Three The Witches Fantastic Mr. Fox Hardcore Twenty-Four Look Alive Twenty-Five The Testaments The Book of Delights The Phantom Tollbooth The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me Lalani of the Distant Sea The Moomintroll Series (#1-3) The Penderwicks (#1-4) The Four Tendencies Twisted Twenty-Six Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy Becoming Outer Order Inner Calm The Obituary Writer Magic Misfits: The 4th Suit The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane Humans The Great Shelby Holmes

Wasn't a terrible year for reading.  And it's nice that the kids can hear more complicated chapter books these days when we read before bed.  And road tripping for Spring Break led to some audiobooks for the first time in a long time.  Hopefully 2020 will see more books, fewer crazy internet stories. The Woods The Time Keeper Hocus Pocus & the Sequel The Legends of Greemulax Still Life With Breadcrumbs Stuart Little Hello, Universe* The Incredible Magic of Being* Finding Gobi (*Audiobook) The One and Only Ivan (again) Matilda How to Not Hate Your Husband After Kids The Prince and The Guard The One The Elite Born a Crime The Selection