January 3, 2025 by sarahcotchaleovitch

Please Let Me Read More in 2025

Despite the title, I did read more in 2024 than in 2023. Still, I wish I’d been able to read more the last couple months of the year. Participating in NaNoWriMo and all the usual Christmas shenanigans gave me very little time to read—sometimes only several pages a day. I don’t think anyone who knows me will be surprised that I deviated from my planned list a few times. When family members or friends lend me books, I read them. That’s how I came by three series—All Souls, The Kane Chronicles, and Schools of Dune—all of which I finally read in 2024 (two had been on my list since 2022). I also borrowed the King of Scars duology, which I hoped to finish in November, but I barely finished the first book by Christmas and am currently reading the second.

I always expect to deviate from my list when it comes to my students; I just don’t know which titles I’ll be reading with them. In 2024, this included Fantastic Mr. Fox and Charlotte’s Web, to name a couple. My school’s librarian also understands my love of all things kidlit and occasionally loads me up, so I read several unplanned books at the end of the 2023-24 school year (titles such as A Monster Like Me and Dead Wednesday). While I, sadly, no longer read aloud to my sons, the younger one got into the Underland Chronicles last spring and insisted I read them. I’d read the first book, Gregor the Overlander, in 2007, and with his encouragement, I finished the series 17 years later.

The only book that I read in 2024 that was a real stinker was A Psalm for the Wild-Built. It was a book I received in a book exchange from a total stranger, which is always a risk, but it was on my list, and I was determined to choke it down and get it over with. On the other hand, Wonder, which I read with a 4^th Grade book club, was a delightful surprise.

I also have a couple non-fiction titles that I’m including this year. I don’t always list my non-fiction, but these were ones I truly enjoyed and believe they are accessible to many readers. In fact, Thomas and I both read and enjoyed these books, Tuesdays with Morrie (which I’d always assumed was fiction before reading it) and Different Kind of Minds (check out my review of it here).

In 2024, my book list included 25 titles. Although I only read 16 of the books I planned to read, I read 29 books in all, which I consider a win. Here they are, in the order in which I read them (* indicates the unplanned titles):

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness
Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) by Deborah Harkness
Wonder by R.J. Palacio*
The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3) by Deborah Harkness
The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles #1) by Rick Riordan
The Throne of Fire (The Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan
The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan
Gregor the Overlander (Underland Chronicles #1) by Suzanne Collins*
Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (Underland Chronicles #2) by Suzanne Collins*
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods (Underland Chronicles #3) by Suzanne Collins*
Gregor and the Marks of Secret (Underland Chronicles #4) by Suzanne Collins*
Gregor and the Code of Claw (Underland Chronicles #5) by Suzanne Collins*
New Dragon City by Mari Mancusi*
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
A Monster Like Me by Wendy S. Swore*
Dead Wednesday by Jerry Spinelli*
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl*
Fractal Noise (Fractalverse #0) by Christopher Paolini
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
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White*
Navigators of Dune (Schools of Dune #3) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Red Rising (Red Rising Saga #1) by Pierce Brown
Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2) by Pierce Brown
Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3) by Pierce Brown
Different Kinds of Minds by Temple Grandin*
King of Scars (King of Scars #1) by Leigh Bardugo*
Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4) by Pierce Brown

In 2024, I said I would prioritize the books that I didn’t read in previous years, and I was mostly successful. I still need to read Pierce Brown’s Dark Age and Light Bringer to finish his Red Rising series, and then it will be on to the seven books left over from 2024. Something that was missing in 2024 was a real page-turner that made me want to prioritize reading. That’s not to say that I didn’t read some excellent books, but they were all books that I could put down. This year, I plan to dive into the Cormoran Strike series again because they are penned by my favorite author (Robert Galbraith, AKA J.K. Rowling), and they are the best mystery novels I’ve ever read. AND *drum roll please* the title of book eight of the series has been released, The Hallmarked Man. Although there’s no publication date yet, I am crossing my fingers that it will happen in 2025, so onto the list it goes. I am also going to pick up Harry Potter again. It’s been over five years since I’ve read the series, and even though I’ve read the first four books 13 times (and five to 12 times for books five through seven), there is so much to love about these books, and it goes much deeper than an orphaned wizard. My 13-year-old recently breezed through the series over the period of a couple weeks. It was the first time he’d read all the books on his own, and his enthusiasm for them (plus a deep understanding that he didn’t have previously) has rekindled my interest.

Rounding out my 2025 list are books that have yet to find a spot on my shelves. It used to be that, as soon as I acquired a new book, I would shelve it. Which usually meant a monumental shift of books, since I shelve all my fiction alphabetically by author across two large cabinets. Then one of my voracious-reader friends posted a picture of her unread books, which she keeps on a separate bookshelf. This, I realized, would not only keep the books I have yet to read front and center, but it would also keep me from shelving books that are unknown and might not be shelf-worthy. These are the books in the photo featured at the top of this post. While I don’t have an extra bookshelf to spare, I do have a handy hearth that is empty most of the year, so that’s where those books will live until they’re read and shelved or… they meet some other fate. (Not pictured are books I have yet to acquire—The Rook Files—or books in my classroom library.) In a separate corner of the house altogether is a box of books (shown above) that was gifted to me on the last day of the year. While visiting friends on New Year’s Eve, I was invited to take what I wanted, so I did just that. I am not familiar with Louise Penny, but I’m told she writes mystery novels, so I’ll try the first one of the series and see where it goes from there. And if none of these books work out, I won’t have to rearrange the whole bookcase again.

With all of that in mind, here are the nine books I’m pulling forward from 2023 and 2024 plus 16 new ones that I might possibly read in 2025:

Rule of Wolves (King of Scars #2) by Leigh Bardugo
Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5) by Pierce Brown
Light Bringer (Red Rising Saga #6) by Pierce Brown
The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) by Robert Galbraith
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
Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike #5) by Robert Galbraith
The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike #6) by Robert Galbraith
The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike #7) by Robert Galbraith
The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike #8) by Robert Galbraith
The Women by Kristin Hannah
A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas
The One by John Marrs
The Rook (The Rook Files #1) by Daniel O’Malley
Stiletto (The Rook Files #2) by Daniel O’Malley
Blitz (The Rook Files #3) by Daniel O’Malley
Murtagh (The Inheritance Cycle #5) by Christopher Paolini
Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #1) by Louise Penny
Wild River (The Wild #2) by Rodman Philbrick
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter #1) by J.K. Rowling
Solimar: The Sword of Monarchs by Pam Munoz Ryan
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat
Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros
Iron Flame (The Empyrean #2) by Rebecca Yarros

When I first started making this list in 2013, it was mainly to give me something to look forward to during the year, not something to chain me down. While I understand I have an obligation when I borrow books, I also want to enjoy what I read, so that’s the ultimate goal. May you find joy in reading (or whatever your creative outlet is) over the next 360-something days.

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Meet the 2024 Book List, Same as the 2023 Book List

Now that I have you thinking I was a total slacker in 2023, it’s really not as bad as my title suggests. I did read some of my book list last year. And now is the time when I lay out all my excuses for why I didn’t come anywhere close to reading my list of 30 titles. *cracks knuckles*

First, let’s tackle the elephant in the room, which is that I always veer off the path to read books that weren’t on my original list. There was a time when these books were the ones I read to my kids. Car rides were a favorite time to introduce them to series such as Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. The series that did me in was The Lord of the Rings. Reading elvish aloud is a different animal. That was two years ago. Now I have a kid who can drive himself, so we’re not always riding together. Plus, times have changed. When the four of us are riding somewhere together now, we’re more likely to be singing along with our extensive YouTube playlist. And that’s okay.

My side novels, as I like to think of them, have shifted to books that I read to keep up with my students. Because I teach kids with learning disabilities, it’s important to know firsthand exactly what happened in the books they read; when their comprehension takes a dive, I can help correct their misunderstandings. And I’ve really enjoyed some of these unplanned reading treasures. Although they pull me away from my list, they’re well worth it. Five of the seven unplanned books I read in 2023 fit this category.

One excuse down. Here’s another: In 2023, I struggled. Sometimes the struggle was because some of my books were just meh (I will not be returning to the Ship Breaker series). Sometimes the struggle was due to the length of the books and a lack of time. In July, our lives were turned upside down by an unexpected (but necessary) move in a horrible housing market. While I now believe that we ended up right where we were supposed to be, there was a lot of stress involved, a lot of sleepless nights (spent worrying, not reading), and up until a couple days before Christmas, we were still unpacking. The house projects promise to keep us busy for years to come. Oh, and before the move, we got chickens, so I can blame a lot of time evaporation on them, too.

Okay, that ended up being a whole list of excuses. I’m keeping on keeping on, but it’s slow. I’ve been reading my current book since late November, and sometimes I only manage five pages in a day. When your book has 700+ pages, it feels interminable. I could have devoted more time to reading this past week and squeezed in one last title, but instead, I chose to play games with my family, and I don’t regret it. After all, the books will always be waiting for me. (And, boy, do I have piles of books.)

Excuses delivered. Now it’s time to dive into the books. In 2023, my goal was to read 30 novels, and a few of them were doozies. (I did say it was ambitious right up front—the proof is here.) When it came right down to it, I only finished 22 books in 2023 (all but one were novels—the non-fiction title I read for work can be found on my Goodreads page). Only 14 of the books I read came from the original list of 30. Here they are, in the order in which I read them (* indicates where I deviated from my original list):

Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo
Carry Me Home by Janet Fox
A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser*
Superstar by Mandy Davis*
Stuck by Jennifer Swender*
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
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
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
Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike #5) by Robert Galbraith
The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike #6) by Robert Galbraith
The Rook (The Rook Files #1) by Daniel O’Malley*
Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker #1) by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker #2) by Paolo Bacigalupi
The BFG by Roald Dahl*
Horns by Joe Hill
The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike #7) by Robert Galbraith*
Masterpiece by Elise Broach*

Of the titles I read, some favorites include everything by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling), Superstar (a fantastic middle grade book about an autistic boy), and Instructions for Dancing (very different for Nicola Yoon but probably my favorite of her books).

In 2024, I will prioritize the 16 books that I wasn’t able to read in 2023, and I’ve added a few more because it’s me, and that’s what I do. Here’s the list (alpha by author):

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Red Rising (Red Rising Saga #1) by Pierce Brown
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
Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5) by Pierce Brown
Light Bringer (Red Rising Saga #6) by Pierce Brown
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers
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
The One by John Marrs
Stiletto (The Rook Files #2) by Daniel O’Malley
Blitz (The Rook Files #3) by Daniel O’Malley
Fractal Noise (Fractalverse #2) by Christopher Paolini
Murtagh (The Inheritance Cycle #5) by Christopher Paolini
Wild River by Rodman Philbrick
The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles #1) by Rick Riordan
The Throne of Fire (The Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan
The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan
Solimar: The Sword of Monarchs by Pam Munoz Ryan
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

This year’s list isn’t nearly as daunting as last year’s, so maybe I’ll finally reach my goal. If not, I’m still going to enjoy the journey. As a writing professor told me decades ago (sigh), the important thing is to always have an answer when someone asks what I’m reading, and that I can do.

November 23, 2023 by sarahcotchaleovitch

Cemeteries, History, and Bayonet Graffiti

One of my favorite places to go for a quick day trip or mini vacation is Savannah. As close as Disney World but not nearly as expensive, it also has the added attraction (for the adults, at least) of being full of history. And being married to a history nerd… well, it’s rubbed off. One of my favorite historical haunts (pun intended) is Colonial Park Cemetery. I visited it twice when chaperoning my kids’ 5th grade field trip to Savannah, but what actually made the biggest impression on me was hearing about it from the perspective of a ghost tour this past summer.

Displaced headstones again the back wall at Colonial Park Cemetery

I’ll have to admit, I had no idea what to expect from the ghost tour. While there was a conspicuous dearth of actual ghost sightings, and much of the tour was intentionally campy, the historical foundation laid beneath the ghost tales is solid. After hearing that hundreds of victims of the Spanish influenza had been shoveled into a mass grave and that Union soldiers used the cemetery as a camp in the Civil War, Thomas and I had to investigate for ourselves.

We didn’t find a marker for the victims of the flu, but we did walk along the back wall of the cemetery, where displaced headstones now rest. Many headstones are so old that their surfaces have been worn smooth, but we finally found one where some 19^th century comedian etched a 1 with his Union-issue bayonet, changing the deceased’s age from 42 to 421. The rule follower in me is appalled by such blatant disrespect of the dead, but the nerd in me finds it absolutely fascinating that this prank from over 150 years ago is still visible today.

Earlier this week, we took the kids to the cemetery to show them our post-ghost tour findings. I’d taken a picture of the altered headstone the first time we found it, and we were able to find it again. Instead of being bored to death, the boys actually thought it was interesting. When not distracted by classmates and a rushed schedule, they began asking questions about the cemetery and the Civil War and history in general. We found some headstones from the 1840s that looked pristine. Considering that people were no longer buried in Colonial Park Cemetery after 1853, that’s comparatively recent. Reading the ages of the deceased on many of these headstones was a history lesson in itself—lots of children and teenagers. It’s sobering to realize that these aren’t cool props but actual markers in honor of real people. Now that the boys are old enough to appreciate it, a cemetery is a pretty cool place to visit.

Now that I think of it, a cemetery would be an excellent setting for a novel—one I have yet to use. I can, however, recommend a great book that has a lot of interesting goings-ons in London’s Highgate Cemetery. It’s Robert Galbraith’s The Ink Black Heart. (Side note: Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, and The Ink Black Heart is the sixth book in his/her phenomenal Cormoran Strike series.) Not only does a murder happen in London’s Highgate Cemetery, but Galbraith/Rowling creates a whole animated world around that cemetery. If you happen to be in the Savannah neighborhood, I can even recommend where to buy The Ink Black Heart (and any other book you could possibly want): E. Shaver Booksellers. They have giant friendly cats that sleep in the windows—what more could you want?

So keep reading, but don’t forget to get out into the real world and visit places that are worth reading and writing about.

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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 5, 2019 by sarahcotchaleovitch

Hunkerin’

Dorian, where are you?

I got married in what I call the Year of the Hurricane (2004). Within a few weeks that fall, four hurricanes hit Florida, devastating mainly the central corridor of our state. Where I live, we were lucky to be tucked away in a spot that rarely receives a direct hit. Still, we received wind and rains from the outer bands of those storms, resulting in loss of power for days on end. How did we fare? Pretty well. In our early 20s, Thomas and I weren’t concerned about water bottles or extra batteries. We had everything we needed in our tiny apartment: doughnuts, pizza, sodas, candles, and Scrabble. We played endless games of the latter until we decided it might be nice to have A/C and a warm shower and relocated to his parents’ house, where they never lost power.

Fast forward to the last few years. My kids think that hurricane days are an adventure, but talks of school closing put me on edge. As someone who works at said school, I know that days off don’t come for free. And then there was the time that the kids and I actually evacuated. The way Hurricane Matthew’s track looked, we thought we would get a direct hit. We pulled all our pictures off the walls and put valuables on top of our beds in case the house flooded. The boys and I headed to central Florida, where it was sunny and hot, while Thomas had to stay put, due to his job. He had everything staged for if he had to abandon the house and head for a shelter, but the worst thing that happened was that A/C unit outside flooded, so he went without air for a couple days.

Thank goodness for modern technology that (usually) lets us know when major weather events will happen. But that still doesn’t remove nature’s unpredictability factor. A few months after Hurricane Matthew, a microburst struck our side of town out of nowhere. Listening to wind and hail beat all four sides of the house, I thought it was a tornado. Thomas was just down the street at the time, and a tree fell right in front of his car. When I left for work the next morning, our neighborhood looked like a war zone. Every house had lost at least a portion of fence, not to mention trees and large limbs.

Hurricane Dorian 2 For Dorian, we never considered evacuating, but we did prepare for our neighborhood to flood and for an extended power outage. A hard rain can back up our storm drains, and our power has been known to go out when it’s not even raining. But it hasn’t flickered once, and today there was hardly any wind and just light, drizzly rain. We cancelled our Labor Day weekend vacation and stayed in town, and… nothing happened. At least not here. I feel for the people of the Bahamas, and I’ve since heard that cruise ship lines are responding with aid to those devastated by this slow-moving storm.

I started grad school (online) last week, and with that added activity, I now have at least one obligation every weeknight (and sometimes I’m double-booked). But since last Friday, my schedule has been clear. So what have we done? Thomas and I taught the boys how to play Scrabble. Our back patio got a top-to-bottom cleaning. And we’ve read. A lot. When I realized that we would have so many days at home—and there’s no guarantee I’ll get such dedicated reading time again for a while—I decided that the boys and I would finish the books we’re reading together, and I would try to finish my own novel, as well.

One of the greatest joys of being a mom is sharing my favorite books with my kids. Over a year ago, I started on the Artemis Fowl series with Peter. We’ve had to take breaks to fit in required reading for school, but we’re now just a few pages away from finishing The Time Paradox, the sixth of this eight-book series. I was determined that we’d finish the series before the end of the year when I wrote this year’s book list (read that post here). After that, I want to pull out some of my favorite historical fiction; Peter’s begun to take an interest in World War II.

Ian and I started reading Harry Potter just before the school year started. He’s in the second grade, and that’s when I read them to Peter. These are the first longer chapter books Ian’s read, and I worried that they might bore him; after all, he’s my ADHD kid who could never sit still for me to read to him when he was a baby. It does help that we have the beautifully illustrated Jim Kay versions (for the first three books), but even on the pages without illustrations, Ian is rapt. Many times, he’s asked me to read just a few more pages, or he’s carried the giant book to me, singing the Harry Potter movie theme. I feel like I’ve done something right because he told me a few days ago that he thinks the books are better than the movies because they made more effort with the books.

I feel guilty for getting so much time off when there was absolutely no reason for it. But how can you know? Not to mention that there are many people in my area who live in flood zones and aren’t as lucky. So the whole community has to abide by this schedule (and pray we don’t succumb to cabin fever). So I’m off now to read another chapter or two. Four books to go until I finish my 2019 book list!

Hurricane Dorian 3

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.

Full-Time Writer Mom

Tag Archives: Books