My 2020 Year in Books

 

These are the books I read this past year, 2020.  For each book, I have listed whether it is Fiction (F) or Nonfiction (NF) and the number of stars I gave it, based on how much I liked the book.  Five stars ***** means it was amazing and life-changing.  One star * means probably don't bother with this one.  I don't think I gave any book I read this year one star.  Favorite books of the year are in bold type. I chose my favorite books based on how much I enjoyed them, how memorable they were and the impact they had on my life. 

1. **** (F) The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

2. **** (F) The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

3. **** (NF) Option B by Sheryl Sandberg

4. **** (NF) The Road to Character by David Brooks

5. ** (F) Failsafe by Traci Hunter Abramson

6. ***** (NF) I Can Choose Joy With God by Ganel-Lyn Condie

7. **** (NF) The Big Short by Michael Lewis

8. *** (NF) Lessons from Madame Chic by Jennifer L. Scott

9. **** (NF) Failure to Thrive by Julie Ann Toomey

10. *** (NF) Negative Self-Talk and How to Change It

11. *****(F) The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

12. **** (NF) The Vanishing American Adult by Ben Sasse

13. *** (F) The Call of the Wild by Jack London

14. **** (NF) I Thought It was Just Me, (But it Isn't) by B. Brown

15. **** (F) The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg

16. **** (NF) Carry on, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton

17. *** (F) Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

18. ***** (NF) The Book of Mormon - Journal Edition

19. **** (F) The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

20. **** (NF) Nomadland: Surviving America... by J. Bruder

21. *** (NF) Prodependence by Robert Weiss

22. ***** (NF) Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

23. **** (NF) Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump

24. **** (NF) Done With the Crying by Sheri McGregor 

25. **** (F) Here to Stay by Mark Edwards

26. **** (NF) Moroni's Guide to Surviving Turbulent Times 

27. ***** (NF) Coca Cola, Hot Pants, Cancer...by Nancy Foote

28. **** (NF) City of Endless Night by Preston and Child

29. ***** (NF) How the Right Lost Its Mind by Charles Sykes

30. ***** (NF) The Rational Bible - Exodus by Dennis Prager

31. **** (F) Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

32. ***** (F) The Girls With No Names by Serena Burdick

33. **** (NF) Healing Family Relationships by Rob Rienow

34. **** (F) The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

35. *** (NF) How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps 

36. ***** (NF) Estrangement of Parents by Their Adult Children

37. **** (NF) Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl 

38. **** (NF) All the President's Women by Levine and El-Faizy

39. *** (NF) Three Years in a Walmart Parking Lot by S. Waters

40. *** (F) Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans 

41. **** (NF) Estranged:  Finding Hope... by J. Plagens

42. ** (F) The Noel Diary by Richard Paul Evans

43. ***** (NF) Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families

44. ***** (NF) Joyful Union:  A Better and Stronger Marriage...

45. ***** (F) A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg

46. **** (NF) For You Mom, Finally by Ruth Reichl

47. *** (NF) When Your Child Breaks Your Heart by B. Johnson

For me, 47 books was a new personal best in yearly reading. Of course, stay-at-home orders gave me more time to read than normal, but I would like to continue reading at this pace, if possible.  I have set my reading goal for 2021 at 30 books, but hope to exceed that. 

About 67% of the books I read in 2020 were nonfiction.  That left 33% fiction.  Of the nonfiction books I read, 12 were biographies/memoirs, 6 were religious, 6 dealt with the subject of relationships, 5 were of the self-improvement genre and 5 were political in nature.  Of those that were political, 2 were could also biographical.  In the coming year, I don't have any particular goal about the kinds of books I will read, but I would like to read a significant number of books that I already own.  It felt like I purchased a lot of books this year (most from Amazon), and I do have a significant "to read" shelf all comprised of books that I really do want to read.  Here are some other things I learned about my reading habits and preferences in 2020:

• I prefer paperbacks to hardbound books.  They aren't so heavy to hold when reading. 
• I like to mark meaningful passages and annotate in books - especially non-fiction.
• I prefer to have my own copy of book, rather than to use the library.  There always seem to be long hold lists for the books I want to read and when the book is available, I am already reading something else I don't want to interrupt.
• I use the library mostly for books I am  not sure I want to purchase.
• I am more likely to purchase a nonfiction book than a fiction book.  
• I am reading more and more books on my Kindle, but I so far, I still prefer paper and ink books.
• I tend to read faster when I am reading on my Kindle.

For those blog friends who post about books, I am looking forward to reading about your 2020 year in books! 

Memorial Day Weekend

I hope everyone had a nice, socially distanced  Memorial Day weekend!  Ours was good.  We had some clouds, wind, rain, a bit of snow in the mountains, and finally a return of the sun, but with cooler temperatures. Here's some of what the last four days looked like around here. 

Friday, we had day #2 of our "drive-through graduation," so I was at the school a good part of the day, congratulating students (from six feet away).   The students seemed to be pleased with the drive-through"graduation.  I thought it was nice because it allowed for individual interaction with each student (social distance observed) as well as more participation from families.  Parents walked with most of the graduates along the path and right up to receive the  diploma. 

While I was at school, Charly went over to our rental property again to oversee day #3 of the yard clean-up. This time, the crew was able to finish the whole yard, weed the flower beds, finish trimming the bushes and haul away the rest of the garbage and debri left behind.   The place looks great.  I think the new tenants will take much better care of the house and yard than the last tenants, so that will be good.  

Saturday, we decided to deliver Memorial Day flowers to the cemeteries in the morning to avoid the crowds that flock to the cemeteries on Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend.  We look flowers and flags to my (adopted) parents' grave...

...Charly's dad's grave...

...my paternal grandmother's grave...

...my maternal grandparents...

...and Charly's uncle (his dad's brother).   

All but one of the graves we visited are in the same cemetery, which is only about ten minutes from our home.  Last summer, Charly and I bought grave sites for ourselves here in this same place.  

As cemeteries go, this is a very nice one with beautiful mountain views. 

Sunday, we had church at home again.  I think we will continue to do this for a while yet. Our congregation still hasn't started in-person services again, and even when they do, Charly and I may continue to meet at home a while longer.  I did my scripture reading and Come Follow Me study, then indexed some 1945 Oregon death records. 

After lunch, Josh asked me to take a drive with him to this place, called Thanksgiving Point. He is thinking of meeting up with a young lady here and he wanted to make sure he knew the way there.  This would be a good place for a meet-up because there are some outside areas and venues that would be perfect for a socially distanced date.  It was a pleasant drive - about an hour and a half round trip. Now, if the date actually takes place, Josh will know how to find it.  

Of course there was face mask sewing every day of the weekend.  

By tomorrow evening, I will have 50 all ready to go to the Navajo Nation. My friend, who is also making masks, is taking them to the drop-off point on Wednesday.  Besides the masks for the Navajo Nation, I continue to make masks for friends, family, work associates and members of our church congregation. If you need some, send me an email with your address. No charge. I have made almost 170 masks and will keep sewing as long as there is a need. 

There were also daily walks every day this weekend.  Today was on the cooler side for this time of year, but it was a sunny, beautiful day - just right for walking outside.  Charly and I have decided to increase our daily walks from two miles to 3-4 miles.  Today we walked two miles in the morning, then another mile in the evening. 

Meals this weekend included pizza takeout on Friday night.  This is a Taco Grande pizza from Papa Murphy's pizza, which is one of our new family favorites.  Papa Murphy's was having a "2-fer" special, so we got a pepperoni pizza as well and enjoyed that on Saturday evening. 

On Sunday, I made red beans and rice and cheese biscuits.    

This morning, I put a roast into the slow cooker for dinner.

Pot roast with potatoes and vegetables in one of my personal favorite meals.  There will be plenty of leftovers for tomorrow too. 

My goals for the coming week include:

• Finish the two books I am currently reading including Where the Crawdads Sing.
• Finish 50 masks for the Navajo Nation.
• Finish and mail masks to friends who have requested them.
• Index enough records to surpass 100. My normal goal for the month is 50, so I am trying to double that.

Favorites on Friday

Happy Friday!  I am joining again with Susanne and other grateful bloggers who link every Friday over at Living to Tell the Story to remember the good things that have happened during the last week.  

Teacher Appreciation Week - This is what teacher appreciation week looks like during a pandemic.  Administrators from both Charly's school and my school delivered these signs to our home and they are now in our yard by our front door.  

My school also brought this by the house on Tuesday, which was Cinco de Mayo.  (I will admit that Josh asked for and has eaten most of my Doritos).

By far my favorite thing about Teacher Appreciation Week was this very kind email I received from the mother of a student.  Her kind words made my week.

My Job - I enjoy being a teacher (most of the time) and I am so grateful to have a job that I can do from home during this crazy pandemic.  However, last week, I did take one day and went into my classroom to file and put some things away for summer. 

I cleaned off my desk, which now looks like this.

I filed assignments I had copied and had planned to use when school was dismissed. They were still sitting out in my classroom, but now they are filed neatly away so I can use them next year. 

Browsing Bookstores - With a lot of businesses around here cautiously opening up, Charly and I took some time out to go to some locally owned used bookstores last week. 

We wore our masks, and socially distanced.  There weren't very many people in any of the book stores.

All of these fun book stores are fairly near our home.  We got some fun things. I found a hiking book I had been looking for.

Charly got several books by his favorite authors. It was pleasant to get out and safely do something we enjoy.

Yeast and Goodies - As we were driving to one of the bookstores, we passed this local bakery with a big sign that they sell flour and yeast.  I have been wanting to make some bread in my bread machine, but I couldn't find yeast in any grocery stores, so when we saw this sign, we stopped in.

I have been to this bakery before and has delicious treats. While we stopped in for the yeast, we left with more.

Here are the treats we got. They were all excellent and did not disappoint!

Oh yes, and now we have yeast, so I can bake some bread soon!

Good Documentary - I am a documentary nerd, and this week, there was a very good one on PBS.  American Experience had a special on President George W. Bush.  It was on for two nights (Part I and Part II) and it was well done.  I remember most of the things that took place during George W. Bush's presidency, but it was interesting to learn about these events in more detail.  I also gained even more respect for the younger President Bush, who, though not perfect,  navigated some very, very tough things during his presidency.

FAFSA Complete - Josh has been putting off completing his FAFSA (Application for Federal Student Aid) so I helped him.  I totally get why he didn't want to do it.  It was a long involved, frustrating process because he couldn't remember his FAFSA password, and couldn't reset it.  It took some time and research to figure out a way around the lost password, but we did and finally finished this afternoon.  Josh is only interested in grants,  NOT loans, and I don't know if he will qualify for anything, but it's worth a try to help him pay his college tuition this fall.

I will close this Friday Fave Five post with this quote. I think we are all worrying more than usual right now, but it is true that faith trumps fear! 

God's Got This!!

Have a Great Weekend!

Mid-April Weekend at Home

Friday I was able to take two walks outside - two miles in the morning and two miles in the afternoon with Charly.  It was a beautiful sunny morning, but a little more cloudy in the afternoon. I love that we have such a beautiful, part-like neighborhood in which to walk. 

I have some new tulips by my front door that have bloomed.  The white tulips shown here are more stunning than they appear in this picture.

  

I finished this book.  It was interesting and well worth reading. 

You can see from these colored tabs, I thought there was some important and powerful information in this book.

Now I am finishing up this book, which I have assigned to my students, because it is available free online.  You can see that I got this copy of this book years ago, when Walmart was selling classic titles 2 for $1. It is not my favorite book, so I am looking forward to finishing it and moving on to something I will enjoy more. 

Friday night, we went here to pick up dinner and support a local eatery trying to stay afloat during this time of lockdown and stay home directives.

This was the "full house" pizza we enjoyed for dinner.  It was a delicious way to celebrate the beginning of the weekend.

Saturday morning was grocery shopping. It seemed like there was more on the shelves than there had been in several weeks.  We followed the usual protocol to keep things clean and safe.  I put all the grocery bags on the back patio...

...then I unpacked and wiped down each item and put everything on the floor of the dining room inside the sliding glass doors leading out to the patio. It takes a significant amount of time and effort just to unpack groceries - yet another reason to limit trips to the store. 

I got some more plants for our container patio container garden while I was at the store, so we spent some time Saturday afternoon planting and transplanting.  I always look forward to having lots of plants and flowers out on my back patio. 

I also spent a lot of time this weekend making more masks.  These were some I made for family and friends using cotton fabric I had stash away.  Charly and I delivered the masks to friends who live close. We put the masks in ziplock bags and left them by the front door - a sort of Coronavirus ding-dong ditch (although we had called or texted everyone in advance).  Masks for family and friends farther away went in the mail. More will be sent out and delivered tomorrow, and all this week.  This is my way of helping others and giving back at this time.  I find that I am a lot more upbeat, positive and happy when I am doing things for others.  I have a good friend who is doing the same thing.  We are both working from home for our jobs and then spending a good part of each day making masks.  

Charly and I did more walking Saturday and Sunday. Of course my daily walks are a big part of my self-care, no matter what we are going through.  We had sun with some clouds and rain off and on all weekend.  The temperatures were pretty warm though, so it was nice walking weather. 

We had church at home on Sunday morning, as usual during this Coronavirus time.  The song, A  Child's Prayer, is one of the hymns we listened to as part of our at home service.  I can never listen to this song with dry eyes - it is so beautiful, powerful and touching. 

Sunday afternoon, I did some indexing of 1916 and 1924 voter registration records in Maricopa County, Arizona (where we used to live). 

I used some bananas that were going brown to bake some banana nut bread that turned out delicious. This is a great recipe that uses honey and yogurt instead of sugar.  It is very tasty. 

Sunday dinner was ham, stir-fried vegetables with ramen and an Irish mashed potato dish that Charly made.  The dish is called Colcannon and it is basically mashed potatoes made with cooked cabbage and green onions.  It was excellent. We all enjoyed  Sunday dinner together.  

A Weekend of Thankfulness - First of the New Year!

It was a pretty normal, typical weekend for us.  As we all went about our business, doing what we normally do on a weekend, I thought about how really blessed I am, and I am thankful for the good things in my life. 

For example, Saturday morning began for us with a trip to the grocery store.  We all go to a place similar to this at least once a week, and yet it is actually pretty amazing that we can buy just about any kind of food we want here, whenever we want it.  Fruits and vegetables, meats, and all kinds of fresh, frozen, canned, preserved, even cooked and convenient foods are available and affordable to most of us - and usually only a few minutes drive from where we live.  When we get the food home, we have refrigerators and freezers to keep the food good and stoves, ovens and microwaves to help us cook it.  It is all very ordinary and pretty amazing when you think about it.  

Later, we went to the mall to walk.  Didn't buy anything, but oh the things we could have purchased if we needed or wanted to - clothing, technology, food - all kinds of things right there at our fingertips.  Another amazing thing in our society is that the vast majority of us can afford the stuff there is available to us.  It isn't that way everywhere in the world, nor has it always been that way here, but it is right now - at this moment in our history.  

We went to get gas at a place that looked a lot like this.  Again, fuel for our car was abundant and affordable - although we do sometimes grumble about the price of gas.  Same thing when I went to Walmart later in the day.  Walmart is NOT my favorite place to go on a Saturday, but I quickly found everything I needed and then some.  We live in a land of plenty and for that I am thankful.

Saturday afternoon, I went here to the Draper Temple.  I had not been to this temple before.  It is a beautiful building set high on a mountainside in a community south of where we live, where there is a beautiful, commanding view of the entire Salt Lake Valley (that I did not get a picture of because I was in my car coming down the hill).

Going to the temple is one of my favorite things and I am happy, and thankful to have several temples literally within a few minutes of my home.  

Our Sunday worship services for us now begin at 9 a.m. instead of 11:30 a.m., so its up and at'em early on Sunday mornings.  Even though Josh gets up early and is out of the house headed to work by 6:15 every work day, he did not sleep in this morning, but was ready and attended early church with Charly and I.  I am thankful that Josh lives his faith and always attends church.  I am very proud of him and the choices he is making in life.  I am proud of all four of my children.  They are are all good human beings, and I only mention Josh by name because he still lives here with us and I see how he lives his life every day. 

After church,  Charly and Josh both received a little more information about their new callings as Activity Day Leaders for the little boys ages 9 and 10 in our congregation.  Charly and Josh will basically be in youth ministry and will be planning and supervising biweekly activities that will take the place of the BSA Cub Scouts activities that our church used to sponsor.  I am grateful that both Charly and Josh are willing to serve in this way. 

Sunday afternoon, we had some snow.  If you look closely in this picture, you can see big white fluffy flakes coming down.  Most of our snow this year has been in the mountains and that is my favorite place for it.  We need snow in the mountains to keep our water supply up for the coming summer.  So far Utah has a heavier than normal snowpack in the mountains, which bodes well for our water needs.   I am thankful for that.   Later in the evening, the snow stopped and Charly and I were able to take our 2.33 mile walk outside.  It was a brisk but pleasant walk.  I am thankful for my daily walks that help me stay happy and healthy and connected with my husband.

Dinner tonight was ham, cheese and potato casserole, made with leftovers from our New Year's Ham.  Around here, this dish is affectionately known as "Funeral Potatoes" because it is often served at family after-funeral luncheons.  It is also one of my favorite comfort foods.  I am so thankful for having more than enough good food to eat.  I am thankful that I know a little about how to prepare tasty good food for myself and my family.

After dinner, I did some records indexing.  Tonight, I was indexing Civil War records.  I am thankful for all those throughout history who have put their lives on the line for freedom and liberty here in this land. 

That, then, is my weekend from a spin of gratitude.  Tomorrow, it's back for another full week of school - the end of first semester.  I am thankful that I have a job I enjoy (most of the time) where I am, able (hopefully) to make a positive difference for some teenagers. Last week, I received an email from a mom thanking me for working with her son to help him go from an F to an A- in my class.  The young man did all the work.  I just encouraged him, showed him it was possible, and told him I was proud of him when he did it. The email from his mom was icing on the cake for me.  Knowing that I helped a struggling young man move forward toward high school graduation is really what it is all about.