I finished a book a day the first 10 days of January it was so much fun and all I did was read. It perfectly coincided with the kids’ well-timed post christmas season illness so we didn’t even have to go anywhere expect to buy tissues and cough syrup.

But than I got to day 11 and I was almost able to finish a book, but I had to decide this rate really wasn’t sustainable. It was time to quite, especially since I was running out of all the lingering half-read books to easily finish off in a day. So I started doing other things too.

A serious reading streak was the perfect way to start the new year.

But I’m bookishly biased.

Non-Fiction:

1. True You: Letting Go of Your False Self to Uncover the Person God Created by Michelle DeRusha – a lovely invitation to pare back and pause to take stock of who God is shaping us to be and who we already are in Christ. I loved interwoven story of how trees are pruned open and becoming who God created us to be.
2. Cozy Minimalist Home by Myquillyn Smith – a beautiful, start to finish guide to make your house a home. I’ll be chasing down some thrifted large scale items and thinking about my home a little differently thanks this one. 
3. All The Colors We Will See: Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way by Patrice Gopo – 5 stars. Beautiful vignettes and stories of a life coming into one’s own not necessarily belonging in standard definitions of identity and racial constructs. Gopo’s writing is beautiful and picturesque, not only in the scenery but also the feelings in each story. Read this one for sure 😍📚😍
4. Parenting with Presence: Practices for Raising Conscious, Confident, Caring Kids by Susan Stiffelman – 4 stars. Good resource for some practical tips. My only complaint is that I don’t really remember it, but maybe that’s on me. I want to read her other book for sure though. 
5. Dance, Stand, Run: The God-Inspired Moves of a Woman on Holy Ground by Jess Connolly – 4 stars. Good encouragement to dig a little deeper in your faith.
6. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder – Such a fun book to read aloud. I honestly didn’t remember all the racism towards Native Americans from when it was read to me as a kid. I edited some of it out, and we had some good talks about how Europeans came and gradually took over more and more land where the Native Americans were living first. So, it served as a brief intro into some history, racism, and colonialism.
7. The Color of Life: A Journey Toward Love and Racial Justice by Cara Meredith — 5 stars. I would recommend this book to everyone. Read all my thoughts here!
8. All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung – As a sister to adoption I could not pass this up. I want to read more stories from adoptees, and siblings in the middle but not knowing the weight of it all. Beautiful narrative, honest, charming, gentle yet firm in addressing hard experiences and issues.

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1. The Colors of the Rain by R.L Toalson – 5 stars. The best book you’ve probably never heard of. The depth of insight into this little boy’s feelings as he learns to be a person without the structure of a typical or stable family. Themes around racial conflicts, emotional resilience, and the families we make together. Read it. 😍
2. Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni – 4 stars. Three generations of Indian women caught in predicaments of culture, autonomy, love, and motherhood. Interesting, slightly melancholy, but with truthful characters. 
3. Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo – 4 stars. A story of a couple in Nigeria and all that comes between them. Not a happy read, but really good still.
4. The Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 4.5 stars. Difficult, but just real. About a Nigerian girl raised in a religious family with a very strict (sometimes abusive) father during a time of civil unrest.
5. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson – 4 stars. A story of adventure, magic, and growing up strong. My only complaint was that I guessed a major plot point 200 pages ahead of time. Maybe I read too much?
6. Where The Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin -5 stars. A little girl goes on a journey to change her family’s fortune, meeting magic and wisdom along the way. 
7. Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho – 4 stars. Such fun. English magic, powerful females, and super creative. This is like a sibling book to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (which I loved). My only complaint is that the main character, an epic female protagonist, did not enter the story soon enough. We dredge along in the secondary character’s past for a good 50-75 pages before it starts to get interesting. As soon as Prunella showed up I was hooked.
8. Farewell, My Orange by Iwaki Kei– 5 stars. A story about an immigrant and a refugee who meet in Australia in an ESL class. I love this as a story of women making their lives work in difficult situations.

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What have you read and loved lately? I’d love to know!

Linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy for Quick Lit!

(disclaimers: Post contains amazon affiliate links. Also: three of the above books – marked in the photo – were given to me by the publisher at no cost. All opinions are my own!)