I started blogging in June of 2013. Hard to believe it's been four years already! For this week's Top Ten post, I decided to share ten books that I loved during that first year of blogging. Looking through my Goodreads list, I discovered that I had way more than ten books that I could have shared - and I think I can chalk such a good year of reading up to the blogging world in a lot of ways. I was never one to care all that much about the shiny new releases, which meant that I probably wouldn't have discovered The Night Circus or Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - at least not until running across them on the library shelves years down the road. So many of the books I've loved over the past four years have been ones I've discovered through reading your blogs. Thanks for all the reviews and recommendations! My reading life is better because of you!

It feels like fall! We had to turn on our heat on Saturday (although, being Michigan, it's back up in the mid-70s for the rest of the week). And we spent Sunday afternoon picking apples and making applesauce. Time to curl up with some cider and donuts and a good book!

American Eclipse by David Baron (This was a really interesting read.)
Pip Bartlett's Guide to Unicorn Training by Jackson Pearce & Maggie Stiefvater (Such a fun, cute series!)

Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper (Fun so far, but more profanity than I expected.)
​Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (69%!!)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Book club book for the month)

I was a teacher for ten years, so I have read a fair amount of books set in schools, both fiction and nonfiction. I thought that I should share a list of the schoolish books on my shelves as we begin another school year (I know some of you have been back for a month, but we just started this week). Some of these I have read many times. Some I haven't read yet, but I know I will someday soon. Some of them (like Among Schoolchildren)​ inspired me to become a teacher.

I know I'm a day late in posting, but we were out of town this weekend. In the craziness of packing, I didn't have a chance to get this post ready in advance. We got together with some of my extended family and hung out on the shore of Lake Michigan for the weekend. It was beautiful and so much fun!

​Around the World in 50 Years by Albert Podell (This is a fascinating and really well-done book. And what an amazing feat! He is the only American to have visited every country in the world - and not all of them legally​. . .)
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (I'm on the fence about this one. I feel like I would have enjoyed it more had I read it at a different time. It was a much slower read than I expected, but it included many elements that I love in fantasy stories. Maybe a reread ten years down the road will give me a different opinion.)​

American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World by David Baron (Loving this book so far!)
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (44% - making progress!)

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Unicorn Training by Jackson Pearce & Maggie Stiefvater (Such a fun series.)

I discovered on Friday that it's getting harder and harder to visit the library with my little guy. He's fine in the children's section where there are lots of toys (or another little kid for him to chase around and shriek at). But anywhere else in the library, he won't stay still for a moment! I was literally chasing him up and down aisles of books, reaching the end of one as he was halfway down the next. I had two books I planned to get for myself and ending up getting twice as many, but certainly not because I had time for leisurely browsing! I saw a couple books on the new shelf that looked interesting. I probably should have just put them on my Goodreads to-read list and gotten them next time. But in the thirty seconds it took to scan the new books shelf, my little guy almost ended up out the door twice and ran shrieking back to the children's section once. So I grabbed the books, chased him down, and headed to the check-out. Oy! Who knew going to the library could be so stressful? Anyone have tips for library trips with a one-year-old?

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan (This was a wonderful book, and made for a good book club discussion.)
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde (I haven't reread the later Thursday Next books as often as the earlier ones, so I forgot how much I loved this one!)
The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (This was really good on audio.)
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson (This was a ridiculously good book. I'll for sure be adding this series to my own shelves!)

Around the World in 50 Years by Albert Podell (I've been looking forward to this one!)
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (I've been reading this one sporadically on Serial Reader. I figure if I start posting weekly updates here, that'll force me to read it more often. So far, I'm 20% through.)

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (Another Newbery read!)

It's Bout of Books time! I'm setting no goals this time around - just seeing how much reading I can fit in my regular life. Just like last time, I have a feeling that audiobooks will be the winner here. It always surprises me how much reading I can get in that way.

Time spent reading/listening: One hour and 35 minutes
Total time spent reading/listening: Thirteen hours and 38 minutes
Number of pages read: 70
Total number of pages read: 669
Book I read from: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson
Book I listened to: Word of Mouse by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein
Number of books finished: Three (The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, The Mighty Miss Malone & One of Our Thursdays Is Missing)

Time spent reading/listening: Two hours and 39 minutes
Number of pages read: 112
Books I read from: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson; Around the World in 50 Years by Albert Podell
Book I listened to: Word of Mouse by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein
Number of books finished: Four (The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, The Mighty Miss Malone, One of Our Thursdays Is Missing & On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness)

Total time spent reading/listening: Sixteen hours and 17 minutes
Total number of pages read:​ 781
Number of books finished:​ Four

Anyone else heard of a bookstore chain called 2nd & Charles? A friend told me about it last week, and I convinced my husband that we should make a visit there on Saturday. The prices are phenomenal! I walked out of there with a huge stack, and I can't wait to visit again, hopefully someday very soon!

The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley (I loved this one just as much as I expected to.)
Booked by Kwame Alexander (Another great one from him.)
​My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (This was an absolutely delightful read.)

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan (Book club book for this month. This is a really good one.)

One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde (My Fforde reread for August! I always seem to be sneaking them in at the end of the month.)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 21st and runs through Sunday, August 27th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 20 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I'm signing up for next week's Bout of Books readathon at the last minute because I really don't have a reason not to. :) I'm not setting any goals; I'm just going to keep track of my reading for the week - and make sure I pick up a book instead of my phone at the end of the day. I have a couple of library books to finish before Friday, so this will help give me the push to do so. Anyone else participating in Bout of Books next week?

I'm always looking for ways to read my own books, rather than always-enticing library books. I did so well at the beginning of the year, but not so much any more. My reading for the month of August is pretty much going to be all library books, if I'm going to finish them all by the due date.

So when the idea of TBR Bingo appeared on Litsy last week, I knew this was something I had to participate in! I picked 25 books from my shelves that I'm most interested in reading right now and created a bingo card. I believe the original concept was that you could reward yourself for a bingo by buying a new book. I'm not sure how well I'm going to hold myself to that, since my bookstore visits are rare opportunities that need to be taken advantage of when they happen. At any rate, I'll have read 25 books off my own shelves in the near future! I'm setting a (flexible) goal of two bingos done by the end of the year - and hopefully three!

Life is getting back to normal after a vacation last week. We met up with some of my college friends in San Diego, and spent a few days driving up the coast to San Francisco. It was an amazing trip, and my little guy did great on his first flight! Now we're home. Let routine resume!

Lady of Magick by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (I love this series. Hopefully it won't take me a full year before I read the next one, like it did between the first two!)
​The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other) by Geoff Rodkey (I read this one in about an hour. Give it to your middle grader. They'll love it!)

The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley (Oh, my goodness, I don't know how she does it every time, but she does it every time!)

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (I just heard about this on someone's blog, and I hate that I can't remember who. I've really got to start making notes of that. But it sounded like just the kind of book I like, so I grabbed it at the library.)