Books of 2020

We LOVE books in this family. We are so so so fortunate to have all of these books to entertain, learn, and escape with, to stir our imagination and inspire change. What are you reading? 

This first picture is to illustrate that point. Our bedroom has 3 entire walls filled with books. At the beginning of 2019 I decided to start keeping track of the books I read, because I like lists almost as much as I like books. Here in my list for 2020

I obviously and understandably read a handful of birth and parenting books and on this list I did not include all the baby books I have read to Primrose since her birth (and how many times I’ve repeated some of those books)

I looked at this list hoping to give a favorite or two, and you know, it’s just so hard to pick! The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis was amazing because Bob and I read that together. It was so romantic, and for that, it made the already incredible story even more fun to read. I can completely understand why people have a book club…..HEY, anyone want to do a book club?! 😛 

Reading The Winter Room by Gary Paulson was also another romantic endeavor, as Bob read this little by little to me each night. The story was beautiful and tough, and reminds me a lot of our life out here. 

Anastasia and the Ringing Cedars Series by Vladimir Megre is a book series I have been wanting for a few years. I read the first book when I lived in Hawaii and heard a bunch of hype about it, but that it was difficult to find. Upon looking for the series, I realized it was difficult to find, only online, and pretty expensive….and if you know me you know I don’t like to spend money (on hardly anything, especially my own wants). I was so excited Bob bought the series for me last Christmas and we read the first book aloud. I really enjoy the thoughts in the book, however, there in no plot and the writing is redundant…still I enjoyed it. We delved into the second book, and I haven’t picked it up again…it’s once again, the same story, retold and retold. I think if I keep reading, and reading it to myself rather than aloud, it will get through the feeling that I don’t like it. This reminds me of some advice I read recently on feeding a baby solids. The advice was saying if the baby doesn’t like the food, feed it to her 10-15 more times, and eventually they will start to like it. I thought this was funny because maybe the baby doesn’t end up liking it but realizing it has no choice……I don’t want to totally disregard the rest of the series (8 books!) Based on this first impression…so I’m going to try again but…….when…….we’ll see.

We listened on Audio book to Idle Hands by Cassondra Windwalker. Not only do we love the author as a human being, but this story was so fun. We would put it on at night after the baby had gone to sleep, and from what you’ve already seen, we like to read things together. This was a nice change, we didn’t have to have our tired eyes do the reading but we got to lay with each other and be read too. An equivalent of what couples do with TV I suppose. We were so entertained, and gosh, we just love Cassondra and her works.

And of course, my Stephen King books. My 2019 list I read 5 stories by SK and 1 by his other name Richard Bachman (so 6, really). This year I only read two, and am still happy with that progress. As much as I love his writing it is ALWAYS good to branch out and experience others. But there is no reason to completely give up your favorites. 

This year I’ve started out boldly different, once again all thanks to my husband who continues to gently nudge me and encourage me to form into the person I’m becoming more and more. I’m currently reading a book about America’s Women and a couple different art books on nature journaling, painting, drawing and color. We’ve been reading books in Spanish to Primrose and the language really makes her happy.

So again, we are so so so fortunate to have all of these books to entertain, learn and escape with, to stir our imagination and inspire change. What are you reading?

Published by secretgardenalaska

Best friends raising two daughters off-grid in a remote area of Alaska. We grow food, write stories, make jewelry, and live a sober life.

One thought on “Books of 2020

  1. Hello! How uncanny that we have each done quite a similar blog post! I adore the picture in this post. The serenity of Mother and child in a dimly lit room filled with books evokes a sense of calm and magic, you are very blessed. The current book on my nightstand is a collection of unsolved mysteries, ufo encounters, etc. I have eclectic taste. Our public library are running a sale this month, fill a bag of books for $10, I’ve made 2 visits and filled a bag each time! I’d love if you’d pop over to my blog for a looksee paperflowersandtornadoes.blogspot.com
    Big waves from Australia:)xx

Leave a Reply