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