I’m pretty proud to report that I read 10 books in September!! Because some of you have asked, I don’t set particular reading goals for each month. At the beginning of last year, I set out with a goal of reading 52 books.  Before January 2015 I had never tracked my reading so I really had no idea how many books I usually read in a given year.  I set a goal of 52 because it seemed daunting.  I felt like I had no time to read and wanted to get back to being the reader I was a child.  In 2015, I hit my goal in early summer, and continued the pace, reading 100 books in 366 days. J

In 2016 I hope to read 100 again, but I again didn’t think I’d be able to reach that number. I am busy! I don’t get lunch breaks so I can’t read for an hour during the work day unlike many reader bloggers I follow.  I am also taking classes for a school administration certification and therefore spend a great deal of time reading textbooks and writing papers. So my goal has always been this: read as much as possible but don’t let it become a stressful thing.

Somehow I’ve still managed to read 78 books in the first nine months of 2016. 100 does seem doable, but again, I’m not going to worry about it.

Here’s what I read in September:

• Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter (Tom Franklin) – not my favorite but I know many people have love this one
• Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer) – I think I want to read everything Krakauer has written. This was about an Everest expedition gone horribly wrong. I felt like I was gasping for air the whole time.
• The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend (Katrina Bivald) – this had been on my to be read list for a long time and I somehow had the whole premise of the book wrong in my mind. Therefore, I found myself confused for a good portion of the book, but also enjoyed it.
• The Light Between Oceans (M.L. Stedman) – fantastic. This one made me cry. I’m glad I read it before the movie comes out.
• Truly, Madly, Guilty (Liane Moriarty) – this was not my favorite of Moriarty’s works, but it held my attention and it would make a good beach read.
• Once, Then, & Now (Morris Gleitzman) – this is a children’s book trilogy about two children, Felix and Zelda, during World War II in Poland. This was heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. I’m not sure I’d read it to an 8 year old though.
• When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi) – this one has been mentioned all of the place. Paul Kalanithi was about to finish his training as a neurosurgeon when he learned he had terminal cancer. This was deep and moving. I made it to the end without crying but then the epilogue written by his wife made me lose it.
• The Cost of Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) – Finishing this book while reading Gleitzman’s series provided a valuable juxtaposition. Bonhoeffer was killed in a concentration camp after plotting to kill Hitler. He lived and died during one of the most ugly times in world history, and yet he preached love for one’s enemies. His words are powerful even without an acute awareness of the evil with which he was surrounded, but were made even more so by reading about the events through the eyes of a child in Once and Then.