I thought it would be fun to write out the books I read/listened to in 2021, and see how many fiction vs. nonfiction I read, as well as how many books I read with my kids this year. I was able to complete the Scholé Sisters 5×5 Reading Challenge (although I kind of made it a 6×5 actually) as well as The Literary Life Reading Challenge… and while I had intended to put some overlap between the two, I really didn’t end up doing it that way. My habit tends to be always having at least one fiction and one nonfiction going all the time, as well as always having audiobooks and paper copy books going all the time. I always have a fiction and a nonfiction going with my kids, and try to read at least one or two books a year with just one child at a time. These are just little habits which help me never have an excuse for not knowing what to read next. And it is good to always have things feeding my intellect as well as my imagination!
I read over 100 books this year, which feels like a surprising number to me, but pretty fun. Let’s see how they stack up. Here we go!
FICTION (23)
Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall
Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall
Home Front by Kristin Hannah
The Blue Tattoo by Margot Mifflin
The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek by Kim M. Richardson
The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson
Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair
NONFICTION (50)
The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
Alexander the Great by Jacob Abbott
Popes and Feminists by Elise Crapuchettes
A Welcome Shore by Suzanne Rhodes
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
A Joyful Noise: Praying the Psalms by Mike Aquilina
Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis
Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes du Mez
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher
Hamilton by Tony Williams
Meditations on Psalms by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Decluttering Your Marriage by Douglas Wilson
Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
The Whirlwind Bides its Time by Joseph Carlson
Twenty Wild Decembers by Jason Farley
No One Doubts a Belly Laugh by Jason Farley
Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers
Beholding and Becoming by Ruth Chou Simons
Wintering by Katherine May
French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
The Price of Panic by Axe, Briggs, and Richards
Spokane’s Stories by Blythe Thimsen
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield
First Family by Joseph J. Ellis
The Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Classical Education and the Homeschool by Callihan, Jones, and Wilson
The Paideia of God by Douglas Wilson
Classical Me, Classical Thee by Rebekah Merkle
A Place to Belong by Megan Hill
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
I Choose Brave by Katie Westenberg
Good Man by Nathan Clarkson
Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher
Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey
Finding Selah by Kristen Kill
Rhythms of Rest by Shelly Miller
A Sacrifice of Praise by James Trott (not complete, but spent time here)
Words by the Wayside by Classics Series (not complete, but spent time here)
Mountain Breezes by Amy Carmichael (not complete, but spent time here)
The Litany of Every Day Life by Margaret Kim Peterson
The Case for Classical Christian Education by Douglas Wilson
Teach Me to Feel by Courtney Reissig
The 4 Hour School Day by Durenda Wilson
Mortimer Adler: the Paideia Way by Robert M. Woods
On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Case for the Psalms by N.T. Wright
WITH MY KIDS (35)
Alice’s Farm by Maryrose Wood
The Door at the End of the World by Caroline Carlson
The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher
The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase by Wendy Mass
The Ordinary Princess by MM Kaye
Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld
Dragons and Dragonslayers by Tim Chester
Jimmy McGee by Eleanor Estes
YWAM Amy Carmichael by Janet Benge
Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes
YWAM Hudson Taylor by Janet Benge
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Rescue by Jennifer Nielsen
Resistance by Jennifer Nielsen
The Bookwanderers by Anna James
The Knights’ Tales Collection by Gerald Morris
The Cross of Lead: Crispin by Avi
Henry and the Chalk Dragon by Jennifer Trafton
The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson
The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz
Cilla Lee Jenkins: The Epic Story by Susan Tan
The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle
Radiant by Richard Hannula
A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
Mark of the Thief by Jennifer Nielsen
The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish by Karina Yan Glaser
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
Peril and Peace by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Monks and Mystics by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Rise of the Wolf by Jennifer Nielsen
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Green