I'm obviously way late in sharing these reads as well (from 2019!!!) but I always love book recommendations, so as with all my posts in general recently, better late than never. My thoughts will be brief, but here they are.
Searching For and Maintaining Peace (Fr. Jacques Philippe)
Fantastic book, friends! You will not be sorry you read it. So much beautiful, peaceful wisdom. Plus it was the book I read when snuggling with Sophie often.
Saint John Vianney: the Village Priest who Fought God's Battles (Leon Cristiani)
Wow! St. John Vianney was amazing. Such gifts and graces bestowed on him. We were also able to venerate his incorrupt heart in 2019 which was such a blessing.
Live Jesus! Wisdom from Saints Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal
Mom Bissonnette recommended and let me borrow this book (a long time ago at this point) and it was filled with lovely tidbits of 'wisdom from Saints Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal' as the title suggests.
Farmer Boy (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Some read alouds with the kiddos! We are working our way through the Little House series and Farmer Boy we had skipped but came back to this year finally! All the books are great, but this is a fun change from the story of Laura's family to that of her husband's childhood.
Pollyanna (Eleanor H. Porter)
This is a darling story and I had only ever watched the Disney movie with Hayley Mills. The books was just wonderful and as usual even better than the movie, though the movie will still always be one of my favs.
The Penderwicks At Last (Jeanne Birdsall)
More read alouds although I believe we listened to these as audiobooks on CD. I can't remember which was which and what happened in each specifically, but they are cute books about a family of 4 girls (which eventually is a family of 5 girls and a boy) and their adventures. My kids all love them.
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (Jeanne Birdsall)
Saint Bernadette Soubirous: Light in the Grotto (Anne Heffernan and Mary Tebo)
We also read this book about Saint Bernadette's life which was a fairly simple chapter book, but gives lots of great information and tells the story beautifully.
Little Town on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
We made our way rather quickly through the Little House series in 2019. The Long Winter was harder to get through as there are aspects of that book that get a bit slow and monotonous. It was a long winter, after all. But there was also just enough excitement and intrigue at the craziness of the blizzards that the kids all wanted to play "blizzard" after we finished the book. We sailed through Little Town on the Prairie.
The Long Winter (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
These Happy Golden Years (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
This one was always my favorite of the series. Almanzo courting Laura and all the other fun of life for their family. The girls loved it as much as I did and we said through that book as well. Lots of read alouds in 2019.
Be Brave in the Scared (Mary Lenaburg)
A lovely woman I follow on Instagram wrote a book that is just beautiful and SO brave. It had me laughing, praying, tearing up, and sobbing, so you know it's full of REAL.
Everybody Always (Bob Goff)
I love Bob Goff's writing style. Each chapter is basically a little story from his life teaching a beautiful lesson and it all weaves into one big story about 'becoming love in a world full of setbacks and difficult people' as his tagline says.
Men, Women, and Worthiness (Brene Brown)
I listened to this as an audiobook and it was really fascinating. I can't say I agree with Brene on every little thing, but I think she's hits the nail on the head in calling out our culture that shames people and inviting each of us to know the power of being enough.
Be Healed (Bob Schuchts)
This is an amazing and lovely book. I listened to it as an audiobook but would now like to go back through (audio again or paperback) and re-listen because it was SO RICH.
Boundaries (Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend)
This book on Boundaries was really good for me- a person who has never known how to say no without feeling completely guilt-wracked. It was also good for me to take a look at myself and realize all the many ways I have been living in fear and being toxic and controlling to those around me as a result. Super helpful read.
The Printed Letter Bookshop (Katherine Reay)
I absolutely love all Katherine Reay's books and this one certainly didn't disappoint. They are modern day romances that are clean and funny and have great characters that are SO relatable. Plus there's always great book references which I totally love and appreciate.
Therese, Faustina, and Bernadette (Elizabeth Ficocelli)
I loved this book about these three powerhouse Saints. I learned more about each of them and the way Elizabeth Ficocelli weaved her own story into it all was lovely.
Who Does He Say You Are? (Colleen C. Mitchell)
This book was fantastic. Each chapter was about some female character in the gospels. Some of their stories took up only a paragraph or two in the gospels, but Colleeen Mitchell pulled out some amazing things to think about and reflect on that really made these women in the Bible come alive.
The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting (Brene Brown)
Another good Brene Brown book about raising kiddos this time.
The Four Loves (C.S. Lewis)
It's C.S. Lewis so you know it's great. I had somehow never read The Four Loves but I'm so glad I did. Wow. Great stuff.
15 Days of prayer with Blessed Chiara Badano (Florence Gillet)
Blessed Chiara was my Saint for 2019, so I found a book about her. It was really neat traveling through her life and reading daily reflections to really understand her young heart.
Left to Tell (Immaculee Ilibagiza)
What an incredible story this is from a woman who survived the Rwandan Holocaust. It's hard to read because of it's content, but it is also too incredible, miraculous, and beautiful NOT to read.
Loved As I Am (Sr. Miriam Jame Heidland)
This book is not really very long, but filled with beauty and healing balms for the soul.
And those are last year's reads. Tell what you've been reading!!
