Reviewing My 2014 Book List

I’m sharing some thoughts today on my 2014 book list. I read 58 books this year, plus The Book of Mormon and was able to finish the Old Testament.

Nonfiction

I was able to read 6 out of the 14 nonfiction books on my list and am currently in the middle of 4 of them. I’m definitely a slow non-fiction reader, taking my time and reading a few pages at a time. I know finishing up the Old Testament this last year took a lot of my nonfiction reading time and the 4th Thousand Years also took me awhile to get through at the beginning of the year. I have decided to add these books to my 2015 list. I wasn’t going to, but decided that I do want to read these, and since I have given up on shortening my new list of books, I just tacked these on as well.

The 3rd Thousand Years by Clean Skousen (started reading)
~~The 4th Thousand Years by Cleon Skousen~~

Autobiography of Ben Franklin by Ben Franklin (Free On Kindle) (started reading)

The Republic by Plato (Free On Kindle)

The Aeneid by Virgil (Free On Kindle)

Days of the Living Christ by Cleon Skousen (almost finished)

~~The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer~~

~~Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Eliot~~

~~Notes From A Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider~~

Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle

Teaching Your Children Joy by Richard and Linda Eyre

~~Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman~~
A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle (started reading)

~~A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book by Elsie Larson~~

Fiction

I was able to read 20 out of my 23. Not to bad. I’ve also started two of these and am almost finishd with Les Miserables.

~~Northhanger Abbey by Jane Austen (Free on Kindle)~~

New Chronicles of Rebecca by Kate Douglas Wiggin (Free on Kindle)

Possession by A.S. Byatt

~~The Red Tent by Anita Diamond~~

~~Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card~~

~~Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Free on Kindle)~~

~~Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry~~

~~Messenger by Lois Lowry~~

~~By The Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder~~

~~The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder~~

~~Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder~~

~~These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder~~

~~Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Ray~~

~~The House at Riverton by Kate Morton~~

~~A Sweethaven Summer by Courtney Walsh~~

~~The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold~~

~~Lessons In French by Hilary Reyl~~

~~War Brides by Helen Bryan~~

~~Where’d You Go, Bernandette by Maria Semple~~

~~What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty~~

~~Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury~~

~~Gilead by Marilynne Robinson~~

~~Watership Down by Richard Adams~~

Book Club

I was able to read all of my book club books this year. Even though I only attended a couple of the book groups, I was motivated to read these fun titles! I read 8 out of 8 of these titles.

~~Divergent by Veronica Roth~~

~~Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland~~

~~The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton~~

~~Once Blind: Life of John Newton by Kay Marshall Strong~~

~~The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman~~

~~The Digital Fortress by Dan Brown~~

~~Life After Life by Kate Atkinson~~

~~The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh~~

Read Alouds

I read 8 out of 13 books, but I did decided that Magic for Marigold and Emily of New Moon were not a good fit for my kids right now. Jakob isn’t interested and Isabelle seems to young. Read alouds have been tough. Since school started this last fall, our schedule has been full, and we have had a hard time finding a good rhythm for reading time. My children are rarely all together and we are also trying to read scriptures in the evening together as a family, so that takes up a chunk of our family time. This next year, I’m determined to find a solution that works for us.

The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
Betsy-Tacy and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace
More All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Babe: The Gallant Pig by dick King-Smith
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Little Britches by Ralph Moody
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (Free on Kindle)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Magic for Marigold by L.M. Montgomery

Emily of New Moon by LM Montgomery

Books Not On My List

I always read a few books that are not on my list, books that inspire me, and I just want to pick up and read. I read 16 of these books. I was surprised to see how many of these books I was able to tackle this year.

~~Insurgent by Veronica Roth~~
~~Motherhood Realized by Power of Mom~~
~~Lessons From Madame Chic by Jennifer Scott~~
~~The Nesting Place by Myquillyn Smith~~
~~Allegiant by Veronica Roth~~
~~Searching for Pemberly by Mary Lydon Simonsen~~
~~The Dirty Life: Memoir of Farming by Kristin Kimball~~
~~Delancey: A Man, A Woman, and a Restaurant by Molly Wizenberg~~
~~Finding It by Valerie Bertinelli~~
~~Surprised by Motherhood by Lisa-Jo Baker~~
~~Austenland by Shannon Hale~~
~~The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton~~
~~Code Name Verity by Lisa Wein~~
~~The Halloween Party by Agatha Christie~~
~~Longbourn by Jo Baker~~
~~The Light Between Oceans by L. M. Stedman~~

Such a great year for reading. I listened to some of these books on CD, in the car, while I was cleaning or cooking, or while I was making, stitching, and creating. I kept stacks of books by my bed and tucked them in corners around the house. I kept one or two in the car and took them with me on errands or on trips. When I would take a break during the day, it was almost always with a book. I would skip TV or movie watching to head to bed as soon as my kids were tucked in, to get some reading in. Reading became habitual in all those little moments throughout the day. A few months before the year ended I started making my 2015 book list. The more you read, the more you want to read, and the more books you find. I’ll be sharing my 2015 book list tomorrow.

You can find my Book Reports that gives a short review of each of the books above here.

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