What I Read: January 2024

In which I wax poetic about libraries for a moment.

Our Wednesdays are our chaos days.

We are usually out the door for our hiking group by 9am, before which I try to sneak in enough school that we can still call it a school day. While we’re out and about for that, we often sneak in a grocery run before heading home, and then land just long enough to throw things in the fridge before piling back into the car to take Arthur to his Wednesday afternoon program at our church from 3:00-4:30.

These are logistically challenging days, and rather than come home for an hour before heading back into town to pick up Arthur, Tennyson and I find ourselves with time to burn in a town that does not actually have that much to do — at least not in winter. We’ve already hiked and been outside, and depending on the weather, we may be tired of it (or just very tired since Wednesdays do not include naps). So lately we’ve been finding ourselves at the library in town.

Yesterday we were the only people in the entire lower-level that houses the children’s section. We sat in the best seats and read books that we plucked off the shelves. We checked out a stack. Tennyson turned in her reading log after finishing 1,000 books before kindergarten, earning her a golden paper crown and her photo on the wall. She got a sticker. We used the kid-friendly restroom, ready to leave and find something else to do… when we discovered they had a library bingo card that took care of the next half hour of time we needed to spend. We checked out another stack of books. We saved upwards of $80, or so my receipt tells me, by checking books out instead of buying them.

An hour of entertainment AND a stack of books, for zero dollars? I’ll take it.

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Here’s What I Read in January:

The Moon by Night: A Novel

by Madeleine L’Engle

My L’Engle streak continues! I’m slowly making my way through The Austin Family Chronicles, which for some reason I only ever read #4 from as a teen (likely the only one of the 5 available in my small-school library?!). This is book #2 in the series, and it’s where we see Vicky grow up into a self-described gangly teenager, beginning to wrestle with big questions of faith and boys and how many families differ from her own idyllic one. It follows the family on a cross-country camping trip… and all the chaos that can ensue when you pack six people in a station wagon for months on end.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Libro.FM

Demon Copperhead: A Novel

by Barbara Kingsolver

Everyone can stop writing books: Barbara Kingsolver has written the novel to end it all. I’m mostly unserious, but WOW did it deserve last year’s Pulitzer Prize, no question about it. It’s a modern retelling of Charles’s Dickens’s David Copperfield, and while I can shame-facedly admit to you that I, an English major, have never read this particular classic, I can assure you that now I wish I had. 

Set in rural Virginia in the early 2000s, the novel is an excoriating look at foster care, classism, and the opioid crisis, all in a neat 560 pages (I would not cut a one). The narrator, Demon, has a voice that’s sharp, observant, and at times truly funny. I did not want to put this down, and would absolutely read it again.

Now that I’ve spent several sentences singing the book’s praises, I will issue a warning: Kingsolver’s version is not for sensitive readers. There’s drug use, addiction, sex, domestic abuse, neglect, and death — all in service to the story, but there none the less.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Libro.FM

The Puppets of Spelhorst: A Norendy Tale

by Kate DiCamillo

I’ll read anything Kate DiCamillo ever releases, and I enjoyed this short novella. It follows five puppets as they change hands and find themselves in a story they never expected. It’s odd and heartfelt, as all DiCamillo’s work is, and ultimately comes full circle in such a way that you can’t help but marvel at. I remain uncertain what age group it’s for: it’s not as violent as Despereaux or Edward Tulane, but it’s not for children in the same way that Mercy Watson is. Maybe it’s one of those that’s meant for the child inside each of us adults?

Goodreads | Bookshop

Tom Lake: A Novel {audiobook}

by Ann Patchett

Hilariously, Kate DiCamillo dedicated The Puppets of Spelhorst to Ann Patchett, and the very next book I picked up was Patchett’s Tom Lake… which is dedicated to Kate DiCamillo. Literary serendipity, which I love.

This is a novel set in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s very much not about the pandemic at all, which I think made it readable while we’re still this close to those heartbreaking early days. The story follows Lara as her college-age daughters return to their cherry farm as the world shuts down, and to fill the time they beg her to tell them about the summer she dated a now-famous actress. The book moves between past and present, weaving together what was and what is, and Meryl Streep narrated the audiobook which was a delight.

Speaking of which: did you know that Spotify Premium now includes access to audiobooks? That’s where I listened, instead of having to wait in line at the library for this new release. Subscribers get 15 hours of free audiobook listening per month.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Libro.FM | Spotify Premium

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What I’m Reading with the Kids:

We’ve been meaning to read Bee-Bim Bop! for awhile and snagged a lucky copy off the library shelves one day. The kids are excited to make the recipe, which feels like a win for the 4yo who struggles to eat new things. I fell in love with this bird book on a trip to Madison Central Library for Tennyson’s birthday, and we’re slowly working our way through it. And Arthur’s been “reading” Owly — it’s a mostly-wordless graphic novel about an owl, perfect for a kid who wants to read on his own, but finds chapter books a little too intimidating yet.

We finished Heartwood Hotel #2: The Greatest Gift (a delight!) and we’re in the middle of The Wild Robot #3.

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What I’m Reading Next:

I'm a couple of chapters into The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker, and am trying to take it slow and soak in the lessons.

Next, I need to read a library copy of The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill before it’s due back — I loved The Ogress and the Orphans last year, so I’m excited for this one.

What are you reading? Hit “reply” and tell me!