I started keeping a list of the books that I read 7 years ago challenged by the Tim Challies reading challenge. I decided that I could probably read 26 books (which is one every two weeks) even with two small kids in the house. That year I read 30-some books. The following year I challenged myself to 35 books and made it into the 40s. 60 in 2018. 57 in 2019. 68 in 2020. I set my goal for 52 this year and read 62.
A few notes on this year's list:
a) My number of finished books fell slightly this year. I did finish two quilts, spent 60 hours earlier in the year helping my in-laws move, and kept a flower garden.
b) I do a ton of pre-reading of library books. I try to keep new books coming in about every 1-3 weeks in our book basket depending on the subject that we are studying. So I get a massive number of books on a subject from the library and pick the ones that are the most interesting and visually appealing. But I don't finish reading most of these books and I don't count picture books on the list.
c) The number of fiction books is still higher than I would like (23 books), but 19 of those were read to the boys (83%). Some were for school, others were just for fun (strawberry, peach and apple picking in an hour from our house and my brother lives two hours away - so we do a lot of listening while we drive). The other 4 books were the Wingfeather Series, which I pre-read to read to the boys and was disturbed by them and decided to hold off on them (I really did not like them).
d) I did not count the audio books as a separate category. I used goodreads this year (instead of a paper list) and I couldn't figure out how to record that. I use the library to download books and listen to them as we drive around.
e) John Owen tops the year as the most read author. But C.S. Lewis comes in a close second.
f) I abandoned quite a few books this year from the library due to not having enough time to finish them. I would have been really bothered by that a few years ago.
g) I used the library for 40% (down from from 45% last year) of my books. Note: The library in my town did not have some of these books, but inter-library loan did - if first you don't succeed try try again. 37% of books were ones that I already owned.
h) I only bought 2 books (that I read) this year. Down to 2% of my reading total from 15% last year.
i) I only borrowed one book from a friend this year.
j) I finished up studying the minor prophets over 10 months and have thoroughly enjoyed them and several commentaries. I would write about them in a separate post, but I doubt I will find time.
k) I include my Bible reading in here only if I finished the Old Testament (which I only read the minor prophets this year - so I did not include it in the page count) or Psalms (which I did two times) or the New Testament (which I did just did parts of). If you take those away from my book count, I only read 58 books.
2021 Best of (Favorite Books)
If I had to pick my absolute top books of the year I would have to go with these. The Glory of Christ was my absolute favorite the rest are in no apparent order:
1. The Glory of Christ - John Owen
2. Parenting by God's Promises: How to Raise Children in the Covenant of Grace - Joel Beeke
3. Love Came Down at Christmas: Daily Readings for Advent - Sinclair B. Ferguson
4. Parenting with Words of Grace: Building Relationships with Your Children One Conversation at a Time - William P. Smith
5. Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament - Mark Vroegop
And these books I liked, but not quite enough to make it on the favorites of the year, but they all excellent books, if you choose to read them:
13. Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
14. The Annotated Treasure Island
15. Charlotte's Web
16. Swallowdale (Swallows and Amazons, #2)
17. Paddington Helps Out (Paddington, #3)
18. The One Year Praying Through the Bible for Your Kids - Guthrie
2021 CHILDREN’S BOOKS
In previous years I wrote down how many books I read to my kids from a few months and Extrapolated out the data. However, this number is definitely increased this past year as we have focused on having a book basket that is stocked with whatever subject we are studying in school. It averaged out to 5-10 a day.
I also do a bunch of pre-reading/skimming of books for the boys to read and for history. I've finally gotten used to picking out books on the libraries website and have found it is easier than going in person with 4 lively children. Also, our library partners with about 10 other libraries and so their website allows me to see and pick out those books as well. I still spent entirely too long on the library's web page looking for interesting children's books. But I have learned to appreciate this service, while still missing browsing the library shelves in-person.
I have noticed that the quality of children's books has dramatically decreased recently. There are so many computer animated books and books based on tv shows. They have boring plots, terrible dialogue, and ugly illustrations.
Extrapolated out this equals about 2000 - 4000 children's books.
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