Creating a book list is key to actually reading books I’m interested in throughout the year. I actually majored in English at university and got my Masters degree in Secondary Education so I could study books and help others love to read for a living. But despite how much I love to read, the hurdle of deciding what to pick up next is real.

I stopped reading for the longest time when my kids were really little…

I felt too stretched to pick up a book for leisure or actually digest anything of value because I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow each night.

I would only read non-fiction business books because I felt like if I had downtime, I needed to be doing something “productive.”

But when I changed my mindset and accepted that books are made and consumed one page at a time (duh), I freed myself up to read in the cracks of life instead of only in large focussed chunks of time.

Here’s how/when I find time to read:

• I leave one book on the counter or a kitchen side table at all times. This makes it my default reach (as opposed to my phone) while dinner is sizzling, while the coffee is brewing, while the kids happen to be playing well together for 2 minutes.
  
• School pickup line. This could also easily default to phone time, but when I bring my book, that’s a solid 15 minutes of quiet (or to the babbling sounds of my little guy playing trains in the back carseat.)

• Bedtime. Sometimes it’s half an hour, sometimes it’s just a page. But it’s still a page. It quiets my mind from my present swirl and opens it to a wider world before my eyes collapse.

The more I committed to these little habits, the more I truly enjoyed reading again.

What kind of books “count?”

I tend to lean towards a non-fiction read in the mornings and fiction at night if I’ve got 2 going at the same time.

Last year, I read a conglomeration of non-fiction, fiction, photography, and children’s chapter books (hello homeschooling in a pandemic.) We would have “lunch read-aloud” and again at bedtime… but I chose the books 😉

Here’s a book list of what I actually consumed in 2021

(*top recommendations // ~re-reads)

Business + Nonfiction

• For the Love of the Photograph – Choloe Lodge
• *The Life-Giving Home – Sally + Sarah Clarkson
• Raising Worry-Free Girls – Sissy Goff
• Spark: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success – Angie Morgan, Courtney Lynch, Sean Lynch
• *Do Less – Kate Northrup
• ~Love Does – Bob Goff
• *Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert

Biography:

• Into the Magic Shop : A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart– James R Doty, MD
• *Blue Like Jazz – Donald Miller
• Dear Bob & Sue: One Couple’s Journey Through the National Parks – Matt & Karen Smith
  

Fiction:

• The Authenticity Project – Clare Pooley
• *It All Comes Back to You – Beth Duke
• *Finley Donovan is Killing It – Elle Cosimono
• Body in the Garden – Katherine Schellman

Children’s Series + Chapter books

• ~Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
• ~Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
• ~James + the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
• *The Magic Treehouse Series
• *The Wrenly Series
• ~The Boxcar Children

Devotionals

• Everyboddy Always – Bob Goff
• *Indescribable : 100 devotions about God & Science – Louie Giglio
• She Reads Truth – Advent Devotional
• *Every Moment Holy, Vol.1 – The Rabbit Room

Poetry

• All Along you were blooming – Morgan Harper Nichols

• A light in the Attic – Shel Silverstein

It’s more books than I’ve probably ever read in a single year. All in the fringes or with children underfoot. It was the gold in a pandemic year.

So now I have a habit back and my sights set on an ambitious book list, knowing and hoping that other little nuggets pop into my radar that I “just have to read,” and others might get pushed aside because life is unpredictable!

I’ve made an effort to seek out diversity in authors and topics, and included more fiction, too – after all, I’ve come to learn that fiction is just as packed with insight as anything else. 🙂

The 2022 Book List

Nonfiction

• Untamed – Glennan Doyle
• Modern parents vintage values – Sissy Goff
• Brading sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer
• The design of everyday things – Don Norman 

Fiction

• The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
• The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion
• Nightingale – Krisen Hannah
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo – Christy Lefteri 
• We are all welcome here – Elizabeth Berg
• The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

Business

• Scary Close – Donald Miller
• The coaching habit – Michael Bungay Stanier

Biography

Talking as Fast as I Can – Lauren Graham

Poetry

Call Us What We Carry – Amanda Gorman

Did any of these books make your book list this year?!

I’ll be sharing books and reviews on these as I finish them on my Instagram account @fireflyphoto_leah, so come join me there for more book chats!

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