Must Read in 2018! The Fabulous 40!

Happy New Year Reading Friends!

My goal?  40 books!

Why?  Because last night I was sitting with my 9 year old in the living room.  It is -7854 degrees here in Iowa, so we aren't spending a lot of time outside these days.  But we had just returned from the book store.  I asked him how many books he thought I should read this year.  Without missing a beat, he says, "40.  Because you need to celebrate that you are 40 more."  Why yes I do.   I think it's a lofty goal for me, but I'm going to try for it.

Lots of adult reads on my list.  I'm still working through titles people, mainly my sister, have shared with me.  I know I'll go off course, because I also love to see what you are reading, and sometimes titles will just grab me, and I know I can't wait.  I think that recommendations are important, and will try to honor those as they come up this year.

Let's get to business!  The list:



I'm starting with these two first.  Why?  Because Little 9 asked me to.  He's in the living room reading them now, so I can have them.  I will always read what my kids recommend.  Always.

Some Young Adult and Middle Grade:  (Mostly recommended by my Big 13, but some gifts and recommendations as well.)


Nonfiction:



Adult Reads-Recommended or Gifted or Shared with me by My People:






Finally, Through No Fault of My Own by Coco Irvine. 

This year, I'm also going to keep track of the picture books that I check out and read, as well as cookbooks.  2 genres that I look at a lot, and when I was chatting with a colleague, we decided that this is important reading to document as well.  So while I'm not going to count them toward my 40, I'll be keeping track on Goodreads. 

Happy Reading Friends.  Thank you again, Carrie, for your efforts in this community!
Joy!
Kendra

One Word 2018: Abide.

The past few years have revealed these words to me:

Strong
Enough
Thrive
Fearless

Phew!  All that work has made me look around and say what is next? 

It's time to Abide.  (The sassy girl in me wants to write here about how I'm 40 now, and need a year to rest.  ;)  But I won't.) 

Abide:  To continue without fading or getting lost. 

It's time to look at what is really important after these years of reflection. 

Am I upholding what is important to me?  Am I upholding what I've been called to do?

In the past few years, as I look over these words, I've held to family, neighbors, health, goals, faith. 

It's time to stay and abide with my family, my neighbors, my health, my goals, my faith.  I can continue on without fading.  

John 15 reminds me that I need to continue doing what God says, which seems like important work these days.  The big one?  Relating to others in love.  

Stay tuned to see where this might take me.   It really might be a call to rest a bit, and reflect on what needs to happen next.  It might be a call to continue with some goals and not fade as I get busy.  

In year five of One Word, I feel like I'm stumbling as I write this.  But let's continue on...

Joy!
Kendra

Must Read in 2017: An End of the Year Update!

Hello Dear Friends.  Please excuse the dust flying off this blog! Stay tuned for less dust flying soon...but for now...let's talk about our reading shall we?!

A few thoughts before I share my titles.  I'm so glad that I jumped on board this year with Must Read in 2017.   Here's what I've learned/observed/learned:

• There is time to read.  I get up between 5-5:30 in the morning.  I read and write during this time.  
• If I'm reading, my kids are reading.  
• I set a plan in January.  It went totally off the rails by the summer.  Here's why:
• When my now teenager recommends a book or series, I will drop everything and read it.  That won't change.  
• As I read your recommendations and followed new releases, I knew there were some books I just had to read.  Right.Now.  Several of those are in this last post of the year.  

I'll be participating in the Must Read 2018.  But for now, here is how the end of the year went:

I loved this book.  It was funny to read at 5 AM, because then I had to work hard not to laugh too loudly and wake up the family.  I just connected with every page. 



So, my Big 13 recommended this series to me.  I'm in it to win it!  The last half of this series is on my Must Read in 2018.  And anything else he hands to me in the next couple of days. 



Some nonfiction that I studied this fall.  I will say, I loved reading about the history of Lutheran schools, the story of Martin Luther, and the application of it all.  This was a friendly read for me on theology.  It made me want to read more. 


I read this book in a collaboration group.  It lead to great conversations about ideas, jobs, twitter!  (Blogging and Ted Talks to come!) 


Oh.  This book.  I got to a point in this book where I couldn't put it down, because I needed to find out what happened!  And I'm so hopeful that people reading this book see themselves in it!  When I was talking to a family member who worked in a high school this fall, she shared that her students were also reading to the end.  :)  I loved it.  We bought the Big 13 a set of John Green books for Christmas.  I hope he shares them with me. 

 I wanted to like this book.  I really did.  It just didn't resonate.  But it is finished, and I was able to share it at Christmas with a teacher-cousin.  Hoping it resonates with her! 

What an important read.  It's still sitting on my pile.  I keep picking it up and rereading pages.  I'm all about neighbors and getting to know them.  So this book spoke to me in volumes! 

Now, I had set a goal to read 30 books by the end of the year.  I'm going to hit that goal with these two reads:





Now, I haven't finished either of these books. (No spoilers please!)   I'll be reading the rest of the day.  :)  You can look for my reactions to these two on Instagram. 

A thank you to Carrie for bringing us together!  I appreciate your efforts, and enjoy this community very much! 

Happy New Year! 
Joy!
Kendra 

Must Read in 2017: An Update!

Hello Dear Reading Friends!

It was good to have encouragement from the Must Read in 2017 to dust off the blog since school has started.

And I love reflecting on what I've read so far this year!  As I was thinking what has happened so far, I noted a few things:

• I've completed 21 chapter books this year.  My goal was 20 for the entire year.  I've set a new goal of 30 for the end of the year.  I love being in a situation where I really feel like I can take time and read each day.  
• I've also read whole stacks of picture books and cook books.  I don't track these, even though I consider it reading.  
• I have only read 1 book from my book stack that included adult novels.  I've read so much middle grade and young adult.  I have a 12 year old avid reader, and it's just fun to browse stacks with him.  Adult reads will be there later.  
• I've read more nonfiction than I thought I would.  

My list since April includes the following:

These two books were recommended to me by another teacher.  I read the first one, and then needed to read the second to find out what happened!  Fairy tales and high school intertwine.  I keep these in my books to read list to recommend to any 8th graders looking for a good read.  

 This graphic biography was fantastic!  It was my 12 year old's first "grown up" read.  A great mentor text for biography writing.  Also, a great read on persistence and resilience.  

 I saw a student at our school reading this book, and I may have squealed.  It was my first read of the summer.  

 This book was a quick read.  It was perfect for me to enter summer with as well.  Second chances?  Yes please, all around!  

I read this book in an afternoon on my sister-in-law's porch.  A confession:  I won't loan it out to people really because I love it so much. (Do you have books like that?) I keep pulling it out to refer to as I try a few new strategies this year to promote curiosity.

So, I started this series.  And I can't stop reading it!  So the series went to the top of my stacks.  My 12 year old has read through this.  And it has encouraged one of his friends to do the same.  Spread the reading love people!  

I have kids in my life who I'll be gifting this book to this year at all the holidays.  I also have it in the plan to get a copy to pull out from time to time in my own house.  As a mentor text, it would be a great mindset read.  

So my 12 year old read 1-2-3 this summer.  Honestly, this series had been pushed to the side in my brain.  When he got done with 3, he came to me with a furrowed brow.  "That's it?!?!  There has to be more."  After a little research, we indeed learned there was more.  This is the concluding book of the series.  

I marvel at how Glennon Doyle has so bravely shared her story.  A true storyteller.  

I had seen many recommendations on social media about this read.  I'm so glad it picked it up!  I'm debating if it can be a read aloud for me this year.  I will for sure be recommending it to anyone who will listen.  

Right now I am reading:

Joy!
Kendra