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Books Read in 2020

 Read last year's list here.

This year was definitely divided into segments: the first half of the year, when I read a ton of chick lit while nursing Tessa, and the last half of the year, when I tried to keep ahead of middle grade literature. I'll note my thoughts on appropriateness here and there, in case it would be helpful! I have four strong readers, ages 6-11, so I'm not just pre-reading for the oldest, but for whether we can all pass it around. Age ranges are for our family (I consider Levi to be 12, in terms of his reading maturity) -- you might be okay reading things earlier or later. Feel free to ask for more specific thoughts!

The Bible

The whole thing, twice for the NT
You can read about the Bible reading plan I follow here: https://biblereading.christkirk.com/

Christian Non-Fiction
*Eve in Exile
*Worship by Ligon Duncan (started but not finished)

Adult Fiction
*Weird Sisters
*Tombland (the last in the Shardlake series I read last year)
*The Interestings (not recommend on grounds of immorality)
*Big Little Lies
*The Sea of Tranquility
*What Alice Forgot
*All the Light We Cannot See
*Cry the Beloved Country (a must-read, beautiful classic)
*The Husband's Secret
*a few Janet Evanovich books (guilty . . . )

Read Aloud to the Kids (this doesn't include what Isaac reads to them -- these were our lunch books)
*All seven Chronicles of Narnia
*I, Juan de Pareja
*The Man who Laid the Egg
*Thunderstorm in Church 

Middle Grade Literature
*Some 14 or 15 of the Ranger's Apprentice books (I lost count): highly recommended 12+
*The Lightning Queen
*Echo (anything by Pam Munoz Ryan is worth reading!)
*Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy (this was a favorite of Toby's)
*Savvy, Scumble, Switch trilogy: some tween romance puts this at a 12+ for us
*Counting by 7s
*the Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: a fun favorite for all of us!
*Millicent Min, Girl Genius: too much girl puberty talk for me to hand this to the boys ;)
*Mr. Lemoncello's Library series: fun for all, but the literature references were better for the older boys
*Applewhites trilogy: some tween romance puts this at a 12+ for us
*Hoot: came highly recommended, but I just didn't like it all that much
*Out of My Mind
*Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
*Gregor the Overlander series: Levi and I liked these a lot; probably 10+
*Keeper of the Lost Cities series: Levi and I are four books in. 12+ in my opinion
*Eighth Day series (mild language, and the premise is a little convoluted)
*Fish in a Tree (this will be required fifth grade reading in my house!)
*White Mountains series (only read the first one; a low-key intro to dystopian fiction)
*The Girl Who Drank the Moon: Levi and I loved this, but it's pretty dark for any younger
*Love That Dog: I really liked this very unusual book for my older boys
*Three Times Lucky (fun intro to murder mysteries, some mild language)
*The Mapmaker Chronicles: we all enjoyed this series!
*Splendors and Glooms (this is a little creepy; none of my kids read it)
*The Wednesday Wars
*Because of Mr. Terupt: This is a series. The first one I'd say 12+ due to relationships and attitudes, though it is redemptive at the end. I opted not to give Levi the sequels due to puberty and romance stuff.

For school purposes
The Crucible (with Levi)
Witch of Blackbird Pond (with Owen)

And, in its very own category because I'm so proud of myself: I read the entire Lord of the Rings series for the first time this year! #patsselfonback

I read more books this year than last year, but fewer different categories of books (like . . . zero non-fiction!). Something to keep in mind as I start 2021's list!

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