I read a lot in January!

So, at the end of 2015 I did a wrap-up post where I listed all 26 books I read last year. As part of that 26, I had read only one full book and finished another during January – Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace by Leon Panetta and The Temperament God Gave Your Spouse by Art and Laraine Bennett (both were excellent, by the way).

By comparison, this January I read (or finished) eight books and two short stories, and I’m in the midst of several others that I started. Here’s a list of what I’ve read, with ratings and links back to my reviews (if I’ve done them). I do plan to review almost all of the rest. I received several of the as-yet-unreviewed books for free from the authors in exchange for reviews, so they will definitely happen (hopefully soon). Oh, and this list does not include children’s books. I have yet to figure out a good way to keep track of those – we read too many!

1. The Elephants of Style : A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English by Bill Walsh – 4 star review here

2. The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger; not yet reviewed but deserves 5 stars!

3. The Jacq of Spades: Part 1 of the Red Dog Conspiracy by Patricia Loofbourrow – 3 star review here

4. Running Home by Lizzie Steel – 5 star review here

5. Jungle Eyes (Jungle Eyes Trilogy) (Volume 1) by Lindsay Marie Miller – 3 star review here

6. Cape May by Holly Caster; not yet reviewed

7. Crossroads: Women Coming of Age in Today’s Uganda editing by Christopher Conte; not yet reviewed

8. Laudato Si — On Care for Our Common Home by Pope Francis; not yet reviewed. Truthfully, I’m not planning to “review” this in the traditional sense because it’s a Papal Encyclical, and therefore an authoritative teaching of the Magisterium of the Church.  As a Catholic, I have the responsibility to give the work an “assent of faith.”  (For more, see this article at Our Sunday Visitor, which states in reference to encyclicals: “Catholics of good will everywhere are obliged to acknowledge their apostolic authority and strive to humbly assent to their teaching.”) I may very well write a post discussing it, though, and highlighting what I learned and how I find myself applying it to my own life.

Short stories include Written On The Apple Tree: A Mystery Psychological Suspense (Tales of the Unexpected Series Book 4) (3 star review here) and Sweet Justice: A Mystery Psychological Suspense (Tales of the Unexpected Book 2) (no review planned), both by Ann Girdharry.

I am currently reading City of Saints: A Pilgrimage to John Paul II’s Kraków by George Wiegel, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and The Fever by Thomas Fenske.

Clearly I’ve had a lot more time to read than to write, but that sort of comes with the mom territory. I read almost every night before going to sleep, but I only write reviews on preschool days because I’m too tired to write anything coherent at the end of the day. “Winter Storm Jonas/The Blizzard of 2016” kind of put a dent in my writing time since school was cancelled for a loooong time. We’re back now, so hopefully I’ll get some of those missing reviews up soon! Oh, and clean my house, right? 🙂