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Congratulations! You made it halfway through 2024! Can you believe it?

This year has been a whirlwind for me and I’m sure for most of you, too. And I’m sitting here on July 1 looking at the beautiful sunshine on a lovely summer morning just thankful for another month. The garden is growing, the blackberries are plumping and the chickens are laying. You can’t get much better than that!

I’m grateful for summer because it’s a season for me of bounty. Bountiful veggies and fruits from our garden and our friends. Lots of harvesting and preserving of food for the winter. Slower days without school and all the errands that come with schooldays. Long evenings sitting on the porch rocking and talking. Bountiful time to read. This fall is coming and with it Marshall’s senior year. People ask me how I’m doing with that and how I’ll do as he heads off into his future after graduation. And so far I’m so happy for him and proud of him. I love watching him grow into the man he will become. The man God is calling him to be. I am praying harder than I have before and trusting God will equip him for all He’s calling Marshall to do and be. now my thoughts about Marshall's leaving may change and I may have a panic attack in the near future but so far I’m feeling all the lovely emotions - hope, joy, thankfulness and love. (We can check back in about six months.)

But I digress. So back to reading. So far in 2024 I’ve read 37 books. 14/37 have been nonfiction. I rate the books I read on a 5-star system and so far I’ve given five 1-star ratings. Seven books have gotten 5-stars from me. The average rating is 4/5 stars so far this year.  I’m going to share my six favorite books and my least favorite book of the year. I will list them chronologically as I read them through the year:

1. 1776 by David McCullough.  https://amzn.to/3RPCir2
   Those of you who have read my blogs (thank you!) know I have loved McCullough’s writing for a long, long time. And 1776 is one of my favorites! I was able to read this as well as listen to him read the audible version (it’s long folks! I had to do both to get through the book before returning it to the library.)  What a joy! I’m consistently blown away by the sacrifices made to start this country! The bravery! The wisdom! The courage! The fortitude! I’m just thankful.
2. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. https://amzn.to/3VEVLMc
    My friend Tricia told me about this book years ago and it was a book club pick in the winter so I read it and just absolutely fell in love with the main character. Obviously this is a hard and emotional story and I’m thankful Ms. Morris had the guts to share it with us. If you haven’t read it I highly recommend it! These stories need to be shared. If we don't learn from history we are bound to repeat it and I pray we all learn from this horrible, dark and catastrophic time.
3. Living Fearless by Jamie Winship. https://amzn.to/3L9nVKg
   Wow! This book was amazing! I’m in a Mastermind Group with some women entrepreneurs who recommended this book to me and I’m thankful they did. I learned so so much from working through Mr. Winship’s book. It’s already helping me relate and communicate better. It’s been a blessing to have this knowledge. Thank you Tori for the recommendation!
4. Dead Wake by Erik Larson. https://amzn.to/3xG4oht
   Oh man. Everybody thinks they know the story about The Lusitania, but do we really? I thought I did and I like to think I’m a student of history but Erik Larson taught me more than I could have ever imagined about the ship, the people and the time. I learned more about Winston Churchill, Germany, Woodrow Wilson (the good and the bad) and even Captain von Trapp - who knew!? I can’t recommend this book more. This may in fact be my favorite Erik Larson work. . . .
5. Dare to Lead by Brene Brown.https://amzn.to/3RPCUgk
   I have been going through a really difficult time with a team I lead. A lot of strife. A lot of change. A lot of drama. A lot of emotion. And I need to learn how to handle myself effectively so I can lead others. I need to keep myself under control and understand what I’m working through so I can lead in a healthy and impactful way. I learned that by working through this book. Things about emotional roadblocks (mine and theirs) and how to work with people in order to move the roadblocks so we can have forward progress. There’s just a lot and maybe sometime I can talk more about this time and about the details of what I’ve been working through but I will say now that I’m thankful for Brene Brown’s work, not just in this book but her others as well. She is an excellent teacher and if you haven’t read her works I would encourage you to do so. Rising Strong is one I’ve read multiple times in the last decade. And anyone who starts a book with a speech by Theodore Roosevelt is gonna have my attention!
6. The Women by Kristin Hannah.https://amzn.to/45NCqgm
   How this woman writes so many fantastic works is beyond me! This book, just like her other works, is tough. Emotional. Thorough. Epic. And worth every page. Obviously she’s getting a ton of press for this book and she deserves all the praise. She’s an amazingly gifted writer. I don’t know how she has all the stories in her head and heart and I don’t know how many more she can pump out but this one is so so so good. Please pick it up.

So those are my six favorite of the year so far. I hope they encourage you to pick a book up, whether it’s on this list or not! Reading for education and/or entertainment is one of the best ways to spend your time, I think. I’ve always got at least one book going, if not two or three. I read physical books - I love the way they feel in my hand and the way the pages smell. I love the heft in my purse as I carry them around. I love the way I can bend a paperback as I’m reading and alternatively I love the feel of a hardback. I also read e-books on my ipad (a change I started during 2020 when I couldn’t get into our library because of the shut-downs and one I haven’t given up now. I love that I can borrow something from Libby at 10:00 pm on a Saturday night and not wait for the library to open on Monday morning).  And yes, I listen to books as I’m weeding, picking, harvesting and making deliveries. And also yes, that’s reading, too! If you’re absorbing information it counts. Whatever form it’s in. Growth-minded individuals are generally busy individuals and generally on the go to meetings, work and the like. So if you have time to listen in the car then go for it! Don’t pay attention to any nonsense that if you’re not holding a physical book it doesn’t count, because it does.

And now for my least favorite book of the year. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.https://amzn.to/3VPuiaR
What the what??? I don’t know what he was on before he came up with this story but it is wild and I didn’t enjoy it at all. It was a book club pick and so I read it. It was short and not too sweet. My sister says she thinks that’s where the Disney folks got the idea for A Bug’s Life. Who knows but it’s a strange, strange read. I do have friends in the book club who loved it (I'm looking at you, Linda!). So maybe that will be you, too!

Okay, so that’s it so far! Please let me know if you’re reading anything you love (or hate!). I adore the recommendations y’all give! Feel free to leave comments here or on Instagram. 

Happy reading!

Aliceson