Hey fellow book-loving friends!
I know, I know. This post is embarrassingly overdue. Between moving across the state of Florida and our epic trips back up to the Pacific Northwest (including spending ample time with my sister and 1-year-old niece while my husband and son went fishing in Alaska!), and spending time in Georgia, summer flew by in a blur of boxes, cross-country trips, and absolutely zero routine.
But now that we're finally settling into those cozy autumn rhythms that make our hearts happy (even if the Florida weather hasn't gotten the memo about "fall" yet!), I'm feeling that familiar pull to reconnect over books.
You know how it is, I only post these when inspiration strikes rather than forcing it, because honestly, homeschooling (and parenting in general) and Simple Studies keeps me busy enough without adding pressure to my reading life.
But there's something about this time of year that makes me want to curl up with a good book and share what I've been reading with people who actually get excited about book recommendations.
So here's what's been filling my reading time:
books I read over the summer:
The Messy Lives of Book People ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Pearl by John Steinbeck ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Midnight Bookshop (Read for free on Kindle Unlimited) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Dance of Lies (Pleased to find out this Illumicrate featured book’s author is Christian) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Broken Country (Listened to the Audible version) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (content warnings) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession and Shipwreck ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Convenience Store Woman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Breath of a Dragon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unwind (YA sci-fi) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Violent Bear It Away (Recommended by The Literary Life Podcast) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Ice Queen ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blues in Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Anne of Green Gables ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Lantern of Lost Memories ⭐️⭐️⭐️
And just for fun, I’ve been enjoying Carnivore in the Kitchen and The New Essentials Cookbook.
books I'm reading right now:
📙 The Iliad (with my daughter)
📙 The Hobbit (Our current morning circle read aloud)
📙 The Hidden Peace: Finding True Security, Strength and Confidence Through Humility
📙 Lady Tan’s Circle of Women (I’m attending my first local, in-person book club this weekend as we read this book and can’t wait to discuss this historical fiction book. It’s SO good!)
📙 Robert Frost: Selected Poems
📙 Strong: Devotions to Live a Powerful and Passionate Life
📙 The Inheritance Games (YA read that’s sat on my TBR for years)
📙 When We Were Animals (Coming of age story - content warnings)
📙 The Raven Scholar (Chunky book I received as a gift and so really enjoying it!)
📙 Story of the Romans (Ancient history pre-read for my daughter)
📙 The Story of the Thirteen Colonies by H.A. Guerber (American history with my daughter)
📙 Our Island Story (Our European/world history spine this term)
📙 Grimms Fairy Tales (sporadic read-alouds when we have some down time)
📙 Marvels of the Occident (Second-time read this time with our youngest)
📙 Marie Curie and the Discovery of Radium (science biography with daughter)
I’d also like to thank Julie Rothman for sending us her brand new Insect Anatomy book and Nature Anatomy Posters (which you can pre-order today)! We LOVE LOVE LOVE her Nature Anatomy series and our daughter loves to keep them all handy for her nature journaling expeditions.
What Will We Read Next?
I'm very much a mood reader, so who knows what I'll pick up next. That's half the fun, right? But I’ll be sure to update you later this fall.
Regarding our homeschool reads, we’re only halfway through Term 1 so I’ll be planning Term 2 books soon and hopefully sharing that with you as well.
I hope you're all finding your groove with the new school year and carving out some time for the books that are calling to you!
You can still grab my FREE 2025 Reading Challenge here!