I don't really do 'book lists' anymore, though I still try to keep to my plan to be reading in various areas (spiritual growth, marriage/fam, historical/biographical).
And..I actually did read more books than I thought in 2015. About 10 of them were just prep to see if they would be read-alouds for the kids this year, so they were fast and fun reads (and some were re-reads from my childhood).
For example I re-read 'The Witch of Blackbird Pond', and we added it to our read-aloud. The kids loved the story and hung with it. But I will make them re-read it later to get some of the amazing literary nuggets out of it. It was definitely a more mature book for them, and I stopped to explain some of the historical aspects, etc. which is the time period we are studying in history so it worked well. I opted out of reading aloud 'Alone, yet not alone', while quite a story of redemption and faith, is probably too much in regards to murder, and kidnapping, and would probably give our girls nightmares.
I narrowed my favorites of 2015 down to FOUR!
1. Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child: I have commented about this book already but again, it was an eye-opening cultural critique that had me laughing a lot, getting angry some, and really ready to re-evaluate my own style of raising/teaching my kids.
2. The Awakening of Miss Prim: This really was delightful and actually not too 'light' at the same time. An intriguing, well-written novel about the life of a lady who moves to a French Village and finds things very unexpected. Lots of references to ancient Lit and ancient languages, lots of references to Mr. Darcy and intrigue about this spiritual life we live. Here is a quote: “No, of course not. The Redemption is nothing like a fairy tale, Miss Prim. Fairy tales and ancient legends are like the Redemption. Haven’t you ever noticed? It’s like when you copy a tree from the garden on a piece of paper. The tree from the garden doesn’t look like the drawing, does it? It’s the drawing that’s a bit, just a little bit, like the real tree.”
3. Do More Better, this helped me rearrange my system for getting things done. David really helped me set up this system and about 2 weeks in I love it. Things are not getting left by the wayside (my brain fog). Postponed some, yes, but not forgotten. And the plan has removed the pressure of all my to-dos!
4. Stepping Heavenward (a-gain): Always encourages my walk with God.
