The Things that Matter

I picked up my son from school the other day and started asking him about his day. At one point, I heard the sentence, "I brought home my crayon box that had popcorn in it."

Um. What?

Turns out he had a snack at school (popcorn) as part of their lesson and it was passed out in little treat boxes which looked like crayon boxes. Phew. He told me he had saved his box and wanted to keep it. Okay...

A few days later, I found this crayon box tucked into a drawer handle in our kitchen. My first thought was: I have got to throw this away. I use this drawer and it can't have a snack box wedged in the handle. But there was also a more rational side of me which was thinking how endearing it was that he loved this treat box so much to bring it home after finishing his treat and strategically placing it in a "special" place. 

Some of you might be thinking how ridiculous it sounds since I thought a piece of trash was endearing. Part of me feels it too.  But, I also know I was once the girl who kept a toothpick from a sandwich from the Princeton University cafeteria because it was a toothpick from Princeton University, and I'd probably never go back again in my life. (Still true. I haven't been back.)

As much as I wanted to throw his treat box in the trash, and alas, it will someday end up in the trash, I decided to keep it a little bit longer. I just had to move it from the frequently used drawer handle to an infrequently used cabinet handle.

New location secured.

He saw it this morning while eating his breakfast. I didn't have to explain why it had moved to a different handle. He just smiled knowing I had still kept it. 

These are the things I think about when raising my kids. Am I taking the time to value the things which are important to them? Even the ones which aren't important to me? We remember various memories in our life. Some of these memories can shape the way we view people. Some of these memories will affect our impressions of locations. Some of these memories will affect the choices we make later in life. I know a treat box from popcorn at school in 1st grade doesn't seem like a life-changing memory to a grown adult. And it's possible years from now, this paper box will be long forgotten in the memories which don't make it. But in this moment, keeping it a little longer than I otherwise would have, made him smile. 

We were driving to church last Friday evening, and because we were running late due to unforeseen schedule interruptions, we ended up driving west during the sunset hour. My kids told me to take a picture of the sunset and to save it. 

 

 

I'm horrible when it comes to saving photos of non-people on my phone because they don't get printed, I don't have enough memory to save them all on my phone, and realistically, I'm not scrolling my phone to go down memory lane and look at all the photos I've ever taken. So this one will be saved here on my blog and added to the list of things that matter to my children. 

Our House is Special

We've been in our house for 11 years! The journey of our house was a long five months, we lost a lot of houses I really wanted, but I believe we got the perfect house for us in the end. 

My daughter and I went on a walk after lunch recently on a Tuesday afternoon on one of her home school days. I wrote about why I love the school we go to, and being able to take walks with her in our neighborhood during the week is an example of the extra time she and I have gotten to spend together. On this particular day, we ran into a neighbor one street over.

This neighbor is an artist and she showed us her latest charcoal drawing. She talked to us about the birds in their yard, the flowers she planted, and we had a nice chat together. After saying goodbye, we kept walking. I waved to a neighbor mowing his lawn outside. I don't personally know him, but we frequently see him outside working in his yard.

As we came back around to our street, we walked about halfway home and ran into a neighbor, J, who has shared so many plants with us.  

She dropped this off for us this past Christmas.

As we got to her house, the neighbor across the street had just parked their car.  J called them over to our side of the street and introduced us to each other. After our brief meeting, J explained to me how they got into the neighborhood. Their parents and siblings were down a few streets over in another part. This house was the closest they could find for their other son whom I had just met. 

J and I talked and shared some life moments. I gave her the 5-minute synopsis of my latest and ongoing family stress. She shared with me her mother had just passed. We bonded over an eternal joy and hope which helps us to keep our eyes on the prize.  

As our conversation wrapped up, the neighbor who lives next to us was walking his dog by. I noticed only one dog. I asked if they had to say goodbye to Allie. They did. She was 15. After a brief conversation about plants, we both said goodbye to J and walked down the street to our houses. This neighbor is 79 and turning 80 in June. 

By the time my daughter and I returned home, it was nearly 2:30. Being that I start work in the afternoon and work through evening hours, I have to watch the time on my "fun" to make sure I can get to work on time. Although I wasn't late by any means, it was much later than I had anticipated on making it back home. Our walk lasted nearly an hour and it was getting hot outside. 

Although I returned home physically tired and a bit stressed at having to teach 4 hours of lessons that afternoon and evening, it was joyous. I love getting to walk through my neighborhood and smile at neighbors I know and have conversations with them and share life. I love feeling the comfort my neighbors bring when I see them and being able to enjoy their company. I don't take this for granted because I know not everyone has this or feels this way. I know I didn't grow up with it in either of the houses we lived in when I was a child. 

Our house is very special. 

Joy

We watched Inside Out finally because one of our children was shown part of the sequel during childcare and I figured I should know what my kids are watching even if we're not with them. I borrowed both from the library and we watched the first one. If you haven't watched the movie and you don't want descriptions of it spoiled for you, you probably shouldn't read this blog. 

It's a good movie. I really enjoyed it, but it definitely hits differently as an adult. While the children are gravitated toward colorful glass orbs of different colors and laughing at the goofiness of the characters (and the one who gets dragged around by her leg,) I was processing how Disney so perfectly displayed the essence of how memory works in a make-believe land. 

It was sobering to see how Riley's initial islands were all destroyed due to changes happening in her life. I think if we're all honest with ourselves, our main core childhood islands in our lives get destroyed too. There's definitely moments in my life, some which are core memories and I still recall, which destroyed my islands of family, friendship, and pillars of my childhood. At the same time, I have new islands with new "themes" from my life today which are holding strong and thriving. 

Seeing the cleaners vacuum old memory orbs for the pit was sobering. I have countless memories which have faded away over time and been forgotten. When you think about all the forgotten events and happenings, some of it is sad because at one point, they were seemingly very important and significant. I had written about this in a previous blog about my journals. Without rereading, I would have forgotten many details of that semester of my life. 

I believe the biggest theme in the movie, one purposely emphasized, was the importance of joy. This would be pretty easy for most children to pick up. The hidden theme beyond that was the importance of sadness behind the joy. My guess is you'd have to be age 14-15+ in order to begin to understand this one. If anyone had kids who understood this theme after watching the movie, I'd love to know what age they were!

Sadness is necessary in order for joy to truly shine through. I didn't get a lot of things I wanted as a child because they were deemed "unnecessary" or "not useful enough." To be honest, if it's necessary or useful, there would almost never be a discussion on whether or not to buy it because you always would. As an adult, I've been adding new memories of joy to rectify all the sad ones. I've blogged about a number of them here. Two which stand out in my memory include Cinderella's slipper ornament and a pair of flats. 

This year for my birthday, my husband gifted me an entire set of miniatures. I'd seen these (in Taiwan?) somewhere and thought it would be so cute to own the entire set. I contemplated it for a while and then tossed away my thoughts. Miniatures were just little figurines to be displayed and looked at, right? I didn't need them. They would just take up space. These fell under the "unnecessary" and "not useful" category. 

Well, I opened them for my birthday, and it was a fun surprise. But the real surprise came after we were able to display them.  

I love walking by this display in our bedroom and taking a closer look at it each time I pass. I get a sense of joy and warmth from looking at these miniatures. The detail put into these is incredible. The tiny glasses of lemonade have removable lids and straws. The hand on the scale actually spins around. 

I secured everything into the case with museum gel so nothing would tip over or fall if someone sneezed wrong. Seeing my own miniature display brings me back to when I saw miniatures in museums. The Art Institute of Chicago has one downstairs, and we went to the Miniatures Museum of Taiwan this summer. I feel like I have a small piece of the museum with me.  

You can arguably measure the usefulness of an item, and you can arguably measure the necessity of an item. But it's hard to gauge the joy of an item. These are subjective and will differ from person to person. Sometimes, joy is a longer lasting factor than the usefulness or necessity of something ever will be. I find lots of things useful and necessary, but very few of those things bring me joy the way these miniatures do. 

48 Hours

This past weekend I was able to take my first trip away from my children....ever. I was more anxious about it at first than I thought I would be, but once I got on the plane and landed in Chicago, it was great. Strangely enough I'm not one of those people who misses my kids nonstop. They're also older and not as needy so I wasn't really worried about them. Don't get me wrong: I love my kids immensely, but if I have time away from them, I'm not going to be scrolling my phone looking at their pictures missing them. 

My favorite part of the weekend was not having to cook and being able to eat out every single meal. Growing up, I wasn't raised with this mentality. I had a lot of food trauma and vacations were the worst. We ended up eating a lot of meals at McDonald's and Burger King.  While I don't mind fast food and I'm not a picky eater, we weren't exactly taught to enjoy the experience of food, especially in new places. On top of the food trauma, I got sick almost every single family vacation I can remember which meant I missed out on a lot of food - some of which is even my favorite now! I just couldn't do it with the anxiety + sickness + stress of being with my family. I have a vivid memory of getting sick one year visiting the Northeast. Everyone was eating lobster and I said I'd eat a clam chowder. I love clam chowder now (and probably then) but being that I was barely crawling out of my sickness, I remember simply scooping the soup out of the chowder and leaving everything else. So sad. 

Here's a look at all the food I ate while in Chicago in reverse order. 

My last lunch in Chicago was at Navy Pier. I ordered a lobster shrimp roll and salad. Did I want the fries or bag of chips? I definitely did. However, I was about to go to the airport and get on a plane so I don't think overloading my body with greasy food was going to be a good idea. The salad was delicious and so was this lobster shrimp roll. 

Friday breakfast was a fruit plate because I had eaten leftover cinnamon rolls earlier that morning. 

Saturday evening dinner. We went to a chain and ordered peri peri chicken. Yum. Definitely spicy but flavorful. I had to eat this portion in two sittings. It worked out great. The equivalent of my dinner and second dinner at home. 

Saturday lunch was to-go poke. I enjoyed it in the comfort of our hotel room. Yay. 

Saturday breakfast at Ann Sather's. The sausage was so much more flavorful than anything I make at home. And here are the cinnamon rolls when I first got them. Ate one and saved the other. 

Gelato! Really good flavors. I love the tart fruity ones. That little sour burst gives me a comforting satisfaction. Anyone else or just me?

Dinner on Friday evening when I landed was fancy and wonderful. We shared a sparerib plate. 

And a salad. I took the photo after the first scoop because you can actually see what's inside. Not the most aesthetically pleasing photo of food, but hey, you would have just seen a bowl of cheese otherwise. 

 

I found another olive lover! I can't even remember when I started enjoying olives but I really like them. We ate half at the restaurant and the other half from the beds at the hotel in the evening while we chatted for hours. 

 

I've learned not to think about the cost of food when traveling. There's a reason why you're traveling in the first place - to get away from the normal busyness and stress of life. And if food adds to the experience of having a good trip even if you don't see any other attractions, it makes the cost worth it. 

I'll eventually tabulate how much I spent over the weekend for my trip for our monthly expense/budget, but for now, I'm going to revel in the memories of having a wonderful weekend with a wonderful friend. 🥰 

Books 2024: Part 4

This is the last group of books I read this year. I made it to 40! It's been a long time since I've read this many books in a year. Overall, I enjoyed it. I think that's one of my main "reactions" to the books I read - enjoyment. In school and even college, it was hard to find joy. We were reading books, cranking out essays, and poring over the smallest of details. Under that much work, I think anything enjoyable would lose its joy. Not being forced to read has made reading fun, and thus in turn, has made me read more. 

31. The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood - I put this book on my to-read list just randomly after browsing a list of popular books to see what new reading I could find. Then, I was talking to one of my friends and she was telling me how she really likes this author's books because of her strong female characters in STEM. Her books are fun. I enjoy how she can write arguably cliché predictable novels with added twists of excitement woven throughout. If it makes me want to keep reading, I'd say she's done a great job from an entertainment perspective. I pulled a quote out of this book which stood out to me. In reference to grief: "You don't ever lose the sadness, but you learn to be a part of it." 

32. Love Theoretically - Ali Hazelwood - Another one of those fun reads. I like when she has surprise cameos from her other books and everyone's worlds kind of collide just a little bit. 

33. A Novel Love Story - Ashley Poston - My thoughts after reading the entire book: It has a good idea behind it, but the execution fell very short in my opinion. The beginning of the book was all over the place. I didn't really get into the story/start enjoying it until the last 30% of the book. I normally don't read book synopses if I'm reading multiple books by the same author, so that may have added to some of my overall disjointed feeling. I don't think reading a synopsis needs to be a requirement before starting a book to understand what's going on. Sadly, this isn't a book I would recommend and although I remember parts of the book, it wasn't memorable.

34. Love on the Brain - Ali Hazelwood - This was fun. After reading a book which didn't captivate me, it was nice to have that again with another Hazelwood book. I like that her books are cliche and predictable with little tidbits of surprise thrown in. This one had a lot of random facts on the life of Marie Curie. I'd like to think the random bits of knowledge in my head can one day help me with my own slum dog millionaire story.

35. Georgie All Along - Kate Clayborn - This was fun, too. A random find while scrolling book lists of similar authors. Not sure I'll remember anything from this book a year from now, but sometimes reading is just a fun way to immerse your brain in a story just for a little while. 

36. The Four Winds - Kristin Hannah - I found this book on a random book-search scroll through the library catalog. I've read one her novels before. I don't feel any special affinity to her as an author, but I decided to give this book a read. It's another historical fiction book. As I was reading it, I kept thinking the story line was going to go one way, and it never did. Not giving any spoilers, and not saying I actually wanted it to go that way. Some deep themes to grapple with in this book. 

**

There were two books I tried reading in between. One was too medically accurate for my liking and I just didn't want to continue after reading about amputations and sutures in detail. The Winter Soldier - Daniel Mason.  The other is a good book which I hope to pick up again at a later time. But the chapters were just too long for me to be motivated to continue. The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro. 

**

37. The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer - This was a fun, lighter read compared to the books I attempted in between. I wish the setting of this book actually existed. We had taken a vacation to the area so I was able to better understand some of the regional specifics of this book. Overall, this was a fast read with a well-executed story line. Enough thinking to feel engaged, but simple enough to be enjoyed for fun.

38. The Bodyguard - Katherine Center - Another fun, light read. This book gave me a different perspective on people who are bodyguards. I guess you really don't have to be a big, tall, macho-looking guy. 

39. Felix Powell, Dog Boy - Erin Estrada Kelly - I found this book as an audiobook while browsing the library catalog in the car on a road trip. I was hoping to find something the kids could listen to (like a short 5-10 minute book) but those don't exist as audiobooks...probably because kids want to look at the pictures. So I came across this book. We ended up not listening to it until after we returned. I started it while waiting in the car with my son and then both kids finished listening to it in the car on the way back across a few school days. It was fun and cute. I liked the book and went on a rabbit hole to find other audiobooks by her.

40. You Go First  - Erin Estrada Kelly - This was another audiobook I found originally for my kids to listen to. I listened to it first myself to see what the reading level/content was like. It turns out this book was written for a few levels higher than Felix Powell was. I finished the book myself and enjoyed it. It's a great book that delves into the lives of what it's like to be a teenager in middle school. As an adult, these same themes still apply, just in a more mature sense. You still navigate friendships, life changes, and dealing with your emotions. I can't let my kids listen to this book yet, but it may get shelved for later as they grow older. 

There were two books I didn't get a chance to finish yet before the end of this year so they won't be a part of this list. But chances are, they will be on next year's list.  😀

Books 2024: Part 3

I posted part two here. These are the next 10 books I read and the order I read them.  

21. The Seven Year Slip - Ashley Poston - I really enjoyed this book. It was another one of my fast reads - less than 36 hours from start to finish. Again, the beauty of listening to books on 2x. This book brought back The Time Traveler's Wife vibes. It was a little confusing in the beginning, but I liked it a lot. 

22. Sacred Rest - Saundra Dalton-Smith - This was a book recommended from a friend who read it. It took me a few weeks to finish because I wanted to actually read it for content. My favorite part of this book was the mosquito and bee comparison. I'll have to elaborate about this on a different post. (Not going to lie...I have forgotten what the comparison is. I should have been more specific when I wrote this synopsis after finishing the book).

23. Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame - Olivia Ford - A friend of mine read and loved this book. I got it and give it a read. I liked it. Maybe not as much as he did, but it was a fun book to read. I thought the ending was slightly anti-climactic. The book did such a wonderful job leading up to the ending that the resulting conclusion didn't feel like it matched up. I feel like many books I've read this year have this same problem.

24. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett - One of my friends from high school gave me this book when she was cleaning out her things. I kept it in my collection but never read it. I always felt obligated to read it because there was a music staff on the front cover. Because of the title, I always thought it had something to revolve around music. The book does in fact revolve around music but not at all in the way I thought it would. I was kind of disappointed when I finished the book. I didn't feel satisfied or "complete" after finishing the story. It was a very strange way to resolve what had so much potential. The way she built up the book, I felt like it deserved a different ending. Oh well.

25. Me Before You - Jojo Moyes - I found this book because I saw a clip of the movie from Facebook randomly. I looked it up and decided I'd read the book. It's a very sad book, but I actually didn't get weepy with it like I thought I would. I watched the movie a few weeks after I finished the book. It was a good movie. Hit all the right points. There was a lot of extra character building included in the book which they left out of the movie. I think it simplified things for the movie which made it more enjoyable to watch. But it left out a lot of the depth of character which the book was able to provide. This is pretty typical of what happens.

26. Habits of the Household - Justin Earley - This book was recommended to me by a friend and I enjoyed what he had to share. It's always refreshing to hear about other people's struggles and knowing my own flaws and weaknesses are not individual to me. I'd like to say this book is going to help me become a better parent, but we all know it's not an overnight transformation. Less than a week after I finished this book my 4 y.o and I had an intense moment at the dinner table regarding finishing his meal and dessert. But reading this book reminded me that our time together is short and we are both getting older by the day. 

27. Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross - A friend recommended this duology to me, and the second book kept becoming available before the first. I had to keep postponing it, and finally, the first one became available. I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy it because there's a fantasy aspect to it. It turned out very enjoyable. The ending leaves you hanging so don't start unless you plan on reading both books!

28.  Check & Mate - Ali Hazelwood - Quick read. I had placed a book by this author on hold completely by accident. While waiting for it, I had a conversation with a friend about the books we were reading and she came up as an author my friend enjoyed. So I put more of her books on hold. This was the first one available and I enjoyed it. And I came to the conclusion that professional chess players probably can and should overthink as much as possible in order to be successful, but they need to contain their thinking in other areas of life in order to stay sane. It's a life lesson I'm continually learning and growing through myself. 

29. Ruthless Vows - Rebecca Ross - This was the second book to Divine Rivals. I couldn't stop reading after I started. A lot of the reviews for this book came out negative because they were expecting more of a romance. That's not at all what the second book was. I felt like I was in the middle of an action film the entire time I was reading. And because of that, I enjoyed it.

30. The Dead Romantics - Ashley Poston - I enjoyed this book. I was getting vibes of other books I'd read before in the past, but the cliche moments were still enjoyable. I'm learning to appreciate the entertainment side of reading for fun and not necessarily every book needing to be unique, exquisite, and one-of-a-kind. Her story line was interesting enough despite including some over-used themes and predictable elements. 

 

I'll put the remaining books in one post after this. 

Books 2024: Part 2

 I posted part one here. These are the next 10 books I read and the order I read them.

11. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Somehow I escaped the need to read this in high school English class. Maybe it's a good thing. I think had I read it too early, I may not have understood the depth of the themes within this book. At the same time, because I read it in my 30s, it left a deeper impression on me, one I will probably never shake off completely. It's not a book I could ever reread.

12. Everything Sad is Untrue - Daniel Nayeri 

This was a recommendation from a book swap I attended this year. It was a really hard book for me to follow. I liked some of the stories told within, but the author's style was way too confusing for me. Honestly, as I write this 6+ months later after reading, I actually forgot I had read it this year. I think the cover art is beautiful and the title is intriguing, but the story didn't stick with me.

13. The Unfinished Angel - Sharon Creech 

 

Saw this randomly on a shelf at the library. I've always been a fan of Sharon Creech's books. This one was hard for me to get into at first, but once the story started, it was a fast read. I think it's best left for the children. I'd peg this as a more advanced 2nd-3rd grade read or a less advanced 4th-5th grade read. Being an adult, you just know too much and it's not as novel anymore. 

14. Our Missing Hearts - Celeste Ng

 

I had seen this book in someone's reading list and looked it up. It sounded somewhat interesting so I gave it a read. It ended up different than how I thought it would be, but it was a good book. While reading this book, it felt like nonfiction to me. Maybe I wanted it to be nonfiction. The author wrote a note addressing this at the end of her book.

15. Artifacts of an Ex - Jennifer Chen 

This was a random find from the library one day. The cover and title seemed interesting so I gave it a read. Definitely YA literature. I think 15-year-old me would have enjoyed it. As an adult it's a good "brain break" book. But it didn't have content which stuck with me.

16. Anxious People - Fredrik Backman 

From the title, I really thought this was going to be some kind of nonfiction self-help book. That's not at all what it was. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and stayed up far too late to finish it in about two days. It was one of those books which made me want to keep reading to find out what happened next. I think it was also very complex and the closest version to a Korean drama in book form. Kdramas are notorious for adding extra story-lines and problems throughout the series, even close to the very end. The successful ones resolve them all at the end. This book did just that. The complexities increased as you kept reading and made you want to read more and more to figure out how it ended. 

17. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng

When I saw another book she wrote in someone else's reading list, I searched the author and saved a few of her other books. This was one of them. Backstory: When the hold became available at the library, it became my backup book because the book I was listening to was returned before I was able to finish it. I put myself back on the waitlist for the book I needed to finish, but in the mean time, I started this one and finished it before my other book became available again. I liked it. It was an exciting read. One of those books which made me want to stay up at night just to finish another chapter. The ending was slightly unsatisfactory. The book did such a good job building up all the complex story lines woven into each other that the ending didn't seem to match up. It ended....too simply.

18. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus

Finished this book in just over 24 hours. The beauty of an audiobook and being able to change the playback speed. I enjoyed this book. Lots of deeper topics within. It almost ended too soon for me. I wanted to keep going with the character's stories. I wonder if there will be a sequel. I kind of hope there is. Who knows.

19. Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann

The further I read into this book, the more infuriating it became. Ironically though, I can't say I was surprised. From what I know of the legal system today, much of what happened 100 years ago is a mere foreshadowing to what the future today holds. It's sad, nonetheless. I'm pretty sure Osage was never mentioned in my US history textbook though. 

20. The Little Liar - Mitch Albom

This book was supposed to be book number 17, but it was returned before I finished it as audiobooks do not renew if there are holds. So alas, I had to get back on the waitlist in order to finish the remaining 30% of the book. It took about a month, but I was finally able to finish (and read 3 books in the interim). I didn't realize this book was historical fiction when I started reading. It was just another Mitch Albom title I put a hold on and started reading to see what it was about. The reading level of this book is probably equivalent to YAL, but the themes you can analyze go well into an entire lifetime of wisdom. 

Books 2024: Part 1

2024 was my year to read! Wow, I even impressed myself. Audio books make such a difference. So although my physical reading speed may not be the fastest, (I don't think it ever was), I've still been able to enter many magical worlds and play movie filmstrips in my head for every book I've listened to. 

This year I read nearly 3x as many books as I did last year. They spanned all genres from fiction, nonfiction, biography, and even some children's books - the longer ones. I will split my books into four groups and post them in chronological order which they were finished. Bolded books were read physically.

1. Every Good Boy Does Fine - Jeremy Denk 

I saw this book posted in one of my teaching forums and decided to give it a read. I really enjoyed it. I especially loved the audio book because they inserted excerpts of the pieces he was referring to. It was wonderful to be able to get a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like for a concert pianist to grow up, experience piano lessons, and see their struggles. Too often, we see the finished piece performed on stage to perfection, and it's hard to imagine someone so well-known or experienced can struggle just like the rest of us.

2. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto - Mitch Albom

I looked up Mitch Albom books randomly and saw this listed as one. I wasn't excited starting it, but I actually ended up really enjoying it. About halfway through I wanted to put the book down and stop reading because I was so affected by something I never saw coming. But I'm glad I finished it. This is a book I now recommend to my high school students and even gift to some graduating students. I do tell them to read with discretion and wouldn't hand it off if I didn't think they were mature enough to handle.

3. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig 

I was recommended this book by a friend who read it. I enjoyed the beginning. The middle had some slow parts, and the end was okay. I read a very similar book last year (2023) so the idea wasn't actually new to me. Personally, I liked the other book better. Or maybe it just happened that I read it first so this one didn't seem as insightful. 

4. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus - Nabeel Qureshi

This book was recommended by a few friends. Good read. As someone of faith, I'm a little jealous at all the ways he received dreams and visions from God. At the same time, I have my own moments in life when I'm sure God was there lending a hand into the situation. Although not as profound as the ones shared in the book, they are still impactful and part of my own story. I was sad when I learned he had died 7 years ago. If someone asked me if I could talk to someone who's already gone for a day, I might pick Nabeel. His book had so much conviction. I can only wonder how dying and entering the afterlife has affected that conviction. I want to hear how much he got to experience its truth.

5. Tom Lake - Ann Patchett 

I saw this book on a reading list online and finally read it this year. "Good marriages are never as interesting as bad affairs." We need to remember that when everything is fine, days are "the same", and when nothing interesting happens, it isn't a bad thing.

6. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing - Matthew Perry 

 

I didn't really have a desire to read this book until after his death. Then I waited for it on hold from my local library. I don't know how to feel about it. Honestly, I can't say I enjoyed it. He had a hard life and hard struggles. I'm sad for him that the help he got couldn't help him in the ways it needed to. He had big demons to fight.

7. Democracy Awakening - Heather Cox-Richardson

I can't say I enjoyed this one because history is not my thing. But maybe that's why it was helpful because a lot of it was summarizing the past history of our country and then explaining how much of it is replaying out now in today's world. I would have probably learned a lot more about our country's history by reading this book rather than reading the textbooks we were given. Supplement with a few extended details and I think it would make a successful history course.

8. Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom 

This is a reread. I read this in high school for the first time. I remember liking it, but besides knowing the premise about a guy (the author) meeting with his old professor who was dying and writing this book on life lessons, I couldn't remember any more details. This time, I remembered that Morrie's mother died when he was young and it affected him his entire life. This time, I picked up on the theme of Mitch bringing food to the house even though Morrie couldn't eat any of it. Being an audio book, the new 25th anniversary included an excerpt of his original tapes and hearing Morrie's voice. That was special. 

9. Little Penguin Rescue - Rachel Delahaye 

I checked this book out from the library for my children to read only to realize it was above their reading level. Well, I ended up reading it to my daughter and she sat through every chapter with me over the course of about a week. It was actually kind of nice reading a little-kid chapter book again. Some moments felt a little contrived, but I don't think my five-year-old (now six) picked up on it.

10. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller 

I read his book Blue Like Jazz about a decade ago and really enjoyed it. Sadly, I can't remember much about the content, but I remember enjoying it. I should put it on my reread list for next year. This one honestly was hard to get through at first. Maybe it felt like that on purpose because of what the author was trying to explain - it didn't feel like he understood the purpose of life until he discovered what it meant to live in a way with meaning. "You can't have a story without conflict...if you don't make the story hard on your protagonist, your story will never inspire anybody." 

Stay tuned for part 2!