Bookish Thoughts for May
My book list for May is down in comparison to prior months. I blame this on realizing halfway through May there was an entire season of Call the Midwife on the PBS app that I wanted to watch before it expired. My priorities shifted from books for a while.
I finally tackled my 2022 reading goal of reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time. I learned that The Hobbit is considered a children’s book. I read it considerably faster than I expected. I also learned the next books aren’t actually a trilogy, but six books published in three. If I could count TLOTR for each individual book, I could have three more books added to my monthly total… Oh well! My thoughts on TLOTR? There were times it was a bit too wordy for me. Tolkien is famous for the in-depth world he created in Middle-Earth. Occasionally, the details were too much for me. I wanted the story to move faster. The Hobbit and The Return of the King were my favorites. At the end of The Return of the King, many couples get together and get married. I’m not a huge fan of battles, but give me a love story and a happily ever after any day! I enjoyed how Tolkien concluded the whole tale in the final book.
Even though it took me longer to get through TLOTR than I expected, I was still able to reach my another reading goal for 2022. I reached my 100 books read goal this month. Apparently, I set my yearly reading goal a bit low. So now, I’m hoping for 200 in 2022. We’ll see if I can pull it off! My reading goals for 2022 were to read 100 books and read Harry Potter and TLOTR for the first time. Now that I’ve completed all my goals, I guess it’s time to make some new ones.
Top Picks for May
Non-Fiction: The Life-Giving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming by Sally & Sarah Clarkson. These authors are quite popular with my homeschool-mom friends. I’ve started reading their works and I’m finding I enjoy them as well. The Life-Giving Home is formatted to be read over the course of the year with each month highlighting a certain theme. I borrowed this from the library, so I couldn’t read it on that timeline. Also, I’m not a fan of drawing books out. I want to read them all at once instead of over many months. I still gleaned a lot from this book even though I disregarded the format. It was interesting to read Sally’s perspective looking back on the home life they created and Sarah’s perspective from being raised in their home. This book is an excellent resource for family values and the environments we create in our spaces.
Fiction: The When Hope Calls series by Janette Oke & Laurel Oke Logan. I discovered this series through Goodreads. I was delighted to see my library had the first two books and the third (and I’m guessing final book) will be released in June. I’ve read all of Oke’s When Calls the Heart books and I’ve watched both When Calls the Heart and When Hope Calls as Hallmark Channel shows. When Hope Calls was only so-so as a television show. The books are a loose companion to the show and in my opinion, the books were so much better (as is usually the case). This series opened my eyes to a part of history I had been unaware of before (the plight of home children brought over from England to Canada). I love it when I learn from historical fiction. I’m now anxiously awaiting the next installment.
The Book List for May
1 Star = I did not like it. 2 stars = It was okay. 3 stars = I liked it. 4 stars = I really liked it. 5 stars = It was amazing.
Non-Fiction:
- The Life-Giving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming by Sally & Sarah Clarkson – 4 stars
- Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want by Maria Goff – 4 stars
- Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson – 4 stars
- Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans with Jeff Chu – 4 stars
Fiction:
- And Every Day the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman (Family/Illness) – 3 stars
- The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (Family/Illness) – 3 stars
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings #0) (Fantasy) – 3 stars
- The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) (Fantasy) by J.R.R. Tolkien – 3 stars
- The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings #2) (Fantasy) by J.R.R. Tolkien – 3 stars
- The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings #3) (Fantasy) by J.R.R. Tolkien – 3 stars
- Unyielding Hope (When Hope Calls #1) (Historical) by Janette Oke & Laurel Oke Logan – 3 stars
- Sustaining Faith (When Hope Calls #2) (Historical) by Janette Oke & Laurel Oke Logan – 4 stars
Amy Scott's Thoughts 