Library Day

The Book Zone

Today was library day at school. Topher walked in the door, dumped out his backpack, and plunked himself down to read. He spent the next hour like this.

Pick Your Favorite

I've lost count of how many spirit weeks we've had at school this year. This week we're celebrating Dr. Suess' birthday and the first costume prompt was to dress like your favorite book character. Unfortunately, until 10 minutes before we had to leave to take Sophie to her before school student government meeting, I thought it was pajama day. I learned my mistake when I double checked the flyer that had come home. So, with new information in hand, we scrambled. I don't love Dog Man, but Topher does, and I was thankful that it was an easy costume to assemble. Double-sided fabric tape and construction paper to the rescue!

Comfy Cozy

Our local library got a new set of beanbag chairs. Topher loved them so much that he only played on the computer for ten minutes and then parked himself on the beanbag with a book. 

Words With Friends

I am so thankful for book clubs. 

My two-person book club is my favorite. But I also love the local book club I attend. There were only five of us there tonight, but the discussion still filled my soul. Books plus friends equals a very happy me.

That is all.

The Biblio Files: 2025

My book total for 2025 fell well below my total for 2024, and I'm okay with that. This year I read/listened to (mostly listened) 153 books. Those that are underlined were especially impactful, those in italics were for book club, and the one that's in bold was an actual book, not an audiobook. 

January:

1. Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere by Savannah Guthrie
2. Family Family by Laurie Frankel
3. Murder on the Brighton Express by C. J. Archer
4. Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson (This is a 63 hour audiobook. Even listening at double speed, it took several days.)
5. Of Boys and Men by Richard V. Reeves
6. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (I've lost count of how many times I've read this, I love it every time.)
7. The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page
8. The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson
9. Greenwild: The World Behind the Door by Pari Thomson
10. Really Very Crunchy by Emily Morrow
11. The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly

February:

1. The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall, Book 1 by Ali Standish
2. Embers of Hands by Eleanor Barraclough
3. The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh (This was such a delight that I suggested it for not one but two book clubs!)
4. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (This was compelling and well-written and twisty and dark. I don't want to read it again, but I've also thought about it all year.)
5. The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
6. The Bill of Obligations by Richard Haass
7. Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea by Pari Thomson
8. October 2024 General Conference
9. Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
10. The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall, Book 2 by Ali Standish
11. If For Any Reason by Courtney Walsh
12. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
13. When Broadway was Black by Caseen Gaines
14. Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein (read aloud to Topher)
15. The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams
16. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
17. The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo
18. Hotel Balzaar by Kate DiCamillo
19. Into the Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah

March:

1. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (This was hilarious!)
2. Everyone Who Is Here Is Gone by Jonathan Blitzer (This was about such a difficult subject, but I felt like a more complete person after having read it.)
3. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
4. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
5. Atonement by Ian McEwan (This was beautifully written, but SOOOOOO sad. And kind of icky in its premise.)
6. Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
7. Holes by Louis Sachar
8. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
9. The Book of Mormon
10. The Siren's Call by Chris Hayes
11. The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray
12. Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (This is one of my favorites of the year! In fact, I think it's time to read it again.)

April:

1. The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh
2. October 2024 General Conference
3. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (This book started off strong and kind of lost the thread by the end, but I really enjoyed the first two-thirds.)
4. This Might Get Awkward by Kara McDowell
5. The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin (I loved this one! It's set in the same literary world as The Last Bookshop in London, another lovely book that I recommend.)
6. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
7. One Way or Another by Kara McDowell
8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ( I finally read these because Phoebe picked them up. We watched the movies together after we read the books and agree that Sunrise on the Reaping is the best of the series. We're excited for the movie version of that to come out.)
9. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
11. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (Everyone I talked to loved this book. It made me, well, anxious. I can see the merit in some of what he advocates, but other points are just nuts.)
12. What's Next by Melissa Fitzgerald (This was a touching behind the scenes look at the TV show The West Wing and all the service that cast members have gone on to do.)
13. The Late Mrs. Willouby by Claudia Gray

May:

1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
2. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
3. The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson
4. The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh (See? Here she is again.)
5. The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson
6. First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith by Jennifer Reeder
7. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez (This was another book I couldn't stop talking about and I continued thinking about it throughout the year.)
8. Trust by Herman Diaz (This was amazing! I recommended it to a few people because I was so impressed with it. You do need to stick with it though, don't stop after part one.)
9. The Patron Thief of Bread by Lindsay Eagar (Sweet and lovely, it kind of reminded me of The Girl Who Drank the Moon.)
10. The Perils of Lady Catherine de Burgh by Claudia Gray
11. April 2025 General Conference
12. The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

June:

1. A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
2. Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
3. The Chosen by Chaim Potok (I'm surprised I hadn't read this before. It's beautiful and I understand why it's so well-loved.)
4. The Book of Mormon
5. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
6. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
7. The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman by Mari Lowe (This was a book that Sophie recommended and it paired nicely with The Chosen.)
8. Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

July:

1. Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino 
2. A Million Worlds with You by Claudia Gray
3. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
4. The 10 by E.A. Hanks (This was engaging and funny and I enjoyed her writing style. It was a little more adult than I usually read, but much of the profanity came from things people said along her journey, so actual quotes.)
5. Be Where Your Feet Are by Scott O'Neil
6. The Riddlemaster of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip
7. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

August:

1. New Happy by Stephanie Harrison (Serving others makes us happy, who knew? Seriously though, I really enjoyed this book.)
2. Library Girl by Polly Horvath (Sweet and quirky.)
3. David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
4. Specials by Scott Westerfeld
5. The Rushmore Family Plot by Claudia Gray
6. The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell
7. Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price

September

1. April 2025 General Conference
2. How to Menopause by Tamsen Fadal
3. The Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman (I loved this one! It's a multi-generational story told in two timelines.)
4. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (This is the first of a sweet quartet of books that I had somehow never heard of. They were mentioned in Library Girl that I read in August, so I added them to my reading list.)
5. The Book of Mormon
6. A Botanists Guide to Rituals and Revenge by Kate Khavari
7. Mrs. Harris Goes to Parliment by Paul Gallico (Mrs. Harris gets up to all kinds of trouble. This whole series is a delight.)
8. The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
9. A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim
10. Sense and Second-Degree Murder by Tirzah Price
11. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss
12. The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright
13. Mrs. Harris Goes to Moscow by Paul Gallico
14. The Girl Who Kept the Castle by Ryan Graudin
15. The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall
16. Camp Cacophony by Jessica Khoury

October:

1. April 2025 General Conference
2. Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
3. 107 Days by Kamala Harris (This was fascinating. It was so interesting to learn that her religious mentor was a dear friend of President Russell M. Nelson, the prophet and president of our church who passed away in September.)
4. The Journal of a Thousand Years by C. J. Archer
5. Legacy of Roses by Melanie Cellier
6. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Amazing! This is one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to! Multiple people, including my brother, recommended this and I'm so glad I made time for it.)
7. Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim
8. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 1 by Beth Brower ( A good friend has been trying to get me to read this series for at least a year. It finally came out on audiobook and I sped through them. The first book is kind of the prologue. The action really picks up in the third book. They are delightful! Emma is endearing and the whole cast of characters is quirky and fun. I suggested these for my December book club, which prompted a second listen of the whole series. These might fill that same niche that the Harry Potter books fill, comfort books that make me happy. Also, there are supposed to be 24 books by the time she's done, so there are lots of adventures to come.)
9. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 2 by Beth Brower
10. The Witch Who Stormed the Palace by Paul Gallico
11. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 3 by Beth Brower
12. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 4 by Beth Brower
13. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 5 by Beth Brower
14. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 6 by Beth Brower
15. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

November:

1. Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright
2. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 7 by Beth Brower
3. October 2025 General Conference
4. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 8 by Beth Brower
5. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (Beautifully written, I'm leading a book club discussion on this next year so I'll be reading it again soon.)
6. The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (I adored his book The Midnight Library, but this one was just okay.)
7. Everything Beautiful in Its Time by Jenna Bush Hager
8. Spectacular by Stephanie Garber
9. Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber (I re-read these because I couldn't remember if I'd finished the series. Spoiler: I had. I listened to them on triple speed.)
10. The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
11. Spiderweb For Two: A Melendy Maze by Elizabeth Enright
12. A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh (This was more poignant than I was expecting. It's my fourth book from this author this year, I enjoy her storytelling.)

December:

1. Snowglobe by Soyoung Park
2. A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin
3. A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber
4. Faking Christmas by Cindy Steel
5. The One With the Kiss Cam by Cindy Steel
6. Doctrine and Covenants
7. October 2025 General Conference
8. Lovely War by Julie Berry (This is beautifully written. It weaves several stories together, most of them work well, but the narrator's story feels slightly out of place.)
9. Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson
10. Having People Over by Chelsea Fagan
11. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 1 by Beth Brower
12. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 2 by Beth Brower
13. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 3 by Beth Brower
14. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 4 by Beth Brower
15. Doing Small Things With Great Love by Sharon Eubank
16. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 5 by Beth Brower
17. Celebrating a Christ Centered Christmas by Emily Belle Freeman
18. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 6 by Beth Brower
19. Come Follow Me Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025
20. Book of Mormon
21. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 8 by Beth Brower

On Christmas Day in the Morning

All the Books

These two pictures popped up in my photo memories today. I was admiring how cute these little guys were when I realized something. This is Cooper at 18 and 19 months old. He's comfortably reading those books that have regular pages. I know we had board books available, but he had definitely been thumbing through standard picture books for some time. 

I chatted with a friend (she has five kids, her oldest is Topher's age) last night who told me that they've kept most of their books packed in boxes so their kids wouldn't destroy them. I don't think it occurred to me to keep books out of my kids' reach. In fact, I'm pretty sure I actively put books in their hands as much as possible. Have books been destroyed over the years? Yes, but mostly from overuse. We've had an occasional tear here and there, but it's generally been from excited page turning.

My purpose in writing about this isn't to say, "Look at my amazing children." Rather, I'm curious why they didn't rip up books the way some of their peers did. 

Wingardium Leviosa

Sophie and Topher had fun at the annual Harry Potter party at the library this week. Sophie was a helper and Topher was a happy participant.