If you are going to read any book review of mine of the entire year, this is the one. This is it. I read two books this month, and was BLOWN AWAY by both. One was the most beautiful and moving book I’ve read certainly this year, if not ever. I would be shocked it it doesn’t end up in my top spot as most loved book for the year. The other just knocked me on my booty with SO MANY things to think about and unpack about myself.
My reading really slowed down in late summer. Maybe it was that beach vacation with small children that doesn’t allow for extra time to “read.” 🙂 This is a combined two month book review! And I have to admit, none of these were my favorite reads of the year.
I started August reading The Dictionary of Lost Words.
It’s time for my monthly book review! I didn’t get through as many books as I wanted to this month, so I only have two books to review for you. I always wondered how people found time to read. Having really little kids at home, I feel like I rarely have a free minute. And when they go to bed, I ALWAYS choose to veg on the couch and watch TV. Always. It’s my way of relaxing and calming down.
But about a year ago, my husband said he had joined Audible, which is an audiobook app, and that I should listen to the new Matthew McConaughey book. Well, I did. And I loved it. Thus began my reincorporation of ‘reading’ again. I listen when I take the dog for a walk, folding clothes, making dinner, doing yard work. And it’s been the best thing to finally get to enjoy the very long reading wishlist I had kept for years before discovering audiobooks.
Happy book review day! I’m sorry I disappeared last week. I was feeling exceptionally uninspired, so I just gave myself a week off to recharge. But this week, it’s book review week and What’s Up Wednesday tomorrow. Those are two of my most favorite posts each month!
Last June was my very first book review ever on Sunwashedlinen.com. And it’s all because I found audiobooks. I could finally fit ”reading” into my very busy ”mama” schedule. So happy that I found Audible and that I’ve gotten to read so many books over the past year!
I read three books this month. Two audiobooks and one hard copy book. One I adored, one was pretty good, and one just average. So, let’s get into it…
You want to know how I know the weather started to improve in Kansas City, my children weren’t sick for an eternity and home for school, and I spent time on walks and gardening? I read four books this past month. Because I listen to all of my books, I stick in AirPods usually once a day if I can, and spend 20-30 minutes on a walk or outside gardening, and listening to a book. And this month there were some really good ones!
It’s book review day! This month I only got through two books. One I loved. One I was just meh about. I thought about delaying this post another month until I had finished more books, but you know what…who says you need multitudes of books for a good book review?
In March, my kids went to school most days, life was mostly normal, and the weather started to get nicer, which meant I took more opportunities to pop in my AirPods and go for an afternoon walk…and listen to books. I read three books in March…
And my goodness. They were all GOOD. In fact, if at least one of these doesn’t show up on my top three books of the year this year, I’ll be surprised.
You want to know the last time I reviewed books I had read? November. Life happened, and in December, I didn’t feel like I had read much so didn’t have much to review. January we lived in a state of illness and school closings. And here we are at the end of February! And I finally have some books to tell you about!
My friend Jen at Show Me + Sweet Tea always uses book descriptions from Goodreads in her book reviews, and I love that idea! That gives you a much better idea of what the book is about, so I’m going to jump on that bandwagon.
Way back in December, I read The Bullish Case for Bitcoin.
I became a reader again last year. Thanks to my, albeit very late, discovery of audiobooks, the second half of my year was FULL of reading. Books that I thought I’d never have time to get through before, that I had had on my reading list for years. I wrote a whole post about how I became a reader HERE.
This year, I listened to 21 books. 20 of those books I reviewed here on my blog. Here’s some links back to past book reviews:
I took a look back at all of the books I read this past year, and came up with my top three favorite books of the year. When I actually sat down to try to rank them, this was a really hard task! I can’t imagine how hard it will be once I’ve read books for an entire year!
In third place…
It took me two months to get here, but I finally have a quorum of books to review for you guys!
I started out October reading Set Boundaries, Find Peace. I started following the author, Nedra Glover Tawwab on Instagram not ago, and I’m always looking for books that give me new insight into how to improve upon my own life. This one was only ok for me. After following her for several months, I felt like many of the concepts she talks about in regards to where people struggle setting boundaries are the basis of her Instagram account as well. So I didn’t feel particularly inspired by anything new in the book. Are they good concepts? Sure. Just didn’t really have me walking away wanting to really make a lot of changes to my own life.