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December 2024 TBR // focusing on some shorter books (kind of)

December 2, 2024 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

2 Dec

After October’s tall reading stack, I figured I was likely heading into a quieter reading month in November. Well…that didn’t quite happen. I finished 15 books in November—and there were a few gems in there!

November reads:

(The covers link to my reviews, where I’ve managed to get them up; I’m a little behind at the moment.)

Grannies' Matches for Jake by A.M. Heath — ★★★★★

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

And now, for December’s picks!

New releases/ARCs:

Publishing March 11: The Pharisee’s Wife by Janette Oke. I haven’t read any of Oke’s books yet, despite wanting to for ages, but I can tell you I’m excited to get a chance to pick one of hers up finally! I hope this will be a great Biblical fiction read—we’ll see!

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:

I had to pick between two prompts this month, but I’ve decided to go with “read a standalone book.” I’ve been eyeing up The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox for quite a while now, ever since I got it as a birthday gift for Mom years ago. Cox is one of my favorite authors, so I think it’s high time I check this story out!

From my physical TBR shelf:

I didn’t manage to finish David Copperfield last month (surprise, surprise!), so I’m planning on continuing with that, a little at a time.

A biography: Mister Leprosy: Dr. Stanley Browne’s fight against leprosy by Phyllis Thompson. I was greatly blessed by Thompson’s Minka & Margaret in September and October, so I’m eager to see what this small book has in store! It’s also a book I borrowed from friends ages ago, so it’s probably about time I read it and got it back to them.

A Christmas story: The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements. After all, isn’t Christmas the best time of year to read books like this?

A middle-grade story: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright. Enright’s Gone-Away Lake series was one of my favorite series growing up, so I’m eager to see if I still enjoy her writing. This book sounds like a lot of fun!

A YA story: Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Schmidt is my top favorite author of the year. I loved his Okay for Now last month (it was by far my favorite book of the month!), and this story sounds like it should be good, too!

And that’s a wrap! I’m hoping, by picking several shorter/easier stories, that I’ll have time to pick up a few others this month, too (or maybe make more progress on David Copperfield than I did last month?).

What are you currently reading, or are hoping to read in December? I’d love to hear what’s on your radar right now! And if you have any favorite reads you think I should try, please drop them in the comments below—I’m always looking for suggestions!

November 2024 TBR // trying to make a start on my physical TBR stack(s)

November 1, 2024 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

1 Nov

October ended up being a great reading month for me! I finished more books in October than in any other month so far this year (16 books, closely followed by January’s 15), and at this point, I’m about ready to slow down and find several books just to savor for November. I did enjoy my reading in October, though, and was thrilled to finish off a couple of reading challenges I was doing, so that’s a bonus! Here are my October reads:

Pop In for a Cuppa by Deb Brammer — ★★★ ½

The Littles Go Exploring by John Peterson — ★★★ ½

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

And now, for November’s picks!

New Releases/ARCs:

Publishing November 19: An Honorable Deception by Roseanna M. White. I’ve read books one and two in this series, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to read the last book in the series! I love how White develops her characters, and the premise of these stories is way too fun. I’m looking forward to getting into it! (Plus, isn’t that cover gorgeous?!)

Publishing January 13: Grannies’ Matches for Jake by A.M. Heath. The author asked if I’d be interested in beta-reading this book for her, and I was thrilled to comply. I don’t know much about the book besides the fact that it includes grandmothers, is a romance, and is set in the Reconstruction-era South. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with this story!

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:

November’s prompt is “read a book that intimidates you.” Rise of the Fallen by Chuck Black is definitely an intimidating book for me! I read the first book in this series five or six years ago, and haven’t yet brought myself to the point of being willing to pick up the next one. I really ought to since I do want to finish the series. And now that we have it in print on our shelves, I don’t have any good excuses. I’m sure the actual reading experience won’t be as frightening as I think it will be…right?

From My Physical TBR Shelf:

The other day, I counted up the new books I’ve accumulated this year—either bought outright, inherited, been given, or rescued. In total, I’ve added around 120 books to my shelves so far this year. And if I’ve counted correctly, I’ve either read or listened to only 27 of those…which means I have just over 90 new books I’ve never read. And that’s not counting all the books I bought over the last few years and haven’t read yet! I think I have a slight book-buying addiction….

Anyway, over the next couple of months, I plan to focus on books I already own or have had on the shelf for way too long (for example, the books I borrowed from friends 5+ years ago and really ought to return).

But in defiance of the goal of reading my physical books, I am planning to read a couple of Kindle books this month. Mom just got a free month of Kindle Unlimited, and I found out that The Wedding Gift and The Blind Scribe by Connilyn Cossette are both on there! I’ve been wanting to read these two novellas (prequels to The King’s Men series) for quite a while, so I’m hoping to get through them this month while I have access to them. There are also a few other books I’m eyeing up on KU, but I’m going to do my best to ignore that list. Maybe I can try them some other time.

And here are the ones I’m hoping to read this month from my physical TBR stack:

A biography: This Child Must Die by Anne Ruck. I’ve wanted to read this book for ages, but never picked it up. I can’t wait to see what it’s about!

Biblical fiction: Hadassah by Tommy Tenney. My aunt gave me the children’s edition of this book when I was a girl, and I fell in love with the story. Since becoming an adult, I’ve wanted to read the adult version, and just recently, another aunt gave it to me. I can’t wait to pick it up!

A classic: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I realized recently that I have almost all of Dickens’ major works on my shelf now, but I’ve only read two or three of them. Oops! So, I’m hoping to get through at least half of this story (at right around 800 pages, it’s a chunker of a story!) by the end of the month.

What are you hoping to read this month? Have you read any of the books listed above? Have you read any books recently that you think I ought to check out?

October TBR // new releases (!!) and trying to finish September’s TBR

October 1, 2024 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

1 Oct

My TBR list for September was rather ambitious, and while I doubted I’d be able to get through all of them (and I didn’t), I was able to make a decent dent in the list! I ended up reading 8 of the 14 books I picked out.

So here’s what I read in September (ish; I finished a couple of them in late August, but I’m counting them, since they were on my September TBR). The covers link to my reviews of the books, where applicable.

Freedom Was in Sight! by Kate Masur — ★★ ½

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!

I’ve decided not to add many new books to my October TBR list. I’m planning to continue pushing through with five of the books I haven’t read yet from my September TBR list, and with these four “need-to-reads” this month, I think I’ll stay busy enough, anyway!

New Releases/ARCs:

Pop In for a Cuppa by Deb Brammer. The author contacted Mom a couple of months ago, asking if Mom and I could do beta-reading for her. I’ve been too busy trying to get through other titles to read this, but the deadline is coming up, so I’m going to do my best! The publication date for this book hasn’t been set yet, but you can read the synopsis on the author’s website.

Published on September 3: Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor by Roseanna M. White. Any White book is an automatic yes-please-I-want-to-read-it book when I see it available for review. I requested this one well over a month ago, but the publisher just sent it to me a couple of days ago, and I can’t wait to dive in! It looks delightfully Christmasy and romantic, but I’m expecting it’ll have strong character development and an engaging plot, too—two things I love!

Publishing October 19: Transactions we Expose by Chelsea Michelle. I am so excited about this book finally coming out! I enjoyed the two novella prequels to the series, but finally getting to read a novel-length story from these authors is going to be so much fun! I can’t wait to dive into it. (And psst!—they’ve got it up for preorder for 99¢ right now, so if you enjoy clean, cozy mysteries, I’d highly recommend you order a copy for yourself. Follow my link above to see the details and preorder.)

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:

The prompt for October is “read a nonfiction book.” I’ve decided to go with While Time Remains by Yeonmi Park. Dad recommended it to me a couple of weeks ago, but I haven’t quite managed to pick it up yet. It looks like it will be a good read, though, and possibly somewhat hard-hitting. I’m looking forward to getting into it.

Leftover from my September TBR:

I won’t comment on these, since I already did so last month. Feel free to peruse last month’s post if you want to know why I’m looking forward to reading these books!

For the Buzzword Reading Challenge:

Street Kids, Solvents, and Salvation by Natalie Vellacott

A title that contains repeating words: Alone Yet Not Alone by Tracy Leininger Craven.

A title that contains the word “only”: If Only It Were Yesterday by A.M. Heath.

For the Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge:

The first book in an unfinished series: Under the Hibiscus by Chautona Havig.

A book that has a door on the cover: What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma.

And that’s a wrap for this month’s TBR! Have you read any of these books before? If you have, what were your thoughts?

What are you hoping to read this month?

420 Hamburgers (aka, Butchering Day)

September 27, 2024 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

27 Sep

I have concluded that occasionally my family is a little bit crazy, like the day last week when we made 420 hamburgers, just for fun.

My brothers like going hunting, and when my oldest brother heard that Mom wouldn’t mind having some more meat, he went out with a friend, and they came back with two deer. That was quite a blessing—they don’t always even see deer when they go out!—and we gratefully received the meat.

Last Thursday, almost everyone in our family worked to break the carcasses down and debone the meat.

By lunchtime, we were almost finished with the deboning process, and started grinding the meat.

We made quite a bit of the meat into bulk sausage/sausage mince:

And then came the biggest job: Making hamburgers!

So, without further ado, here is how you make 420(ish) hamburgers at once. First, flatten your pile of meat and then hollow out the center:

Pour on cup after cup after cup of oats,

and crack 60 eggs into the middle. (Sprinkle on some dried onion, salt, and pepper, too.)

Pour more wetness in, just for fun—jars and jars of tomato juice. Don’t let it breach its banks!

(And this is the part where I didn’t get a picture, because my hands were coated in the mixture.) Carefully mix it up, and DON’T let the dam burst, and the contents slide onto the floor. We had several tense, exciting moments, but managed to avert disaster, on the whole.

Mix it until it’s all one uniform stack again (my siblings decided to make the world’s biggest hamburger, below; I’m not sure how we were going to manage to get it to a barbecue in one piece, though).

Then, divide your huge hamburger out into patties, with cling wrap in between each layer. It’ll seem like an endless job…

…but it really isn’t. It only takes around 30 minutes.

Freeze them, and the next day (sorry, I forgot to get a picture), pop them loose and re-bag them, and then enjoy having (almost) all your work done for you the next time you want to have hamburgers for dinner.

Oh, and if you’re interested, here’s the recipe we used (in case you want to be as crazy as we are):

What would you do if you were given 420 hamburgers to eat?

September TBR List // going WAY overboard with my selections (14 books!)

August 26, 2024 by Esther Filbrun · 2 Comments

26 Aug

It’s been a good few months since my last TBR list post (or any post, for that matter!). In the intervening time, I was blessed to be able to go to the States with two of my brothers, where we were able to spend a month catching up with almost all of our extended family and a few friends from way back, too! It was such a special, precious time. God is good!

We got to visit with a cousin and see the Golden Gate Bridge on our long layover in San Francisco!

I didn’t get much reading done over the past two months, partly because of the (almost) impossible tasks I set myself before leaving for the States, and then because I prioritized time with family over reading while there. So now that we’re home again, and I’ve recovered from jet lag enough to think again, I’m super excited to get back into reading! That means I’ve given myself a rather ambitious list this month, but I think that’s okay, too!

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/ARCs:

Publishing September 3: Freedom Was in Sight! by Kate Masur. According to the book, this is a graphic history (like a graphic novel, but more historical). Although some elements are (as expected) on the politically correct side, I’m enjoying the book so far—I just started it last evening.

Publishing September 3: City Bird by Angela Harrison Vinet and Janis Hatten Harrison. I enjoyed reading Country Bird earlier this year—a fun, playful way to look at some of the different birds God created. I’m looking forward to this short read.

Publishing October 1: All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee. I’m a sucker for dual-timeline stories, and the description of this one reminds me of Things We Didn’t Say by Amy Lynn Green, a 5-star read from earlier this year. I’m hoping it’ll be good!

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:

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

I swapped my September and August prompts this year, because a book I read in August fits September’s prompt perfectly. So for September, I need a book with a house on the cover. I’ve chosen to go with Mother Teresa: Angel of the Slums by Lewis Helfand. I’ve been wanting to read this graphic biography for at least a year now, and this seems like the perfect opportunity!

Other Reading Challenge Prompts:

Besides the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge, I’m also trying to do the 2024 Buzzword Reading Challenge and a variation on the 2024 Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge. I’ve decided that next year, I only want to do one reading challenge—having three going concurrently has been just a bit much for me. So this month, I’d like to focus on (mostly) finishing up the other two. We’ll see if I can make that happen!

A title that includes one of the following words: There, their, or they’re: Street Kids, Solvents & Salvation by Natalie Vellacott (formerly They’re Rugby Boys, Don’t You Know?, which was the title when I got the book, so I’m counting it). I’ve been wanting to read this story about a missionary in the Philippines for years, so I thought this was a good time to fit it in.

A title that includes the word “every”: I found A Papa Like Everyone Else by Sydney Taylor a while back—one I’d never heard of before, but it sounds like a fascinating story!

A title that contains repeating words: Alone Yet Not Alone by Tracy Leininger Craven. I just brought this all-time favorite book back with me when we came home from the States. We used to have it on cassette tape, and I almost wore those tapes out by listening to them so much as a child. I can’t wait to read this book again!

A title that contains the word “only”: One of the few A.M. Heath books that I haven’t read yet is If Only It Were Yesterday, and I’ve been wanting to pick it up for ages. This is an excellent excuse!

A title that includes a holiday-related word: I found The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements in a thrift store in the States. I’ve loved other books he’s written, so I can’t wait to try this new-to-me one out, too!

The first book in an unfinished series: This was a hard category to find a book for, but I finally found Under the Hibiscus by Chautona Havig. I’ve been hearing a lot about this series, and can’t wait to try it!

A book that has a door on the cover: What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma. I read What I Would Tell You, the first book in the series, in early 2023. Now that we have book two on the shelf, I’m looking forward to reading it.

A book shared in a newsletter or podcast episode: A Noble Scheme by Roseanna M. White. I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since it was published at the beginning of the year, so with the author’s newsletters mentioning the story, this fits the prompt perfectly!

A classic I started on the way home: Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster. I’ve heard good things about this book, and I was thrilled to find a copy in a second-hand bookstore while we were at Sault Ste. Marie with my aunt and cousins! I’ve decided this is my souvenir of that trip. So far, I’m loving the book.

And finally, I’m including a book I’ve been avoiding since 2017. I listened to the audiobook of Cloak of the Light by Chuck Black seven years ago, and that creeped me out so much that I didn’t ever get around to finishing the series since then. My brothers have assured me up and down that the rest of the series makes that first book a lot better, and on this recent trip to the States, one of my brothers bought the whole series in paperbacks. That means I really don’t have any excuses now, so I’m planning to read Rise of the Fallen soon. I am looking forward to seeing what happens to the characters; I’m just nervous about how long it might take me to recover from the story after reading it! Pray for me.

Fourteen books! Okay; there’s no way I’ll get through all these books in the next month (unless I get sick and can’t do anything for a month, or something like that). They’ll probably roll over into October, and that’s fine, too. There are just so many I want to read, and I’m feeling rather deprived after only finishing three books in the past month, so I want to just read, read, read!

Have you ever read any of these books? Are you in a reading slump, or are you in reading mode, too? Do you have any recent favorites that I ought to add to my list for October?