BOOKS I READ IN 2018

I'm sharing the books I read in 2018 with you today! For the first time in a VERY long time, it was a fairly consistent reading year for me. I don't know if I will ever be one of the people who reads 30-40 books in a year (just thinking about that gives me the hives. How can you even remember it all?). Prior to this year I had not really read consistently since my high school days. Entering college and then motherhood just pushed reading for pleasure to the side for quite a few years. 

Back in late 2016, I had a tiny baby and a strong itch to read something amazing. So I asked my wonderful, book-loving husband to pick something out for me that would hopefully jumpstart my reading life again. He did and that's where this list starts off today. Wait, wasn't that 2016, you say? Yes. This first book took me OVER a year to finish. But that one book that took foreeeever to finish really kicked me back into reading mode. So here we are now at the start of 2019 and I have an actual list of books I finished last year and I'm feeling quite excited to share them with you. 

As a side note -- if you are like me and sometimes struggle to find the motivation to read regularly, making a completed book list as I went was a HUGE encouragement to me throughout the year. It was a visual reminder of Yes!! You CAN finish books, Emily!! I thought I would just mention this little tip as 2019 begins with (hopefully) another year of reading ahead. (I say hopefully because there will be a newborn added into the picture in February this year, so I will hold my plans a little loosely.😉)

Books of 2018:

February 

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I started this book when Charlie was an tiny infant.....and finished it when my son was 1.5 years old. Probably not the best season of life to try and finish a new book, but it DID get finished eventually. Samuel picked this first book of the year to get me back into the swing of reading, and he picked a good one. McCarthy's style of storytelling really pulled me in because I haven't read anything quite like it before. It's totally unique. The Road is not the most action packed story, but their story of togetherness, loss, survival, and determination completely force you to keep reading until the end. I really enjoy it a lot, and I'm so glad I kept working at it.

March
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I didn't want this book to end, you guys. It was so beautiful and descriptive. It also may have started an obsession with reading WWII historical fiction this year which I neverrr would have expected. One of the main characters is a young girl who is blind, dealing with the effects of the war. Her blindness creates such an interesting aspect to the novel because the author tells such a strong story through all of the senses. I loved this book and have thought about it a lot since finishing it.





April
The Gospel Comes with a House Key by Rosaria Butterfield 
This was the first Rosaria Butterfield book I had read and, man, can she write. I was so interested to read how she and her family show hospitality in their community and challenged to find ways that I can do the same.









Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling on Audiobook (finished in July)
Harry Potter will be read over and over and over in my life, I do believe. I will read it repeatedly for myself and hope to read it to my children one day. It's just always a good idea. Now, The Deathly Hallows was the only HP book that I had only read through once so I decided to change that this year! I listened to this on walks with Charlie and on many of our road trips to Kentucky and back. Loved every minute of it.





May
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
I loved this book SO MUCH. It was by far my favorite fiction book I read all year. And I'll be the first to admit that I cried multiple times reading this one. This was the second of three WWII historical fiction book I read last year. It's a story of women in wartime, finding and losing those they love, and doing everything they can to survive the Nazi's taking over their home.









June
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
And for my third WWII book, I kept seeing people talk about this one for months. One night we were out for a walk as a family and we came across a little free library in someone's front yard and wouldn't you know this little book that I had been wanting to read was inside! I was delighted to borrow it and bring it home. It's the story of a pregnant girl who runs away trying to find her long lost cousin who ends up  uncovering the life of a war hero. It was a fun, quick read.





August
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones 
I wanted to really like this book. But I just didn't. It was sad from the very beginning. It just carried a broken tone through it all, especially about the role of marriage and promise in today's society. I did enjoy the side stories about their family, career, and race, but the marriage depicted in this novel just left me heartbroken and aching for a happier story. Didn't love this book.








September
The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
If you like a good thriller, you will enjoy this one! I used to read thriller a lot more before becoming a mom and just loved it. Now....let's just say I was a little nervous to read this one, totally expecting to be such a scaredy chicken. I can't handle scary like I used to, yall! But it was way more suspenseful and just slightly scary so that it was the right amount of thriller for me. I didn't really love the final ending/resolution, but it does have some pretty great and surprising twists and turns.




October
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Wow. This story was pretty amazing. This story gives a fictional insight, loosely based on real events, to the life of refugees living in America. However, it was another book with a questionable line of decisions made by married couples (I feel like has been a theme in the books I've read this year, unfortunately). I would love to know the main character, Little Bee, in real life. Her personality and perspective were so gripping and felt so real. I would definitely recommend this book.






December 
Educated by Tara Westover
This was SUCH. a. great. book. After almost every chapter I found myself thinking, "Did that really happen?!" And yes, yes it did. This memoir was so unreal at times I could not put it down. Her retelling of the ridiculous injuries she and her family suffered alone are enough for me to want to read this again. Pretty unbelievable things happened in this family of Mormons who believe they are preparing for the end times at any moment. Tara's life story is one of shelter and "faith" on a secluded mountain and her struggle and fight to succeed when she enters the rest of the world as an older teenager. Highly, highly recommend.




Overall I was really happy to have finished all of these books at the end of the day, with really only one exception that I didn't love.

I think I will make reading one book a month my goal for 2019. So y'all keep me accountable on that. Here's to another year of reading!

Emily

WORSHIP + READING PLAYLIST

I can't read in silence. I'm one of those people that needs noise to make me tune my mind to what I'm reading. Not only does it help me focus, but it has always been how I enjoyed to read most. I can remember this being true all the way back to high school and especially in college.  I would listen to my iPod with headphones whenever I had to study at school or in the super quiet library. Another one of my favorite things to do is to listen to music when I read on road trips. Just thinking about reading with my headphones in the warm car makes me want to travel right now. ;) It's always been the best way for me to enjoy reading even more.

It has even been so true that I have a couple of albums I associate directly with books I was reading when I listened for the first time. Isn't that funny?! Is anyone else like this too or is my mind just so music associative? I remember listening to the new (at the time) Adele album as I was reading Water for Elephants. I was flying to Florida with my parents and sister for vacation and now whenever I hear that album it always makes me think of that book, those sandy beaches, and the sunny balcony I spent so much time reading on during our summer vacation.

If you are like me when it comes to reading with music, yay I'm not alone in this! And this post is especially for you. If you think I'm weird and crazy and could never imagine reading AND listening to music at the same time, first of all, try it sometime and second of all, this playlist is still for you. Today I'm sharing the Spotify playlist I recently made for doing my Bible reading plan, and even if you don't want to listen while you read, these are songs you'll still want to add to your Jesus music repertoire. It's not a finished list in the least, but I've been loving it so far this year.

Just to name a few of the artists on the playlist:
Sovereign Grace Music
Audrey Assad
Bart Millard
Andrew Peterson
Shane & Shane

Some of my top favorites you will hear are "All Creatures of Our God and King," "All Glory Be to Christ," "O Praise the Name," "Prayer," and "Grace That Is Greater." So if nothing else, listen to those first.



This playlist will continue to grow and change throughout the year I'm sure. I would love to know your favorites right now too, so please drop them below in the comments.

Happy reading AND listening! 😊
-Emily

FAVORITE BOOKS: 1 YEAR OLD EDITION

I'm going to have a one year old come August 4th. What?! Not possible.

This post is allll about our favorite books throughout Charlie's first year. The books that I basically have memorized now. The books that I know exactly which page he will crack up at. The books that he never pushes away (he can totally communicate which books he does not want to read, let me tell you). The books that have sweet stories and beautiful illustrations.

Charlie loves reading right now. He loves to read before naps and at bedtime. He loves to wander into his room and sit next to his book box, throwing books out, flipping through a couple, and then tossing some back in. He loves to "read" in the rocking chair and in the car. And he can be kinda picky!

But I need to share this picture before we get into the book titles because 1) THAT HAIR. At what point do I know if I'm emotionally ready for his first hair cut or not?? 2) He's reading one of MY favorite books as a child that I distinctly remember my parents reading to me over and over, Go, Dog. Go! And 3) look at those perfect page-flipping thumbs. I was super impressed he mastered this at only 11 months old. Maybe he has books in his genes. After all, his daddy works in books. Books just might be his job one day. ;)

Okay, let's get into it. These are our top 5 favorite books from year one:

1. The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen 

Without a doubt, this is Charlie's number one favorite book! He L O V E S this board book. I think it's a combination of the colorful underwater pictures and the repetition of the words that he just eats up. He never says no to this one and always greets it with a happy sound when we pick it up! There's one page in here where the fish is really big and has a very happy/friendly face (I won't ruin the ending for you haha) and that is his favorite page. This has been one of our go-to before bed books.










2. "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Eric Carle 

I found a giant board book copy of this classic at Halfprice Books when Charlie was a few months old and in the last 3 months it's been one of his favorites. We kept this one in the car for him to flip through as we drove for a while and he really enjoyed that. It's GIANT and I think that's one of the biggest reasons he loves this one. Pictured to the left is his favorite page. He forms his little mouth into a perfect circle and says, "oooooh" everytime. I started taking his pointer finger and counting the children and now he gets it ready for me as soon as we arrive at this page! The illustrations and vibrant colors in this book are perfect for little babies. And it's a perfect book to teach your baby some animal names and colors!






3. Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton 

This is a repetitive song-type book that's easy make really fun. Think square-dancing! Bounce them on your knee, or make it into your own little tune, and your kiddo will go crazy for this one. An older woman from church recommended this one at our first baby shower so I knew I had to pick it up when I found it at Halfprice Books (are you sensing a theme in where I have had a lot of luck finding good books?). It never disappoints for a fun read! 











4. Charlie Goes Camping by Carrie Weston

I have a sweet friend from college who, the last 2 or 3 times I've seen her, has given me several "Charlie" books she's found. She's a teacher, so she's always hitting up Goodwill and thrift stores for books and she has found some gems! This is one of them and it is PERFECT because, as some of you may know, I grew up camping with my family. And we actually call him "Charlie Bear" as a nickname! The pictures are gorgeous and bright. The story is sweet and encourages being a helpful friend. It's a keeper.










5. Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Storybook Rhymes

This was one of Charlie's first Christmas presents from Mommy and Daddy and he has so enjoyed it! It sings the rhyme when you flip to the next page and when you press the buttons, they point out letters, shapes, and count items on each of the pages. It's clever, I find myself singing these songs almost daily, and it's a great beginner book for teaching babies the techniques of handling books/flipping pages. Ours has been well loved. 











I would love to know some of your favorite books! What books have your babies and toddlers loved reading over and over? Which ones give you all the feels or make you giggle? I'm always in the market for new children's books. Please share your favorites and suggestions in the comments! :)