One of my goals this year is to read an average of 1 book a week or 52 books for the year. These books can be fiction, non-fiction, audiobooks, book club picks, beach reads, serious, historical, funny, or anything in between. My one and only goal was to read more books than I did last year, and it’s worked! As of today, I’ve finished 35 books and am right on target to meet my goal by the end of the year.
For those other book lovers out there, I thought I’d share my quick thoughts on the 14 books I read this summer (from my favorite to my least favorite):
1. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly – I just finished this audiobook (all 17+ hours of it) and boy did I love this tear jerker of a story. My husband wryly commented that he felt like he was dating my book as I could not stop listening to it. WW2 novels are very popular right now (I also read and loved All The Light We Cannot See, The Paris Architect, and The Nightingale earlier this year), and this is one of the best. I highly recommend this book, which is based on real people – and for other audiobook lovers, the audio version is fabulous!
2. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd – I also listened to this on audiobook and absolutely loved it. The story is excellent and the audiobook narrator is fabulous (she also narrated The Help). Like the Lilac Girls, this story is based on real people and tear wrenching, although this story takes place in the American Deep South in the early 19th century.
3. These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1902 by Nancy Turner – I loved this story about Sarah Prine, an easy-to-root for frontier woman and highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a unique, historical fiction read. The story is loosely based on the author’s great-grandmother and is written in 1st person as if Sarah was writing a diary. The other 2 books in the series (available here and here) are on my to read list. I’ve heard they are very good but not quite as excellent as this one.
4. Still Life (A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Book 1) by Louise Penny – This is the first book in the Chief Inspector Gamache mystery series, and I loved it. It is a debut novel, so the writing at times was a little clunky. But I really loved the story, the setting, and the characters and cannot wait to read the other books in the series! I’ve also heard the books get better and better as you go on. It’s rare to read a mystery/crime story that inspires me to be a better human being yet somehow this one did.
5. The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand – I love Elin Hilderbrand books. They are the perfect beach reads (or on your back patio after your 3 year old finally goes down for a nap). And I love the way she weaves food and drink into her stories. Her Christmas series will have you drooling. I also love the stories and her characters – in particular in this book, I fell in love with the character of Delilah.
6. Fatal Grace (A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Book 2) by Louise Penny – This is the 2nd book in the Gamache series, and I loved it almost as much as Still Life. The characters are so likable and the story has this added layer of depth you don’t expect from a murder mystery. I anticipate power reading through the rest of this series this fall.
7. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert – I’d heard mostly good things about this book, even from Eat Pray Love haters. It’s a bit “woo-woo” in parts, but honestly I just loved it. As a lawyer and a full time working mom, I often fall into the trap of thinking I don’t have time or space in my life to be creative. Gilbert persuasively argues that all of us in fact have the need to create, regardless of vocation. I applied to blog for Hellobee after reading this book, in part to scratch that creative itch. I highly recommend this one unless you just can’t handle a little woo-woo.
8. The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Tell Your Family History, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More by Bruce Feiler – I just finished this quick, non-fiction read about families. As the title suggests, this book outlines a number of ways for families to be “happier”. While some ideas were more innovative than others, this struck a chord with me as I really want our home to be a happy place where my kids want to be. Even though my kids are a little young for some of Feiler’s ideas, we’ve made some changes in our home life based on the strategies I read about in this book.
9. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh – The writing in this thriller is not superb, but the story is fast-paced (especially the second half) and the ending will leave you desperately looking for somebody else who read the book to talk with it about (because of this I’d recommend this for a book club!)
10. Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave – This was a book club pick. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t say it is an amazing read. It is just fun and easy with a tiny bit of thought-provoking. This book is definitely meant to scratch that “you love food & wine” itch that I have, but I prefer the way Elin Hilderbrand incorporates that theme into her books.
11. The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand – I feel a little conflicted about this Elin Hilderbrand pick. It was a very enjoyable, quick read (as all her books are for me), but it was not my favorite. I much preferred Castaways.
12. Before the Fall by Noah Hawley – This is another thriller/ mystery involving a plane crash (so don’t pick it up to read on your flight home for Thanksgiving!). For the most part, I enjoyed the story but it wasn’t my favorite book.
13. The Hyptonist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty – This was a book club pick. It was very readable but didn’t really leave much of an impression on me. I am trying to remember the plot line and all I can really tell you is that it had to do with a hypnotist falling in love and had a stalker plot line.
14. 
What books have you read and loved (or hated) lately? How do you work reading into your life as a Mom/ employee/ laundry queen? Are you a Kindle lover or a traditionalist when it comes to how and when you read books (I’m a mix of both)?
blogger / apricot / 482 posts
I love book recommendations! This was actually my new year’s resolution last year (52 books) which I met and I read Invention of Wings as part of last year’s group of books, but I didn’t love it as much as you. I think I found it a little too predictable. I’m looking forward to checking out some of the others on your list.
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@Mrs. Dolphin: I really love the narrator for the audiobook version, which definitely influenced my rating for that particular book :). It would be interesting to see how I would have rated it if I had “read” it instead of listened to it.
blogger / clementine / 985 posts
I started the year strong with reading but totally dropped out of the habit as soon as my e-reader died and I couldn’t find the cord. I need to charge it up and get back into it! I downloaded Big Magic right before it quit.
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
Awesome reads, thank you! I only read The Invention of Wings off your list (and loved it), and will definitely check out some of these too!
I’m a voracious reader (Kindle, mostly, just finished my 52nd book, with the goal of 70 this year, fingers crossed). I read mostly for a few minutes in the evening after LO is in bed, and on my commute. The only upside to the DC traffic suckage is that I get 30 minutes on the train to read.
I’m a prolific Goodreads user (annatmreads is my username in case anyone wants to be friends). Recent favorites are Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Within These Walls, Better than Before, Hardwiring Happiness, Challenger Deep, Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots (reading this now and loving it), and A Little Life.
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@Mrs. Carrot: I will add you on Goodreads!! I have meaning to read the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Better than Before for while and literally just added Challenger Deep to my to read list yesterday!! My teacher and book-loving friend recommended Challenger Deep, and I trust her :). I will also check out Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots!
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@mrsmacandcheese: I love Big Magic! It’s a good one to pick up and read in small chunks. The story about Ann Patchett’s “State of Wonder” (which I read for book club a few years ago & really enjoyed) is fascinating, albeit a little woo woo ha.
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
So jealous you can read still! I need to look at these and save the ones that appeal to me for a future date when I can read again. Love new book recommendations!
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These are fantastic, I was debating on listening to Lilac Girls next, and I will! I am an avid reader, and love that I can use Audible to ‘read’ while cooking, cleaning, driving, etc!
Historical fiction is my favorite genre – Please check out Sara Donati’s work. She has a very long series about a frontier woman and her family called the Wilderness Series. This was fantastic to listen to. She also recently released The Guilded Hour which takes place in the late 1890’s New York city.
But for audiobooks, my absolute FAVORITE must read, recommend to everyone from my grandmother to my brother is Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy. (Book 1 is Fall of Giants) The audio books are very long, which can seem daunting, but the narrator is AMAZING and it takes you from Downton Abbey through WWI, WWII and the Cold War from the eyes of Americans, upper & lower class English, Germans, and Russians.
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@Mrs. Chocolate: Reading with little ones is so hard! I go through streaks of reading voraciously or barely reading at all, and I have to say the difference is usually what book I am reading. If I am not reading a book I LOVE (and thankfully I’m not very picky about books), then I just won’t read. But if it’s a book I LOVE, I always find the time even if it’s reading on the Kindle app while I wait for my coffee in the drive through line :). Audiobooks also are great me when I want to squeeze reading in with normal Mom life.
apricot / 377 posts
What do you use to listen to books? Do you stream from Audible or check out CDs from the library or buy them?
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@MrsMed: I have an Audible subscription, which is $14.95/ month. I continually ask myself if it’s worth it or not as you only get 1 audiobook each month for free, but for me it is. Almost always the audiobook I pick costs more than the subscription price, I get discounts on other books (including tons of kids books!), and I own the audiobooks I buy forever. I have downloaded audiobooks from the library using the Overdrive app before, but I almost always have to return it before finishing. It takes me a good 2-4 weeks to get through an audiobook (sometimes longer!)