Ten Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

This week we're talking about books we got for our personal library because we loved them so much. If you don't already know, this is more or less my entire personal library; I try not to have more than a couple physical books I haven't yet read (only ones I can't get through the library), so almost everything I own is books I selected because I loved them and wanted to own them. There's obviously a lot of overlap here with favorites that I've talked about in the past!

1. 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam
I originally read this on audio, but I found it so incredibly helpful that I got a hard copy so I could refer back to her various prompts for defining how you want to spend your time (and figuring out how you're currently spending it).

2. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield
I absolutely love this book that most people haven't heard of, and since Wingfield hasn't published another book since this one, I'm a little worried it will go out of print, so I'm glad I have a copy!

3. How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber and Julie King
I've mentioned my fondness for the How to Talk books around these parts a number of times now. There are so many practical examples and helpful guidelines that feel realistic and empathetic, and I wanted to make sure I had a hard copy of this one for reference.

4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
This book — part biography, part science history, part memoir — is one of my all-time favorite works of nonfiction and one that I will recommend to a wide variety of people, so I definitely wanted to have a copy on hand!

5. Precious Little Sleep by Alexis Dubief
This is the sleep book to end all sleep books for parents. I've already lent it out to two different friends with kids and I have referenced it multiple times for my own baby (now toddler).

6. The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
I originally read this on Kindle and was completely blown away by it. I don't know if I'd actually reread it in hard copy, but it's one I'll keep on my shelves for people to get interested in and maybe borrow!

7. Small Animals by Kim Brooks
This was the most validating book I've read on parenting in the modern era and having a copy is a good reminder of that. A lot of readers have said they couldn't relate to her anxiety around other people's judgment of her parenting, but after she was literally charged with "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" for leaving her child in the car for a few minutes on a temperate day, I think she has good reason to worry!

8. Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee
While Tash's experience of asexuality doesn't exactly match my own, I appreciated that this was a realistic YA depiction of that identity that wasn't just a plot pasted around an Asexuality 101 lesson; it has a solid plot in its own right about the perils of internet fame, and there's a lot of diverse representation beyond Tash's sexuality.

9. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
I read this for the first time on audio, which I don't recommend — despite the excellent narration — because of the need to remember where you are in time. This is another one that I may or may not reread in hard copy, but I'd definitely lend it out to those who I think would enjoy it.

10. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
I've read this twice now and loved it both times, so it seemed worthy of a spot on my bookshelf. I'm not going to share anything about the plot because it's too easy to spoil a major piece of this book, but I recommended it to my book club and told everyone to read it without any context and people seemed to like it a lot!

Which favorite books do you own?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Sun Is Also a Star, Womanist Midrash, and Strange the Dreamer
Five years ago I was reading: Infinite Jest and Taken at the Flood
Ten years ago I was reading: The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Ten Most Recent Additions to My (Son's) Bookshelf

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

I'm pretty sure this week's topic is referring to books on an actual bookshelf, but since I rarely acquire physical books anymore I thought about reprising the topic of recent additions to my TBR list. However, I am constantly adding physical books to my son's bookshelf — plus he got lots of new books for Christmas and his birthday — so I thought I'd share those instead!

1. Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
I like this book because the narrator talks about how they want to be kind but don't always know what the kind thing to do is. I think that nuance is still over my 5-year-old's head, but we are able to talk about how the characters in the book feel based on the actions of the other characters, and how it can be hard to do the right thing sometimes.

2. The Boy with Big, Big Feelings by Britney Winn Lee
I thought this book might be helpful for my own boy with big feelings, but since he's never been taught to be ashamed of having feelings I don't think he really resonated with the central message of a boy who learns it's OK to share his big feelings.

3. Dragons Love Tacos 2 by Adam Rubin
We're going to see the Dragons Love Tacos musical soon, so it seemed like a good time to get the sequel to the well-loved original. This one is a bit more bizarre than the first and involves time traveling.

4. Farmer Pete Has Stinky Feet by Kim Uliana
My husband added this to our son's Christmas wish list because he thought the title sounded funny and our son would like it. Unfortunately the rhythm of the text is truly awful, and I say that as someone who can usually get into the rhythm of any kid's book even when my husband claims the rhythm doesn't work. I should have screened it against Goodreads and seen that it had no ratings except the author's (and now mine!).

5. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
We've discovered that a lot of Dr. Seuss' classic books have problematic elements, but this one at least has a message about environmentalism that my 5-year-old was able to understand pretty easily.

6. Maybe God Is Like That Too by Jennifer Grant
This one came highly recommended, and for good reason. The main character wonders how they can see God, and they learn that they can see God whenever they experience the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, patience, etc.). My son seemed to like this one, and when we were reading Be Kind the other night and talking about kindness, he commented, "Maybe God is like that too!"

7. Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama
I like the idea of this one (comparing children's qualities to famous people throughout history) but it didn't really hold my son's attention, and I found myself having to explain who each person was in order for the text to make any sense. (For example, the page about Jackie Robinson basically just says, "He showed us how to be brave!" without any explanation for how, and my son immediately wanted to know why so many people in the baseball stands looked angry.)

8. Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go by Richard Scarry
I haven't read this one with my son yet, but from when my husband read it at bedtime it seems to just be a lot of pictures with single-word labels, so it might be better either for younger kids or when my son is closer to being ready to read himself.

9. What Makes a Baby by Cory Silverberg
This was recommended as the most preschooler-friendly, gender-inclusive explanation of how babies are made, and it's mostly that, although I have to gloss over some parts due to it being not super inclusive of my son's adoption story. I also have the more detailed It's Not the Stork! for when he's a little bit older, which unfortunately is not trans-inclusive (which is partly why I'm saving it, for when the concept of "What this book says is not entirely accurate" will not overload his little brain).

10. When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff
This is a very sweet book about a trans boy who is worried that his new baby sibling is going to have a tough childhood like he did. He learns that you can't know everything about a person right away, but you can do your best and love them, which includes listening to them and making changes if needed.

What books have you acquired recently?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Cutting for Stone and A Passage to India
Five years ago I was reading: All the Light We Cannot See and Generous Spaciousness
Ten years ago I was reading: My Sister's Keeper

Ten Books I’ve Read That I’d Like In My Personal Library

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

This week's topic is books we've read that we'd like in our personal library. As I've mentioned before, I've pared my personal library way down to just books I've read and love and want to lend to people. However, there's room on the shelf for a few more... I looked over the books on my wish list on PaperBackSwap and ones on my Goodreads favorites list to compile a list of ones I don't own but would like to. Now that I have a custom book stamp, hopefully I can increase my chances of getting back the books I lend out!

1. Ask a Manager by Alison Green
This is an excellent reference guide for hard conversations at work, and I recommend it frequently. I'd love to have a copy on hand to lend people!

2. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
This is usually the book I name when asked what one book I wish everyone in the world would read. Definitely one to have on hand to share!

3. The Belgariad, Vol. One & Vol. Two by David Eddings
I have my old mass market paperback copies of these books from middle school, except for Pawn of Prophecy, which I've twice lent out and not gotten back. Rather than re-buying the book a second time, I decided I'd prefer to get hardcover versions of the new combined volumes that put books 1-3 in Vol. One and books 4-5 in Vol. Two. There are really two story arcs, not five, so I think this is a better way to break it up anyway. And it will save room on my bookshelves!

4. Fed Up by Gemma Hartley
I've recommended this book to so many people in the last year, and I am especially trying to get it into the hands of men with female partners. I really ought to have my own copy to lend out!

5. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
This is a close second for that question of a book I wish everyone would read; this one, at least, should be read by every American. Another one I ought to have my own copy of by now!

6. The Malloreon, Vol. One & Vol. Two by David Eddings
Although I have all five copies of these books still, I'd like to replace them as well to match the Belgariad hardcovers and condense that space on my shelf!

7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Despite being less than thrilled with her latest books, Kingsolver is still one of my favorite authors, and this work is her chef-d'œuvre. I have a copy of The Bean Trees that I got free, but still don't have this one.

8. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
How do I not own any of Albertalli's books? I adore everything she writes. I wouldn't mind owning all the Creekwood universe books, but I definitely need to get this one.

9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
This book is alongside The Poisonwood Bible on my Ideal Bookshelf print, but I have yet to make my real bookshelf match my ideal bookshelf! Literary fiction doesn't always capture me, but this story of two friends matched at birth has stayed with me.

10. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Well, I had a copy of this book, and then I lent it to someone years ago and never got it back, so it's high time I replaced it!

Which books would you like to own?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Ancillary Justice
Five years ago I was reading: Tempting Faith, Someone Knows My Name, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ten years ago I was reading: Walden

Review of 2016 Reading Resolutions

Happy New Year! I've put together some reading plans for 2017, but before I share those, I want to look back on how I did in 2016 with sticking to my New Year's resolutions for reading.

First, some hold-overs from 2015: As part of my goal to read other religious texts, I finally finished The Qur'an, the Book of Mormon, and the Bhagavad Gita in early 2016. For my goal of reading friends' recommendations, I didn't get to Dancing with God, Winter of Fire, A People's History of the United States, or Woman at Point Zero until this year.

Now, here are the goals I set for 2016, and how I did.

1. Read all the unread books on our bookshelves.
I read almost all the books from my to-read list that were still sitting on our bookshelves. I abandoned (and got rid of) Letters from a Martyred Christian, and I haven't gotten to The Discoverers yet. I ended up keeping George, Faith Unraveled, Dear Mister Rogers, Does It Ever Rain in Your Neighborhood?, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and Adoption Parenting and passed the rest on through PaperBackSwap. However, I realized that there are a handful of other books I've gotten in hard copy that were so low priority they weren't even on my to-read list, so I still have to get to those at some point.

2. Read all the Catholic books on my to-read list.
I did end up going to World Youth Day this year (yay!) and I successfully tackled all these books before I went. I read The Church of Mercy (as well as the follow-up, The Name of God Is Mercy), Philippine Duchesne, and With Burning Hearts. I was very glad to have read them all.

3. Read a novel in French.
I did it! I read Translation Is a Love Affair in French. I kept Google Translate open on my phone the entire time, but other than not knowing a lot of the vocabulary I was able to read pretty fluently and understand (I think) everything that was happening. I'd like to try to read another book in French in the future.

4. Read some highly rated books I'd never heard of.
There are still tons of books with a 4.2 rating or above on Goodreads that I haven't read, but I got through some that were new to me. These were Ficciones, All Creatures Great and Small, and Hunger. There are still some others from the list I'd like to read, but it was nice to at least start to branch out.

5. Read some classic psychology books.
I read Will I Ever Be Good Enough? and Emotional Vampires, both of which were just OK. I still have Feeling Good on my to-read list.

6. Reread some Agatha Christie books.
I decided to start with the Hercule Poirot books and read them in order, and I've read almost a third of them at this point. It's been fun to revisit them, and I've remembered almost nothing from the first time I read them except for Murder on the Orient Express. I found that Hugh Fraser narrates a lot of the Poirot audiobooks and is very talented at doing accents, so I've listened to several that he narrated.

7. Read some World War I books.
I did listen to The Guns of August, but only just started on Good-Bye to All That. I haven't yet decided whether to take up the torch again for the publication of my great-grandfather's WWI memoir, or just let it be a story to share within my family.

8. Read more books that require waiting for hard copies.
I did OK with this. Via requests, I read Friendship at the Margins, Five on a Treasure Island, and Winter of Fire. I also got a handful of the books mentioned above (the French book and one of the Catholic books) through ILL, as well as some book club books. With so many books available on Kindle and audio from the library, it's easy to pass over the ones that require a wait.

9. Read multiple books published in 2016.
When Goodreads' 2015 awards rolled around, I'd read a measly one book in the pool, though plenty of them were on my to-read list. This year, I succeeded in reading a number of books published in 2016, including When Breath Becomes Air, Grit, Before the Fall, The Girls, Truly Madly Guilty, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and The Wonder. The bad news: When Breath Becomes Air is the only one I liked enough to vote for it, so I only ended up casting one vote again this year! At least I tried...

10. Read books published in 2014 and 2015.
I caught up on 22 different books from 2014 and 2015. I won't list them all here, but some of the ones I'd felt most behind on were Everything, Everything, More Happy Than Not, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, None of the Above, The Girl on the Train, All the Bright Places, and Lies We Tell Ourselves.

Overall, I'm happy with how I did with sticking to my reading resolutions this past year! I tackled some different parts of my to-read list thematically, which was a cool way to do it. My 2017 goals will be posted soon!

How did you do with your book-related resolutions in 2016?

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting A Cocoon of Books!

Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession

I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish for another Top Ten Tuesday.

The prompt for this week indicates that we can include books that came into our possession in any manner of ways ("bought, library, review copies"), but I'm not going to count digital copies of books. If I did that, this list would be nearly identical to the "recently read" list I'll be sharing tomorrow. So instead, these are the physical copies of books that most recently came into my possession, either temporarily or permanently.

1. The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People by Gary Chapman and Paul White
This book was given to me by our department director as assigned reading before our upcoming office retreat. After the retreat I will probably pass this one on.

2. Dear Mister Rogers: Does It Ever Rain In Your Neighborhood? by Fred Rogers
This is a book that has been on my to-read list for several years now but I couldn't get my hands on a copy so I had it on my PaperBackSwap Wish List. A copy just became available and I got it in the mail.

3. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
This was one of two books left on my classics list that I hadn't gotten around to reading yet, probably because they weren't available electronically. I got them from our campus library.

4. The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
This was the other book from the classics list that I got in hard copy from the library, and the last one I read to finish up the list of 88 books I'd been working on for 15 years.

5. Baby-Led Weaning: the essential guide to introducing solid foods and helping your baby to grow up a happy and confident eater by Gill Ripley and Tracey Murkett
When I heard about baby-led weaning I couldn't figure out where to start with all the information out there, and someone finally pointed me to the original book, which I immediately put on hold at the local library.

6. What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
This one had a long hold list at the library and I finally got my copy in mid-May. I can't remember if it wasn't available digitally yet because it's so new or if I knew I would want a hard copy because of all the diagrams, but that's how I requested it.

7. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I ordered this one through PaperBackSwap because my husband, who rarely reads, mentioned that he thought he might be interested in reading it after a friend recommended it, so I immediately requested a copy. Unlike most books, Mike devoured this one in two days.

8. The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
I got this through PaperBackSwap as part of my project to stock Gregory's bookshelf with quality kids' books (of all levels). I had read it during my 2014 quest to diversify my reading and thought it was a solid contribution to the collection that I wanted to have on hand.

9. Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming The Life You Were Meant To Live by Martha N. Beck
I read this on Kindle, but I couldn't devote the mental energy to all the exercises at the time, so I ordered a hard copy with plans (as yet unfulfilled) to return to it at a future date.

10. Matilda by Roald Dahl
In addition to picking some recent diverse reads for Gregory's bookshelf, I ordered a bunch of my childhood favorites, including a lot of Roald Dahl. And this one, as I've mentioned, is one of my favorites.

What physical books have come into your home recently?

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting A Cocoon of Books!