December Reading Report

Merry Christmas! December has been a good month for books around these parts. : ) We jump-started our Christmas break from school on the 14th - I realized that our two wonderful breaks that we had previously taken from school had all been filled with out-of-town travel. We needed time at home to spend on our own pursuits ... and for me that means reading! I managed to make the most of it!

Quite of few of the books that I wrapped up were on my Kindle. I have been absolutely loving checking out books electronically from the library ... I get an email when they are available, and an email when I have about three days to finish before they disappear from my device. It's definitely helped me finish them before time is up and they are returned.

This month I finished:

• Connected by Erin Davis. A good (short) read on being connected and in community with one another. FYI, $2.99 on Kindle right now.
• Cinder by Marissa Meyers, Book 1 in The Lunar Chronicles. I predict this will be the next Hunger Games to be made in to a blockbuster movie series. I LOVED this book. Science fiction, cyborgs, and very clean. Could not put this one down until I finished it!
• The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene. We finished this read aloud right at the beginning of the month. The girls enjoyed it but Nancy is not the best for reading aloud!
• The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson. Our December / Christmas read-aloud. This was a quick read (took us a week maybe).
• For the Love by Jen Hatmaker. One I read on Kindle from the library - I loved it so much I asked for it for Christmas. It might not strike everyone, but it's message of grace for ourselves and others was one that I needed to hear. And, oh my word, is she a funny writer. 
• Pray Write Grow by Ed Cyzewski. An interesting book on how writing and prayer are tied together. 
• Keeping House: A Litany of Everyday Life by Margaret Kim Peterson. December and January is always a good time to read a book on homemaking and housecleaning as I have an urge to purge all the things. This was a wonderful book encouraging me to keep on keeping on when faced with the endless meals, laundry and messes multiplied because of our homeschooling lifestyle!
• The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope. I read this for the last book of the year for the Reading to Know bookclub. Thoroughly enjoyed this little historical fiction story with a little bit of a ghost story tied to it and glad I read it. My 12 year old would probably enjoy this as well!
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyers, Book 2 in The Lunar Chronicles. Again, just as engrossing as the first book!

Right now I'm reading Switch by Ingrid Law. After that, I'm going to be taking a look at my shelves and see what I can pull from around here. I've set a slight challenge for myself for the next several months to read what is on my shelves, my Kindle, or what I can check out at the library. And, I'm trying to stick with books that are not recent releases (though I'm sure there will be the departure from this rule now and again). With a few exceptions (Cinder and Scarlet come to mind!), most of the new fiction that I have seen and picked up on various online and blog recommendations was very disappointing so I'm going to stick with older works that I've not read as well as try and read those books I've stacked up to get to "at some point" and make that point sooner rather than later! 

Any old gems that I should consider adding to my lists? Any New Year's reading resolutions of your own?