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End of 2023 TBR // Trying to Finish ALL the Reading Challenges + October Recap

November 18, 2023 by Esther Filbrun · 2 Comments

18 Nov

October ended up being a tough reading month for me. I realized, after putting together my October TBR list, that it could potentially be a difficult reading month—I had a lot of advanced reader copies (ARCs) to get through. Although it’s taken me years to recognize it, while I love being able to read new books before they come out and support authors better as the books are released, I also struggle to enjoy reading when I feel like I have to read (rather than just read for fun). I don’t know if that makes sense or not, but that’s the way it is.

What I read in October:

I managed to get through six books in October, so I guess that isn’t too bad, even if it wasn’t what I was hoping for! Four of the books below are ones I got for review; of the other two, The Night the Angels Came was a recommendation from a friend (my favorite read of the month), and Siberian Haiku was a book I got from the library. Movie-made Romance is the newest book—it was released today!

As always, if you’re interested in my thoughts about any of the books, clicking on the cover will take you to my review.

The Night the Angels Came- Miracles of protection and provision in Burundi by Chrissie Chapman — ★★★★

A Million Little Choices by Tamera Alexander — ★★★★

After struggling in my reading last month and during the first half of this month, I’m so ready for some light, easy reading! I still have a couple of ARCs I hope to get to in the remainder of the year (ideally, all six I currently have . . . but that’s a bit unrealistic), but over the next six weeks, I’m planning to focus on more just-for-fun books and hope that gets me back into the reading groove enough that slipping the ARCs in here and there won’t slow me down too much.

Some links in this post are affiliate links. Your purchase through these links helps keep this blog going, at no extra expense to you. Thanks for your support!

New releases I am planning to read:

There are three ARCs I have that have either already been published or will be published soon, so those three are going to be on my TBR list in the next six weeks.

Releasing January 17, 2024: The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold. I’m already reading this one—hoping to finish in the next day or two. I’m really enjoying the story, but I think I’d enjoy it a lot more if it weren’t for the fact that I’m feeling somewhat burned out on review books right now. Oh, well. Highly recommended, if you get a chance to read this! I love all the cooking that’s woven through this story (although I’m still searching for the streusel!).

Releasing November 28: The Boy from Clearwater by Yu Pei-Yun and Zhou Jian-Xin. I’m really excited about this graphic novel! It’s a true story about a boy who grew up in Taiwan. This is a two-part book; the first part is set in the 1930s, and the second in the 1950s. I’ve hardly read anything about Taiwan, so I’m looking forward to learning a bit of history from this story!

Released September 2021: Manga Classics’ Les Misérables by Victor Hugo and Crystal S Chan. I’ve loved the Les Misérables story for quite a while now, so when I saw this, I wanted to read it, since most of my exposure to the story thus far is a TV series I watched. Unfortunately, after having a peek inside at the graphics, I don’t really like the artistic style, but I’m looking forward to reading the story itself.

Read Your Bookshelf challenge:

For my two final books for this reading challenge, I decided to go easy on myself and pick books that should be super-quick, fun reads for me. Who better to do that with than Chautona Havig’s books? I’ve enjoyed her books for ages, but haven’t read many of hers this year. Both of these, Adoring April and Dial W for Wrangler, promise to be fun reads.

Peanut Blossom’s Book Bingo:

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Sweet and Sour by Carol Kendall and Yao-Wen Li

I realized I only have five spaces left before my bingo board is filled up! It was fun narrowing down my choices with this one.

A banned book: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. Mom read this book to us when I was 9 or 10, and I remember it as a gut-punching, well-written book about racism and hope. I’ve been wanting to re-read it for quite a while, so when I saw it fit this category (this was banned by Californian schools for quite a while), I jumped at the chance.

A book I saw someone reading: Sweet and Sour: Tales from China by Carol Kendall and Yao-Wen Li. I’ve always been a sucker for fairy tales and old legends, and I know this was a hit for the brother who read it recently. Plus, it’s short—win-win!

An author who has my initials: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. I thought this would be a tough category to find a book for, but then I spotted this book on the shelf. It’s one I read for school years ago, and have been wanting to re-read, so that fits perfectly!

On display at the library: Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar. This was a difficult category to find a book for! Usually, anything on display is something I’m not interested in, but I found this one in the “newest” category on Libby, and I figured that’s close enough to count! I’m looking forward to hearing Jill’s story—I’ve been intrigued about this book ever since it was released last September.

A book that is the author’s first novel: Gods & Kings by Lynn Austin. I’ve been wanting to read this for at least four years now, and as far as I can tell, this is Austin’s first novel. Yay! Can’t wait!

2023 Buzzword Reading Challenge:

The Wise Woman and Other Stories by George MacDonald

I was thrilled to see that two of my books for the Peanut Blossom list also work for this challenge!

A book with a flavor-related word in the title: Sweet and Sour: Tales from China by Carol Kendall and Yao-Wen Li

A book with the word “other” in the title: The Wise Woman and Other Stories by George MacDonald. I was supposed to read this book in school, but never got around to it. Over this last year, I’ve gotten more interested in MacDonald’s writings, and am eager to get into this one if I can make the time to read it!

A book with weather-related words in the title: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

A book with the word “good” in the title: What Good is God?: In Search of a Faith that Matters by Philip Yancey. I’m pretty sure I’ve only ever read one Yancey book—but I’ve been collecting his works for years now. I don’t think I ever even read the back cover of this book, but upon perusal, it reminds me somewhat of The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken, which made a profound impact on me several years ago.

Three borrowed books:

I doubt I’ll be able to get to these, but since they’re on my TBR shelf, I thought I’d include them as well. I’ve borrowed them from a friend, so I really ought to read them . . . but there are only so many books one can read in a few weeks!

Whew! That’s a lot of books! I’m certain I won’t get through all of them, but I’ve decided (to borrow a phrase from Chantel Klassen) to treat this list as a “pile of possibilities” and see where the mood takes me as I close out my reading for the year.

Here is my digital TBR “stack” at the moment:

And my physical TBR stack for the end of November and December:

Have you read any of these books? Do you have any other suggestions to add to my stack? (Because . . . why not, right? 😀 )

October 2023 TBR // A Month of ARCs! + September Recap

October 7, 2023 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

7 Oct

September was another great reading month for me. I have been enjoying reading more of a variety of books these past few months, and it seems like now and again, about once a month, I get into a real reading streak and end up finishing six or more books in two weeks. What fun!

September’s books were all over the place, ranging from some hard-hitting historical fiction (I’m looking at you, The Warsaw Sisters!), several lighter, sweeter stories, and two delightful sci-fi books—I haven’t read sci-fi in years, and now I read two last month! Such fun. If you’re interested in finding out what I thought of any of these books, click on the cover below to be taken to my Goodreads review.

The Warsaw Sisters- A Novel of WWII Poland by Amanda Barratt — ★★★★

Appalachian Song by Michelle Shocklee — ★★★

I got through all but one of the books on my September TBR stack—I didn’t have quite enough time to get to The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Maybe this month? We’ll see.

Some links in this post are affiliate links. Your purchase through these links helps keep this blog going, at no extra expense to you. Thanks for your support!

New releases!

October is shaping up to be interesting . . . I’ve suddenly found myself with a pile of ARCs to read, so this month’s list will mostly revolve around those. I’m excited, though; these upcoming books look like great reads!

Releasing October 31: History Comics: World War II: Fight on the Home Front by Kate Hannigan and Josh Rosen. After reading my first-ever graphic novel last month (Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller—such a good book, by the way!), I was excited to try out other graphic novels. This one is coming out soon, and I love history, so it was an easy decision to see if I could get a review copy. I can’t wait to read it and see what I think!

Releasing November 7: A Million Little Choices by Tamera Alexander. I recently re-discovered my Edelweiss account, and when I came across this one on there, published by Focus on the Family/Tyndale, and especially after reading the description, I knew I wanted to read it. I’m just over halfway through it now, and phew . . . is it ever well-done and gripping! I can’t recommend it (yet, anyway), because there was one scene that almost made me DNF the book, but I have high hopes that it will end up being a great read.

Releasing November 9: If the Stars Awaken by Kate Willis. I know nothing about this book, really—just that I loved Willis’ Kiera, and this is fantasy. I’m expecting it to be a sweet, possibly hard-hitting book, and probably close to a 5-star read for me.

Releasing January 16: The Search Party by Hannah Richell. Another book I know nothing about—the publisher just sent it to me, and I decided to take it. It’s a thriller, and involves a family. I have no idea if I’ll like it or not, but hey—it’s been a while since I read a thriller, and I think I’m okay with DNFing it if I end up not liking it. If you know anything about this author, let me know!

Releasing February 6: All My Secrets by Lynn Austin. I don’t think I’ve read the description of this book, but it’s by Lynn Austin, so I know I want to read it. I don’t think I’ve come across a book written by her yet that I didn’t like. This cover intrigues me—an older woman and a younger one. Looking forward to diving into it when I get the chance!

That’s a lot of new books coming up soon(ish)! I don’t know that I’ll be able to get through all of them; my goal is to get through the first three this month, anyway, and if I have time for the other two, that would be a bonus.

Two library books:

Siberian Haiku by Jurga Vile and Lina Itagaki

Mother Teresa: Angel of the Slums by Lewis Helfand and Sachin Nagar

When I asked Mom to get the Annie Sullivan graphic novel out of the library for me, I also asked her to get two other books as well: Siberian Haiku by Jurga Vile and Mother Teresa: Angel of the Slums by Lewis Helfand. I still haven’t picked them up, and they’ll need to go back soon, so these will be a high priority for me in the next few days!

For this month’s reading challenge, the first letter of the author’s last name from my September book has to be the first letter of my October title. In this case, my September book was Sara’s Trek by Florence Schloneger, which means my October book has to start with “S”. I think I’ll make Siberian Haiku my pick for that category. 🙂

I have quite a few other books I’d love to add to this list, including the three books in the International Adventures series that I borrowed from a friend a couple of months ago. But I think this list is already long enough! We’ll see what I can get through. I’m not holding myself to getting through all of them—I’d rather enjoy reading than push myself to read, if that makes sense.

I’m also really wanting to get back into reading some sort of classical work again, but we’ll see how and where I can fit that in.

I guess there are just too many books in the world! And if the list above is any indication, there’s always more coming out, too!

What books are you hoping to read in October? Have you read any of the books above, or read anything by any of the authors? I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have!

The Grass the Cow Ate (a silly poem)

September 14, 2023 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

14 Sep

The other day, I was inspired by a comment my brother made, and sat down and wrote a poem. It took seven minutes to get it written down.

It’s not very good. I’m sorry.

I still think it’s funny, which is why I’m posting it.

This is the paddock that the brown cow lives in.

This is the grass that the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

This is the milk that the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

This is the cheese
that came from the milk the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

These are the people who eat the cheese
that came from the milk the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

This is the freezer where the cheese is stored
by the people who eat the cheese
that came from the milk the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

This is the cheese that came from the freezer
where the cheese is stored
by the people who eat the cheese
that came from the milk the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

These are the chunks of cheese
that came from the freezer
where the cheese is stored
by the people who eat the cheese
that came from the milk the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

These are the chickens
that ate the chunks of cheese
that came from the freezer
where the cheese is stored
by the people who eat the cheese
that came from the milk the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

These are the eggs
that come from the chickens
that ate the chunks of cheese
that came from the freezer
where the cheese is stored
by the people who eat the cheese
that came from the milk the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

This is the quiche that is made from the eggs (and some more cheese)
that come from the chickens
that ate the chunks of cheese
that came from the freezer
where the cheese is stored
by the people who eat the cheese
that came from the milk the brown cow made
that came from the grass the brown cow ate
that grew in the paddock the brown cow lives in.

Okay, the story behind the poem: We were inundated with milk last summer, and Mom ended up making cheese almost every day for a while. Some cheese went into the freezer, but since we didn’t use it up fast enough, it ended up tasting bad. We’ve also discovered recently that milk products fed to the chickens can help them produce more eggs because of the extra protein. So yes . . . we’ve been feeding old cheese to the chickens, and they’ve been consistently producing eggs (right through the winter!), which has been helpful in a variety of baking ventures (although not necessarily quiche yet!).

I’ve (Semi) Started a Reading Journal!

September 7, 2023 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

7 Sep

Okay, full disclosure: I’ve been keeping records of what I’ve been reading for years now, but I’ve never kept a full-fledged reading journal, and honestly, I don’t know if I ever will.

I love seeing what other people have in theirs—pretty printed-out covers, details of genres, star ratings, book and character analysis—you name it, someone has probably done it. But being a minimalist, and reluctant to add more to my book-reading plate than I already have, I’ve decided to opt for something functional that suits me where I am right now. Though I’ve toyed with the idea of making up something beautiful and detailed, that isn’t something that I’m planning to pursue currently.

I started really thinking about keeping a reading journal when I came across a Booktube video about setting one up (and yes, I’m slightly jealous of this lady’s ability to scrapbook—I’d love to know how to do that!).

Since I have a bullet journal that I’ve hardly written anything in, and wasn’t sure what to use it for, I decided to convert it into something useful!

So without further ado, here are the spreads I currently have, that I love, and want to add more to . . . but hey, one thing at a time, right?

1. A Reading Log

I’ve consistently been keeping a reading log since 2018. It’s interesting to go back and see when I read some books, and has also been SUPER helpful in keeping track of books that I got for review and making sure they get reviewed! I also keep this list digitally, mostly because I can more easily search an Excel spreadsheet (but also because I like the graphs I can make based on gleaned data in there 😀 ).

2. Reviewing Log

This is based on the first log, but dedicated solely to the books I get for review. If you look closely, you may be able to see that some books have been on the list since 2017 (sorry, authors! I’m slowly starting to work back to those, I promise!). My favorite part is the colored pattern; as I read each book, the colored diagonals become my progress charts as I read, with 5% of the book represented by one diagonal line. So all the colored-in middles are the books I’ve finished reading. (In this case, pink generally means a book I got from NetGalley, and green represents books I got directly from the author.)

3. Book Lists and Reading Challenges

This is my newest, and therefore, most favorite section. I’ve wanted to keep track of book lists for a long time now, but never quite managed to figure out how to do that. I’m hoping this will do the trick; we’ll see! I may end up changing it again at some stage!

First up is the 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list, as voted on by Goodreads users. I’ve known about this list for quite a while, but never took much time to read through it. There are a lot of books on here that I want to read eventually! I’m not sure about some of them, but I thought it deserved a place in my journal. I’ve already read seven of these books, so that’s something of a start, I guess! 😀

This is my favorite spread so far. I’m a big fan of Lynn Austin’s books, and I know I haven’t even come close to reading all of them yet. I was thrilled to find a list of all of the ones she’s written so far, and also delighted to see how many of them I have read! Currently, there are 32 books on the list. I’ve read 12 of them, and have 9 more on my home bookshelf to read yet.

I’ve also recently discovered that I enjoy Ellen Vaughn’s writing, so since I ended up with extra space on the page, I decided to include the titles she’s written that I’d like to read eventually. We’ll see if I can find any of them!

I’ve been intrigued by the Buzzword challenge for a while, and since I was making lists anyway, I decided to add this to my journal! I don’t know if I’ll actually end up completing the challenge by the end of the year, but I’m planning on using the prompts to help me build my TBR lists over the next few months.

Peanut Blossom’s Book Bingo looked like so much fun I decided to include that in my reading journal, too! Again, I don’t know if I’ll end up finishing it by the end of the year or not—that’s not really a big deal to me—but I am hoping it will help me to keep picking a variety of books to read.

The one challenge I am planning to try to complete this year is the Read Your Bookshelf challenge. This one has been quite instrumental in getting me out of my old reading ruts this year, which I’m grateful for! I’ve been keeping track of this challenge digitally, but since it’s so fun to have an analog list that I can physically check off, I decided to add it to my reading journal as well.

And that’s what I have in my reading journal so far! I have ideas for lots of other lists I want to put in there—authors I want to read more of (John and Elizabeth Sherrill, for example), and series I want to complete. So far, I haven’t followed my impulses to actually do the research for said lists, but one day . . . !

Have you ever kept a reading log or journal? Do you set reading goals?

September 2023 TBR List and August Recap

August 31, 2023 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

31 Aug

I had so much fun putting together my August TBR list that I thought I’d do it again for September! I realized, after I finished putting together that list, that I’d probably picked too many books, and didn’t leave enough room for spontaneous picks. Oops! In the end, out of the 9 books I put on my list, I read 7 of them—I didn’t have time to get to The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy or Byrd’s Eye View by Chautona Havig. Oh well! Maybe I can pick them up some other time.

Here are the covers of the books I read in August. If you are interested in what I thought of any of them, click on the cover to be taken to the review.

Falling Between the Pages by A.M. Heath — ★★★★

Being Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn — ★★★★

After last month’s slightly too-long TBR list, I decided to try to go a bit lighter on the total number of titles this month. “Try” being the operative word—I have six books on my list this month, but I have hopes of being able to add a few other books to the list as the month goes on. I guess we’ll see!

One thing I’m excited about this month is that I’ve started something of a reading journal! I’ve been wanting to do that for a while, and finally got some specific ideas of how to do that recently. I’m hoping to do a more in-depth post on this soon, but suffice to say for now, I’ve come across several other fun reading challenges (the Buzzword challenge and Peanut Blossom’s Book Bingo), and I’m using some of those prompts to build my TBR list this month.

Some links in this post are affiliate links. Your purchase through these links helps keep this blog going, at no extra expense to you. Thanks for your support!

First, a book I got for review:

I’ve been trying to keep an eye on the books that are coming up in the next few months, and when I saw The Warsaw Sisters by Amanda Barratt, I was immediately intrigued. The only other book I remember reading that was set in Warsaw is The Silver Sword (and what an incredible story that one is!), but that was many years ago, so I’m eager to try something new. This book releases on Nov. 7. Isn’t the cover gorgeous?

September’s reading challenge:

This month’s prompt for the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge was to turn to page 50 in the book I read for the challenge in August, and a word on that page had to be in this month’s title. I found the word “trek” on that page, which reminded me of a book I’ve been wanting to reread for months!

My pick: Sara’s Trek by Florence Schloneger

Mom read this book to us when I was little, and I remember enjoying it. I’ve been wanting to re-read it to refresh my memory, so this is an excellent time to do that!

A book a friend suggested:

My pick: The Night the Angels Came by Chrissie Chapman

A friend and I were messaging a couple of weeks ago, and she mentioned having just finished this book, and how much she appreciated it. I was intrigued, and found a used copy for not too much. I’m looking forward to reading it this month!

The Tanglewoods’ Secret by Patricia St. John

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

A book with the word “secret” in the title:

My pick: The Tanglewoods’ Secret by Patricia St. John

We just watched the movie based on this book as a family, and I realized then how little I remembered the story! That means it’s high time to read it again. I’m looking forward to diving in and comparing it to the movie. I’m sure it will be good; Patricia St. John is one of my all-time favorite authors!

A book with “magic” or a related word in the title:

My pick: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

When I saw this prompt on the Buzzword reading challenge, I wasn’t sure I would be able to find anything on our shelves—we don’t tend to have magic-related books around here. But when I searched for “witch”, this one came up, and I’m thrilled to get to read it again! I’ve read it at least twice already, although it’s been many years since the last time I picked it up.

A book that has spent the longest time on my To-Read shelf:

My pick: Return by M H Rice

Okay, this is probably slightly cheating: I just looked back at my old TBR/books-I-got-for-review list, and realized this isn’t quite the oldest one on there. I’m going to count it, though, because it is almost the oldest one on that list, and it’s definitely been on my physical TBR shelf the longest. I’ve been meaning to read this series since 2018, and although books 1 and 2 ended up being 2-star reads for me, I’m intrigued enough that I want to finish the series.

And there you have it—the books I’m hoping to read in September! I’m really hoping to get to a few more than what I’ve listed here, but even if I don’t, I’ll be happy to have revisited some of these old friends and met a couple of new ones.

Have you read any of these titles? What books are you hoping to read in September?

What I read in October:

New releases I am planning to read:

Read Your Bookshelf challenge:

Peanut Blossom’s Book Bingo:

2023 Buzzword Reading Challenge:

Three borrowed books:

New releases!

Two library books:

1. A Reading Log

2. Reviewing Log

3. Book Lists and Reading Challenges

First, a book I got for review:

September’s reading challenge:

A book a friend suggested:

A book with the word “secret” in the title:

A book with “magic” or a related word in the title:

A book that has spent the longest time on my To-Read shelf:

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