My goal was 40, and I blew that out of the water with 62 titles. Several of them were middle grade, as my daughter and I enjoy reading stories together, but seeing as I read them aloud, they certainly still count!
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I’m so grateful for this journey, and my crit group was entirely right when they cautioned that “your first novel is a learning experience”. Someday, I will overhaul that stalled plot, sharpen the stakes, and pull the reader in from page one. I hope to, anyway. The years that have passed have taught me a little more about the craft; I am a better writer, now.
My Best and Worst Reads of 2023
Wow, 41 books in my 2023 Goodreads goal of 40! I read a lot of cookbooks, and whatever happened to be on the library display shelf and I could quickly grab while hurrying to the 3yo’s clarion call from the other side of the room. Here’s my complete 2023 reading list; I’ve summarized the top 7 and lowest 3 below.
My Best and Worst Reads of 2022
This year, I managed to read 37 of 40 books of my Goodreads goal. That was also the year I started Analog August; a 30-day fast from social media. You can browse through that chronicle on Instagram. I embraced much craft, natural beauty, and found an invaluable calm in appreciating the work of my hands apart from a screen. You’ll see that reflected in my book summaries below.
Unfinished Business: A Christmas Stockings Saga
When we got married, I was told on no uncertain terms was I to break up the family set: Kyle’s & mine were to stay on the Reiter mantel. We were in a basement suite our first year, and anyway I didn’t have a fireplace to hang anything. It felt so strange not to have stockings, so as a temporary measure I bought some cheapies from the dollar store and tucked them to hang out of high drawers in our games cabinet, just so I could see the familiar sight.
Grandma graciously gave me the cutoff remains of what supplies she had; a bit of red flannel, a short string of pearly sequins, red eyelet ribbon, and green quilt backing for a tree skirt—which I did make that first year. But I did not possess the needlework ability that I do now, and though she’d given me two blank stockings, I knew I wanted a matching set… and there wasn’t enough material for our future kids’. The supplies went into storage.
Ga-Ga For Garlic
196 plump, papery cloves planted, exactly doubling this July’s harvest of 98 bulbs. I am very pleased with the quality of growing stock; these are the grandchildren (3rd planting) of the free bulbs I was given during the March 2020 lockdown. A positive pandemic legacy, large enough to provide both future stock and a year’s worth of eating garlic, I’m figuring.
Cabin Daze With A Five-Month-Old
…Oh, Danish. He’s entering Leap 4, if you’re familiar with @thewonderweeks. Won’t sleep without much convincing, or without me as a pillow. Bet-Lou, his Nana’s cousin-in-law (there’s a lot of fam up here), invested 45 minutes of bouncing him on the beach and was rewarded as Dane finally passed out in her arms.
Bitter smoke, like the smell of resentment, rolled in thick overnight and tints the light a warning amber. We still enjoyed more rock hunting in the creek, Dane snoozing in the carrier on my back. Speckled cubes, sparkling eggs, one russet flagstone that the men refused to heft home; the treasure we left behind.
