What I Read: March 2024

Life Progress Awards

These are the days of kids with endless energy and saying goodbye to naps and making yet another dinner that perhaps no one will eat when it finally makes it to the table. They can be a bit (okay, a lot) torturous. It’s so hard to see progress happening when each day feels so completely like the last.

But we know the library staff by name in two different locations. Tennyson can pedal a bike. Arthur can read early chapter books aloud to his sister.

Life Progress Awards, Unlocked.

---

Here’s What I Read in March:

I finally finished the entire (original) series featuring Vicky Austin and family! My 14-year-old self would be so proud. She checked out A Ring of Endless Light at least ten times, completely oblivious to the fact that there were four other books in the series that clearly my school library did not have. So — I’ve been reading through them all in order, and what a gift. Here’s a review of Meet the Austins and the The Moon by Night, Books 1 and 2 in the series. And here’s the rest:

The Young Unicorns: A Novel {Book 3}

by Madeline L’Engle

The Austins spend a year in NYC following their cross-country camping trip, and this novel follows some of that year. It’s part mystery and part magical and I really didn’t understand what was happening for the first 50 pages or so — it’s also a third-person narration, not first-person from the point of view of Vicky. Several characters get introduced right away and there’s just no easing into it. As with all of L’Engle’s fiction, it’s a story where people are good and not so good, where faith can hurt and heal. Now that I’ve read them all, Book 4 makes more sense in the context of following this one, but this would be my least favorite of the series.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Libro.FM

A Ring of Endless Light: A Novel {Book 4}

by Madeline L’Engle

I have read this book so many times (and as recently as September of 2022), that I thought I’d just leaf through it before moving onto Book 5… instead I picked it up and read it cover to cover and loved it just as much (and maybe more) than every other time. It’s such a capture of teenage angst, but in the best ways, with Vicky wrestling with life and death and attraction and not knowing what she’s going to do with her life… I’ll read it again, I’m sure, and that’s about as much of an endorsement as any words I can write here.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Libro.FM

Troubling A Star: A Novel {Book 5}

by Madeline L’Engle

The end! I made it!

Book 5 of the series again follows Vicky Austin in the first-person as she takes an unexpected trip to Antarctica, but it also adds a layer of mystery much like The Young Unicorns does. This time, it works, and I think that first-person narration is why. You get to follow along with Vicky and only know what she knows, which makes the mystery engaging and interesting, without overtaking the entirety of the plot. Is the plot far-fetched? For sure. Does the ending leave you wanting yet more of Vicky’s story? Also, yes. I think that’s probably the sign of a series well-ended.

Goodreads | Bookshop | Libro.FM

There is one more Austin-related book, and that’s The Arm of the Starfish (plus a whole bunch of O’Keefe family novels that have some character crossover), but it’s about Suzy all grown up with a family of her own, so I’m not sure it counts? Maybe I’ll read it anyway. Stay tuned!

Book Lovers: A Novel {audiobook}

by Emily Henry

Content warning: I did not realize when I started this book on Spotify that it’s a romance. I thought it was about loving books! So it was a bit of a shock to my ears when clothing started coming off. So, be forewarned: this one is NOT safe for the minivan. The title has a much different interpretation than I originally thought, haha!

An NYC literary agent goes on a month-long vacation with her very pregnant sister to a tiny town that features prominently in a book they both love. Agent’s NYC nemesis shows up on Day One. They spar. They learn how to work together. They, of course, fall in love. It’s predictable, cheesy, and completely absorbing. The dialogue is snappy! Worth reading if you like a good rom-com and don’t mind a bit of extracurricular activity on the page (this is definitely an “open door” romance, where the action happens with the door “open,” as opposed to “closed door” where the action happens behind a door where you can’t “see” it). Next time, I’d probably read an Emily Henry novel on paper, though, and save myself some blushing as I wash dishes in my kitchen.

A reminder: you can listen to up to 8 hours of audiobooks free each month if you already pay for Spotify Premium!

Goodreads | Bookshop | Libro.FM | Spotify Premium

How To Live: What the Rule of St. Benedict Teaches Us About Happiness, Meaning, and Community

by Judith Valente

I read this as part of a small group at my church for Lent and enjoyed it. It made a really great book for discussing a few chapters at a time, and I think help shaped our discussion each week. I’m not sure it’s meaty enough to be something I’d read on my own and have it impact my life in a super-significant way, but I liked hearing other people’s interpretation of what we found in the pages.

Goodreads | Bookshop

The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

Sometime books just find their way to you in weird ways, and this one certainly did. I was discussing with a friend that I wasn’t super happy with the history reading we are doing in first grade for Arthur, and she mentioned Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World which sounded like exactly what I wanted. A week later, during an impromptu playdate, a friend mentioned this book by Wise Bauer and then handed me her copy next time she saw me. At first the 700+ pages was intimidating, but once I dove in, I was hooked. It was engaging, moved fast, and is stuffed with resources for parents choosing a classical-model of education for kids at home. I skimmed the sections on older children for now, but I’ll be grabbing a copy of the newer edition that releases tomorrow (4/1/24) and coming back to them, I’m sure. This book will definitely influence how I put together our school curriculum if we continue to homeschool next year and/or beyond.

Goodreads | Bookshop (new edition) | ThriftBooks (older edition)

---

What I’m Reading with the Kids:

We finished the first book in the Magical Animal Adoption Agency series called Clover’s Luck, and we read the second book, too, titled The Enchanted Egg. We just got book three, The Missing Magic, from the library! The series is by Kallie George, the same author that wrote Heartwood Hotel, which we adore. Speaking of, we finished book number three in that series, Better Together, which takes place in Spring. I’m trying to hold off on reading the last book of the series that takes place in summer until actual summer, but it’s hard — they are so good!

Arthur and I listened to Mac B. Spy Kid #1 by Mac Barnett — the author reads the audio himself, and he is so good at it. The story is quirky and hilarious — a great early chapter book for an emerging reader who wants something a bit adventurous. Arthur (almost 7yo!) did have to pause on his individual listening toward the end because it was getting scary (the main character gets caught by a guard at the Louvre), but once we listened together, he was just fine.

Tennyson (4yo) is now on a Wild Robot kick. We got The Wild Robot Escapes from the library on audio, and she asks to listen to it every morning while Arthur is working on math, “from the beginning.” She must start at the beginning each time, no matter if she got 20 minutes in or an hour in. So she has listened to the beginning of the Wild Robot Escapes at least 14 times… but never the middle or the end. How very FOUR of her.

---

What I’m Reading Next:

I’ve got Unreasonable Hospitality checked out from the library since I thought it would pair well with The Art of Gathering that I read last month, but I have yet to crack it open. Scott’s been pestering me to read Children of Blood & Bone by Tomi Adeyemi since he loved it and the sequel, and I snagged a Playaway off the library shelves last time I was there. We’ll see if I can fit it in this month! A friend gifted me this beautiful book that she didn’t know I already had on my wishlist, and I might be tempted to dive in to it before my library books!

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