In the Storm

2021 Reading Goals

2020 was a fairly successful reading year in that I met the majority of my reading goals. The 'read a book published every year since I was born' 2020 goal was a wash, however. While I read 40 of 57 books, that goal unmet, and the year 2020 for all its angst, is the very reason my reading goals are shifting for this year, 2021. 2020 turned out not to be the year to tackle a serious book challenge and I decided for 2021 I will - I must - take a breather. I am not cutting back on reading. Book club is still on! I will continue to host my book club in my home once a month. I will continue to read reviews and flesh out an array of thoughtful, fabulous titles to include into our quarterly book club picks. Jeff and I will continue to read books aloud, together, each morning before work. I will tackle classics to suit my long-term goal. But, for 2021 I am taking a minimalist approach toward my reading goals. Similar goals to previous years, but altogether simple reading goals.

Read 100 total books. Sure, I have read more books in past years. This year is not about quantity, but quality. I don't want to race through what I read unless it is truly one of those un-put-down-able books that everyone loves and that I am finding I just cannot put down. Not really a goal but I would like to read books from my own overflowing bookshelves. Tackle those bookshelves and flesh out those books I maybe thought I would read one of these days and those that will remain on my to be read, ever-growing list. This, of course, is not to say that I will forego the library. I plan on updating my Holds list before the end of the year and rotate books through as I lose interest or find other books I'd rather be reading. As someone who is a mood reader, holds are always hit and miss and often arrive at inopportune times. When I first put a book on hold at the library I'm excited to read that book but I have found the excitement wanes and when that exact book is ready for me to pick up I either don't remember adding it to my Holds list, or that ever-changing mood has won out.

However, between the books on my shelves and the books on my library's shelves, the books Jeff and I will read aloud and the books I will buy and read for my book club, and those classics, I'm pretty sure I can read 100 total books in 2021.

 

Read 8 books aloud with Jeff. We have a finely tuned habit each week day morning before I head to work. We read portions of our latest Christian non-fiction book, and then we read the Bible, together. In 2020, we didn't quite get through the entire Bible so in 2021 we'll finish out reading and checking off those last books we still need to read and then we'll begin again (probably using a different Bible reading plan). We have already started the first of 8 books, Run with the Horses by Eugene Peterson (he is the author of The Message Bible translation), that we'll finish in January 2021 sometime. These 8 books will be part of the 100 total books I want to read in 2021.

Read 12 books for Book Club. We read one book a month and meet the last Monday of every month to discuss what we've read. It's a true book club in that we talk books, probably, 90% of the time. If we see each other outside of book club, we generally always mention - books! We already have our January 2021 book picked out, even. We will be reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi.

Read 12 Classics for The Classics Club. My goal for The Classics Club is read 51 Classics in 51 Months. In order to continue to move toward that goal at a steady jaunt I hope to read 12 classics this year. And continue to document the classics I have read.

 

Finally, I will be documenting what I've read via memory keeping. Similar to my reading goals my memory keeping will take a minimalist approach. I will use a 4 x 8 Citrus Twist album (I haven't decided on the color). This will give me flexibility in what size I create my pages. I can insert 4 x 4, 4 x 6, 3 x 8, 4 x 8 pages, fold-outs, or double page spreads of any of the mentioned sizes. I plan on creating a mix of digital, physical, and hybrid pages while landing on the minimal: clean lines

December Daily 2020 | 7

You might have noticed I have skipped a day here. This was intentional. I have half of Story 6 completed and it simply needs the final touches, and the journaling. I wanted to just continue with the stories I have told even if they are out of order here. I will simply insert them into my album where they belong. Because I am telling numbered stories and not numbered days I'm comfortable jumping around as a story comes to me. Or, more likely, when I have the time to document stories, especially if I am creating hybrid pages where I not only need my computer but my scraproom and December Daily products, too.

For Story 7 I am documenting the new ornaments that I purchased this year, and why I chose those ornaments. I think I have purchased new ornaments, at least one new ornament, every year for decades. I used to buy ornaments for the kids but gave that up when the boys didn't seem interested - I could be wrong, or have gotten it all wrong and they'll make me regret those years I didn't buy them an ornament.

One of my favorite ornaments this year was handmade by my niece, Laura. She crocheted that darling Baby Grogu (or The Child). We are The Mandalorian fanatics, I mean fans, and adore The Child. We began watching The Mandalorian this summer and if you've watched it you understand how it seeps into your stream of conversation and - well - makes you happy all over. We finished watching the final season episode just the other day and I was ecstatic to be able to hang the ornament we received from Laura commemorating our love for all things The Mandalorian.

For the cover page I created a simply 'tree' transparency and added a dated tag and ribbon. Simple, elegant. I added NEW ORNAMENTS using Ali Edwards' red thin puffy letters from the December Daily 2020 collection. 

I adore Rae Dunn products with her signature type font and these round cream ceramic ornaments with that similar type font and words I love were a simple decision to add them to our ornament collection. From year to year my ornament decision making is scatterbrained. One year I want all our ornaments on the tree. Another year, I select a particular style, if you will. This year we hung almost every ornament on the tree, except those damaged, or irreparable.

Lastly, (recorded on this page), I picked up on Etsy a frosted glass round bulb hand painted with red cardinals. I wanted it to represent the year we put up a bird feeder and the flocks of cardinals that visited our backyard over the summer and fall months. In other words, we took up bird watching and got a kick out of the cardinals and finches and other small birds fluttering about the trees along the marsh in our backyard.

The second page, inside the page protector, a 6 x 8, digitally created page. I digitally included those tags just like the title page tag and digitally added the baker's twine, plus my journaling and then printed out the page on photo paper. It was a clean and simple, yet decorative page. I love how it turned out.

December Daily 2020 | 5

Story # 5 is another hybrid page: digital plus pieces of physical product. This, I am sure, will be one of my favorite pages in my album and it is a scraplift of a page Ali Edwards created in the December Daily Product Play 4 class I took in November. There were soo many ideas offered in the class and many I know I won't be able to replicate because I don't have the tools or equipment or product to make it happen. However, for this page - as soon as I saw it - I thought I could make some digital magic happen.

Let's start with the left side: The left side is all digitally created and printed as a photo using glossy photo paper.

The right side is a combination of digital, hybrid, and physical product.

I started by creating my own polka dot vellum similar to the vellum used in her project except I had to create mine from scratch. I also used 'pool' colors. I adore the vellum I created and now that I found success I am sure I will continue to use vellum in other projects. The FaLaLaLa paper is a digital journal card from the December Daily main kit for 2020 that I enlarged to a specified size to meet my need, the color changed to a turquoise and printed on heavy weight cardstock.

I used a couple pieces from the physical kit, that shiny glittery gold star, a couple plastic circles, and a piece of word art chipboard.

You can see in this photo that the vellum and FaLaLaLa are fold out pieces that I adhered to the larger piece of cardstock underneath where my journaling and another photo is semi-hidden.

Once I had all the parts and pieces, the page didn't take very long to put together, other than making sure I was fairly precise adhering the foldout pieces.

Once you open both fold outs my journaling is about my days' swim, the struggles I had. And the wins.

FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

I like to finish off the year with a reading roundup of my favorites, what my reading life has been like this year and whether I meet my reading goals. The answers to these questions - and others can be found scattered here and there, below.

 

FAVORITE FICTION

I read 55 fiction titles and 12 of those were book club reads. The remainder could be applied, mostly. to my left-unfinished 2020 Reading Goal - read a book published every year since I was born. Leaving a goal unfinished, I thought I would be more - upset - at myself. But, after the unprecedented year of 2020, that I was able to read 83 books this year was a miracle in itself. The year did not make me run toward books. Rather, I went through many periods of dry spells and without focus, especially for books. Now, of those 55 fiction books I did read,  I was able to easily narrow that down to my favorite 12 fiction books in 2020. 

It wasn't as easy to narrow the 12 down to just one favorite but I'm happy to say I gave it a go and chose one favorite fiction from those 12 'favorites'. The winner of the favorite fiction award goes to...

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

 

FAVORITE NON-FICTION

(Non-Christian)

I'll be honest. This was a tough decision. Many of these books were really good books. However, none of them I loved from start to finish, although several of them were pretty darn close. I feel I must narrow the non-fiction category down to sub-genre in order to give justice to the entire non-fiction genre. I broke non-fiction down into:

Memoir(s): Becoming, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Life In Motion, A Moveable Feast, Walk, and Travels With Charlie. Except for a few minor irritations in Becoming I can easily give the memoir by Michelle Obama the number one spot in the genre. I will say, however, that A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway is a classic for a reason and stands the test of time, as does Travels With Charlie by John Steinbeck. I'm not sure how Becoming will hold up with time, as a classic memoir. While I'm not a fan of Obama, I do believe her writing and memoir is excellent, Becoming.

Literary Non-Fiction: The Perfect Storm, Killers of the Flower Moon, Into The Wild, and Into the Woods. Literary non-fiction is becoming a favorite genre of mine, a non-fiction facts-based story that reads like a literary fiction novel. In other years, books I've read, like, Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing or Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson, would join this genre of literary non-fiction. While I enjoyed all four of these literary non-fiction books and Into the Woods is a close second, my pick for literary non-fiction is, The Perfect Storm.

Non-Fiction: Just Mercy, Be The Bridge, I'm Still Here, 24/6, and The Cloudspotter's Guide. This is a tough call. I read Just Mercy earlier in the year and it was an eye-opener to say the least. Even more frustrating that our justice system has come to what it is. In Killers of the Flower Moon a judge overseeing one of the trials in the Osage murders said something to the effect, "There has never been a country on this earth that has fallen except when that point was reached where the citizens would say, 'we cannot get justice in our courts." The bread crumb victories in our justice system make it clear that our country is and has been on its fall, spiraling quickly downward.  But, for the work being done now - I believe - and on a broader scale, and for the approach Latasha Morrison took in speaking about racial bridge building and how-to be a bridge, ever respectful to the white race (because I am white, yes, but also because I do not see how a bridge can be build without respect), I select Be The Bridge.

 

FAVORITE BOOK CLUB READ

I read 12 books for my book club. We were able to meet over Zoom during the pandemic, we didn't let the pandemic curb our reading for book club, nor let it interrupt our meeting. When we did return to my home our gathering was small and that continued for the remainder of the year. There is talk, recently, of several planning on returning in 2021. I hope so. Some of our best discussions have been when we've had more than six book club members.

Some of my favorite books of the year were actually book club reads. We read Gilead, Little Bee, The Dog Stars, Olive Kitteridge, What Alice Forgot, Little Bee, Code Name Helene, A Gentleman in Moscow, The Time Traveler's Wife, American Royals, The Vanishing Half, and Killers of the Flower Moon.

I adored several of the 12 books we read in book club, such as What Alice Forgot, The Vanishing Half, and Code Name Helene which was a close runner up. If I polled book club I wouldn't be surprised if many would pick What Alice Forgot as their favorite book. However, my favorite book club read hands down, a book I adored, goes to...   

                  A Gentleman in Moscow 

 

FAVORITE CLASSIC CLUB BOOK

In August I joined The Classic's Club and began reading 51 Classics in 51 Months (my personal goal). I read the following classic's beginning in August:

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (a Modern Classic)
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis

Multiple genre classics from a modern classic, The Kite Runner to a Christian non-fiction, The Pursuit of God. A couple memoirs: A Moveable Feast and Travels with Charley, and a Christian fiction classic by CS Lewis. My favorite Classic book I read (once I began the Classic's Club) is: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis

 

 

FAVORITE BOOK READ ALOUD

These are books that Jeff and I read aloud this year. These are the spiritual formation books we have been reading early in the morning, along with reading the Bible from cover to cover - together. I read aloud and he listens - intently. We have stacked the shelf of finished Christian non-fiction books. This year we read from a couple giants in the faith, The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer and Life Without Lack by Dallas Williard, a couple easy-to-read but just as hard hitting, How Happiness Happens and Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado, Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman, and Letters to the Church by Francis Chan, and a couple more-difficult-to-follow books, Louder than Words by Andy Stanley and Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller.

Picking a favorite was tough! Almost impossible, because spiritual formation is imperative to growing in Christ and each book offered - something for spiritual growing. I could give you my least favorite: Louder than Words by Andy Stanley. I liked the book but didn't love it. It was choppy, and not as engaging as I would expect from Stanley. Although I did walk away having learned something. Of the 8 books we read it was still my least favorite. Here's what's hard in picking a favorite in the spiritual formation category? We read some heavy hitting books by some giant theologians and Christians in the faith. Francis Chan's Letters to the Church was a re-read for me but even better the second time through read out loud with Jeff. It is a heavy contender for favorite or, at least, in a top 3 spot. But, come on, A.W. Tozer! How do I choose?

Even for all the great reads the most memorable to me, the happiest little book, typical Max Lucado style - yet, insightful, engaging, and thought-provoking, I'm just going to say it, go with it...

How Happiness Happens

 

FAVORITE BOOK IN A SERIES

I only read a couple books this year that also happen to be a part of a series. Louise Penny's latest Chief Inspector Gamache series came out in September and I had All The Devils Are Here read in less than 24 hours. J.D. Robb's latest two in her In Death series arrived in February, Golden in Death (Book 50), and Shadows in Death (Book 51). The Memory Man series by David Baldacci delivered Walk the Wire and I began a new series, A Veronica Speedwell Mystery, reading the first two, A Curious Beginning and A Perilous Undertaking.

The Veronica Speedwell mysteries were a delight and I'm really looking forward to reading more in the series in 2021. I am such a fan of The Memory Man series. However, Walk the Wire wasn't a favorite. Louise Penny can rarely do wrong and I have devoured and own each of the, I think, 16 books in the series. These books are re-read worthy and I may just do that in 2021. Lastly, J.D. Robb's In Death series. Have I mentioned this is my favorite series? Yeah, pretty much is. Fifty-one books into the series and I still haven't tired of the characters or the story lines. They are a guilty pleasure. They're not a literary read but I am engrossed from word one and love every minute of them (minus a couple that have been a bit of a shallow read). That said, Shadows in Death was absolutely fantastic. Loved every minute of it! It also earns the top spot, favorite book in a series:  Shadows in Death by JD Robb.

 

FAVORITE BOOK OF 2020

Finally, I come to the ultimate. The favorite. The year's best - of the best. The top notch. The magnum opus - or at least my magnum opus. My favorite book of 2020.

 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Runner's Up: A Gentleman in Moscow, Shadows in Death, Code Name: Helene

 

And, that wraps up my 2020 reading year. I am looking forward to sharing my 2021 Reading Goals.

 

 

 

December Daily 2020 | Day 4

For today's story I wanted to capture Jeff's day 'off' fishing. He had such a great time fishing, some great photos - and that is why I made the pages around the photos. Highlighting the photos made these two pages. I used Paislee Press' clean and minimalist digital designs for my pages. Honestly, she's one of my favorite designers for her minimalist approach.

Here is the journaling I used for the page:

The senior superintendent on Jeff’s jobsite gave the team a day out on a chartered fishing boat for ‘team building’. Although Jeff has fished many times he hadn’t ever used professional reels, but he understands the concept so quickly picked up the skills enough to reel in quite a few fish. They fished in the coastal waters and netted trout, redfish, and flounder. Jeff had soo much fun! His group was the last group to fish and the previous ‘who netted the longest fish’ went to the one of the ladies on the team. But Jeff was able to reel in a 27-inch fish and beat her out! ‘Beginner’s’ luck he says! I love that he got a day ‘off’ to break up his 6-day work week. It’s great that part of the chartering fee is they clean all the fish everyone catches so Jeff brought home a gallon size bag of fresh fish ready to cook. We did a simple pan fry with a garlic lemon butter sauce and it was mouth-watering delicious..

20 Favorites in 2020.

For my December Daily Story #11 (yes, I've been going out of order. It's okay, really. These are stories, not days. I know, it's December Daily. There December Stories - daily)...I decided to capture 20 of my favorite things in 2020.

It's been a year hasn't it? An unprecedented year in my life time. A very hard year in so many ways.

Yet.

There has been some really good stuff, too!

I simply do not want to walk into 2021 without recalling those good things about 2020. Favorite's. A shift in perspective.

When I look back on 2020, rather than pandemic, toilet paper shortage, isolation, lockdowns, businesses going under...you get the drift, I'd rather see the good. Personally, using clearer vision, I would rather look on 2020 as the year of...

1. Documenting 31 Sunrises in July. I started the month of July capturing a sunrise each morning and by the 4th day I'd decided to keep going the rest of the month. I created a mini-album of my 31 Sunrises, posted the sunrises on Instagram (@suebug63), and enjoyed every minute of loss of sleep to catch the sun coming up.

2. Completing a #100dayproject. A heady endeavor to say the least. Beginning in April and ending in July I wrote one personal story every day using a one word journal prompt. One word. One story. 100 days. It was an amazing creative outlet and I told 100 small stories about me.

3. Swimming since the end of July, 3- 4x each week. When the aquatic center opened back up post-pandemic and after months of renovation, they returned to business by reservation only. Swimmers reserve lanes for lap swimming and every week I reserved a lane for 3 or 4 swim times. Thus, by the end of the year I will have been swimming for almost a half of a year. This has been a favorite of mine and one of the best things that has happened to me in 2020.

4. Book club. I have been hosting a book club in my home since July of 2019 and even during a pandemic we continued meeting on Zoom until we could come back together again in my home. It is one of my favorite days of the month because I get to re-connect with like-minded, amazing women. And - well - books!

5. John graduated from Savannah Technical College. Even more exciting he received all his Welding certifications which will open doors to launch his career.

6. Reading aloud every morning with Jeff. In 2018 when we were going through a rough patch we began reading aloud the Bible, praying together, and reading a spiritual formation book together. Even as we climbed out of the valley and are near the mountain top we continue to read aloud together every weekday morning.

7. Read 80 books. While this is far less than I have read in recent years I am still happy with my reading life. Although there have been a few slow months that I struggled to read. I am not even sure why, now.

8. Created 105 scrapbooking pages (at least - that is how many I posted on my blog).

9. Began Fostering Compassion. Along with our small group we began supporting a fostering family with meals (and things as needed).

10. Prepare a meal a week to those in need. During the pandemic and beyond God opened doors for us to provide at least one meal to someone in need. It became a ministry to me and I was so blessed by serving in this way, especially as we were not going to church and serving on campus.

11. Hiking in to 4 waterfalls in 4 days. In November 2020, Jeff and I took a week off during our birthdays and headed to north Georgia. We stayed at Unicoi State Park and made that our home base. Each day we heading out to hike in to visit a waterfall. We ended up visiting 4 waterfalls in 4 days. Glorious!

12. 52 Tacos. We had Taco Tuesday every week and never tired of our homemade tacos. In fact, when Jeff is tucking me into the truck in the morning before I head to work I remind him what to take out of the freezer to thaw for dinner. As soon as I say hamburger, he dreamily exclaims, "Tacos!"

13. Saturday morning breakfasts with Jeff - and Saturday date nights - with Jeff. Unless Jeff has to work, without fail we get up fairly early on Saturday mornings and go out for breakfast. Since we've started swimming on Saturday mornings, too, breakfasts are a little later, though. Then, in the evening we have a date night. During the pandemic it was often pick up dinner and a movie at home.

14. Belgian Flax Linen sheets. I'm not kidding. Like mattresses and pillows, sheets have been the bane of our sleeping hours. However, I splurged this past fall and purchased Belgian Flax Linen sheets from Pottery Barn. I will never return to any other sheets. These sheets are almost a cover weight yet they keep you cool and we don't sweat! These are the sheets I purchased.

15. Adopting Athena. In July, we visited PetSmart for the first time and walked out with Athena, a 1 year old tabby who'd had a hard first year of life. One of the best, and most favorite things we could have ever done all year.

16. Seeing Hamilton. On Disney+. We had tickets to see Hamilton on March 20th, 2020. Then, the pandemic hit and everything was canceled. It seemed life was canceled. Then, brilliance happened. Disney+ brought Hamilton to the little screen. We still have tickets to see Hamilton in person but we loved every minute of our at home viewing - more than once. 

17. The second bookshelf finished! I have had a finished bookshelf in the living room for many, many, many, many (you get the drift) years. And, a second bookshelf unfinished in the garage. However, in this year of a pandemic Jeff finished that bookshelf!!!

18. No one in our family has been sick. When I normally get sick at least once a year with the flu or a respiratory infection that last weeks and are usually 3x worse than anyone in my family. But, I nor my family have been sick at all this year - during a pandemic!

19. No loss of life in the fire. Jeff's jobsite pretty much burned to the ground in February but with 100's on the jobsite, nobody was hurt. When the fire raged, Jeff was instrumental in guiding the fire chief through the intricacies of the building.

20. Cleaned out our attic. If anyone has an attic abyss you know what cleaning it out, organizing it, purging would mean. This was a tremendously difficult endeavor because we also had to go through boxes of Jeff's mom's things, too. We have still a bit of work on the attic but it's 80% better and a huge project.

 

Digitally, for this 2-page, 6 x 8 (this is the size of the album I am using for my December Daily), I used Sahlin Designs digital kit(s). Kits because I grabbed pieces from multiple kits, although much of the pages were created using her Favorite Things kit. But, she makes these amazing Number - kits really - where she compiles, like, 10 or so variations of numbers, 1-31, all December Daily-ish and perfect for creating a December Daily album. However, I used several of her number kits for numbering those 20 favorite things. 

December Daily 2020 | Day 3

Today I am sharing my Story #3 about the night we went down to Riverstreet for the boat parade of lights and ate Vinnie Van Go Go pizza for our date night. I love how the left side turned out and pretty much hate the right side (so - I might be re-visiting this day and changing things up a bit).

The left side is a fold out with hidden journaling behind the foldout. I saw someone do it and loved it. It took me awhile to figure out how I wanted it, what photo to use - that photo is our favorite lighted boat of the evening. I had to duplicate a portion of the photo. It turned out pretty much how I envisioned it, too.

Behind the fold is the journaling and a couple more photos of our night. The photos were subpar but I made them work.

All in all I am happy with the results of this day's story.

December Daily 2020 | Day 2

So, for my second story of December in my December Daily® album, I went with the telling of all the 'new' decorations I have been getting this year. We even decorated outside this year - small though it was; I wanted to document the year of my trees. At least that is what Jeff thinks because I have two forests of trees in our living room now. I think I'm also beginning a wreath collection as I picked up three new wreaths this year, although one of which is for the outside front door.

Creatively this is a hybrid (traditional and digital) project. All the pieces on the front transparency are physical product. However I created the transparency using a digital star transparency. This years December Daily community is using a lot of bronze foil and while that makes me swoon, for me to get that look I would need a lazar printer and I just can't see purchasing one simply for scrapbooking. So, for the transparency I went without foiling - although I know it would have looked so much better. 

 

The red stars, however, set off the gold accents nicely, so I am happy with the results.

 

On the left I hid the backside of the transparencies front side with another large circle chipboard piece which turned out nice. And, on the right is an all digital page using a tag template I had in my stash from last years December Daily Product Play 3 class I took in November 2019. Love the way it turned out.

 

What I did to the digital page though was back it with the same size piece of cardstock and made a pocket for a journaling tag that I added ribbon to. Love how it turned ou!

what I've been reading | november 2020 edition

Today I am sharing what I've been reading in November 2020. I did I big review of my 2020 Reading Goals (check out my mid-year check up here) recently and found gross shortfalls. I decided I needed to buckle down in November and December or I would not be able to reach all of my goals. So, I made a plan. I still need to read 24 books by the end of the year, almost all within the category of read a book published every year since I was born. I have two books yet to read for my book club, and two books yet to read for Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 Reading Challenge.

I wrote down the missing years I still needed to read for a book published every year since I was born, most are from the 70's - 90's, then I searched for books published in those years, visiting mostly Good Reads because they have a plethora of book lists by years published. If I own one of those books I simply decided that is the book I'm going to read. 

With a week long birthday trip this month to north Georgia with Jeff, and waterfall hunting, what looked like going in to that week, was going to be a jam-packed month of reading fell quickly along the wayside and I pretty much dashed all hopes of meeting ALL of my 2020 Reading Goals. That being said, for some reason unexplained, I am not dissatisfied or upset that I didn't complete all my reading goals. It was simply a tough year all around.

If you've missed what I've been reading this year you can find them here: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October.

And here is what I've been reading in November:

 

 

100 Things About Me as a Reader

 Source

The other day when I visited Modern Mrs. Darcy's blog she had posted  100 Things About Me as a Reader. It was based on a project introduced by elementary school teachers who wanted their students to learn about the importance of knowing themselves as readers. The project originated 10 years ago with this blog post. 

I was tremendously intrigued by the project and decided to challenge myself to learn about myself as a reader by writing out (I actually typed it out) my reading proclivities and quirks and simply who I am as a reader. I did it in list form - because - lists. And, lists make me happy. I realized many things on my list have evolved over the years and what I once might have been able to include in my list no longer is true about myself. I can see the ebb and flow of my reading life. I could also envision how I might be a similar reader to some and yet, a far different reader than others.

This would make great book club conversation - and comparison. It would be interesting to hear about, talk about others' reading lives. Here is what I've come up with so far.

100 Things about Me as a Reader

1. I don’t like books in the highly suspense-filled genre (think, Stephen King).
2. I remember reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books growing up - and not much else.
3. When I was a teenager I read nothing but Harlequin Romances, and especially loved the ones from the 1970s by Essie Summers. I dislike Harlequin Romances now.
4. My favorite book series is by J.D. Robb (pseudonym for Nora Roberts), the In Death series. I began reading the series in 1997; own all 51 books in the series. I re-read the series regularly. This series is my guilty pleasure.
5. I have read very few Classic books, the majority of which I have read has been in the past few years, or in the years I homeschooled John and Jarrod and I read quite a few classics aloud.
6. I began recording what I have been reading in 2015.
7. My favorite genre are police procedure murder mysteries.
8. I usually have multiple books going at one time (at least two, sometimes 3 or 4).
9. I read a plethora of Christian Non-fiction.
10. I used to read (in my 30s and 40s) Christian fiction but haven’t picked up the genre in over 5 years - at least.
11. These days I will try almost any genre of books (except suspense-filled books).
12. I only read physical books. I tried digital books and let those go quickly. I miss so much if I listen to audio it just isn’t worth it.
13. I started a book club in July 2019 and I have been hosting book club in my home, once a month, ever since.
14. I read more if I am reading for a challenge such as Modern Mrs. Darcy’s yearly reading challenge, or my personal challenges.
15. I rely heavily on book reviews for what to read next.
16. I scour book blogs and articles with book lists for possible to-be-read books.
17. My to-be-read list is so long I will never be able to finish the list because I am always adding more books to the list.
18. I read more books I own than from the library.
19. I usually only read about half of the books I check out from the library (unless I check out only a book or two).
20. I almost always wait until the week before (sometimes, even, the weekend before) my book club meets to actually read my book club book, except the month we read Cutting for Stone which took the entire month to read.
21. Some of my favorite book club discussions have been books either I, or others, did not like.
22. I sometimes, although not often, read the last couple of chapters if I am having difficulty getting into the book and I don’t feel this spoils the book at all.
23. I have a lengthy list and multiples of favorites but I still have a hard time picking those favorites.
24. I keep a document on my computer of what I have read throughout the year, but over the past 6 years I have created scrapbooking pages (plus albums) of what I have been reading.
25. I find it easy to abandon books that I am not enjoying.
26. I mostly read for pleasure. But, sometimes the pleasure lies in checking off as read from my goals list.
27. Some of my most favorite reading memories were the years I homeschooled my twin boys and I read a-loud all of their required reading throughout their high school years.
28. Yes, I have read The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit.
29. Books where the characters have no redeeming qualities I will rarely like and often abandon.
30. I cannot read silent in a car but I have no problem reading aloud (to my husband) while riding in a car.
31. For years I have been skipping the parts of books during sexually explicit scenes.
32. I don’t particularly care for graphic novels.
33. I love books and memoirs that involve food and recipes.
34. I will read recipe books word for word, cover to cover and consider recipe books as a genre to be read.
35. The Monster at the End of the Book is still one of my most favorite children’s books, especially when Jeff reads it aloud in character.
36. When my kids were in elementary school I loved those Scholastic magazines the schools would send home. I always ordered books!
37. I don’t have enough shelves for all the books I own.
38. I’m a sucker for a good spy novel.
39. My husband doesn’t like any of the books I read but I enjoy all of the books (genre) he reads (military/counterintelligence/special forces fiction)
40. Because I work as a weather observer I am able to get much of my reading done while I am at work.
41. These days, and because I enjoy sleep more, it is rare that I will stay up past my bedtime to finish one more chapter.
42. I like a lot of balance in my reading life- old and new releases, light reads and heavy reads, modern day and historic settings, long and short lengths….
43. I write in books. Usually non-fiction Christian and only books I own.
44. I love book darts. I use them all the time, especially marking the place I left off in the spiritual formation book I am reading aloud to Jeff.
45. I don’t remember having required reading lists – ever - in grade school, middle school, or high school.
46. I joined the online community, The Classics Club, this year so I could challenge myself to read more classics.
47. I don’t always remember what I’ve read, although since participating in a book club I have learned to take notes. I hate that I can’t remember what I have read because it makes me feel dumb.
48. I don’t have a preference between male authors and female authors. I think I read a fairly even mix between the two.
49. I would like to say, studiously, that I won’t watch the movie before I read the book, but I have truly enjoyed many of books after watching the movie (ie. The Lord of the Rings, The Martian, The Princess Bride, etc.)
50. While I have read through most books of the Bible, and I have read all of the New Testament several times, I have never read through the entire Bible in, say, one year. Although, Jeff and I are reading through the Bible right now – but we won’t be able to finish in a year; it will probably take us about 14 months.
51. I am true near-sighted and have to remove my glasses to read close up. Although recently I have noticed a slight cloudiness and I’m wondering if I am going to have to buy some reading glasses.
52. The only ‘classic’ I remember reading in high school was Catch-22, which I read for a class paper.
53. I regularly pay library late fees.
54. Dinner and a bookstore is a worthy date night. If I can walk out of the bookstore with a stack of books, even better.
55. Although I believe there is a devil and demons because the Bible speaks of them and you cannot miss their presence in the world, as a new believer in Christ, it was the book, This Present Darkness, that made the devil and demons seem real.
56. I only keep books I’ve enjoyed even if I’m sure I will never read them again. Eventually I go through a purge and give, out of necessity.
57. My favorite way to display books on my shelves is in rainbow colors. But, I won’t do this if it is a series because I won’t break up the ‘set’.
58. I read to ‘take me away’.
59. I will rarely pick up a 600+ page book unless it is for a challenge or book club.
60. I re-read book series if I re-read anything; except Christian non-fiction I will re-read multiple times.
61. I adore well-done epistolary novels, such as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Dear Mr. Knightly, The Screwtape Letters, 84 Charing Cross Road, The Martian, or Flowers for Algernon.
62. I can’t read when the television is on, or music is playing as both are to distracting.
63. I love the power of words and highlight and re-write quotes from books that speak to me or make me ponder the words and ask questions.
64. Books are my favorite to give as gifts.
65. The Chronicles of Narnia were the first read a-loud books we read a-loud as a family and I still remember that time at the dinner table as some of our best time!
66. When life gets overwhelming I re-read my favorite books.
67. I don’t necessarily get excited to have my book autographed by the author, although I wouldn't pass up a signed copy as a gift.
68. I enjoy young adult (YA) books only if they’re plausible and without sex.
69. Books that have ‘triggers’ are difficult to read and I will often put them down because they ‘trigger’ so many memories and then I have to decide if I am going to pick them back up again.
70. I am not a fast reader.
71. I consider reading middle grade, chapter books, and YA books as a book count if I’m counting how many books I’ve read, but I don't count children’s books - usually.
72. I have been known to spend as much time reading about books as reading books.
73. I really like series books. Besides the In Death series which is my favorite easy-read series, I adore Louise Penny’s Inspector Armand Gamache series, Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series, all of W.E.B. Griffin’s series’, Brad Thor’s series, the Maisee Dobbs' series, and of course, Harry Potter.
74. While I love series’ I don’t particularly like when they end in a trilogy because 3 books is enough to become invested in the characters and I don't want their stories to end.
75. Since I began reading so much more in 2015 and broadening my genre scope I don’t think I have an all-time favorite book anymore, although I could break down my favorites to yearly or genre favorites.
76. I almost always will go over my book budget for a new book.
77. I’m a firm believer that not all books are the right time to be reading because I’ve picked up books in the past that I held little interest for, but later, sometimes years later, I enjoyed that same book immensely.
78. I have no problem disliking or liking a book someone else likes or dislikes. I don’t need to follow the crowd and it doesn’t offend me if someone thinks differently about a book.
79. Although it sort of pisses me off if someone infers I am stupid or ignorant or intolerant if I don’t like a book they think I should like, or read a book they think I should read.
80. Most often I can tell you if I love the book I read – or not, but I have a harder time describing why.
81. I prefer not to read heavily open door (explicit sex scenes) novels and won't intentionally pick them up.
82. I am often a mood reader. It is the #1 reason why I will bring at least 2, sometimes 3 or 4 books to work with me on easy weather days. Because I don’t know what reading mood I will be in.
83. I love reading books a-loud (but I was told once I don’t have the voice for reading a-loud).
84. It drives me crazy when the publisher of a book series switches the size and/or covers of books midway between the series.
85. I do not judge a book by its movie.
86. While I write exceptional directions, procedures, or how-to's, I cannot stand to read them.
87. I don't really like to share (as in lend) my favorite books, especially series', except to family. I would rather purchase them their own copy.
88. My dream room would be a library with shelves of books stacked to the ceiling with a sliding ladder and comfortable chairs to read in.
89. I love books with strong female characters, or with women that are becoming stronger or learning from their mistakes.
90. I dislike books where the characters have little or no redeeming qualities.

I realize it's not 100 but it's pretty darn close. It is an interesting exercise, and revealing. If I were to discuss a list like this with, say, my book club, I'll bet - for sure - that I could easily come up with 10 more things about me as a reader - and maybe, even more!