The year of 2018 may stand as the one in which I read the most books ever. Records were made to be broken, of course, but this year's effort was helped considerably by the completion of my project of reading my entire collection of books by Miss Read, which tend to be under 300 pages and easy reading. When I realized that I had tied my previous record before the end of September (73, set in 2015), the thought crossed my mind, "Wouldn't it be cool to reach 100 by the end of the year?" "Impossible," I told myself. Well, you know how I feel when someone says, "impossible," even it's myself to myself. So I set a goal of reaching a full century, without resorting to padding the list with books chosen merely for their brevity. I confess that the goal did change my reading habits somewhat, since after making that decision I put off any particularly lengthy books—such as my grandson's favorite Wheel of Time series with its 900 or so page average—until 2019.

The month with the fewest books read was January, no surprise since we were overseas part of the month, and that's when I read the first of the Wheel of Time books. I read the most books (14) in October. Once again I'm pleased with the mixture, though as I said it was pretty heavily weighted towards Miss Read. I enjoy these projects of binge-reading a particular author; I've also done Shakespeare, George MacDonald, and J. R. R. Tolkien. My current project is C. S. Lewis, which will weigh in very heavily next year, given that our home library alone contains 50 books by or about him.

Here's the alphabetical list; links are to reviews. Titles in bold I found particularly worthwhile. This chronological list has ratings and warnings as well.

  1. Affairs at Thrush Green by Miss Read
  2. American Terroir by Rowan Jacobsen
  3. At Home in Thrush Green by Miss Read
  4. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
  5. Battles at Thrush Green by Miss Read
  6. The Bible (ESV - English Standard Version)
  7. The Big Burn by Timothy Egan
  8. The Birth of the United States: 1763 - 1816 by Isaac Asimov
  9. The Black Star of Kingston by S. D. Smith
  10. By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  11. C. S. Lewis: A Biography by Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper
  12. C. S. Lewis: Images of His World by Douglas Gilbert and Clyde S. Kilby
  13. Celebrations at Thrush Green by Miss Read
  14. Changes at Fairacre by Miss Read
  15. The Christmas Mouse by Miss Read
  16. Country Bunch by Miss Read
  17. Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
  18. The Dark Tower and Other Stories by C. S. Lewis
  19. Ember Falls by S. D. Smith
  20. Ember Rising by S. D. Smith
  21. Emily Davis by Miss Read
  22. The Excellence Habit by Vlad Zachary
  23. The Fairacre Festival by Miss Read
  24. Farewell to Fairacre by Miss Read
  25. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  26. Farther Afield by Miss Read
  27. The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  28. Force 10 from Navarone by Alistair MacLean
  29. Foster's War by Carolyn Reeder
  30. Fresh from the Country by Miss Read
  31. Friends at Thrush Green by Miss Read
  32. From a Northern Window by Ronald MacDonald
  33. George MacDonald: 365 Readings by C. S. Lewis
  34. George MacDonald's Fiction: A Twentieth-Century View by Richard Reis
  35. The Golden Door: The United States from 1865 to 1918 by Isaac Asimov
  36. Gossip from Thrush Green by Miss Read
  37. The Green Ember by S.D. Smith
  38. The Harmony Within: The Spiritual Vision of George MacDonald by Rolland Hein
  39. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
  40. Highest Duty by "Sully" Sullenberger
  41. The Howards of Caxley by Miss Read
  42. Invitation to Number Theory by Oystein Ore
  43. Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
  44. The Last Archer by S. D. Smith
  45. Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan
  46. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter
  47. Life Essential: The Hope of the Gospel by George MacDonald, edited by Rolland Hein
  48. The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter
  49. Lincoln's Last Days by Bill O'Reilly and Dwight Jon Zimmerman
  50. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  51. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  52. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  53. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  54. The Lost Empress by Steve Robinson
  55. The Man Who Counted by Malba Tahan
  56. The Market Square by Miss Read
  57. Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
  58. The Mindverse Chronicles by Anaya Roma (Diana Villafaña)
  59. Momo by Michael Ende
  60. Moonshiner's Son by Carolyn Reeder
  61. The Pilgrim's Regress by C. S. Lewis
  62. Mrs. Pringle of Fairacre by Miss Read
  63. Proving the Unseen by George MacDonald
  64. New Worlds to Conquer by Richard Halliburton
  65. News from Thrush Green by Miss Read
  66. Night Without End by Alistair MacLean
  67. No Holly for Miss Quinn by Miss Read
  68. Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield
  69. On Stage, Please by Veronica Tennant
  70. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  71. On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane
  72. One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler
  73. Our Federal Union: The United States from 1816 to 1865 by Isaac Asimov
  74. Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis
  75. Outlaws of Time #1: The Legend of Sam Miracle by N. D. Wilson
  76. Outlaws of Time #2: The Song of Glory and Ghost by N. D. Wilson
  77. Outlaws of Time #3: The Last of the Lost Boys by N. D. Wilson
  78. A Peaceful Retirement by Miss Read
  79. Planet Narnia by Michael Ward
  80. The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis
  81. R & M (beta version) by MB
  82. Return to Thrush Green by Miss Read
  83. The School at Thrush Green by Miss Read
  84. Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder
  85. The Shaping of North America: From Earliest Times to 1763 by Isaac Asimov
  86. Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey
  87. Spirits in Bondage by C. S. Lewis
  88. Summer in Fairacre by Miss Read
  89. Theatre Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
  90. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  91. Thrush Green by Miss Read
  92. Time Remembered by Miss Read
  93. Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus by James Otis
  94. Tyler's Row by Miss Read
  95. Village Affairs by Miss Read
  96. Village Centenary by Miss Read
  97. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  98. What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
  99. The Wheel of Time Book 1: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
  100. White Fang by Jack London
  101. The White People by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  102. The White Robin by Miss Read
  103. The Wind from the Stars by George MacDonald, edited by Gordon Reid
  104. Winter in Thrush Green by Miss Read
  105. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas by Gerry Bowler
  106. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
  107. The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner by S. D. Smith
  108. The Year at Thrush Green by Miss Read
Posted by sursumcorda on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at 9:15 am | Edit
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Comments

Wow! Happy New Year!



Posted by Eric on Thursday, January 03, 2019 at 7:59 am

Happy New Year to you, too, Eric.



Posted by SursumCorda on Thursday, January 03, 2019 at 8:35 am

Congratulations! I totally forgot about publishing my list this year. I'll have to get on it. Not nearly as long as yours as I spent a lot of time on genealogy this year.

Does the color coding mean anything? I thought green=recommend, red= not recommend, but it seems not to be the case.



Posted by dstb on Friday, January 04, 2019 at 8:10 am

I'll have to think about that; i can see how it's confusing. It's just the difference between a hyperlink you've followed and on you haven't.



Posted by SursumCorda on Friday, January 04, 2019 at 8:26 am
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