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Bethany Douglass's avatar

Haley, I have meant to tell you so often what a gem your weekly list is to me—and I expect to many others. Thank you for your time and thoughtful sharing.

Also have you read Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal? I wonder if it might add kindling to your work/contemplation on life and death, especially as it pertains to modern medicine.

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Katie Marquette's avatar

This is an impressive list, Haley! Kristin Lavransdatter and Les Mis and Anna Karenina in one year? I tip my hat. I love the visual layout, so satisfying, and I'm going to reference it for ideas! (I wish I could pay attention to audibooks... for all my podcasting you'd think it would be a great medium for me, but I totally zone out!)

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Amelia McKee's avatar

My thoughts exactly…And the Betrothed?! What a great list of books new and old. I have had a hard time finishing novels lately and am going to try audiobooks this year, so I appreciate all the ideas! The Betrothed is at the top of my list.

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Tessa Carman's avatar

What a sterling list! Schmemann, Undset, Cather, Hugo, Houselander, Athanasius! So much good stuff. I love how the books we read in one year all become in conversation with each other.

And you read The Peregrine this year—me too!! Isn't it just stunning?

I also love Overdrive for audio, and we request tons of things through interlibrary (and interstate interlibrary) loan (as well as suggest purchases!)—and perhaps my favorite thing right now is getting books through my husband's university library—so many out-of-print books for months-long check-outs! Where we used to live you could get a citizens library card at the state university; I suppose one could do that too where we are now, but I haven't heard of such a thing yet.

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Rachel Sibley's avatar

Haley, you’re just amazing. I’m envious audiobooks are able to hold your attention! I seem to be able to do non fiction audiobooks ok, but lose track with novels. And I love novels and prefer to read fiction, so it just doesn’t work for me, at least right now. Thank you for sharing, I always enjoy seeing what others are reading!

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Amy Andrews | RiPE's avatar

Hello! I've had "make reading list" (some organization for the stacks and baskets of to-be-read books I've got in multiple rooms at the moment) on my journal for a few weeks now and still haven't done it, I think because I don't want a list and want something beautiful like you have here! Well done. Can't help but ask how you made the image...was it from your Goodreads account? Or homemade? Thank you! Amy

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Haley Baumeister's avatar

It’s a bunch of separate screenshots of the Goodreads year of reading thing! It didn’t used to be this exact style (I would rather have the straight book covers) but it does the job. :)

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Jimmy's avatar

Nice book list. I have read quite a few on your list. I liked Exogenesis . Did you read C.S Lewis’s The Hideous Strength? Prophetic insight.

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Megan Malone's avatar

Which parenting book impacted you the most? You read far more than I did last year, but it feels like we have quite a few that overlapped.

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Mark Casper's avatar

What a great reading year! Thanks for sharing. Question: Is there a Stegner book you would recommend to someone who's never read him before?

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Carolyn MK's avatar

Ok!! So did you like Ursula K Leguin? I’ve been wavering on whether to read her for years now. Not a huge sci fi person but I do enjoy apocalyptic fiction so maybe now is the time?

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Haley Baumeister's avatar

I did not enjoy it, couldn't get into the story for some reason! Thus the reason I didn't go on with the rest of the series. haha

But I may try again in the future.... our copy is nostalgic because my husband took it from the communal reading room at our honeymoon spot in Jamaica. Like a little souvenir. So I'll never get rid of it. :')

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Carolyn MK's avatar

Ah gotcha, I'll continue kicking that can down the road then! Enjoying looking into some of your other recommendations.

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Abigail W. Miller's avatar

This is great, Haley. So many favorites of mine . . . and so many books on my list! I am not an auditory learner, and I used to struggle a lot with audiobooks, but I've worked really hard to accustom myself to them over the past few years. Seeing what you've been reading each week has definitely inspired me in this regard, so thank you!

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Melanie Bettinelli's avatar

What a lovely list. I see quite a few favorites and several that I want to read.

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Melisa Capistrant's avatar

Some familiar titles here...The Betrothed (it's been a few years - I may need to reread it), Silas Marner, Les Miserables, Kristin Lavransdatter, Reed of God, I Cheerfully Refuse, For the Children's Sake. I'm intrigued with A Quiet Mind to Suffer With - going to have to read that one. I also want to read Exogenesis and try Wallace Stegner. Thanks for sharing your reads!

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Molly Impola's avatar

Amazing! Just a tip…I’ve almost always found eBay to be cheapest for used books…usually beats out thrift books prices, which is where I used to always buy.

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Leah's avatar

Thanks for sharing! That is a substantial list.

I appreciate so much your tips for audiobooks. I've never gotten into them - may never, still - but at least I have some tips for where to start if I do. I'm just a flipping-pages-by-hand reader, which makes me think I'm not reading a lot --

Until I realized I'm reading a ton of children's books. And, they've actually been very formative for me. This post encouraged me to start a Goodreads account and see if I can kind of keep track of my reading and organize it. Thanks again for the practical and inspiring post!

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Annelise Roberts's avatar

I’m always so impressed by your reading list! Feeling like mine was rather paltry this year but I suppose we had a few things going on (mostly an intense inability to focus let’s be honest). I wish audiobooks worked for me, but I’m determined to make more use of our old school Kindle for reading while nursing. Do you find that certain types of books lend themselves to certain mediums for you? Is there anything that doesn’t work for you as an audiobook?

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