My Favorite Reads of 2023

Looking back at the books I read in 2023 I have some notable favorites. I will hit the highlights for you guys and give you my top faves of the year. 

I have completed 52 books. That amounts to one per week. My highest reading month was June with 7 books. My lowest month was July with only one book completed. I read approximately 13,000 pages in about 15 different genres. My reading consisted of about 60% fiction and 40% nonfiction this year. The following lists are my favorites in no particular order. 

My favorite fiction for the year includes…

• The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
• The Long March by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee (WW2 South Pacific)
• Love and Saffron by Kim Fay (1960s Epistolary novel)
• Sugar Birds by Cheryl Grey Bostrom
• The Warsaw Sisters by Amanda Barratt (WW2 Poland)
• To Be Where You Are by Jan Karon

My favorite Nonfiction includes…

• How to Eat Your Bible by Nate Pickowicz
• To Be a Woman by Katie J. McCoy
• Why We’re Protestant by Nate Pickowicz
• A Praying Life by Paul Miller
• The Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson
• Becoming C. S. Lewis by Harry Lee Poe

The Complete List can be seen here if you are interested. Most of these books were also reviewed by me here on the blog or on my GoodReads account.

What was your favorite read for this year?

Did you keep track on Goodreads, TheStorygraph, LibraryThing, or another reading log format/app?

Do you have a specific book or series you are wanting to read for the coming year? 

I will be posting about mine soon. 

Leave a comment below and recommend a book you think I would enjoy for 2024.

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Books I Read in March

This is a smidge later than I intended. I promised that I would share books I read along the way this year instead of waiting until the end of the year. Thanks for being patient with me in this endeavor.

I read 4 books and that took me to 14 books by the end of March.

I completely finished the Old Testament by March 31st as well. That meant I finished the OT in a total of 3 months. This was a first for me and I loved my extended time reading in God’s word each day. I started the NT on April 1st and will share more about that at the end of this month.

This is a quick list of what I read in March.

• I finished the devotional, Dwell: 90 Days at Home with God by Sandra Byrd. I shared the review for that one for you two days ago. Click on the title above to read more.
• The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill was a book I read for a Kindred Spirits group I am in online. It is a children’s book about a teacher who goes to Alaska to teach in a remote area with native children. It was a sweet story and definitely inspirational for both teachers and children about learning and community. If you enjoy reading children’s books this is a neat story based on real events and experiences in the author’s life.
• The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery was such a delightful read. This is one I will be reading again and again. I loved the story so much about a young single woman who has to continually tolerate the negative comments about her age and her single status from HER OWN FAMILY. I love her determination to seek out a different future for herself when she was given a drastic diagnosis. If you love LMM this one won’t disappoint one bit. It is a fantastic story!
• The Productivity Zone by Morgan Tyree is a nonfiction book about becoming more productive by looking at your daily schedules and tasks. She gives good advice on reevaluating your time to give you more time to do the things you enjoy. It is a reprint of sorts with a new title. I didn’t find it remarkably innovative but it had some good tips and tricks and she offers free printouts online to help you find what works for you.

What have you been reading lately?

Do you have any books you would recommend?

Drop me a comment and share your favorites so far in 2023.

I hope you have an awesome weekend. May it be restful and restorative.

Blessings and happy reading!

~Leann

A Few Reading Challenges I Like for 2023

I have to be super honest with you. For most challenges I find I don’t often complete them. I am not saying I don’t love them because I totally do. I just lose track and fall off the wagon for many of them. I decided to share my favorites for 2023 here for you so I have a place to come and find the links again. I also hope that you might find one that you would enjoy if you are also into challenges.

These are all from challenges that have a very different flavor from ones like Sugar Pop or Bookriot. I stopped using those because I wanted something deeper than just a lot of popular fiction. I found some that have classics, theology, books I already own, and ones I could shape to my own tastes and preferences.

That is not to say I don’t still challenge myself each year. Have you tried reading books from the Victorian age? How about a good old fashioned Puritan author? What aboooooouuut… a book of poetry, or letters, maybe a cookbook, or even a biography on someone like Anne Bradstreet? (I actually own two books by or about her) Here is your chance to stretch your reading muscles in a big way. The following are my faves from all the ones I have seen offered this year. I hope you find something you love, too.

• The Tea and Ink Society is offering a challenge for those who want more Classic Literature in their lives. She limits the term classic to anything prior to 1970.
• Do you have an overabundance of books on your own shelves you just haven’t gotten to yet? Here is your chance to read from your own shelves with this Unread Shelf Challenge.
• Intentional By Grace is offering a challenge where you can choose your level of commitment with a variety of categories to pick your own books to fit each one.
• G3 has another challenge for 2023 this year with a wide array of genres to fill the bill. They have offered one for the past few years and they really stretch a person if you stay with it.
• One I have not seen posted yet for this year but I have always loved is the Tim Challies Reading Challenge. The link is to his page of past events. I have built my own personal challenge from his past challenges. They have been very good lists!
• You can always feel free to check out my Classics Club page and find more through my link on that page to join the club for yourself. I do believe we can never read too many classics in our world today.
• One more little challenge I have jumped into is from my friend Kate Howe. Check out her YouTube channel for this Kindred Spirits Book Club 2023 Challenge with one book per month and a discussion if you are interested in a group. (This is a collection of children, young adult and adult classics)

I hope this gets you started on a grand reading adventure for 2023. If you find another challenge that fits the ones here please share with us in the comments. I always love a good reading challenge even if I don’t always get through it. The goal is just to read, right? Please feel free to share what you are reading right now or a book you are looking forward to in the coming year. Inquiring minds want to know!

Happy Reading in 2023!

~Leann

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My Favorite Reads from 2021

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I managed to hit my goal again this year. I set that goal at 52 books… one per week. I am still reading up until midnight on the 31st so I still have two books in progress and finished an audiobook yesterday so I am currently at 53 and shooting for 55…. my age! LOL This list of favorites is from the 53 I have read so far. It is a list of the cream of the crop. It will be nonfiction heavy this year because that is what drew my attention the most in 2021. Here we go…. in no particular order.

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl – The first part of the book is about Frankl’s experiences in Nazi Germany in a concentration camp. He talks a lot about the psychology of survival and used what he learned to shape his career after he was released. It was utterly fascinating!
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – This is the story of a young girl coming of age in the 1910s in Brooklyn, NY. I had never read this book before even though it is considered a classic. It was a beautiful historical fiction novel of a family and their struggles pre-WW1 in New York. It was very insightful about inner city life and very revealing about class, culture, and how America looked during one of the largest periods of immigration in our nation. I would reread this book in a heartbeat, it was that good!
• A Christian Manifesto by Francis Schaeffer – Schaeffer has written a magnificent book that has withstood the test of time. This is a very eye opening and, yet, an encouraging book for today’s Christian. It gives much insight into the idea of humanism (from the original Humanist Manifesto of 1933) vs. biblical perspective on the world. Schaeffer addresses how we were shaped by those humanist ideas. He encourages us as Christians, to seek out God’s word and wisdom going forward to turn the tide for our own children. This book is full of truth and practical application. Schaeffer’s writings are just as relevant today as they were when he wrote them 40 years ago.
• Your Mind Matters by John R. W. Stott – Stott concisely but thoroughly uses Biblical truth to show us that it is very important that we believe truth. What we think and believe really matters. What we put into our eyes, ears, and minds impacts and shapes us. We must be intentional about what we do with our minds. This book is under 100 pages but packed full of biblical truth and encouragement.
• Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good by Jan Karon – I have loved this entire series but this book was especially endearing. Father Tim is now in his retirement years trying to live a retired life. The beloved cast of characters in the series refuse to let him. It is a lovely story of faith, family, friends, and community. I always love visiting Mitford. I will be heading to a wedding in Mitford in 2022 (in the pages of her next book) and, hopefully, finishing up the series by year’s end.
• A Little Book on the Christian Life by John Calvin – Tiny little book that packs a wallop! Clear and Concise instruction for the Christian in any era. This is another one of those books that has just as much relevancy today as it did when John Calvin wrote it. My copy is now on loan to my daughter. Every Christian should read this book!
• Journaling Psalter (The book of Psalms – ESV) – This is a beautiful copy of the Psalms with loads of journaling space between each chapter. It is from Crossway Publishing and well worth picking up for your daily reading time.
• Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund – This is a beautiful book on the nature of Christ. It is very biblically sound. I have to admit, in the modern world of Christian publishing, I often approach a new book with great skepticism. This book quickly won me over. Orlund gives a true picture of Christ unlike any that I have read outside of scripture itself. That is not to say a book has not been written that is just as beautiful. It falls completely in line with the truth of Christ in the Bible. I believe the best result of this book is that we fall more in love with Jesus and that can only be good. It is a slow paced book that warrants slow digestion. I highly recommend this for your personal devotional reading. It will bless you.
• Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher – This book is a crucial analysis of Solzhenitsyn’s original Gulag Archipelago. Dreher did a lot of research for this book. He, in his forthright fashion, takes us on a journey of juxtaposition. He looks back to the time of the Russian Revolution to give us some background. Then he brings us forward to modern day America. His analysis reveals some things we should pay attention to that line up with signs of warning that socialist/communist nations ignored. This book is very important. After I read this one I snagged an audio copy of his book, The Benedict Option. It was not as impactful for me but still a very thoughtful book, maybe because my children are older. I have really loved Dreher’s work for a long time… starting with his book, Crunchy Cons. I don’t always agree with everything he says but still find him insightful in many things.
• The Wisdom Pyramid by Brett McCracken – I loved this book’s premise so I bought it for my husband and then I read it. We both loved it! It is a great book on the wisdom of what we feed our spirit each day. He talks about all the things that benefit us and how limiting social media should be part of that process. He uses the “food pyramid” format to show us the most important things we should put in each day. We should start with scripture. The thing we should use sparingly is social media and internet entertainment. There are other things that fall between those things and he spends each chapter expounding on the importance of each level. This was a very helpful book!
• Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World by Benjamin Vrbicek and John Beeson – If you are a Christian blogger who wants to blog for God’s glory and His Kingdom this is a must read. I learned a lot from these guys!
• Faultlines by Voddie T. Baucham, Jr. – I will say first and foremost that the media and some reviewers on the internet got this book so wrong. They either did not read it or they completely missed the point. It is not about slamming a non-christian world. It is not even really intended for non-christians at all. It is a warning to Christians to be on the right side of the issues of race, gender, critical theory, and woke-ism. It is a warning FOR THE CHURCH! The CHURCH should read this book and heed it’s warnings. It is a very biblically sound text full of love and encouragement from the heart of a precious pastor. He shares his own experiences growing up and how God saved him. His testimony is so moving. Don’t get Voddie wrong here… read it for yourself and stop listening to the world’s impressions. God is using this man’s words to wake Christians up. Just read your Bibles and then read this book in a spirit of discernment and truth.

I read a lot of books on living the Christian life in a world full of turmoil this year. It seemed really important for me to do so. I suspect that theme will carry over into 2022 for me. I am reading less and less from modern day fiction and nonfiction because I have felt they were leading to unbiblical thinking and untruth. We must, as Solzhenitsyn says in his Gulag Archipelago, choose to “live not by lies.” We must seek out the truth and live by that at every turn. I will boldly say here that the Bible is the only reliable truth there is in this world. If you want truth you must go there. With that in mind I do have an honorable mention from the end of year books that I highly recommend. Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot is one of the most relevant books of our time.

She wrote this book to her daughter who was getting married to a man called to pastoring. It is full of biblical truth about the roles women play in life and in marriage. It is a beautiful book and a must read for young Christian women (single, widowed, married, divorced, etc). Older women can certainly glean things from this beautiful book, too. I know I did! Seek to know truth above all else and refuse to speak or write something you do not believe. I believe more and more that we must be very discerning with our reading and listening. I am making that commitment again this next year and in the years to come. Until next time….

May your reading be intentional!

~Leann

Reading Classics

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I have recently discovered a challenge I am totally down for. I have a follower, Kathy, who I now follow (Katie’s Cottage Books). She has shared her list of classics that she intends to read over the next few years. She has a lovely bookish blog. 🙂 She listed 50 books and will share a review of each one as she finishes them. I loved that idea so I followed her link to the original challenge site (The Classics Club) and have decided to join in the fun.

The Classics Club was started back in 2012 and has changed moderators since then but it is still going. You can read all the details and sign up at this link. I will begin my challenge on November 1, 2021. I plan to add 50 books to read over the next 5 years. (that would be 10 per year) I have put a link at the top of my blog for my full list. I am adding books over the next week or so.

Other than newly published books I choose to review, I have chosen to read older books these days anyway. I am a little disenchanted with modern novels and certainly bored with their ideas of romance. There are plenty of older books to fill my mind and my days that I enjoy far more. I will classify classics as books that are over 20 years old that have staying power. That should include books like Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, some Anne Tyler novels, Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres, Maeve Binchy, Rosamunde Pilcher and more because I have some of those on my shelves that I have not read but still want to read. So, let’s say, before 2000. These will not be my ONLY reads but they will certainly take a more prevalent role in my reading stacks.

You don’t have to have a blog to join in the fun. Make a list and start digging in. Please let me know in the comments if you are joining in, too. I would love to see what you are reading. Booklists are so much fun to browse for me.

Until next time…

Happy Reading,

~Leann