Welcome, fellow book lover! Thanks for dropping by. Last week I shared My 2023 Book-It-List in Review, and today we’re moving on to what’s on the books for 2024. Hey, it’s still January for a few more hours!
Today we are exploring how we can utilize reading to shape our lives through a fun little concept I debuted two years ago called New Year’s “READolutions.” In essence, this practice capitalizes on the belief that text is transformative and involves aligning ones reading choices each year directly to both the core values and long-term goals of the individual. You can read more about what this might look like and how to “READolutionize” your year in the posts linked below!
- New Year’s READolutions! . . . in March???
- What you READ is what you SEED! What’s on your BOOK-it List?
- New Year’s READolutions for 2023; What’s on your Book-It List?
- ~Grace to Grow Beside Our Children~ making time for reading in 2023!
Grab a cup of tea, my friend, and let’s chat books!
First, how I’m lightening my approach to reading this year!
I revealed how very audacious my reading goals for 2023 were in last week’s review post and hinted that I’d be lightening up a little this year. While I am proud of myself for consuming such a heavy shelf’s worth of knowledge and wisdom (with a side order of fluff), I must also address the fact that I found myself writing less these past months as I was pushing myself to read more. This will never do.
For me, reading is delectable, but writing is vital. All those vagrant words wandering around my head must be allowed to settle on blank sheets of paper, and the sooner the better, for reading seems only to make them breed.
So, this upcoming year I’m paring down my book stack just a touch which I believe will allow me the freedom to read at an unhurried pace as well as provide the indulgence of more light reading days. Life is too short not to take a gentle stroll now and then through my seed catalogs! Most importantly, I expect my writing time will have far less competition in the coming months and my imagination more space to stretch herself out.
Here are my strategies to lighten up this year:
#1.) I won’t be reading any more books about family or home education . . . for the foreseeable future.
Why ever not? Family life, with an emphasis in homeschooling methods in particular, is the area where I have read by far the most extensively throughout the years. I’ve absolutely loved learning as much as I possibly could about family life, home education models, and the many methods for inspiring a true, lifelong love of learning in the heart of a child. That being said, I simply haven’t come across much of anything new or groundbreaking in this section of the library over the last couple of years. I suspect one of two possibilities. One, I’ve either now devoured the cream of the crop and am trying to satiate myself with the dried kernels at the bottom of the barrel, or I have not been introduced to my next rabbit trail of family and education gems. I will pick up this genre again perhaps in a few years’ time or when a friend personally recommends a title to me that has slipped my notice.
For now, the standouts for me in the genre of family life and/or home education remain:
- *The Unhurried Homeschooler by Durenda Wilson
- *Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie
- Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne
- The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
- *The Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie
- Creative Homeschooling by Lisa Rivero
- Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
- *Mama Bear Apologetics by Hillary Morgan Ferrer
- The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler
*titles above marked with an asterisk note a Christian perspective
#2.) I will no longer attempt to finish one book at a time.
This past year, I attempted to read as I always have . . . systematically. I’ve always thought the only organized and noble thing to do when beginning a new book is to see it all the way through before cracking open another. A wonderful and expedient plan when it comes to fiction, this course simply does not work for me anymore with those textbook titles. Attempting to read all of How Not to Diet or Restoration Agriculture without any reading respites feels like force-feeding myself all my raw vegetable requirements for the week before permitting myself a single slice of bread, slurp of soup, or sip of water. And don’t forget tea.
No more forced reading for me. I choose a well-rounded, varied book diet, thank you very much. In one sitting, I will read just a page or two of those textbook types. My starter salad. Then, I will heartily move on to novelty, the tasty main course. And when I’m satisfied, I may even indulge myself a few minutes browsing through something colorful and glossy. There’s always room for dessert.
#3. I’m stacking slightly less volume this year to allow more freedom for ultra-light reading.
While the number of books this year is technically the same as last (one of the twelve is actually a three-novel saga), last year’s titles tipped more heavily in the textbook direction. This year’s shelf is literally pounds lighter and boasts at least twice as many full-color photographs within. I did very little picture perusing last year, so I am excited for this indulgence!
~My BOOK-IT List for 2024~
There are few things more thrilling than looking over a shelf of beautiful books soon to ascend that swinging ladder and find residence in the library within.
WELLS OF WISDOM in Four F’s– I’ve divided my selected content areas into four groups for this year’s “READolutions”:
- Faith
- Fruit, Flowers, and Feathers
- Fiction
- Food and Other Medicine
Let’s book it!
~Faith~
Live Your Truth and Other Lies by Alisa Childers
If the title wasn’t winning enough, my mom personally recommended this book which promises to be as audacious and colorful as it’s cover. I’m split between a mischievous curiosity and a wary reluctance to get all stirred up. Fun fact about me, I actually can’t watch the news or even read many articles because I often find myself unable to smooth back my feathers for several hours thereafter. I’ll probably have to pair this book with an essential oil diffuser and deep breathing exercises.
How Do We Know the Bible is True? by Ken Ham & Bodie Hodge
I’ve been reading a lot of Ham over the past few years. His books have definitely been a large part of my apologetics education. The additional authorship of his son-in-law Bodie Hodge I find elevates the overall writing as well as increases the breadth of what is covered. So far, my favorite of their co-authored books is A Flood of Evidence. I’m hoping that I will learn as much from this title and that there won’t be too much repeat content.
~Fruit, Flowers, and Feathers~
The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips
We’re going nuts this year. As in, trying to plant an orchard of them anyway.
We’ve already planted more than a few dozen fruit trees over the past two years, but I am finding I still have a LOT to learn about orcharding. From planting, to mulching, to pruning, to planting cover crops, there is much I hope to tuck away into my gardening apron as I make my way through the berms of this book. It had me at “holistic.”
The Hummingbird Handbook by John Shewey
Perhaps our favorite surprise in moving onto our little clearing in the mountains of Montana is that our summers are spent in the center of a hummingbird nursery. The soon-to-be parents arrive in a frantic flurry overnight and immediately build their summer homes on the penthouse limbs of the fattest pines which frame our homestead. Somehow, they know to select the thickest, most faithful of the trees to trust their clutch to, probably because they were hatched on its same limbs as their mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers were before them. Each year, the next generation returns to begin their own frenzy of breeding and clutch raising.
The result of all of this whizzing and whirring and dueling and diving is an unquenchable thirst for energy elixir. In a blur of reflected light, sparring flocks suck our feeders dry by the hour.
When I go to town during the summer, I fill our feeders to the brim before leaving and only allow myself a half day trip. Every time I return, I find all three feeders bone dry with swarms of panicked parents divebombing my head. It’s thrilling. I simply cannot learn enough about my wild little friends. I fully intend to add a feeder to our clearing each year and gift myself the full-time job of candy girl. With luck, I hope to have a sanctuary of insanity by the time I am gray.
As it turns out, hummingbird husbandry is as addicting a nectar for us human giants as it is for our Thumbelina pixies who slurp it up.
The Book of Garden Design by John Brookes
I’m a veggie girl by nature. My green thumb has asked me again and again “if you can’t eat it, why plant it?” And so, our garden up to this point has been mostly if not entirely edible. But a strange thing has been happening to me lately. I’ve been finding my need for flower power growing stronger, and my thumb’s influence growing weaker! This winter it’s really hit me –the bloomin’ bug. Hardly a day goes by that I’m not sneaking online to gape at yet another variety I’ll bound to be deadheading before long. In truth, I’ve already found the whole pursuit as overwhelming as it is exhilarating. The color choices alone are debilitating. Then there’s shape, height, soil preferences, sun preferences, and bloom times to coordinate. We’re not in cauliflower anymore.
My original inspiration to “plant a pretty flower border” has unfurled under cover of snow into some petaled paragon of architectural proportions.
In short, I need help. And finally, I’ve decided it is time for me to grow beyond the comfortable borders of my vegetable beds and make room for blooms!
Garden Secrets for Attracting Birds by Rachael Lanicci
I’ve been so smitten with hummingbirds that I have completely neglected the less reflective beauties serenading me from the forest line. For whatever reason, I only just bought my first non-liquid bird feeder and am giddy at the prospect of enjoying a Kaleidescope of feathers out our windows all year long.
When the feeder arrived, Goldilocks began hopping about and clapping her hands. “Oh! Oh!” she cried. “Let’s get more and more and more until there are birds eating out of every tree on our farm!” Like mother like daughter.
It may sound completely wild, but a mere minute spent viewing a masterpiece of creation up close (perhaps birds especially) dramatically lifts the soul of the whole day.
When a beautiful bird perches on our deck railing, cocks its head, and peeps at us through the window, the kids and I immediately let go of whatever we are doing. Pencils, books, forks, conversations, squabbles . . . all is laid aside. Nothing else matters for a magic moment in which we simply bask in the glow of yet another feathered miracle.
~Fiction~
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Upon sending out a what-should-I-read-this-year text to my fellow literature lovers, two fabulous friends immediately suggested “everything Jane Austen.” If we weren’t already friends, we would be now. Jane Austin is, of course, one of my all-time favorite authors. For some reason, however, I have never read Persuasion which is now at the top of this year’s fiction stack. It’s taken all my willpower to remain faithful to finishing last year’s book-it list before diving into the world of Jane Austen over a steaming pot of earl gray.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I only remember two things about John Steinbeck. One, I traveled long with Charlie but have no recollection of where we went or what we saw. Two, I recall something about a pearl which I found to be anything but a gem.
Suffice it to say, I never thought I’d pick up another Steinbeck. But, as a twist of fate as sinister as the author himself, I received from my friends TWO nominations for East of Eden this New Year’s. By mathematical principal, it had to be added to the list. Then my own mother warned me against it with a loud “oh don’t; I HATE that book. Oh, don’t ever read it!” Thanks, Mom. Now I have to read it. There’s that cursed curiosity of mine creeping up again. Just when I thought my rebellious streak was beginning to retreat in my wise thirties. At any rate, I’ve often felt I should give this doorstop novel a go since I grew up just a teensy bit more east of this “Eden” Steinbeck writes of.
Perhaps reading this book will awaken some dormant longing within me for the California coast. But I doubt it.
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
I had one lonely spot left in the fiction section of this year’s library. No elbow-twisting was needed for me to settle on my own recommendation and re-read (for the third time) my all-time favorite novel trilogy, The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.
I’m not sure why I feel compelled to read this series yet again. That is, besides the fact that Galsworthy transports me every time into a haunting house of mirrors–reflecting all the beauty and dysfunction that thrive in any multi-generational family saga. Galsworthy’s perception of the intricacies of family heritage, status, and the inexplicable and conflicting human quests for success and beauty simply hold me spellbound. To be honest, I may have to read this one first.
If my blog goes completely dark for a month or more, you’ll know why.
~Food and Other Medicine~
Deep Nutrition; Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food by Catherine Shanahan MD and Luke Shanahan
Skeptical is the understated word to describe my feelings about this book. However, the concept is just too intriguing not to look into, namely, that our nutritional needs are largely formed by our food heritage. In other words, it promises to explore and present evidence for the theory of a sort of multi-generational, nutritional epigenetics. On one hand, it makes some sense that our food needs would be at least in part shaped by the eating habits of our ancestors. On the other hand, it sounds too good to be true that if my family has eaten bacon for seven generations, so should I. At any rate, I’m not one to shy away from reading something purely on the grounds of skepticism. I’ll read it with a rake and let you know a year from now what came up as grain, and what was tossed as chaff.
The Everyday Ayurveda Guide to Self-Care & The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook by Kate O’Donnell
Sometimes when I’m reading, I’ll notice certain concepts or practices unfamiliar to me popping up with unaccounted frequency between texts. I always pay attention when this sort of cross-curricular cohesion occurs. This year, I kept seeing the word “ayurveda” flash off the pages of my nutritional literature. At first, I paid no attention, particularly because the word was merely a blur of sounds in my head that I wasn’t sure how to fit together.
Initially, I assumed ayurvedic medicine to be nothing more than yet another passing health craze. The opposite turned out to be true. Boasting more than 3000 years of influence, ayurvedic medicine is recognized as legitimate even by much of the western medicine circuit. But it wasn’t until I discovered that yoga is similar in its origin and closely related to the practices of ayurveda that I started paying serious attention. What finally sealed the deal for me, leading to not one but two impulsive book purchases, was when I found out that turmeric supplementation and the curcumin craze of the past decade or two is straight off the pages of culinary ayurvedic medicine practices. As an admitted turmeric-popping junky, I was hooked.
Suddenly, I found myself on a strange, winding path through ancient India which I simply couldn’t find the end of. When I made my way slowly back up that cobbled road, two books were tucked under my arm and an indescribable craving for curry had overtaken my senses.
I’m beyond curious to find out if yoga and turmeric are the two standout takeaways from the ayurveda lifestyle, or if other gems await me in the cave of wonders.
Thanks for taking a peek in our library today! What’s on your BOOK-IT LIST this year? Comment below! 😀
Love, ~Candace Arden~
