Let's Bust a Recap : 2023

And just like that: here we are. Another trip around the sun behind us and now we're facing a brand new year. 2023 was kind of brutal. So much to be thankful for but all in all, I feel like I didn't sleep at all this year. And that's saying something because I've been an insomniac all my life. Cody started a new nursing job in May. His mom officially moved up to NC in July. My brother and his family finally moved to the mountain which is something we've been anticipating since we moved here in 2021. I went to Florida a lot this year. Like, at least half a dozen times. And the end of our year was marked by unexpected loss. I've just kindof been hanging on for dear life. 

As far as reading goes: I've read a lot this year. According to Goodreads, book-count-wise and page-count-wise I have quantitatively read more than I ever have before. As of this moment, I've finished 53 books this year (by the end of the day, we may up that to 54), and I currently have four books in progress. 

53 books, that's great! Didn't you have 40 on your list for 2023? You must have finished them all! Ha. Good one. I did read 26 books from my original 2023 list, and began three additional ones (one of which we got tantalizingly close to finishing), but that leaves 11 books from my 2023 list that I never even touched. I visited the library a lot this year, and in July I totally fell down a Christy Miller hole.

When I started making annual book lists for myself back in 2015, I would also make a "secret goal" that I'd share at the end of the year. I haven't really done that for the past few years, but this year I decided to bring it back and my secret goal was to read four books each month. In 2018, I made it my secret goal to read three books each month, and I barely scraped by but I managed it, so reading four a month seemed like a pretty big challenge. I came out swinging reading five books every month—six in February!—until May when I only managed three. And so, I failed the secret goal. May and November didn't make the cut, and December is still up in the air. We'll see if I can finish one more book before midnight. 

Enough with the stats though. Here's what I read in 2023 and some of my thoughts about it. 

January

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (read aloud) : completed 1/11

Reading this aloud with Cody was a fun introduction to Verne and I'm excited to read more of his stuff.

Polk by Walter R. Borneman : completed 1/11

I finished three more presidents this year! We're getting close to the Civil War.

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery : completed 1/24

Another lovely installment from the author of my beloved Anne books.

Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery : completed 1/28

Emily's Quest by L.M. Montgomery : completed 1/30

February

Skating Shoes by Noel Streatfeild : completed 2/12

I liked this one even better than Ballet Shoes! 

Live Your Best Lie by Jessie Weaver : completed 2/15

So fun reading a debut novel from someone you know in real life—especially when it's good!

The Tempest by William Shakespeare : completed 2/19

The draft for this blog post has been gathering dust in the archives since February. I'll get to it next year. 

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson (read aloud) : 

completed 2/20

This four-book series has been fantastic to read aloud together, and we almost finished it before the year was over, but alas: we have a few more chapters to go in the final book. Recap coming soon!

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty : completed 2/25

Another fun installment from Liane Moriarty. 

Surprise Endings by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 2/28

March

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume (library book) : completed 3/6

So nostalgic revisiting this, and the movie adaptation is maybe the best book-to-screen adaptation I've ever seen!

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read; read aloud) : completed 3/7

Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot : completed 3/20

Read this like a devotional for the first three months of the year and it was wonderful. 

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (library book; read aloud) : completed 3/20

Maybe my most unexpected read of 2023. 

Zachary Tayor by John S.D. Eisenhower : completed 3/29

April

Caraval by Stephanie Garber (library book) : completed 4/2

Thanks to the book club for my deep dive into Stephanie Garber this year. 

Legendary by Stephanie Garber (library book) : completed 4/6

Finale by Stephanie Garber (library book) : completed 4/16

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber (library book) : completed 4/25

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber (library book) : completed 4/29

May

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl : completed 5/16

It's Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa TerKeurst : completed 5/20

Probably my least favorite book of the year.

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns : completed 5/31

Followed by the best standalone novel I read this year.

June

The Undoing of Saint Silvanus by Beth Moore (library book) : completed 6/10

Can we start a petition for Beth Moore to write another novel? Anyone with me?

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin : completed 6/21

The most average book I read this year.

If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais : completed 6/29

Not as great as her debut, but still a solid offering from Bianca Marais. 

Island Dreamer by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 6/30

Ah yes. The slippery slope into the Christy Miller hole. I should have known I wouldn't be able to stop after Island Dreamer. 

July

All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore (library book) : completed 7/8

The first of two brand new released memoirs I read this year. Who even am I?

A Heart Full of Hope by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 7/23

True Friends by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 7/25

Starry Night by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 7/25

Seventeen Wishes by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 7/29

A Time to Cherish by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 7/30

Sweet Dreams by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 7/31

August

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear : completed 8/5

Still marching slowly along through the Maisie Dobbs series. 

North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson (read aloud) : completed 8/7

The BFG by Roald Dahl (read aloud) : completed 8/22

My favorite reading experience of the year by a long-shot. 

Ghosted by Rosie Walsh : completed 8/29

Another book club selection. Most gasp-inducing book of 2023. 

September

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (re-read) : completed 9/2

Also sitting in drafts. *sigh*

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart : completed 9/16

Started another mystery series this year. We've got several going now.

Millard Fillmore by Robert J. Rayback : completed 9/21

A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George : completed 9/27

Wins biggest wake-up call in 2023. 

October

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck : completed 10/5

Probably the sweetest book I read this year.

The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson (read aloud) : completed 10/6

We could not put this one down. Probably our favorite of the quartet.

The Murder of Roger Akroyd by Agatha Christie : completed 10/9

A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller : completed 10/26

Wins most helpful book in 2023.

November

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie : completed 11/4

If Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. wins best book-to-screen adaptation; A Haunting in Venice is definitely the worst. Ugh.

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber (library book) : completed 11/8

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (library book) : completed 11/11

I could not wait to get my hands on this one and it surprised more than one person in my life. 

December

A Promise is Forever by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 12/3

To finish off the original Christy Miller series. I'm sure I'll be dipping into the Sierra Jensen books next year.

Miracles by C.S. Lewis : completed 12/16

Recap coming soon.

Oh My Stars by Sally Kilpatrick : completed 12/26

Because why finish one of the books I'm currently reading when I can just pluck this cute Christmas book off my shelf instead?

If you paid attention, you'll notice I still didn't read David Copperfield this year, although I am ten chapters in so there's that. I watched the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice this week which prompted me to pick up my beloved copy of the book, and that is the book I may or may not finish today. We'll see. 

All told, it's been quite a year and I'm looking forward to putting 2023 on the shelf and jumping into 2024. Tune back in tomorrow for my reading plans for next year, and have the happiest time bringing in the new year tonight with the ones you love. 

How was your 2023?

Let's Bust a Recap : Hallowe'en Party

You knew it was coming, right? As soon as Kenneth Branagh announced his newest Poirot adaptation earlier this year, I was faced with a conundrum: I already had The Murder of Roger Akroyd on my 2023 book list, but now, obviously, I needed to read Hallowe'en Party before seeing A Haunting in Venice. On top of that, shortly before hearing about the movie, I came across the book in a Little Free Library and had just added it to my collection. Literally. In February. Of this year. What's a girl to do? 

Come October I nearly had a fit. I strayed from my list freely and often this year, and, as evidenced by my little self-imposed check-in at the beginning of September, I was feeling the crunch to actually read the books I had put on my list. So I sat down with The Murder of Roger Akroyd and figured I'd just get to Hallowe'en Party whenever I actually planned to watch the movie. 

Well, the same friends who had us over to watch Death on the Nile notified me immediately after seeing A Haunting in Venice come available on hulu that I better get to reading, because we were going to have another watch party. 

Naturally, I obliged. 

In this slim mystery, Hercule Poirot is called by a spooked Ariadne Oliver after she attends a Hallowe'en party where a child is drowned in an apple bobbing tub. The famous author of detective novels is a personal friend of Poirot's, and she begs him to come investigate the crime(s) for himself. The child had declared earlier in the day that she witnessed a murder and so Poirot's mission is twofold: solve the murder of the child, and determine if the dead child really did witness a murder and solve that one too. 

Clever. 

Hallowe'en Party is one of Agatha Christie's much later novels published in 1969 and while it still had her telltale stamp of misdirection and numerous suspects, there was a maturity to this mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed. This is the first Christie novel I've read where I definitively figured out the whodunnit before the actual revelation, but the whydunnit still eluded me making the resolution as satisfying as any of her other books. Reading this one so close to The Murder of Roger Akroyd, I couldn't help compare the two, and this one was by far my favorite. 

The movie on the other hand was the most ridiculous adaptation yet. In Murder on the Orient Express, Branagh did a great job developing the suspects and laying out the mystery, but then royally screwed up the ending. In Death on the Nile, he dragged us through a horrendous adaptation but managed to end it perfectly. In A Haunting in Venice: it was a total free-for-all. Branagh basically took the character names from the book, lifted a few plot devices (like the actual Hallowe'en party, and the separate past and present murders), but then just made his own movie. Like, why? 

I mean, honestly, why?? I really can't get over it. It was awful. 

Even setting the novel aside, the movie just wasn't great; although, much to my own surprise, I enjoyed Tina Fey in the role of Ariadne Oliver. While it's certainly not how I imagined her as I was reading the book, Fey did a great job with the role. While I cannot in good conscience recommend that trainwreck of an adaptation to anyone, I would definitely recommend reading Hallowe'en Party. I will warn you that there are several child victims in this one, but if you can deal with that, this is a great mystery. 

And to end on a fun note: Agatha Christie dedicated this little novel to author P.G. Wodehouse. Because they enjoyed each other's books. You know I'm a sucker for a good dedication and this one made me smile real big. How fun.

Still waiting for your Miss Marple recs over here!

Let's Bust a Recap : The Murder of Roger Akroyd

The Murder of Roger Akroyd is one of the greatest mysteries of all time. And that's not just me talking. As recently as 2013, the British Crime Writers' Association voted it the best crime novel ever. Serialized in 1925 and published in 1926, The Murder of Roger Akroyd is Agatha Christie's sixth published novel and third to feature our favorite little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. 

Well, I finally got around to reading it this year, completing my little three-book box set of "The World's Favourite Agatha Christie" that I purchased back in 2017 in anticipation of Murder on the Orient Express coming to the big screen. 

And it was a rollicking good time. In The Murder of Roger Akroyd, Dr. James Sheppard is assisting Hercule Poirot in the investigation and keeping account of the details in his personal diary (á la Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes) so he is our first person narrator. Akroyd turns up dead in his study—stabbed—sometime after 9:00 one evening right after the good doctor has left his presence. The doctor along with Akroyd's butler discover him after a mysterious phone call placed to the doctor at home alerts him something strange is afoot. Through a series of circumstances, Poirot is asked to help with the case though he is trying to live a quiet retired life in this supposedly sleepy little village called King's Abbot. In what I'm coming to believe is the typical Christie formula, nearly every single person is a reasonable suspect, but never fear: Hercule Poirot cannot be stumped. In this novel, we get blackmail, poisonings, suicide, love triangles, a secret marriage: it's all in there! The crazy twist ending changed the game for the genre, and The Murder of Roger Akroyd is a perpetual fan favorite the world over. 

My personal favorite aspect of this particular Christie novel is Sheppard's spinster sister Caroline whom he lives with. She's an absolute riot of a character and she singlehandedly elevated this mystery for me. Christie herself acknowledged that this character was possibly a precursor to her other famous detective Miss Marple, so now I'm pretty determined to finally choose a Miss Marple novel for my next Agatha Christie book. 

While I had a lot of fun reading The Murder of Roger Akroyd and would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a good mystery, I wouldn't say it's my new favorite. As I alluded to above, I'm starting to see a pattern to Christie's writing: multiple credible suspects, a flood of clues and red herrings to overwhelm the reader, and a brilliant resolution. I think reading one or two Agatha Christie novels a year is probably a good pace to avoid burnout, but maybe I'm judging too harshly after only reading a few (this one was my fourth). I'll be talking about another of her novels later this week which brings my Christie Total Read to five. I have about twenty-five more sitting on my shelf, and I've decided I must get to Miss Marple next.

So which one should I read?

Let's Bust a Recap : The Woman in Me

Alright, y'all, let's just get right into it. I'm not a big memoir girl and more than one person in my real life was surprised by how anxious I was to read Britney Spears' buzzy new tell-all. 

I grew up in a household that loved music. There weren't too many rules about what we could and couldn't listen to. But on the flip-side of that, my parents shielded us from a lot of pop-culture. I feel like their approach of not making anything a huge deal and keeping the TV to a minimum in our home gave me a really healthy perspective on celebrities. I never idolized them. I didn't have posters plastering the walls of my bedroom. I really never had celebrity crushes because, what's the point? I'll probably never meet those people in real life, right? So I can't really call myself a Britney Spears superfan or anything. Sure, I own Crossroads on DVD, and if you turned back the clock you could definitely catch my little middle school self dancing around to her songs. My friends and I would choreograph our dances and practice them like it was our actual job. (We weren't just dancing to Britney: pretty much anything with a fun beat—the Beach Boys, Steven Curtis Chapman, *nsync—got airtime too. It was a total free-for-all. The nineties/early aughts were a wild time.)

Growing up in the time that I did, I couldn't have missed the headlines even if I'd tried: Britney's 55-hour Marriage! Britney's Custody Battle with K-Fed! Britney Shaves Her Own Head! And how can an adult woman who makes such a ludicrous amount of money be stuck in this heinous conservatorship for over 13 years?? If I had been on social media during the #FreeBritney movement, you can bet that hashtag would have popped up on my profile here and there.

So when the news dropped that after finally getting out of the conservatorship, Britney would be publishing a memoir: I was all ears. As soon as the release date was announced, I requested that my library preorder it. (Actually, The Woman in Me is what finally motivated me to get my own library card.) And even though my librarian snickered at my overeager request, I ain't sorry because there are over 300 holds on it right now, and your girl was first in line. (Who's laughing now, Lisa?)

But to get to the actual content of the book: I knew it wasn't going to be some sunny-day picnic, and boy, was I right on that. Britney Spears has always seemed like such a genuinely sweet person to me which is such a strange dichotomy from her hypersexualized star persona. As someone who was thrown into the industry at such a young age, I don't think she was equipped to deal with how quickly she rose to fame or how massive that fame was when she got there. (I don't think anyone would be equipped to deal with that.) By the time she was 20 years old, she had paid off all her family's debts and was financially supporting them. But somehow at 26 years of age, her father was able to take over her life as conservator of her person and conservator of her estate. Every single person in this girl's life exploited her, and her own upbringing and naiveté did not prepare her to handle any of it. Britney is a few years older than me, but honestly as I was reading her memoir, I wished I could turn back time and just adopt her. She is literally begging one person, any person in her life to love her unconditionally and that breaks my heart.

As for the information she shares in The Woman in Me, Britney comes across as incredibly honest, but also exceedingly immature. (Like, her maturity may have been stunted as a result of being kept in an abusive conservatorship her entire adult life? Who would have thought?) I'm not gullible enough to believe that this memoir paints a completely accurate portrait of her life, and she does not delve very deeply into her mental health or if the conservatorship was necessary. It's very likely that she did need help (and maybe still does—have you seen her Instagram? it's a little unhinged), but I'm fairly confident her dirtbag father was the last person on earth who should have been in that role. Ultimately, I'm still left with a lot of questions about how the legal system could have failed her so egregiously. And unfortunately, I have to chalk that up to corrupt people with access to an ungodly amount of money. 

Concerning the memoir itself, I'll be honest: The Woman in Me is not great. I think her ghostwriter did a great job of capturing her voice. But even so, can I get an editor in the house? It was rough going at times. It definitely reads like a teenager's very angsty, very disjointed diary.

Ultimately, The Woman in Me left me feeling so very sad for Britney. I hate seeing humans be so horrible to other humans and that has been her entire experience in life. She still seems like the most honest-to-goodness sweet person, and I sincerely hope she finds real Love and full healing. She has announced Volume 2 of her memoir coming next year. I'm not sure I'll be as eager to read that one, although I do think the more space she gets from the conservatorship can only help. 

Is there a celebrity your friends and family would be surprised to find you so interested in? And most importantly, what's your favorite Britney song? It'll always be Lucky for me. 😭 (Crazy is a close second though.)

Let's Bust a Recap : A Curse for True Love

Not only did my resolve to stick to my 2023 book list fall apart pretty quickly when a friend lent me a book in September, I completely failed at ignoring my library holds. In fact, in the week leading up to the release of Stephanie Garber's newest book, I was checking my library account online every single day just in case they got it early. And when October 24th rolled around, and it still wasn't ready, I had a real internal struggle over what the line was between waiting patiently like a normal human being or pestering the librarians about why the book wasn't available yet. (Don't even get me started on the Britney Spears memoir; we'll talk about that Friday.)

But finally, I was able to get my hands on the conclusion to Stephanie Garber's Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy. And you know what? Yay for that because it broke me out of a major reading slump I fell into during October. Even though I would still place this book—along with all her others—squarely into the "Trash But I Liked It" category, I was glad to finally get the end of the story. 

What are you even talking about, Hannah? If you're brand new, then you may want to head back to this post from earlier in the year where I detailed my experience of reading Stephanie Garber's Caraval trilogy and the first two books in her Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy. My book club chose Caraval, and I went way down the rabbit hole reading all the books Stephanie Garber has had published to date. In this much-anticipated end to her Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy, we get shifting perspectives between Evangeline Fox, her husband Prince Apollo, and Jacks the fated Prince of Hearts. A Curse for True Love picks up literally right where The Ballad of Never After left us, with Evangeline in Apollo's arms right after he erases all her memories. As Evangeline struggles to regain her lost memories, Apollo is determined to end Jacks, but all Jacks cares about is protecting Evangeline from everyone who wants to kill her. And let me tell you: EVERYONE wants to kill her. For vague reasons I can only assume Garber created as an excuse to let Jacks keep coming to her rescue because it was very unclear why she was such a target. Can Evangeline figure out who is good and who is bad? And can she do it before irreparable damage is done?

Of course she can, and you can see where the story is headed from miles away. Unfortunately, Garber's writing has not really improved. But I thought she did some clever things in A Curse for True Love, particularly with Apollo and the Tree of Souls. As expected, Evangeline gets her tidy, Happily Ever After, and Garber teases more stories to come in a ridiculously schmaltzy epilogue. 

Despite the fact that I will never recommend these books to anyone, and I will probably never read them again myself, I enjoyed them for what they were, and A Curse for True Love was an entertaining end to the series. 

Do you have any books that fall into the "Trash But You Like It" category? And are there any librarians out there who can explain to me why it took so long for supposedly preordered books to be available?

Let's Bust a Recap : A Year Down Yonder

Well my resolve to stick to my 2023 book list for the rest of the year did not even last a month. In return for making her read letting her borrow Anne of Avonlea, a friend of mine lent me this sweet little 2001 Newbery Medal winner and I loved it.

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck was published in 2000 and it is actually the middle installment of a trilogy. I tried to get the first book, A Long Way From Chicago, from my library, but after waiting on it for a few weeks without it ever becoming available for me to check out, I decided to just go ahead and read this one. 

Set in the midst of the Great Depression, fifteen year old Mary Alice Dowdel is sent downstate to live with her grandmother while her older brother goes out West to join the army and her parents stay in Chicago. Mary Alice is less than thrilled to be leaving Chicago to stay with her hard-nosed country grandma. But what follows is a string of laugh-out-loud funny stories that eventually bond Mary Alice to her grandmother in a hilariously charming way, and by the end of her year down yonder, Mary Alice doesn't want to leave her Grandma Dowdel to go back home to Chicago. We even get to see her come back years later at the end of WWII so that Grandma Dowdel can give Mary Alice away in the front room to her handsome bridegroom. 

Richard Peck's delightful slice-of-life novel had me grinning from ear to ear, beginning to end. While A Year Down Yonder doesn't offer much in the way of a sustained plot, the episodic nature of this short, middle grade book brought to mind a lot of my all-time favorites like Anne of Green Gables or Little Women. Grandma Dowdel is a force to be reckoned with and it was gratifying to watch Mary Alice's perception of her no-nonsense grandmother change as the book went on. 

This little book clocks in at under 150 pages, and it makes for a great reading experience either for yourself or aloud with some young'uns. It's got my enthusiastic stamp of approval, and I'll probably get the other two installments in the trilogy at some point in the future. 

What's your favorite Newbery winning book?

Let's Bust a Recap : A Praying Life

On Tuesday, I shared about my non-fiction pick for September; today, I want to discuss my non-fiction pick for October. A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller was published in 2009, and when my friend Teresa recommended it as one of the best books on prayer she had ever read, I immediately added it to my wishlist. Not long afterwards, I received it in a book exchange I participated in during my two seconds on the Instagram. This is the same book exchange in which I received two Jen Wilkin books and may I just comment on how funny it is to me that during a public book exchange with strangers on the internet, I received three Christian non-fiction books from three different people? This was not a Christian book exchange and I did not follow strictly Christian book accounts when I was on Instagram. In fact, I wouldn't even have been able to tell you before the book exchange that the three people who sent me books were Christians! As my fictional friend Katie Weldon would say: What a God-thing.

Anyway, my friend Teresa was right: this is the best book on prayer I've ever read. (Admittedly, I haven't read all that many books exclusively on prayer, but hey, of the ones I have read, this is the best.) In A Praying Life, Paul Miller introduces us to prayer that regularly and consistently hopes, trusts, and expects God to act. J.I. Packer describes this book as "honest, realistic, mature, wise, deep" and Paul David Tripp says it's "a book on prayer that actually makes you want to pray!" Miller employs my favorite non-fiction writing tactic wherein he weaves together personal stories with practical advice to convey his message. His material comes alive as you read about how he has personally struggled to pray and how his circumstances have shaped his prayer life. I found this book illuminating from the very first page to the very last and while it may sound dramatic to say that this book revolutionized my thinking about prayer, that's exactly what it did. 

As someone who came to know Jesus as Savior at a very young age and was raised in church by loving Christian parents, prayer has been an uphill climb my whole life. I have a hard time staying consistent in it, and I have often struggled with the question "What's the point?" There is a constant temptation to wait to pray until I have my act together, and Miller combats this tendency right out of the gate by pointing to the Pharisee who would stand in the square and pray aloud contrasting him with the sinner who cried out for mercy. The Pharisee seemingly has it all together in his prayer, but Jesus says the sinner is the one who goes home justified before God. The reminder that I must come to God like a child, the invitation to come messy, to trade my heavy burden for Christ's light one was a balm for my soul. None of what I read in Miller's book was new information, but somehow the way he connected the dots made me think about prayer in a way I never had before. In one instance, Miller describes his morning prayer time including interruptions from his autistic daughter and having a conversation with his wife in the midst of it. Instead of giving up or scrapping that particular time as a prayer failure, he showed how those interruptions and distractions directed his prayer time. The idea that letting what seem to me to be distracting thoughts actually open up a way for me to invite God into even more areas of my life was something I hadn't really considered. 

Another section of the book I really appreciated was Miller's handling of lament. Instead of just pointing the reader to the Psalms and encouraging them to pray the Scripture (which he does), Miller writes about times in his life where he was in crisis and shares what his prayers of lament about specific situations actually sounded like. 

Miller also gives very practical advice on keeping a prayer journal and making prayer cards to aid in praying, and I know this is a book I will come back to for those commonsense tips and as a boon when I'm feeling discouraged about my failure to pray better. A Praying Life is a book I can't commend highly enough. It is encouraging, practical, and real, and I've already recommended it to people in my life. 

When was the last time a new book gave you a fresh perspective on an old subject?

Let's Bust a Recap : A Woman After God's Own Heart

Well hello there. I know it's been a hot minute since I posted an actual book recap around here, and I'm jumping back in today with this non-fiction read from September. This book has been sitting on my shelf for years. And not just like, more than two years; I'm talking more than ten years. Easily. When I was in high school, a friend and I went through A Young Woman After God's Own Heart with a mentor at our church. That same friend chose this book for our book club to read together this fall. For me, it came in the middle of a real spiritual dry spell. With all the craziness of our lives this summer, my quiet time had become nearly non-existent, and picking up this book at the beginning of September felt like a sweet and much-needed reset for me.

A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George was originally published in 1997, and this updated and expanded version was released in 2006. George's goal in writing this book is to share practical, scriptural insights on how any woman in any stage of life can pursue God's priorities in her personal life. While A Woman After God's Own Heart was written for "any woman in any stage of life", one-third of the book is specifically aimed at wives and mothers and I could easily see how a woman who is not in that stage of life but wants to be might not feel very helped by this book. 

That being said: I personally found this book extremely helpful. To be blunt, the beginning and the end of this updated and expanded edition are not great, but the meat of the book when George gets into the nitty-gritty of daily life and her practical advice on how to pursue God's priorities was highly profitable. George's introduction and "Word of Welcome" seemed a little self-congratulatory to me, and the opening chapters came off a bit clichéd and very surface level. But the chapters on serving, following, and loving your husband were a stark reality check for me. Much like when I read Elisabeth Elliot's Let Me Be A Woman a few years back, I immediately felt myself get defensive when I started to read about ways to serve my husband—specifically her practical tips about keeping the house clean and having a meal ready for him after a long day of work. Who am I, June Cleaver?! Have we reverted back to the 1950s?! But as I calmed down and took time to think critically about her advice, I came back to my own firmly-held convictions about my role as a woman and a wife. While the implementation of George's suggestions will not look the same for every woman, the heart of her counsel rings true. It was challenging for me to read her words and wake up to some of the ways I have slacked off in my God-given role, and it was clear how that slacking off had contributed to the dry spell I was in spiritually. 

While George certainly doesn't pussyfoot around with her guidance to pursue God's priorities, she somehow does so gently. Right about the time I started to feel like I was failing on all fronts as I was reading her book, she softly reminds the reader that—to borrow the old Chinese proverb—"a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Throughout her book, George reminds the reader that something is better than nothing. Praying for five minutes today is better than not praying at all. Rather than berate myself for all the ways I could be doing better, I just need to do my best. What a sweet reminder.

Like I mentioned briefly, the end of the book also wasn't great. It felt like a bit of a sales pitch. Talking about the "legacy" of A Woman After God's Own Heart didn't really do much for me, and I don't think the "updated and expanded" version of this book added much to the original work. 

But all-in-all, A Woman After God's Own Heart is a book I can see myself revisiting—at least in part—in the future. It came to me at a time when I really needed it, and it has helped me to reset and resolve to pursue God's priorities as a woman living in 2023. I would recommend this to any woman seeking to follow close after God's heart with the caveat that if you're particularly longing to be a wife and mother, this may not be the book for you right now. While I think this book can be helpful for single women, it may pour salt in the wound of a hope presently deferred. 

Have you read any non-fiction that has been especially helpful to you lately?

Pumpkin Carving 2023

It's spooky season and you know what that means: time to carve up some pumpkins. For the past few weeks up here in beautiful western North Carolina, the leaves have been changing colors and it's been freezing, but over the weekend we had some very warm days which meant that yesterday we put on short sleeved t-shirts and went outside to carve our pumpkins in the welcome sunshine and crunchy leaves. Hallelujah! (Today, unfortunately, it is freezing again.)

<scooping pumpkin guts and carving them up>

This year we decided on bats. Creepy, sinister, Halloween bats. Cody went for a classic bat flying out of a cave kind of look. I went for a scary bat perching on a skull. I think they both turned out great, but I really love how Cody's looks lit up. 

(When you look at my pumpkin, what do you see first: the bat or the skull?)

Happy Halloween!

October 30, 2023

Casual Fridays

Exactly five years ago, Cody and I were smack in the middle of a roadtrip of epic proportions. We flew from Central Florida to Seattle, rented a car, and made our way down through Washington, Oregon, and California to San Jose where we turned in the rental and flew back home to Florida. One of the best trips we've ever taken although how in the world was it five years ago? Today I'm sharing this video Cody put together of our trip. 

What's the best trip you've ever taken?

Let's Bust a Recap : Ghosted

Reading Ghosted this year seems like a serendipitous work of kismet. I randomly plucked this cutie hot pink spine sporting that iconic little Penguin off the shelf at The Book Shelter this past spring while I was browsing the aisles on a quick trip down to Florida. I'd never even heard of it, but after reading the vague blurb on the back cover and then spotting the plug from Liane Moriarty on the front cover, I was hooked. This book was definitely coming home with me.

A couple months later, the book club and I were browsing the local Friends of the Library on another quick trip I had taken down to Florida, and Sydney ended up buying a copy of Ghosted, partly because she's fascinated by the concept of ghosting and she's admittedly a ghoster herself, and partly because I promised that I'd choose it for book club since it was my turn to pick next. 

Choose it I did, and ended up reading it on my next weekend trip down to Florida in August. (I know, am I ever even in North Carolina? According to this blog post, you'd think not.)

In this 2018 novel by Rosie Walsh, Sarah has fallen head-over-heels in love with Eddie and after a perfect seven days together, he disappears off the face of the earth. Eddie won't return her calls, texts, facebook messages, smoke signals—she literally leaves no stone unturned in trying to contact him. Despite her closest friends trying to convince her that this is a normal occurrence on the dating scene, Sarah is convinced that something terrible is behind this ghosting, and she turns herself inside out trying to figure it out. 

The novel begins after Sarah and Eddie's separation and is interspersed with flashbacks to their perfect week together, along with mysterious letters alluding to a devastating accident nineteen years prior involving Sarah's younger sister Hannah. It's compelling reading and Walsh did a masterful job of composing an absorbing page-turner. I audibly gasped at the shocking twist in the book. Did not see it coming.

Ghosted was a super fun book to read, and a great one to discuss with the book club, but for all that: the ending made me grumpy. I haven't exactly been able to pinpoint why, but at the end of the book I just felt crabby. Perhaps a contributing factor is that Ghosted is at least the fourth book I've read this year that had a side character dealing with infertility. I think I'm a little burnt out on that front in my fiction and the timing of my reading Ghosted just wasn't great. 

But ultimately, it's an entertaining, twisty, unputdownable novel, and if you're looking for something quick to bust you out of a reading slump, this might be just the ticket. 

What's your top recommendation for a slump-busting book?

Let's Bust a Recap : Millard Fillmore

Hey, hey: time for another presidential biography and we're on unlucky #13, Millard Fillmore. 

Unlucky, you say? Yes. Yes, I do because Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President by Robert J. Rayback is in the running for the worst presidential biography I've read to date, and that includes Cheney's and Unger's horrifically biased bios on Madison and Monroe. Unfortunately, my dislike for this biography on Fillmore has less to do with the actual authorial content and more to do with the physical published book, but we'll get to that later. First let's talk about Millard Fillmore himself. 

Millard Fillmore was born January 7, 1800 (exactly 200 years to the day before my youngest sister-in-law). His parents were poor tenant farmers in upstate New York, and Millard was the second of their eight children. Fillmore was the very picture of a self-made man. Despite being born into extreme poverty, he worked diligently to get an education and eventually became a prominent lawyer in Buffalo, New York which is where he ultimately settled. He got engaged to Abigail Powers in 1819, but didn't actually marry her until 1826 after he finally was in a place in life to support a family. They had two children, a boy and a girl.

Fillmore was passionate about local and state politics and by far the most interesting part of his career dealt with his time at the local and state levels. His heart was obviously in New York even as he served in the highest office of the land, and after reading about him and Martin Van Buren, I've decided that New York politicians are their own special brand. He did also serve in the House of Representatives before being selected as Zachary Taylor's vice presidential candidate and then succeeding Taylor in the presidency upon Taylor's untimely death about a year and a half into his presidential term leaving Fillmore the two and a half years left to serve out his time as president. 

The defining event of Fillmore's presidency was easily the Compromise of 1850, and in particular Fillmore's defense of the Fugitive Slave Act within the Compromise. While Fillmore himself was against slavery, his understanding of the Constitution led him to believe that the federal government was precluded from taking an active role in ending the institution. His utmost desire was to preserve the Union and he considered that his foremost responsibility in carrying out the presidency. While it's easy to Monday morning quarterback this time in our nation's history and criticize the public men who didn't take a more active role in trying to end slavery, particularly the presidents immediately leading up to the Civil War, I think we have to take a harder look at the choices these men were faced with and realize it's a little more nuanced than, "Slavery is evil so every president that served while slavery was still a reality in our country must have been evil, too." Fillmore was the last president to achieve any sort of sectional peace with his presidency and while I wouldn't say that made him a good or effective president, it is something. 

Fillmore was the most Whig politician that actually got to serve as president, certainly more so than Harrison, Tyler, or Taylor, and after his presidency, the dying Whig party finally dissolved. Despite all their efforts to get Fillmore reelected in the 1852 presidential race, they failed. Fillmore did not particularly want to run again, but was very concerned about the preservation of the party and also about the potential for sectional discord if certain other candidates pressed their positions. Fillmore's time in national politics was most marked by his never-ending power struggle with New York boss Thurlow Weed and Weed's yes-man William Seward. Honestly, reading about their constant back-and-forth was exhausting, and their rivalry reminded me of every disgusting reality of politics. It's just always been bad, y'all. 

Fillmore was anxious about what to do after the presidency, publicly bemoaning the fact that retired presidents didn't get any kind of livable pension, and puzzling over what would be a fitting profession for an ex-president. He had settled on returning to his law profession in Buffalo, but the sudden death of his wife less than a month after he left office was a massive blow to him. Then a year later in 1854, his 22 year old daughter also suddenly died. He ended up running for president again in 1856, but when he lost to Buchanan, he considered his run in politics officially over. He then conveniently married an extremely wealthy widow in 1858, and the two of them became Buffalo celebrities hosting everyone who was anyone visiting upstate New York. 

Fillmore was the first president to live through the Civil War and for several years afterward. Shortly after the war began, he organized the "Union Continentals", a company in the home guard. While he still advocated the preservation of the Union, he was critical of Abraham Lincoln's leadership. 

One final and somewhat random thought on Millard Fillmore: he was considered by the ladies to be an extremely attractive man. Take a second to scroll back up and look at his picture. Do you see it?

All in all, Millard Fillmore wasn't a complete bore to read about, but he was poorly served by this 1959 Rayback biography. For one thing, Rayback just tried way too hard. Fillmore is consistently ranked by historians as one of our very worst presidents and Rayback's praise of him and attempt to save his reputation came off a bit desperate at times. He padded the biography with a lot of extraneous information that didn't add much to the portrait of Fillmore. On top of that, this book was littered with typos, errors, and editing that made it difficult to read. The use of footnotes as opposed to endnotes was distracting and aesthetically unappealing. And my biggest personal pet peeve: the 23rd chapter was labeled as chapter 25 in the table of contents AND at the head of the actual chapter. Who missed that?! I'll be the first to admit that my reading of this biography suffered from big gaps of time where I left it untouched, but ultimately, it just is not one of the better presidential biographies I've read. Millard Fillmore would be a great candidate for an updated and in-depth biography, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

Next up—and chances are good I'll actually get to him before the year is through—Franklin Pierce. 

Let's Bust a Recap : Cold Sassy Tree

I read Cold Sassy Tree back in May, but it is still easily my favorite book of 2023 so far and let me ask you something: why is it so hard for me to review books that make it onto my personal five-star, All-Time Favorites list? Does anyone else have this problem? Even when I look back at old posts on this blog, I feel like the books I've loved the most have the cheesiest recaps. Like the vibe I give is teenage fangirl writing to her (not so)secret crush. It's not cute, yet here I sit, trying to convince you that you should read this book immediately while also having my own personal misgivings about sharing this book with you because what if you don't love it and then we can't be friends anymore? 

I know I'm being extra and I probably shouldn't attempt blogging in the middle of the night, but what's a book-loving insomniac to do? Let me try to give you the general gist of Cold Sassy Tree, and we'll call it a day.

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns was published in 1984 and is the coming-of-age story of our fourteen year old protagonist Will Tweedy set against the backdrop of rural small-town Georgia in 1906 and the shocking marriage of Will's grandpa a mere three weeks after the death of his beloved wife Mattie Lou. Rucker Blakeslee's elopement is made all the more scandalous given that he marries Miss Love Simpson, the pretty young milliner from his store who is barely any older than his two grown daughters and from Baltimore to boot, making her practically a Yankee. Never mind that it's a marriage of convenience because old Rucker can't be bothered to pay a housekeeper and Miss Love just wants a home of her own: what will the town think? 

I loved this book immediately (as evidenced by my small existential crisis documented above). Cold Sassy Tree made me laugh and broke my heart and basically accomplished everything a good book ought. The author, Olive Ann Burns, was born in Banks County, Georgia in 1924, and, starting in 1971, she began writing down all the family stories told to her by her parents. It was these stories that eventually became Cold Sassy Tree and the authenticity lent to the novel by the historical and autobiographical nature of Burns' family history made Cold Sassy Tree an absolute delight to read. It's such a searing portrait of small town Southern life. Reading this book was, for me, reminiscent of sprawling across my grandmother's bed during my own teenage years, and listening to her distinct Southern drawl as she related to me all our own family history and gossip. For that reason alone, Cold Sassy Tree will always have a special place in my heart.

Burns actually received so many fan letters pleading for a follow-up to Cold Sassy Tree that she began writing a sequel but died before she was able to complete it. The unfinished manuscript titled "Leaving Cold Sassy" was published a couple years after her death along with her notes, but based on the fact that she wasn't able to finish it and several reviews I've read, I don't plan to read it. 

I'll definitely read Cold Sassy Tree again though, and if you appreciate a good coming-of-age story or you enjoy Southern literature, you should too. 

Are you overprotective of the stories you love or is that just a me-problem?

Let's Bust a Recap : Roald Dahl

Moving right along in my quest to discover the delights of Roald Dahl as an adult (since my only exposure to his work in childhood was watching Matilda with my best friend over and over again), this year I decided to hit two of his most beloved works: James and the Giant Peach and The BFG. And guess what: The Witches—which has been holding the #1 spot as my personal favorite since 2020—has been ousted by The BFG which immediately stole the coveted top spot as I read it aloud with my nephew this summer. 

I ended up reading Dahl's 1961 novel James and the Giant Peach in May. I've always been a bit uneasy about James and the Giant Peach after seeing just enough of the 1996 film adaptation as a child to really creep me out. (I think I pretended to fall asleep at my best friend's house one night shortly after she started the movie for us because I didn't like it.) But as it turns out, I think James and the Giant Peach may be the sweetest Roald Dahl novel I've read to date. That's not to say there are no scary elements to this story. It begins with poor James' lovely parents being eaten whole by an escaped rhinoceros on the rampage. James has to go live with his two nasty aunts, Sponge and Spiker, and they treat him abominably. Throughout the course of this fun novel, James ends up escaping his horrible aunts (who get their just deserts when the Giant Peach rolls over and crushes them) by climbing inside a magically altered peach and having the adventure of a lifetime with the seven magically altered insects also inside.

I loved our seven year old protagonist James Henry Trotter, and I loved how the magical insects befriended and cared for him. I couldn't help laughing and rolling my eyes at the obnoxious Centipede who bragged about his hundred legs (even though he actually only has 42) and the way the rest of the insects respond to his loud, bossy ways. Their escapades in crossing the Atlantic Ocean inside the Giant Peach were action-packed and a lot of fun to read about, and learning that James has settled in Central Park in the peach pit of the Giant Peach and has written this book himself in response to his fame was a satisfying ending.

Now let's talk about The BFG. Where to even begin? The BFG (short for Big Friendly Giant) was published in 1982 and is actually an expansion of a short story in Dahl's 1975 novel Danny, the Champion of the World (which is also in my box set but I haven't read it yet). Several of my friends who enjoyed Dahl in childhood said this was a favorite which is why it earned a spot on this year's book list, and when my brother and his family came for a visit last month, I sat down with my nephew on Night One of their visit and began reading this to him. 

We were both delighted. The story of the Big Friendly Giant kidnapping little orphan Sophie and taking her back to his cave after she accidentally observes him roaming the streets of England during the Witching Hour one night absolutely beguiled us. I carried The BFG around with me everywhere and we read a little more every chance we got. After Sophie realizes that the BFG truly is friendly—unlike the nine other ferocious giants he lives with—and has no intention of harming her, she learns that he spends his time catching dreams and giving the good dreams to sleeping children. The two of them come up with a plan to alert the Queen of England of the other man-eating giants and an ingenious plot to capture them so they can't eat any more human beans. 

I can't even tell you how much I enjoyed this lovely little novel. And reading it out loud with my five-year-old nephew elevated the experience one hundred percent. As he caught on to the BFG's silly way of speaking—since the BFG was never formally educated—his sudden interruptions to tell me, "Auntie Hannah, what he really means is this" delighted me to no end. And when we got to the chapter in which the BFG and Sophie have breakfast with the queen, my other nieces and nephew happened to be listening as well. When I tell you we all had a fit when the BFG whizpopped in front of the Queen (if you know you know), I'm telling you that is a memory that will bring a smile to my face for the rest of my days. I'm a little hesitant to watch the 2016 film adaptation because it could not possibly be as charming as the book, but I think I'll probably take the plunge and watch it soon.

All in all, two fabulous additions to my Roald Dahl repertoire. I have a hard time believing any of my remaining Roald Dahl books could displace The BFG as my favorite, but hey, we've still got eight more to go. 

Which two should I read next?