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Books I Might Actually Read in 2023

As usual, my 2022 book list got derailed. I mean, I even predicted it in my title (“My Totally Unrealistic 2022 Book List”), but a year ago, even I didn’t know that I would be taking a class that would require me to read more than one novel per week. I just thought I would have a hard time keeping up because a) I knew I wouldn’t have much time to read for pleasure because of grad school, and b) I had five Diana Gabaldon titles on the list, and it takes me weeks (if not months) to get through one of her books. So it comes as no surprise that I only read three of the Gabaldons. I have to space them out with other books just so I can feel like I accomplished something. And then there came the magical night sometime in the fall when I walked into a Barnes & Noble and was drawn to a new release that I didn’t even realize existed: Robert Galbraith’s The Ink Black Heart. Since I was in the middle of my multicultural lit course at the time, my husband read it first, and as soon as he finished it, he was adamant that I make it my top priority. Having just finished grad school, that’s what I decided to do. And because Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) is my favorite author, and murder mystery is my oldest fictional genre love, as soon as I finished The Ink Black Heart, I decided to return to Galbraith’s first book and re-read the series. If you love a good murder mystery/thriller, I highly recommend these books (and you will see all the titles below in my 2022 and 2023 lists).

Thanks to my lit course, I read more books in 2022 than originally planned. And thanks to finishing grad school and getting my life back, I now have a craving to read whatever I want whenever I want simply because that’s now an option. So yes, this year’s list is very ambitious, but also more do-able than my annual lists since 2019.

Before I present the lists, however, I want to take a second to talk about the aforementioned multicultural lit course. It was a class that was a requirement to graduate, but I am so glad that it was. A couple of the books were assigned (Gratz’s Grenade and Khorram’s Darius the Great Is Not Okay), but others were left up to the students to find on our own. I am grateful to work in an elementary school with a well-stocked media center, and our media specialist loaded me down with more books than I needed (but that I read anyway), and the winner that left me sobbing on the couch after everyone else went to bed was Kereen Getten’s If You Read This. Despite being overwhelmed by having to read more than a novel per week, I was introduced to books I would not have otherwise read, and it also immersed me in the literature that many of my students are reading. When I visited our school’s fall book fair, I did so with a different outlook than usual, and my 2023 list includes a middle grade title that I purchased there (Carry Me Home). By adding titles like this to my personal library, not only am I reading great books that I genuinely enjoy, but I am also in touch with what my students are reading.

My 2022 list included one title (“Randomize” by Andy Weir) that I did not realize is a short story. It’s available electronically only, and I just don’t have it in me to purchase an electronic short story. So I’m removing that from my list and hoping that he releases another actual novel soon. Of the remaining 19 titles from that list, I read 10 and added quite a few more (not even counting non-fiction—you can see those five titles on my Goodreads page). Here they are in the order I read them (* indicates the ones not from my original list):

1. The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) by Diana Gabaldon
2. Yaqui Myths and Legends by Ruth Warner Giddings*
3. Artemis by Andy Weir
4. The Rim of the Prairie by Bess Streeter Aldrich*
5. The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye*
6. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
7. Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
8. I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier*
9. The Swarm (The Second Formic War #1) by Orson Scott Card
10. The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye*
11. The Hive (The Second Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card
12. A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6) by Diana Gabaldon
13. The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling
14. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse #1) by Christopher Paolini
15. Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate*
16. The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon*
17. Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell*
18. The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA by Brenda Woods*
19. The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cueves*
20. Grenade by Alan Gratz*
21. If You Read This by Kereen Getten*
22. Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram*
23. The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin*
24. Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt*
25. An Echo in the Bone (Outlander #7) by Diana Gabaldon
26. Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes*
27. Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes*
28. The Sweetest Sound by Sherri Winston*
29. The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike #6) by Robert Galbraith*
30. Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram*
31. The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) by Robert Galbraith*
32. Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo*

For the first time in I can’t remember how long, I did not receive a single book for Christmas—and I didn’t need to. I still have last year’s book from my husband to read (Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone), as well as all the other books from my 2022 list, not to mention the other books I added to my collection last year. So here is that very ambitious list (alpha by author):

1. Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker #1) by Paolo Bacigalupi
2. The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker #2) by Paolo Bacigalupi
3. Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
4. Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo
5. Red Rising (Red Rising Saga #1) by Pierce Brown
6. Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2) by Pierce Brown
7. Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3) by Pierce Brown
8. Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4) by Pierce Brown
9. Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5) by Pierce Brown
10. Light Bringer (Red Rising Saga #6) by Pierce Brown
11. Carry Me Home by Janet Fox
12. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Outlander #8) by Diana Gabaldon
13. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander #9) by Diana Gabaldon
14. The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2) by Robert Galbraith
15. Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike #3) by Robert Galbraith
16. Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith
17. Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike #5) by Robert Galbraith
18. The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike #6) by Robert Galbraith
19. A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness
20. Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) by Deborah Harkness
21. The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3) by Deborah Harkness
22. Sisterhood of Dune (Schools of Dune #1) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
23. Mentats of Dune (Schools of Dune #2) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
24. Navigators of Dune (Schools of Dune #3) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
25. Horns by Joe Hill
26. Fractal Noise (Fractalverse #2) by Christopher Paolini
27. The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles #1) by Rick Riordan
28. The Throne of Fire (The Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan
29. The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan
30. Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

That’s it! Just a little reading list. Subject (definitely going) to change. Happy reading in 2023!

January 1, 2022 by sarahcotchaleovitch

My Totally Unrealistic 2022 Book List

Book Purgatory, where books wait to be read… or not.

Every year when I post my book list, I have the opportunity to reflect on the previous year, the book list serving as a kind of visual soundtrack of my life. My 2021 post reminds me that I lost a dear friend on New Year’s Day and that books, more than ever, helped me escape into a world that didn’t contain that pain. Later in the year, I had my younger son to thank for Tolkien; he wanted to read The Lord of the Rings, but of course, I had to start with The Hobbit. I am grateful that my kids still let me read to them, and in this case, I read for the whole family because my husband had never read the series before. When I think about the vacations we took in 2021, I will remember reading those works of fiction to my guys. (As a side note, they are the most difficult books to read aloud that I have ever read; with a lack of helpful punctuation and copious Elvish, I was stumbling all over the place.) About halfway through last year’s book list, the pace slowed down regarding the number of books I read, marking the end of a comparatively relaxing stretch in which I was waiting to transfer to a new university. By the end of 2021, not only was I taking a heavier class load than ever, but I was also into the Outlander series, all the books of which are monsters (800 pages or more).

Reading and writing go hand in hand, and along with reading less, my writing has completely stalled. I can’t even say I’m suffering from writer’s block because I’m not trying to write—and haven’t in more than six months. I don’t feel guilty about not participating in NaNoWriMo because there’s no way I could have fit it in. Reading and writing voraciously will likely not be a part of my life again until I finish grad school (whenever that happens). Rather than getting upset by this reality, I’m choosing to think of this as my fallow time. Just as fields need to lie fallow periodically for the sake of the crops that will be grown there in future seasons, now is the time for my creative juices to enjoy an extended break. I will continue to read because that helps me stay sane; plus, having some fictional stimulation will keep me primed for when I can write again.

I hoped to read 25 works of fiction last year—and I did—but I instead of my detours adding to my list, they replaced some of the books that I am now shifting to my 2022 list. Here are the fiction titles I read in 2021 (* indicates books that were not on my original list):

A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) by Sabaa Tahir
The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling
A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) by Sabaa Tahir
Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike #5) by Robert Galbraith
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo
The Diabolic (The Diabolic #1) by S.J. Kincaid
The Empress (The Diabolic #2) by S.J. Kincaid
The Nemesis (The Diabolic #3) by S.J. Kincaid
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien*
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern*
Children of the Fleet (Fleet School #1) by Orson Scott Card
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate*
Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2) by Diana Gabaldon
The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien*
The Giver by Lois Lowry*
Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir*
The Creakers by Tom Fletcher*
Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) by Diana Gabaldon
The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings #2) by J.R.R. Tolkien*
Dune (Dune Chronicles #1) by Frank Herbert
The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings #3) by J.R.R. Tolkien*

This year, I have no idea what books I’ll be reading aloud with my family, but I hope we continue this tradition. (I’m rooting for Harry Potter.) I also hope that my husband discovers a new book that he thinks is a must-read, like 2021’s Hail Mary. Yet again, this is a list that presumes a lot more free time than I actually have—and it’s not even complete. I always read at least 25 books in a year. I’m five short, so I’m looking for some must-reads. Check out the list below, and if you know of a book that you think I would love, please drop me a comment!

The Swarm (The Second Formic War #1) by Orson Scott Card
The Hive (The Second Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card
Ready Player One (Ready Player One #1) by Ernest Cline
Ready Player Two (Ready Player One #2) by Ernest Cline
The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) by Diana Gabaldon
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6) by Diana Gabaldon
An Echo in the Bone (Outlander #7) by Diana Gabaldon
Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Outlander #8) by Diana Gabaldon
Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander #9) by Diana Gabaldon
A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness
Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) by Deborah Harkness
The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3) by Deborah Harkness
Sisterhood of Dune (Schools of Dune #1) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Mentats of Dune (Schools of Dune #2) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Navigators of Dune (Schools of Dune #3) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling
Artemis by Andy Weir
Randomize by Andy Weir
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

January 2, 2021 by sarahcotchaleovitch

Reading Is Healing: My 2021 Book List

If you read my post from just after ringing in the new year, you know that my 2021 started with a melancholy tone. A dear friend was battling COVID-19, and I awoke to learn that his body had finally succumbed. He was the director of the community chorale of which I’ve been a member since the late 1990s. With coronavirus shutting down almost all things choral (because singers are considered super spreaders), all of our rehearsals and plans for performances stopped last March. Singing is one of my outlets, and I’ve been fortunate to be one of the few singers at my church most Sundays.

Fortunately, while singing is incredibly healing, it’s not my only outlet. I also love to read. Maybe that’s an understatement. I have to have something to read at all times—a healthy addiction?—and I also love to share what I read. (Which is why I started making this annual post however-many years ago.)

While 2020 took so much from everyone, it was a great year for me as far as reading goes. I read all the books from my 2020 book list, plus some. In fact, I re-read two different trilogies immediately after finishing them—sometimes it’s just hard to let books go. (Those trilogies are Lady Helen and His Fair Assassin. I read the first book of Lady Helen in 2019 but all the rest in 2020.)

Many of the other books on my list were ones that I read with my children. We finished A Series of Unfortunate Events, as planned. I also read The Hunger Games to them because they enjoy the movies, and Suzanne Collins recently published a prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. We finished all of those about a week ago.

If you’re one of my regular readers, you know that my elder son is dyslexic. Even before his diagnosis, it was my habit to read my favorite children’s books to him. (Maybe it was crazy, but I read the Harry Potter books to both kids in utero.) We often read his school novels together, and the format of virtual school last spring was particularly challenging for him. His entire grade level broke into a handful of book clubs, and the book he chose (okay, that I encouraged him to choose because I wanted to read it to him anyway) was Lois Lowry’s The Giver. A dystopian novel before that was even a genre, The Giver was new when I was a kid. Since then, Lowry has published three sequels. We finished reading the quartet after the book club was finished, and Peter really enjoyed them.

Two or three years ago, I discovered Usborne’s graphic novel classics (including titles such as Hamlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Jason and the Argonauts, Alice in Wonderland, and many others). Graphic novels are a great way for people with reading difficulties to access literature because the drawings provide so many contextual clues. Each time I got one for Peter, he devoured it. It became his habit to read one every night before bed. I can’t tell you the joy I feel from my son finding enthusiasm for books. Plus, he’s being introduced to classic stories without the barrier of archaic language (which can prove onerous even for the most fluent of readers).

Still, there are plenty of great books that aren’t graphic novels. Peter loves historical fiction, especially of the World War II era, so that’s why Salt to the Sea and The Book Thief are on the 2020 list. (Salt to the Sea is centered around the greatest maritime disaster in history, regarding loss of life. And no, it wasn’t the Titanic or Lusitania—check it out!) After we finished these, since Usborne hadn’t released a new graphic novel in a while, my husband let Peter borrow Maus and Maus II, graphic novels about some of the events of World War II. When he finished those, something different and wonderful happened: Peter asked if we could recommend any other good books.

We decided that a good first on-his-own novel was Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything. This book has a unique style, including short chapters and drawings throughout. These would help break up the text, making it less daunting. Plus, the language isn’t that difficult, except for humuhumunukunukuapua’a—I have yet to make it from one end of that word to other without needing a nap in the middle. We gave it to Peter, and he devoured it. Every time he finished a chapter, he would tell us about it. A common trait of dyslexics is poor working memory. He’s had to learn study skills particular to his learning style, which allow him to suss out the main idea and decide which details are important. Summarizing what he’s read—and sometimes having in-depth discussions about it—is Peter’s strategy to aid his reading comprehension. After Everything, Everything, he asked for a book Thomas had told him about, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. It was a much more challenging read, but Peter made it through and now considers it his favorite book. (There’s a recently published sequel—hope it lives up to the first one!) He’s currently reading Stephen King’s The Green Mile. For his birthday and Christmas, we gave him more novels—Ender’s Game and Jurassic Park. Peter is excited to have his own growing collection, and on more than one occasion, he’s said, “Now I see why you and Dad read all the time.” After catching him staying up late to read more times than I can count (my favorite form of rebellion), he’s learned to look ahead and see how long a chapter is before getting started because he has to complete a chapter in order to fully process and remember it. I don’t care what it takes—this kid is making reading a priority and enjoying it.

Okay, Sarah, what does this have to do with books you read in 2020? Nothing at all. These are books I didn’t read—because Peter read them himself! And more books I didn’t read: Harry Potter. When we finished A Series of Unfortunate Events, that’s what Ian wanted to read, but when I noticed one of his classmates reading the series, I told Ian it was time to read them on his own. So that’s what he’s doing now, and I’m proud of him, too. It’s a real joy to see my boys reading on their own and loving it.

So without further ado, here is the complete list of novels I read in 2020, ordered chronologically. Titles in red are the books that I either read a second time or were not on the original list.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Third) by Lemony Snicket
The Dark Days Pact (Lady Helen #2) by Alison Goodman
The Miserable Mill (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fourth) by Lemony Snicket
The Dark Days Deceit (Lady Helen #3) by Alison Goodman
The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fifth) by Lemony Snicket
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen #1) by Alison Goodman
The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Sixth) by Lemony Snicket
The Dark Days Pact (Lady Helen #2) by Alison Goodman
The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Seventh) by Lemony Snicket
The Dark Days Deceit (Lady Helen #3) by Alison Goodman
The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Eighth) by Lemony Snicket
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Ninth) by Lemony Snicket
Earth Unaware (The First Formic War #1) by Orson Scott Card
The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Tenth) by Lemony Snicket
The Giver (The Giver #1) by Lois Lowry
The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Eleventh) by Lemony Snicket
Earth Afire (The First Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card
Earth Awakens (The First Formic War #3) by Orson Scott Card
The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Twelfth) by Lemony Snicket
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Thirteenth) by Lemony Snicket
The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) by Robert Galbraith
Stormbreaker (Alex Rider #1) by Anthony Horowitz
The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2) by Robert Galbraith
Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike #3) by Robert Galbraith
Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith
Gathering Blue (The Giver #2) by Lois Lowry
Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore
Messenger (The Giver #3) by Lois Lowry
Fire (Graceling Realm #2) by Kristin Cashore
Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore
Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers
Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) by Robin LaFevers
Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin #3) by Robin LaFevers
Son (The Giver #4) by Lois Lowry
Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins
Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) by Robin LaFevers
Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins
Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin #3) by Robin LaFevers
Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins
The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo #5) by Rick Riordan
An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins
A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir

As you can see, 22 of the 50 books I read were unplanned. While I was worried that some of them might derail me from reaching my goal, I don’t regret reading them. (Okay, one exception—Stormbreaker, a school book for Peter that neither of us enjoyed.) When I saw that Erin Morgenstern had a new book, I had to get it, and The Starless Sea might be the best book I’ve ever read. Unless it’s The Night Circus. Yikes, she needs to get busy and write a bunch more.

Now for 2021. I’m excited that some of my favorite authors have penned new books, some adding to ongoing series. That’s why I’m re-reading An Ember in the Ashes, the fourth book of which was recently published and is on this year’s list. There’s also a fifth novel in the Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) Cormoran Strike series. Since I just re-read the first three books over the summer in order for the story to be fresh for the new-to-me fourth book, I don’t need to re-read those. J.K Rowling also wrote a new book, The Ickabog, for families during the COVID lockdown. It was originally an online publication, and she held an illustration competition. The whole thing was published with beautiful color illustrations from the winners, and I just started reading it with my family today. A few chapters in, I’m reminded why Rowling is one of my favorite authors.

Other titles of interest: Christopher Paolini (author of the Eragon books) released a new book, unrelated to The Inheritance Cycle. I read S.J. Kincaid’s The Diabolic in 2019 and am finally collecting the other books in that trilogy. Years ago, my dad lent us the books from the Ender’s Game series, including spin-offs. I plan to finish those (one of which I just got for him for Christmas, so I’m going to have to borrow that when he’s done with it). I also plan to re-read Dune because—hello! Have you seen that they’re re-doing the movie? And of course, I need to have it fresh so I can get peeved every time the movie takes creative license. Actually, I have high hopes. Please don’t screw it up, new movie! (So when my dad reads this, please let me borrow Dune again, too.) There are other books I’ll re-read, since the list would be sparse, otherwise. (Hoping Diana Gabaldon publishes Outlander #9 in 2021 or early enough in 2022 that I won’t forget everything from the first eight books.) As always, I expect there will be a lot of red on here when I post what I read a year from now.

Until then, here’s my jumping off place (alpha by author):

Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo
Children of the Fleet (Fleet School #1) by Orson Scott Card
The Swarm (The Second Formic War #1) by Orson Scott Card
The Hive (The Second Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card
Ready Player One (Ready Player One #1) by Ernest Cline
Ready Player Two (Ready Player One #2) by Ernest Cline
Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2) by Diana Gabaldon
Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon
Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) by Diana Gabaldon
The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) by Diana Gabaldon
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6) by Diana Gabaldon
An Echo in the Bone (Outlander #7) by Diana Gabaldon
Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Outlander #8) by Diana Gabaldon
Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike #5) by Robert Galbraith
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Dune (Dune Chronicles #1) by Frank Herbert
The Diabolic (The Diabolic #1) by S.J. Kincaid
The Empress (The Diabolic #2) by S.J. Kincaid
The Nemesis (The Diabolic #3) by S.J. Kincaid
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling
A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) by Sabaa Tahir
A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) by Sabaa Tahir

If you know of a book that I should add, please let me know in the comments—I’m always looking for recommendations! Good reading in 2021.

January 1, 2020 by sarahcotchaleovitch

What to Read in 2020…

I am pleased to say (and this doesn’t happen often), that I finished all the books from my 2019 book list. (Just finished the last two yesterday, but finished is finished!) I started grad school in August, and it really derailed my pleasure reading, but I anticipated this when I created my book list; I’d already finished most of my list before then. (I’m also happy to report that, out of all the books I read, only two disappointed, The Circle and The Girl In the Spider’s Web.)

Of the two books that I finished at the last minute, I didn’t even receive Rick Riordan’s The Trials of Apollo Book 4: The Tyrant’s Tomb until Christmas. And by “receive,” I mean that my husband and I each wanted the same books, so rather than each of us buying the same thing for the other, I bought them both, wrapped them, and stuck them under the tree for us. I didn’t even succumb to temptation and start reading before I wrapped them.

The other book that I finished yesterday was the last of the Artemis Fowl series, The Last Guardian. I read this series years ago and thought my pre-teen son would enjoy them. It’s taken a while to get through all eight books, but we enjoyed reading them together. He’s dyslexic and comprehends texts best when they’re read to him. Although he has an app that reads to him, I will continue reading with him as long as he lets me. He’s into World War II right now, so a couple novels on this year’s list are re-reads for me that I’m looking forward to introducing to Peter.

Another series I re-read this year was Harry Potter (the first four books of which I’ve now read 13 times). I read it to Peter when he was in the second grade, so now that Ian is in the second grade, it was his turn. We read the first three books in the Jim Kay illustrated format—they’re gorgeous. I knew that the boys would receive the fourth illustrated one for Christmas and asked Ian if he would like to wait to get it before we read on, but he couldn’t wait that long. Instead, we plowed through books four through seven, finishing before Christmas. His imagination is vivid enough that he had no trouble making it through them. (But we have the illustrated version of The Goblet of Fire now, and it’s spectacular.)

Diagon Alley, as illustrated by Jim Kay

Following are the novels I read in 2019 (in the order I read them—the ones in red text are the extras that weren’t on the original list):

Shadow Puppets (The Shadow Series #3) by Orson Scott Card
The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan
Shadow of the Giant (The Shadow Series #4) by Orson Scott Card
Dog Man and Cat Kid (Dog Man #4) by Dav Pilkey
Shadows in Flight (The Shadow Series #5) by Orson Scott Card
Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold #1) by Traci Chee
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton
Nil (Nil #1) by Lynne Matson
The Diabolic (The Diabolic #1) by S.J. Kincaid
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium #2) by Stieg Larsson
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Millennium #3) by Stieg Larsson
Refugee by Alan Gratz
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (Millennium #4) by David Lagercrantz
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4) by Pierce Brown
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5) by Pierce Brown
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen #1) by Alison Goodman
The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First) by Lemony Snicket
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Second) by Lemony Snicket
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer
The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan

And now for the 2020 list. It may seem long, but all the Unfortunate Events books are ones I’m reading with Ian (after Harry Potter, he’s stuck on series). Otherwise, my list is modest because I know my time will be limited. I’m looking forward to continuing several series and reading some books that are new to me. I also hope I can carve out some time to re-read some favorites.

On the left is the book I just started (it’s really good!)… and another one that I’ll be starting soon. (Yep, more testing awaits. But when I’m done with adding to my certification, I hope to be done with testing centers for a while.)

Without further ado, here’s what I hope to read this year (alpha by author):

Earth Unaware (The First Formic War #1) by Orson Scott Card
Earth Afire (The First Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card
Earth Awakens (The First Formic War #3) by Orson Scott Card
Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore
Fire (Graceling Realm #2) by Kristin Cashore
Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore
Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith
The Dark Days Pact (Lady Helen #2) by Alison Goodman
The Dark Days Deceit (Lady Helen #3) by Alison Goodman
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers
Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) by Robin LaFevers
Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin #3) by Robin LaFevers
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo #5) by Rick Riordan
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Third) by Lemony Snicket
The Miserable Mill (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fourth) by Lemony Snicket
The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fifth) by Lemony Snicket
The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Sixth) by Lemony Snicket
The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Seventh) by Lemony Snicket
The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Eighth) by Lemony Snicket
The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Ninth) by Lemony Snicket
The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Tenth) by Lemony Snicket
The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Eleventh) by Lemony Snicket
The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Twelfth) by Lemony Snicket
The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Thirteenth) by Lemony Snicket
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

What titles are on your list this year? Happy reading!

September 29, 2019 by sarahcotchaleovitch

What’s My Twitter Handle Again?

I’m doing something I said I would never do: I’m going back to school. Grad school, that is. I can’t make a judgment call yet because I’m at the beginning of this long journey. It’s possible that my second grader will get his Masters degree before I do. But. I started.

I’m taking a course called Literacy and Technology, which I find both fascinating and helpful because tech intimidates me. I am certainly no pioneer, eager to try every new thing put out by Apple or Samsung or Microsoft. Once I get comfortable with a particular technology, platform, or device, I’ll stick with it until it dies or I do.

I understand that I’m admitting to be a paradoxical, Millennial dinosaur. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you may remember that I love physical books—you know, made of this archaic material called paper. But I happen to have a son who is dyslexic, and paper books are a trial for him. This does not mean, however, that he has to hate books. He’s almost 12, but I still read aloud to him, sharing some of my favorite stories that I don’t want him to miss out on. Fortunately, current technology has progressed so that he doesn’t have to put me in his backpack and take me everywhere when he needs to read. As the saying goes, there’s an app for that, and he has a handy one called Learning Ally that can read texts for him, both fiction and non-fiction. And that’s just one example of many that can help people like Peter.

How appropriate that my first class is introducing me to all kinds of tech and new ideas about how to best utilize it in the classroom. This week’s focus: creating educational content via blogs, microblogs, and video. In a time when schools either have some sort of computer device in most classrooms or actually require students to bring their own, this is a hot and often controversial topic. Cyber ethics and safety and online research are normal parts of children’s curriculum now. It’s not just Solitaire and Oregon Trail anymore, which were the main reasons I used computers when I was a tween.

The advantages of creating and using online content are many. If you’re curious about an educational topic, someone else has probably already posted something about it. All you have to do is search. And then comment. Or retweet. Or subscribe and share. Then give it your own personal twist; use it; post the results. The information accumulates, is shared again, and this is the beauty of live content, versus a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica that cost a pile of money in the 1970s and hasn’t been updated since then because of said pile of money.

Instead of debating whether this kind of technology would be allowed at my school, let’s go by the assumption that it would, and I have a classroom of students who are old enough to use blogs, microblogs, and videos. In this scenario, which medium would I prefer, and why? After studying all three methods, my answer today is a little different than it was this time last week.

Going in to this topic, I was very familiar with blogs. I mean, here I am, writing one. And despite being less active this year than I’ve been since starting Full-Time Writer Mom in 2012, I am still most comfortable with this medium. I pride myself on thinking carefully about each topic; that’s why I no longer write weekly. For a while, coming up with a topic felt forced. I decided to only write something when I felt moved to do so. The problem, of course, was that when I got out of the habit, it was easy to make excuses, to continue to not post.

But what if I were able to use this platform in the classroom? I discovered a couple new blogs this week that spoke to the book lover in me, A Mighty Girl and School Library Journal. I am seriously considering going back and re-certifying so I can teach 4^th, 5^th, or 6^th grade language arts (I’m currently only certified through 3^rd grade). Not only would these blogs and ones like them be a great resource for me in the classroom, but what if I could expand this blog to help other teachers? This is very appealing to me, something I feel I could do well and with relative ease.

Next: Twitter and microblogging. As the name suggests, microblogging is blogging, but on a tiny scale. And I’ll admit that, although I do have a Twitter account, I never use it. Why? I guess because I’m unfamiliar with it, intimidated. Please refer to when I said that I get comfortable with something and like to stick with it. I’m comfortable with Facebook. Not Instagram, not LinkedIn, not Twitter. I have accounts with them all, but I’m sadly MIA in most. My fault. I know they’re all good resources, so I need to make myself become more familiar, push myself out of my comfort zone. But Twitter specifically really gets me because I’m verbose. If the rule were to keep tweets down to 140 words, I’d still have a problem. But 140 characters?

This is a challenge I need to tackle, and I became convinced of this when I read about English teacher and author Kate Messner and how she got her class involved with Twitter. By creating an account for her class, she was able to have them join in on a conversation about one of the books they were reading with the book’s author and editor. While an argument can be made that social media isolates people, when used correctly, Twitter can connect people who, otherwise, might never meet. While I think it’s cool for the occasional author to comment on one of my reviews on Goodreads, that’s nothing to having a real-time conversation like Messner’s class had. This would have been a dream come true when I was a kid. (Okay, it still is. I really need to get busy on Twitter.)

The last medium, video, is the one with which I am least comfortable, although I certainly appreciate its uses. My children have a few people they follow on YouTube, mainly adult gamers who play Minecraft or Roblox (MC Naveed and Pat and Jen are the biggies). My seven-year-old has learned how to create some amazing structures on Minecraft just from watching their videos. Are they entertaining? Undoubtedly. Do they also happen to be instructional? Actually, yes. I think a downside is, however, there’s so much inappropriate video content out there. Sometimes Ian will be in the middle of watching someone build something (not from the two mentioned above), and then a swear word comes out. And Mom Police immediately shuts it down.

Still, could I preview content and share what I deem appropriate in the classroom? I could, as well as use it for professional development. But could I create my own YouTube channel, my own content? Well… that’s where I’m unsure. I can do live videos on Facebook within a closed group, where my audience is small, familiar. Do I want to put myself out there, have my face on everything I produce? Because that’s what I see whenever I view someone else’s YouTube channel: faces. It seems kind of narcissistic. I know this bias shouldn’t make me leery of this medium, but it does. For now, let’s just say that I am more willing to be a consumer than a producer. But do I dare say “never”? Well, look at what happened when I said I wouldn’t ever go back to school…

January 1, 2019 by sarahcotchaleovitch

Meet the New List, Same As the Old List

Welp, it’s another year, and as you may have guessed, I come bearing lots of excuses for why I didn’t finish all my books from the 2018 book list. At a quick glance, it looks like I read all my books plus some, but see below for a quick comparison.

Here are the books I set out to read in 2018, alpha by author (for the full post, click here):

Mosquitoland by David Arnold
Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Passenger (Passenger #1) by Alexandra Bracken
Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2) by Pierce Brown
Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3) by Pierce Brown
Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4) by Pierce Brown
Ender’s Shadow (The Shadow Series #1) by Orson Scott Card
Shadow of the Hegemon (The Shadow Series #2) by Orson Scott Card
Shadow Puppets (The Shadow Series #3) by Orson Scott Card
Shadow of the Giant (The Shadow Series #4) by Orson Scott Card
Shadows in Flight (The Shadow Series #5) by Orson Scott Card
The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold #1) by Traci Chee
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton
The Diabolic (The Diabolic #1) by S.J. Kincaid
The Ugly Truth (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5) by Jeff Kinney
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (Millennium #4) by David Lagercrantz
Nil (Nil #1) by Lynne Matson
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo #2) by Rick Riordan
The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book III) by Rick Riordan
Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark #1) by Victoria Roth
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz
Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab
The Crown’s Fate (The Crown’s Game #2) by Evelyn Skye
A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) by Sabaa Tahir

And now for the books I actually read (in the order I read them, squeezing in one last title during the last four days of the year):

The Ugly Truth (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5) by Jeff Kinney
Golden Son (Red RisingSaga #2) by Pierce Brown
Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3) by Pierce Brown
Blackwater Swamp by Bill Wallace
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4) by Pierce Brown
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The Crown’s Fate (The Crown’s Game #2) by Evelyn Skye
Mosquitoland by David Arnold
Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab
Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo
An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir
A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) by Sabaa Tahir
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Passenger (Passenger #1) by Alexandra Bracken
Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark #1) by Victoria Roth
Wayfarer (Passenger #2) by Alexandra Bracken
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark #2) by Veronica Roth
Ender’s Shadow (The Shadow Series #1) by Orson Scott Card
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book III) by Rick Riordan
Shadow of the Hegemon (The Shadow Series #2) by Orson Scott Card
The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo #2) by Rick Riordan

Nine of the above titles are books that I read with my elder son, who is dyslexic. Although it’s a chore for him to read, and I wish he could do more of this on his own, I do love that we still read together. We started the Artemis Fowl series, which my husband and I both love, and I hope to finish it with him this year, but there’s always the chance that we’ll get sidetracked by other books he has to read for school, and that’s okay.

Of the five other titles that weren’t on the original list, two were books that I had to re-read in order for me to get to the next book in the series (which was on the list), and the other three were sequels. Hey, it happens (and will probably happen this year, too).

So of the 33 books that I read, only 19 of them were actually from the original list. I’m carrying 12 over into 2019. I know that the chances of finishing this year’s list is slim, even though it’s not a particularly ambitious one. I just know me, and I know that there will be days when I’m lucky to read five pages.

Also, unlike all previous years, I don’t have a picture of piles of new books that I’m looking forward to reading. In fact, I didn’t receive a single book for Christmas (a first), but I did receive a generous gift card to Barnes & Noble from a loved one who knows I love to read. So here’s what I bought for myself:

Christmas Books 2018

I know, I know—GRE for Dummies. Super entertaining, right? That’s a large part of what’s going to occupy my time in 2019. I take the test later this month, and from there, it’s grad school applications. I must be a crazy person. But at least I got one new book and a cool Stranger Things bookmark. And I’ve ordered/pre-ordered several other books (listed below) that weren’t available in-store. Instead of assigning myself piles of books, I hope to thoroughly enjoy what I do read this year. And if (big if) I do get through all these, there are always titles I’ve read in the past that I would love to revisit.

Here is 2019’s list:

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5) by Pierce Brown
Shadow Puppets (The Shadow Series #3) by Orson Scott Card
Shadow of the Giant (The Shadow Series #4) by Orson Scott Card
Shadows in Flight (The Shadow Series #5) by Orson Scott Card
The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold #1) by Traci Chee
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton
The Diabolic (The Diabolic #1) by S.J. Kincaid
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (Millennium #4) by David Lagercrantz
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Nil (Nil #1) by Lynne Matson
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan
The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

I hope you have a wonderful 2019, full of only pleasant surprises and lots of good reading!

May 22, 2018 by sarahcotchaleovitch

I Shouldn’t Have to Say This

Reading Rainbow When I was a teacher, I was perplexed when a student refused to check out books on our weekly trips to the library—until I learned that the books went home and were never read. I told her I would be glad to read them to her, but she refused. She had already learned that non-technological pursuits had less value than flashy apps. And even though some of these apps were “educational,” they couldn’t make up for the parent-child interaction that comes with reading together. This is a battle all parents of the twenty-first century are fighting. Or, rather, it’s a battle I wish we would all fight. Too many of us have already waved the white flag, assigning reading the status of optional.

This is something that’s hard to wrap my mind around, considering that reading is like breathing to me. I went through a short period during which I didn’t want to read on my own—and I’m sure it was due to learning to read and spending my energies on deciphering the language rather than taking in the story—but I got over that pretty quickly. When I started reading novels, I soon had no more books to read at home and then discovered the wonders of my elementary school’s library. I plowed through Beverly Cleary and Little Women and every book of mythology I could get my hands on. In middle school, my dad introduced me to Michael Crichton, and then I discovered the vast catalog of Agatha Christie titles. When I met my husband, I was on a Stephen King kick, and he soon started reading my books when I finished them. Over the years this evolved to Harry Potter and many others. Other couples may hire a babysitter and go on dates. We sit around and read and then bug each other to read the books we’ve just finished so we can talk about them.

Naturally, this has extended to our children. When our elder son was little, we read Go, Dog. Go! to him so much that he had the book completely memorized and would act out the scenes. There have been some nights recently when our activities have necessitated getting the kids to bed way past their usual bedtimes, and for the sake of sleep, we have foregone our usual reading-together-before-bed ritual. And let me tell you: the kids don’t like it. “Can we read [book of the moment]?” Peter will ask. And I’ll feel horrible for having to turn him down.

I was recently reading on a Friday night, and with absolutely no reason to get up early the next day, I kept going until past midnight, finishing the last 90 pages of the book. (For someone who gets up at 4:40 every weekday, that’s quite a feat!) Devouring a book because it’s too good to put down is an amazing feeling. Ordering the sequel on Amazon is a close second.

Unfortunately, many people labor under the mistaken belief that novels are only for “escape” or “fluff.” On the contrary: I’ve learned all kinds of things from my sojourns in fiction, from new vocabulary to customs unlike my own to truths I may not have pondered had they not been presented to me in a unique, fictional light. Not to mention that all writers should read simply for the exposure to another writer’s perspective. For every age, not just children, books provide an excellent avenue for learning and growth, and a great example for children is to see people to whom they look up reading.

When I learned my elder son was dyslexic, I was distressed, worrying that the child who loved to be read to would hate books once he had to read them on his own. And although he still struggles, he loves books—and there are wonderful apps out there to make books accessible to those who do have reading problems. There is absolutely no reason why everyone should not be able to enjoy books in some form or fashion. (Books aren’t available to everyone, you may argue. Click here to read a blog that addresses this very issue.)

I’m not saying that other activities are without merit. I’m also a baseball/musical theatre/piano/visual arts/LEGO/Marvel Universe mom. I pride myself on offering my kids multiple outlets for their talents and interests, but I believe I would be robbing them of a great opportunity if I didn’t share my love of books with them. I shouldn’t have to make this argument at all, yet so many people harbor the notion that reading is only for people with oodles of spare time or who have a nerdish personality. For example, if you saw a muscular dude reading a book in the park instead of engaging in some form of physical activity, would you be surprised? If yes, it’s because popular culture has created a stereotype for the typical “reader.” But it shouldn’t be that way. Books are for everyone.

Maybe it’s corny, but I think the Reading Rainbow theme song states it pretty well:

Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high.
Take a look, it’s in a book, a Reading Rainbow!
I can go anywhere.
Friends to know,
and ways to grow.
A Reading Rainbow!
I can be anything.
Take a look,
it’s in a book.
A Reading Rainbow.

March 30, 2018 by sarahcotchaleovitch

Traffic Jam at the Intersection of Chronic Sinus Infection Avenue and Swamped Street

traffic jam

Hello, my name is Sarah, and I am a planner. You might call me OCD. My husband rarely makes plans without asking me first, for fear that I’ll lose it if my plan gets sidetracked. This particular piece of the Sarah puzzle doesn’t always fit nicely with the rest of the pieces. But on the up side, I’ve always known what I wanted. As a seventeen-year-old high school graduate, there was absolutely no question about what major I would claim in college: English, obviously, because I love to read and write, and I was well on my way to becoming a published author who would make enough income to support herself and her future family.

Fast forward to reality: at almost thirty-five, the only books I’ve published were paid for by me, and the income I’ve made as a writer is hardly steady, much less supportive to the family budget. I still love to write, but it was with a heavy dose of humility that I finally admitted that, if I didn’t want to watch my husband work himself to death from the sidelines, I needed to find something profitable to do. Having a traditional, full-time job was never a part of my plan. But after I stalled for years and accepted it, I have found satisfaction and even a joy I never expected by first teaching and now crunching numbers, of all things.

Have no fear: I am still a writer, and even though I am much less active than I once was, this blog keeps me accountable. Although I’m going on three months without a post, it’s not that I’ve lost my passion for writing or run out of things to say; I simply haven’t been able to wrap my mind around a cohesive topic in a while. Or more accurately, I haven’t had the time to so much as think about it. What with going from the “let’s look at houses” to actually buying one and moving in in exactly one month, being busier than ever at work, getting and staying sick for almost three months running, and becoming an independent consultant with Thirty-One Gifts, I feel lucky to remember my name.

But it happens to be spring break, and I consider it a God-thing that inspiration finally struck right when I had the time to nurture it. It happened Monday while reading my daily devotional. Some mornings, I absorb it, while others I’m lucky to remember what I read five minutes later. But this particular entry seemed to be speaking to me:

Lately, as I’ve been skimming financial advice books, I’ve noticed an interesting trend. While almost all such books have good advice, many imply that the primary reason to cut costs is to live like millionaires later. But one book offered a refreshingly different perspective, arguing that living simply is essential for a rich life. If you need more or fancier stuff to feel joy, the book suggested, “You’re missing the point of being alive.”

—Monica Brands, “The Point of Being Alive,” Our Daily Bread (read full entry here)

This struck me because I’ve been following one particular financial method for over a decade, and it is absolutely based on the idea of sacrificing certain pleasures now in order to enjoy them after retirement. Now, I have no argument with saving for the future. And really, is being fiscally responsible and living within my means a bad thing? But I don’t think that’s what the author of the devotional was getting at. There has to be a balance between wasting what we earn on instant gratification and becoming misers who save for a tomorrow that might never come.

Years ago, I met a woman who had looked forward to her husband’s retirement more than anything else in her life. They were retirement saving pros, their goal to travel during their golden years. But mere weeks after he retired, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and their retirement dream died right along with him.

I am usually not one of these people who dwells on death, but I have been sick for 11 weeks now—the perfect storm of chronic sinus infections, allergies, and barely enough time to rest every night. The same day I read the above devotional, I had a CT scan to ascertain what, exactly, is going on in my head. My ENT expects to find a reason behind the congestion, but as soon as he said, “scan of your head,” I thought about my friend who lost her life to a brain tumor at 32.

Wouldn’t it be just like Life to give me a major detour? Health problems are a nightmare to planners like me—I don’t have room for that nonsense! But while I seriously doubt that my results will show anything that serious, just the idea of it has been enough to make me look back over my life and consider my regrets. Well, I’m not a bestselling author… and that’s about it. I married the love of my life, and we have two children whom we adore. My family in itself is blessing enough, but I have more: we’ve taken great trips and made lots of memories. We read to our children all the time and tell them stories of our own childhoods. We instill in them the values that we hold dear, and I hope I’m not too boastful in saying that they’re good-hearted people (even if the older one is snarky and the younger one is a hot mess).

When I was younger, I assumed that everything I wanted in life would fall into place as easily as my marriage: I would land a literary agent, get published, play Scrooge McDuck in my mountains of earnings, and then write more novels from my office while watching my children play in my perfectly manicured backyard. I have the husband and children, so why is the rest so unattainable? It’s frustrating to say that I’m a writer—that I’ve written novels—yet have little to show for it. I was jarred by my ungratefulness when a friend who is successful in her career and seems to have it all told me she admires me for being a mother. She doesn’t look down on me at all because the career I’ve always desired remains out of reach.

It’s easy to get lost in the belief that life doesn’t begin until [fill in the blank]. The problem is that if we have to achieve x before life is worth living, we could travel down that lonely road forever without reaching the destination.

While the lure of a perfect someday can blind us to the imperfect joys of today, if we follow the (annoying, frustrating, life-changing) detours without fighting to stay on our original path, we’ll likely end up right where we need to be… with many (worthwhile, unexpected, fulfilling) stops along the way.

January 1, 2018 by sarahcotchaleovitch

FTWM’s 2018 Book List

Hello, 2018!

I’ll have to start by saying that I’m slightly disappointed in myself; I did not finish reading all of my books on my 2017 book list. As of last week, I was holding onto the faint hope that I might be reading the last book on my list at the turn of the new year, but alas, I am reading the second to last. Still, I did read every single new book on my list, at least.

So what novels did I read in 2017? Here follows the list in the order in which I read them (and if you want to see my original list, click here—you’ll see I read eight titles not on the original list, so I really can’t feel too bad):

Children of the Mind (Ender’s Saga #4) by Orson Scott Card
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
First Meetings in Ender’s Universe (Ender’s Saga #0.5) by Orson Scott Card
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
A War of Gifts: An Ender Story (Ender’s Saga #1.1) by Orson Scott Card
Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan
Red Queen (Red Queen #1) by Victoria Aveyard
Dog Days (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #4) by Jeff Kinney
Ender in Exile (Ender’s Saga #1.2) by Orson Scott Card
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard
An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir
A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Rats of NIMH #1) by Robert C. O’Brien
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011 (I Survived #12) by Lauren Tarshis
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time #1) by Robert Jordan
The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book II) by Rick Riordan
The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies
You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan
Starflight (Starflight #1) by Melissa Landers
D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths by Ingri d’Aulaire
The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan
Starfall (Starflight #2) by Melissa Landers
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab
The Crown’s Game (The Crown’s Game #1) by Evelyn Skye
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan
The Dog Who Thought He Was Santa by Bill Wallace
The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy Book I) by Jonathan Stroud
The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas
Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle
Red Rising by Pierce Brown

You may notice that many of the books I read are from series. Some are new series that I stumbled upon, and I just couldn’t help but buy the next book, which may be why I was set back a little at end of the year. Some of the books, to be honest, are already in my pile of books to pass on to someone else. I suppose it would be too good to be true to hope that every book I read is a winner. There are also quite a few titles that I would not have read if it weren’t for my 10-year-old wanting me to read with him. And as long as he wants me to, I will be glad to oblige.

Christmas Books!

Excepting the second and third books of the Red Rising series, this year’s list contains all new books for a change. One is not a novel (and yes, I do read non-fiction, although I don’t list it here unless it’s writing-related). Some books are parts of series that I started in 2017, so I can’t promise I won’t re-read those earlier books, but here’s hoping I can mostly stay on track. Included in this list is my latest pile of borrowed books from my media specialist cousin-in-law (pictured here from a post last summer). My Christmas books were also plentiful this year, as well. I received every one I wanted, plus a couple surprises.

So here is my 2018 book list (alpha by author):

Mosquitoland by David Arnold
Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Passenger (Passenger #1) by Alexandra Bracken
Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2) by Pierce Brown
Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3) by Pierce Brown
Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4) by Pierce Brown
Ender’s Shadow (The Shadow Series #1) by Orson Scott Card
Shadow of the Hegemon (The Shadow Series #2) by Orson Scott Card
Shadow Puppets (The Shadow Series #3) by Orson Scott Card
Shadow of the Giant (The Shadow Series #4) by Orson Scott Card
Shadows in Flight (The Shadow Series #5) by Orson Scott Card
The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold #1) by Traci Chee
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton
The Diabolic (The Diabolic #1) by S.J. Kincaid
The Ugly Truth (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5) by Jeff Kinney
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (Millennium #4) by David Lagercrantz
Nil (Nil #1) by Lynne Matson
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo #2) by Rick Riordan
The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book III) by Rick Riordan
Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark #1) by Victoria Roth
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz
Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab
The Crown’s Fate (The Crown’s Game #2) by Evelyn Skye
A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) by Sabaa Tahir

This is a shorter list than those of the past couple years because working full-time, year-round has decimated my free time, but I hope I’ll be able to stick to it and maybe have some room to intersperse some unplanned surprise titles.

I hope you’re inspired to read something you’ll fall in love with this year. Happy reading in 2018!

December 29, 2017 by sarahcotchaleovitch

From Resolution to Habit

It was almost one year ago when I posted about my (pre)New Year’s resolution. And since it has almost been a year, I figured I would give an update, just in case anyone remembers or cares. (Read the original post here.)

I have, in fact, kept my resolution to be less dependent on social media/my iPhone. In fact, within a couple months of making this resolution, a friend told me she had decided to give up Facebook for Lent. At the time, I felt somewhat smug: I didn’t need to give it up because I had already majorly dialed back my social media usage. After the 40 days were up, I asked her if she missed Facebook, and she said that she didn’t; she had deleted the app from her phone and felt no urge to download it again. After breaking the habit, she wasn’t eager to start it again.

It reminded me of my relationship with food. By cutting out most carbs and sugars over the past year, not only have I lost weight that I thought I would have to carry around forever, but I’ve lost the urge to eat carbs and sugars. No more crazy cravings, no more roaring hunger. Even though I could “afford” to cheat a little, I don’t want to.

These aren’t just “I wish I could” resolutions that look good from the perspective of December 31st. While it feels too grandiose to say that they are paradigm shifts, they definitely take resolve (hello). What we consume—both physically and mentally—contributes to our lifestyles, and if you want to be more than one of the huge percentage of people whose resolutions are laughable, you have to be willing to make a shift—and not shift back.

When my teaching position transitioned into a year-round, full-time job late in the spring, I realized that I needed to tighten down on what free time I had left. While I didn’t feel the need to cut out social media altogether, leaving my phone in a different room overnight and in my purse when out with my family wasn’t enough. So I made a new, mid-year resolution: only check Facebook once a day. What this looks like is that I now check my notifications once (usually in the morning), and if I have a couple spare minutes, I scroll through a couple new posts. I even moved Facebook out of my iPhone’s home row, so it’s not a one-click option anymore. While it bothered me at first that I wouldn’t be as “in touch” anymore, I find that I really don’t miss it. If ever I’m curious about whether a friend finally had her baby, for example, I’ll search for that friend. I am no longer a social media tool; it is a tool that I can use when I choose.

Call me a bad Millennial—it won’t hurt my feelings—I’ve always known I was more of an old-fashioned girl. With my kids getting older and closer to that age when they’ll want smartphones of their own, I resolve to be the example of a person who uses technology responsibly, and I hope they will follow suit.