2025 — 2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 — 2018 — 2017

Any burning thoughts were shared in the newsletter throughout the year, upon completion. This is my excuse for not summarizing them here. But I love a satisfying visual list.

Starting at the beginning of the year:

For audiobooks:

Most of the books I get to are because I’m able to listen to audiobooks as I go about certain tasks and housekeeping duties at certain times (i.e. occupied hands and eyeballs). I’m in a very physically demanding and literally messy season of life, so this works for me. (This is a nice way of saying I hardly have any sit-down time during the day. Ain’t got a Dark Academia Room Of One’s Own.) Plus, in hindsight, I’ve primarily been an auditory learner from childhood.

• Hoopla — One option for free audio or ebooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the smaller authors/less popular titles. (Our current library changed things, essentially making this service unusable. But maybe yours works.)

• OverDrive (Libby app) — Another option for free audio or ebooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the bigger names/popular titles. (Again, our own library’s is unusable.)

• Everand — It’s $17 a month for three audiobook (or other) “unlocks.” A no-brainer for me as it has a lot of titles.

• Libro.fm — Like Audible, but supports local bookstores instead of Amazon.

• Audible — The last resort. If I’ve bought an audiobook here, it’s because 1) the book is one I truly wanted to get to and 2) it was not found at the places above.

• Kindle ebooks — For certain books not available on audio that, for whatever reason, I’d like to have in this medium.

For some kindle books, essays and articles, PDFs:

• Speechify — A valuable use of AI, will take no further luddite questions.

For physical books:

• ThriftBooks — A great place for used books. (Though why so pricey, still??) I love the Wish List feature, both for myself and my husband (and especially for children’s books).

• Bookshop — If you must buy a book new, consider supporting your local bookstore as you do so. This option is as easy as buying from Amazon.

• Libraries — To quote my husband quoting Arther: “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.”

Cheers,

Haley

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2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 — 2018 — 2017

Here’s my ongoing list of books completed. Any burning thoughts were shared there and also in the newsletter throughout the year, upon completion. This is my excuse for not summarizing them here. :) But I love a good visual list. You can shop most of these books here.

Starting at the beginning of the year:

Book Resources + Things

For organization:

• GoodReads — For saving and categorizing to-read books, logging personal reading, perusing reviews, and connecting with other readers. (Others may not love the idea of it or find it doesn’t serve them well - that’s fine! It makes sense for and works for me.)

For audiobooks:

Most of the books I get to are because I’m able to listen to audiobooks as I go about certain tasks and housekeeping duties (i.e. occupied hands and eyeballs). I’m in a very physically demanding season of life, so this works for me. Plus—in hindsight—I’ve been an audio learner from childhood. And you do not, in fact, need to be robbed by Audible in order to listen to a few per month.

• Hoopla — One option for free audio or ebooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the smaller authors/less popular titles.

• OverDrive (Libby app) — Another option for free audio or ebooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the bigger names/popular titles

• Everand (formerly Scribd) — It’s $17 a month for three audiobooks (or more generally “unlocks” of any kind). It includes access not only to audiobooks but ebooks, as well as related podcasts and articles. A no-brainer for me, as it fills in lots of the gaps in books not offered for free via the library system or Libro.

• Libro.fm — Like Audible, but supports local bookstores instead of Amazon.

• Audible — This is the last resort. If I’ve bought an audiobook here, it’s because 1) the book is one I really, really wanted to listen to and 2) it was not found at the places above.

• Kindle ebooks — For certain books not available on audio that, for whatever reason, I’d like to have in this medium.

For physical books:

• ThriftBooks — A great place to look for used books. I love the Wish List feature, both for myself and my husband… but especially for children’s books.

• BetterWorldBooks — I’m loyal to ThriftBooks simply because that’s where our Wish List is. But this is another option.

• Bookshop — If you must buy a new book, support your local bookstore as you do so. This online option is as easy as buying from Amazon. (I’ll continue adding to and sharing books from my Bookshop storefront this year.)

• Libraries — Don’t forget about yours.

Cheers,

Haley

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2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 — 2018 — 2017

(Here’s my ongoing list of books completed. And you can shop most of the books here.)

Favorites and ones I’m particularly glad to have gotten to this year (in order of most recent):

Book Resources + Things

For organization:

• GoodReads — For tracking reading, categorizing to-read books, connecting with other readers. (Others may not love it or find it doesn’t serve them well - that’s fine! It makes sense for and works for me!)

For audiobooks:

(Most of the books I get to are because I’m able to listen to audiobooks as I go about physical tasks during the day. I love it. You do not, in fact, need to be robbed by Audible in order to listen to several a month!)

• Hoopla (app) — One option for free audiobooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the smaller authors/less popular titles.

• OverDrive (Libby app) — Another option for free audiobooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the bigger names/popular titles

• Everand (formerly Scribd) — It’s $12 a month to listen to multiple books. (It includes access not only to audiobooks but ebooks, as well as related podcasts and articles.) A no-brainer for me, as it fills in lots of the gaps of books not offered for free via the library.

• Audible — This is the last resort. If I’ve bought an audiobook here, it’s because 1) the book is one I really, really wanted to listen to and 2) it was not found at the places above.

For physical books:

• Thrift Books — For used books, this is a great place to look (and I love the Wish List feature).

• Bookshop — If you must buy a new book, support your local bookstore as you do so. It’s as easy as buying from Amazon. (I’ll be adding to and sharing books from my Bookshop storefront this year.)

• Libraries — Don’t forget about yours!

Cheers,

Haley

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The books I read and/or listened to this past year, and previous years:

2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 — 2018 — 2017

(Here’s my ongoing list of books completed. And you can shop most of the books here.)

Favorites and ones I’m particularly glad to have gotten to this year (in order of most recent):

Book Resources + Things

For organization:

• GoodReads — For tracking reading, categorizing to-read books, connecting with other readers.

For audiobooks:

(Most of the books I get to are because I’m able to listen to audiobooks as I go about physical tasks during the day. I love it. You do not, in fact, need to be robbed by Audible in order to listen to several a month!)

• Hoopla (app) — One option for free audiobooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the smaller authors/less popular titles.

• OverDrive (Libby app) — Another option for free audiobooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the bigger names/popular titles

For physical books:

• Thrift Books — For used books, this is a great place to look (and I love the Wish List feature).

• Bookshop — If you must buy a new book, support your local bookstore as you do so. It’s as easy as buying from Amazon.

• Libraries — Don’t forget about yours!

Cheers,

Haley

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The books I read and/or listened to this past year, and previous years:

2021 — 2020 — 2019 — 2018 — 2017

(Here’s my ongoing list of books completed. And you can shop most of the books here.)

Favorites and ones I’m particularly glad to have gotten to this year (in order of most recent):

• The Common Rule — Justin Whitmel Earley

• Peace Like A River — Leif Enger

• Uprooted — Grace Olmstead

• One Beautiful Dream — Jennifer Fulwiler

• You Are Not Your Own — Alan Noble

• The Weight Of Memory — Shawn Smucker

• Once We Were Strangers — Shawn Smucker

• A Prayer For Orion — Katherine James

• Dedicated — Pete Davis

• Turning Of Days — Hannah Anderson

• My Father Left Me Ireland — Michael Brendan Dougherty

• He Saw That It Was Good — Sho Baraka

• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat — Samin Nosrat

• French Kids Eat Everything — Karen Le Billon

• Prayer In The Night — Tish Harrison Warren

• Piranesi — Susanna Clarke

Children’s Books

Favorite purchases or gifts we enjoyed:

• Loved: The Lord's Prayer + Found: Psalm 23 — Sally Lloyd Jones

• Don't Forget To Remember — Ellie Holcomb

• Love Made — Quina Aragon

• Bible Basics: A Counting Primer + From Eden To Bethlehem: An Animals Primer + Jesus Heals: An Anatomy Primer + Psalms Of Praise: A Movement Primer + Holy Week: An Emotions Primer — Danielle Hitchen

Book Resources + Things

For organization:

• GoodReads — For tracking reading, categorizing to-read books, connecting with other readers.

For audiobooks:

(Most of the books I get to are because I’m able to listen to audiobooks as I go about physical tasks during the day. I love it. You do not, in fact, need to be robbed by Audible in order to listen to several a month!)

• Hoopla (app) — One option for free audiobooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the smaller authors/less popular titles.

• OverDrive (Libby app) — Another option for free audiobooks through your library. This one tends to have more of the bigger names/popular titles

For physical books:

• Thrift Books — For used books, this is a great place to look (and I love the Wish List feature).

• Bookshop — If you must buy a new book, support your local bookstore as you do so. It’s as easy as buying from Amazon.

• Libraries — Don’t forget about yours!

For inspiration & ideas:

• How To Read Really Long Books (with Sarah Clarkson) — Joy Clarkson chats with her sister and provides encouragement for enjoying those hefty, old books.

• Anne Bogel — She has a whole website of reading lists, and more than one podcast about books, reading, etc.

• Englewood Review Of Books — I signed up for their emails a while back. They have kindle deals, round-up lists, reviews, new release announcements, and even a podcast with authors, hosted by Jen Pollock Michel.

• Ekstasis Essential Reader — A collection of categorized titles from the Ekstasis community.

• Reading Everybody Black — A collection of categorized titles from Jasmine Holmes and Charaia Callabrass.

• Help Me Populate A 2022 Reading List — Seth Haines asks his readers, and they weigh in with their favorites.

Cheers,

Haley

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As the year winds down, I know many people are re-evaluating their ways of planning & reflecting on their days, weeks, months.

Here are a few products I’ve come across — and couldn’t help compiling in a list along the way. People have spoken highly of them for various reasons, which is why I took notice in the first place. Maybe you’ll find something that suits your goals among them!

• Family Plan Calendar — Weekly Wall Planner

• Full Focus — Productivity Planners

• Hello Revival — Planners & Devotional Journals (Discovered through The Illuminators)

• Leuchtturm & Moleskine — Basic Planners (I’ve enjoyed both monthly planners)

• Monk Manual — Journals For Being & Doing

• Promptly — Guided Journals

• Sacred Ordinary Days — Liturgical Planners

• Val Marie Prayer — Prayer Journals