Happy 2023 to my reading year! Had a pretty good reading January, even if a few longer/harder books slowed me down a tiny bit. Still, overall pretty happy with what I read. Had a few snow days/2 hour delays where I got to read first thing in the morning with my hot tea while my kids were asleep which was wonderful. Those are my favorite reading moments when they happen! (And very hygge I believe).
I'm very active on Goodreads here, somewhat active on Instagram here, and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy on the 15th!
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
This was one of the books that I picked for Matt to give me for Christmas. I read a couple Katherine Center books last year and have really enjoyed them so I'm working through her back list. The protagionist here was in a plane accident even though she REALLY didn't like planes and didn't want to go on a this plane trip. Most of the story follows her time in the hospital and the ways her life has completely changed in the meantime. Also, romance. It wasn't my favorite of hers but I enjoyed it. 3.5 Stars
The Good Girls of Shipwreck Lane by Kelly Harms
This was the other book I picked for Matt to buy me, since I have enjoyed this author in the past AND was sold on this taking place in Maine. Two women with the same name from the same Midwest town (I think in Iowa) find out they have won the knock-off of HGTV's dream home which is in Maine. One is obviously the actual winner, the other has a very close e-mail address. They both end up at the house and some disagreements ensue but then it's about them settling into their new community, finding jobs, and settling in. It moved a little slow but mostly enjoyed it. 3 Stars
The New Design Rules: How to Decorate and Renovate, from Start to Finish: An Interior Design Book by Emily Henderson
I have enjoyed many design books and this one had so many pretty pictures, maybe I think that because a lot of them featured blue things/wall/accents/furniture. This was more the nitty gritty of how to design a house or do a big remodel, a bit more nitty gritty than I was looking for but I did appreciate all the pretty pictures. 3.5 Stars
Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
This had some unreliable narrator, a plot device I do not always appreciate but did her. One woman gets sucked into an old friend's counterfeit purse buying/selling scheme. Interspersed with police interviews once they are found out. Interesting, I don't know anything about the counterfeit purse business (nor do I own any). Was under 300 pages but still seemed to drag a bit at times. 3 Stars
Feed These People: Slam-Dunk Recipes for Your Crew by Jen Hatmaker
I've read many of Jen Hatmaker's memoir-esque books and have heard her on podcasts here and there so even though I read a paper copy of this, I could "hear" her reading the whole thing to me. She's a bit more irreverant and likes A LOT more spice and flavor than I do. I think there was maybe 1-2 recipes in this whole book that I thought I might eat. But I still enjoyed her very casual style and her storytelling. 3.5 Stars
On Gin Lane by Brooke Lea Foster
The cover of this looked like a Beatriz Williams novel to me and it was set in a time period that she frequents. However, this was a lot slower than most of hers and sometimes I just got annoyed with the protagonist. Felt like she should have been based on a real person going off some of the stories but I don't remember seeing anywhere that it was. Rich people living somewhere near the beach near New York. Hamptons or something. It was ok. 2.75 Stars
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This was our loose book club book for January. Really, more of a buddy read with 2 of my sisters and my sister's BFF. I did these about half a dozen times last year with those 2 sisters and I don't think there was ever once we were all reading the book at the same time. And this book all 4 of us did overlap! I had read it before, not too long after it came out, but had forgotten nearly all the details. I liked it better this time! (Also, when I was checking it out, one of our librarians told me her husband went to grad school with the author and she went to his wedding! Random!) 4 Stars
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
Picked up another of her books when I had a little bit of extra reading time this month, I expect hers to be reliably readable and this one was too. A woman who is a bit lost goes on a three week backpacking trip through the woods with mostly strangers. Her brother's BFF who apparently has had a crush on her forever is there too. THINGS HAPPEN. I will be doing a 3 week backpacking trip. I like toilet paper too much. 3.5 Stars
Spare by Prince Harry
Oh man, this one. I finished it a week ago and I feel like I am still processing all that happened in it. It was A LOT. 400 pages and well told (he had a ghostwriter who did a great job). The first section was about losing his mother which was tragic and terrible and he tells of the unresolved grief he dealt with for years due to that. It was the most sympathy I felt for him during the book. His life would have been so different if his mother had lived and provided that staple force in his life. He said (paraphrased) that "Pa (Prince Charles) wasn't ready to be a parent and really wasn't ready to be a single parent". It seems the boys were bounced around a lot between Princess Diana's death and their being on their own (although Harry writes of still living with Charles when he met Meghan). Anyways, then a section about being in the Army and then the last about meeting Meghan. The last 4 years was condensed into about 60 pages which was A LOT. It felt a bit rushed and it seemed to me to be where he really went after his family. We won't really ever know what went down in those discussions. I'm glad I read it. It made me have both more and less sympathy for his story. I still don't know completely how I feel about him now. 4 Stars
When We Had Wings by Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris, and Susan Meissner
This book took me forever to get through. Part of that was because I was reading Spare during the day and just picking this up for 10-15 minutes at a time before bed. My reading on it was very scattered and then after 5 days I just wanted to get it done and read the last half in one day. The story of the first female prisoners of war during WWII. Nurses in the Philippines (where my Grandpa was stationed!). Interesting but my disjointed reading didn't help. Took me a while to tell the nurses apart but then I did appreciate hearing their story. Based on real women. 3 Stars
My Hygge Home by Meik Wiking
A quick read about making your home more "Hygge" - cozy, welcoming, and homey. It made me want to have a reading nook and more days I could just curl up away from the cold and read and do puzzles and drink hot tea. But, alas, school and children. It was a nice light read after some heavier ones! 3.75 Stars
Read with Luke and/or Sam
How Winston Came Home for Christmas by Alex T. Smith
We've read How Winston Saved Christmas by the same author I believe the last 3 Decembers. A new one came out in 2022 but we couldn't get it until Christmas break...so we read 3-4 "chapters (25 of them, one to read each day in December leading up to Christmas) a night to get it done before it was too far into January. It was fun to read more of Winston's story and boys like it. 3.5 Stars
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, illustrated by Jim Kay
I had long planned to start reading these with Luke on his 9 ¾ birthday which is what we did! I bought the illustrated Starsversion over a year ago just to wait for that moment. I have read the whole series 6ish times through (although, not all 7 every time because they weren't all out when I started reading them) and it was a DELIGHT to share them with Luke. He LOVED it and was completely into the story. We just finished last week and he was immediately asking when we'd start book 2. Less happens in this book than I remembered? But we were also only reading a chapter, or even half a chapter, at a time. You all, a full chapter could take 30 minutes to read. That's a lot on a school night! But I LOVED sharing this with him. 4.5 Stars
What have YOU been reading lately?
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