Happy New Year! What a great time for making new reading plans. I’ll be participating in a variety of bookish challenges in 2023 with strange names like “Historathon” and “Bookworms Take Shelfies” and “To Boldly Go.” Let’s keep reading fun and interesting! Be joyful! Be a bookworm.
Word of the Month
Renewal
Bible Verses of the Month
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…”
– Psalm 23:1-3
This month’s reading diary is at the bottom of this page, after the book list.
My Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/lindajm
★ – I’m reading it.
✓ – I finished reading it. Yay!
⇗ – Still reading at the end of the month.
⇓ – I did not like it or finish it.
∅ – Stalled – I started but didn’t finish.
My January goals:
1. Reading – This is complicated. I’m doing a variety of book challenges.
2. Art – Daily sketchbook paintings using acrylic ink.
This video explains my many 2023 reading challenges!
Happy New Year, everyone!
⇗★ Nonfiction: How to Write Like a Writer, by Thomas C. Foster
I’m reading this for Netgalley and the publisher, and because I like to read books about writing.
⇗✓ Nonfiction: More After the Break: A Reporter Returns to Ten Unforgettable News Stories, by Jen Maxfield
Riveting nonfiction by a journalist revisiting people involved in some of her most memorable news stories of the past 22 years. Finished reading on January 1. My review. ☆☆☆☆☆
⇗★ Christian Nonfiction: Braving the Thin Places: Celtic Wisdom to Create a Space for Grace, by Julianne Stanz
I’m adding this back into my reading plan.
⇗★ Christian Nonfiction: The Power of Praying For Your Adult Children, by Stormie Omartian
Adding this in at the end of the year. It will count toward my January goals.
✓ Classic Fiction: Middlemarch, by George Eliot
This is a thick classic novel! I’m reading this with a friend! **Buddy Read** … Finished: January 26 – what an exciting book! Middlemarch is an English village c. 1829-1832 – with plenty of characters ranging from the goodhearted and charitable to the selfish and devious. Here’s my review. Five stars.
✓ Historical Fiction: Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, by C.S. Forester
This is book 1 of an 11 book series. There’s a Booktube readathon for this series in 2023! This video is from Faith, who started this readathon. She’s doing it with another Booktuber, Richardson Reads. Finished: January 5 – a wonderful book! Here’s my review. – Four stars. I took one star off because of the violence.
★ Local Fiction: Life Along the Applegate Trail, by Linda Lochard
Local fiction – from Southern Oregon!
★ History: The Lost Continent of Mu, by James Churchward
This is novel research, and I’m reading it for Historathon 2023!
Here’s where I’m keeping notes on this book and my research on it: The Continent of Mu: history or fantasy?
A video from Vin, the founder of Historathon 2023:
☆ California History: Camp Far West: A Memoir of Early California, by Randolph H. Pirtle
I’m reading this for my 2023 California Reading & Writing Challenge.
✓ Juvenile Literature: Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
This is a re-read for me. Finished: January 31: An awesome children’s novel for the pioneer spirit in each of us. My review. Five stars.
✓ Memoir: The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir, by Dee Williams
Inspirational reading experience. Finished: January 10 – Loved the memoir… it was more about Dee and her life than a how-to manual for people wanting to build tiny homes… however, it is very inspirational in its own way. Here’s my review. Four stars. I knocked off a star because of TMI speech and bad language.
✓ Historical Fiction: The Indigo Girl, by Natasha Boyd
A teenager on a plantation in South Carolina. Nice audiobook, for bedtime… Finished: January 14 – What a great book! Loved this one. Here’s my review. Five stars.
✓ Adventure Fiction: Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne
I’m on a world cruise, vicariously speaking. Finished: January 21 – Happy to say I’ve read this now. Here’s my Review. 4 stars.
✓ Classic: Turn of the Screw, by Henry James
This is easier for me to understand with the audiobook version. Finished: January 19 – what a terrible, dreadful story, but the writer’s skill… My review. Five stars.
✓ YA Historical Fiction: Calico Captive, by Elizabeth George Speare
I read this on the spur of the moment – all in one day. Finished: January 18 – my review. Five stars.
✓ Christian Historical Fiction: A Perfect Weakness, by Jennifer A. Davids
Fast audio-read for nighttime entertainment. Good Christian message. Finished: January 22 – I appreciate the Christian message but thought the writing style and audiobook narration could have been better. My review. Three stars.
My January 2023 Reading Diary
January 1 – While most people are celebrating a new year, I’m remembering my father because this was his birthday. I finished an audio-read I’ve been listening to for NetGalley: More After the Break by Jen Maxfield. Great memoir by a broadcast reporter who revisits people she interviewed years before. Five stars. My review.
January 2 – Dear me, what’s all that white stuff? I could do without that. I’ve been enjoying the new books on my list: Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Middlemarch, and The Lost Continent of Mu.
My Historathon TBR video published today. (Recorded last night.)
January 5 – I enjoyed reading the Horatio Hornblower novel, first in a series of eleven. Here’s my review. Four stars.
January 7 – I started my reread of Little House in the Big Woods today. The first chapter was about all the work the family did to store up food in the cabin for the winter months. So much work! But necessary… and the parents were trained for that, from childhood.
January 10 – Today I finished an audiobook memoir… The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir. Here’s my review. Four stars.
Oh my goodness… I’m reading a chapter in Little House in the Big Woods and I came across a list of fiddle music “Pa” played on Christmas Eve, and this was listed – “Money Musk” – I’d never heard of it before so I looked for it on YouTube. What a great antidote for depression of any kind!
January 13 – I subscribed to Pureflix in December to watch Christmas movies. Tonight I found a good western there: The Legend of Five-Mile Cave. Five stars.
January 14 – I finished listening to an audiobook… The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd. What a great book about a strong young woman in South Carolina history. Historical fiction based on the true story of Eliza Lucas. Here’s my review. Five stars.
New audiobook/Kindle immersion to read: Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne. A classic!
January 18 – I admit I’m reading too many books at one time now. I need to cut back. It is snowing here again and I’m cold. I wish my furnace would work more reliably. The electric heater isn’t enough. If I can’t stay warm I can’t get in the mood for reading. Today I read Calico Captive without meaning to, and couldn’t put it down. my review. Five stars.
January 19 – Oh my goodness – what a dreadful but clever story… The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. My review. Five stars.
January 21 – I did it.. I finally read Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne! Happy… Here’s my Review. 4 stars.
January 22 – Finished an audiobook I got free from Audible because I’m a subscriber there. Great Christian message, but there were some shortcomings in the delivery. My review. Three stars.
January 26 – I finished Middlemarch! Supposedly 830 pages give or take a few hundred, depending on the publisher. What an amazing novel! Full of wisdom! Here’s my review. Five stars.
Also, I started another classic novel, almost as thick: North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell.
January 28 – A new video! This is about the “Around the World in 80 Days Reading Challenge.”
January 29 – Another new video! Those of us participating in the Hornblower Readalong are making videos about it this weekend. I decided that mine would include a listing of all the nautical novels I could remember reading.
January 31 – Finished Little House in the Big Woods – awesome story. Read it! My review. Five stars.
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