Carrots for Michaelmas

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What I Read in 2014

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Welcome to Carrots! I'm so glad you're here. This is where I share thoughts on liturgical living, faith, parenting, culture, and an extra dose of Jane Austen. You can sign up for my email newsletter here to stay in touch, or look me up on Instagram!

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I don’t know why I’m so nosy about other people’s reads, but…I totally am. And since some of you might be fellow bookshelf snoopers, I thought I’d share the books I read in 2014. In exchange, you have to tell me all about your favorite reads of 2014 in the comments! The one thing I hate about making these lists is that I always feel like I’ve missed a book….or ten.

Non-Fiction

I am definitely a fiction kinda girl, so I was surprised to see how many non-fiction books I read this year!

Fiction

And I was shocked to realize how FEW fiction first-time reads I finished. I think I can just fill up my 2015 reading list with fiction without feeling a bit sorry!

Fiction Re-reads

Every year I end up re-reading one of Austen’s novels and one of the “Anne” books….but I don’t typically read almost ALL of them in one year. Maybe I really needed some comfort reads?

Started but Haven’t Finished:

All three of these are great. Les Mis is just long, but I’m more than 1/3 through the beast, though, so that’s SOMETHING! And the other two are just heavier reads. But I fully intend to finish them in 2015.

Didn’t Even Start:

These I didn’t even get a chance to pick up, but they’ll be on next year’s list, too!

I’d have to say that Something Other Than God was probably the most compelling thing I read all year. I could not put it down. The Little Oratory was probably the most life-changing book I read (just WAIT til you hear our podcast with the author, Leila Lawler in January! She is awesome!) A Jane Austen Education won the prize for the book I most vehemently disagreed with. Villette wins for most anti-Catholic remarks and Teaching from Rest wins for feeling most like drinking a lovely cup of hot tea.

What were some of your favorite reads in 2015? Share in the comments! I LOVE seeing your recommendations to add to my new reading list.

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Comments

  1. If you are wanting to enter Dostoevsky’s world you should definitely read The Idiot. His depiction of what it would mean for a Christ figure to interact with and live in our world is mind blowing.

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  2. My favorite book this year was Glittering Images, and I’m hoping to find and read the rest of the Starbridge series in 2015. I also read every singe one of Ferrol Sams’ books, which was my only goal this year….my fave out of that bunch would be a tie between the Run with the Horsemen trilogy and Down Town. I may or may not have sobbed my way through the endings of several of those….so good, so heartbreaking.

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  4. I just honestly don’t understand how this is possible. I would LOVE to read more but have no earthly idea how to make it happen. Two kids, part time job, growing a baby! When do I have time to read?!? And yet, tons of other mothers in similar situations seem to find the time. What am I missing? And don’t say it’s because of housework because my house isn’t THAT clean and yours isn’t THAT messy!

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    • I get almost all my reading done at night right before bed. I usually spend about an hour reading in the evening before lights out. If I have a really good book, I’ll sometimes get up early so I can read before the kids get up.

      But if it makes you feel any better, I just went through a nearly 5 year stretch in which I read practically nothing. I just wasn’t in a good place focus on books. For everything there is a season!

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    • You can do it! I have four kids, one of whom has special needs. I homeschool two of them, I teach CCD, I work part-time from home, I volunteer with a ministry that servers homeless families, and I’m a foster mom. I read 66 books this year 😉 My reading time is after kids are all in bed. I tuck them in and then head to bed myself and read until I fall asleep!

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      • Thanks Katie. I guess it’s just the age of my children right now because after they are in bed I go on a whirlwind of prepping food for the next day, laundry, answering emails, putting in hours for work, phone dates with family who live far away, and spending time with my husband. Then I crawl into bed at least an hour later than I intended to and wake up an hour before the kids. And if those aren’t things I’m willing to give up or able to do while the kids are awake then book reading just has to go for now. Sigh. Maybe some day right?

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  5. Oh man. I love this. I think I read 42 or 43 books this year. Maybe I’ll screenshot my Goodreads list & put up a quick blog post of my 2014 reads too. I read so much up until August and then my reading completely stopped. I want to pick it back up and get rolling again. When I do, maybe I will finally read some that you’ve listed here.

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  6. I may have read (upon re-discovery of L.M. Montgomery thanks to your blog) -almost- the rest of the Anne books after realizing that Anne of Green Gables, a beloved book from my childhood, was not the end of Anne’s story! I’ve also been slowly making my way through Theology of the Body (love! even if I can’t read more than a couple pages at a time), Introduction to the Devout Life, The Imitation of Christ (these latter two have been enormously helpful to me), and Life of Christ, which is an incredible must-read. Brideshead Revisited and Something Other Than God were both awesome reads from this past year as well. I’m not sure what kind of fiction you go for, but some all-time favorites of mine include Redeeming Love, A Voice In the Wind, and An Echo In the Darkness, all by Francine Rivers. Each of those books I could not.put.down. I’ve also been loving The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander for this Advent. I’m hoping to begin Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brant Pitre in January, as well as Love and Responsibility by St. John Paul II.

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  7. I loved Marilynn Robinson’s Lila, the third book in the Gilead series. For a light and “cozy” read, I just discovered the Miss Buncle series by D. E. Stevenson. (As an aside, how did I not know that “cozy” was a category of books?! They may just be my all time favorites!) I always read Frederick Buechner’s sermons related to Christmas from Secrets in the Dark: Collected Sermons this time of year; he has the most profound way with words. And I loved (and am still reading) Servant of God Elizabeth Leseur’s Secret Diary. I read a lot this year, but those stick out most.

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    • Did I not know that there WAS a third book in the Gilead series?! I’ve only read Gilead and I’ve been meaning to read Home. Better but some Robinson on my 2015 list!

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  8. Oh I like this post! I love spreadsheets and keep one of all of the books I read each year….now I finally have a use for it 🙂

    One of my favorites of the year was “An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination.” It’s not for everyone, it’s a memoir of a woman who experienced a stillbirth. But it’s very honest and well written.

    I also LOVED Something Other than God. Oh and I read Michael O’Brien’s new book “Voyage to Alpha Centauri,” that was a good lighter read.

    Have you read War and Peace? I’m rereading that currently. I read it for first time over Christmas last year and I think I might make it my December tradition. I am just in LOVE with the characters and the story.

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    • I also read “An Exact Replica…” this year and really liked it, probably because I have also lost a child (though not via stillbirth). I loved Something Other Than God, and I read one of Michael O’Brien’s books a couple of years ago and really liked it. And, I read War and Peace for the first time this year.

      I also keep track of the books I read; wonder how much it would overlap with your spreadsheet!

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    • I haven’t read War and Peace, but I’ve always wanted to! Maybe after I finish Les Mis and The Brothers Karamazov.

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  9. The Axe series by Sigrid Undset. …But I’m still working on it. I LOVED Kristin Lavransdatter, which I ordered and read as soon as I read about it here ;-).

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  10. I’ve read a lot, but I don’t remember everything. I wish I kept better track. What I do remember reading:

    Several of Heather King’s books– “Shirt of Flame,” “Stripped,” and “Redeemed”
    Brideshead Revisited (for the first time!)
    My Life with the Saints (Fr James Martin)
    The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything (Fr James Martin)
    Our Lady of Kibeho (Imaculee Ilibagiza)
    150 North American Martyrs You Should Know (Brian O’Neel)
    Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jamie Ford)
    Saint Paul (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI)
    Jesus Shock (Peter Kreeft)

    And a number of novels I can’t remember. Probably lots of other things I can’t remember, too.

    I’m [still] in the middle of St Teresa of Avila’s “Interior Castle” and St Francis de Sales’ “Introduction to the Devout Life.” I also just picked up Julian Fellowes’ novel, “Past Imperfect.”

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  11. Oooh, a year-end book post! Somehow, I’m on track to finish 53 books this year. The highlights:

    Lying Awake, by Mark Salzman (novel about a nun)

    A Good Hard Look, by Ann Napolitano (novel about Flannery O’Connor)

    Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

    The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women’s Work, by Kathleen Norris

    Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese

    Girl at the End of the World, by Elizabeth Esther (also a Catholic conversion memoir; I also loved Something Other Than God)

    The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey

    Les Mis is one of my all-time favorites! Right now I’m reading David Copperfield by Dickens (it’s OK) and Gone Girl, to see what all the fuss is about (surprisingly good writing so far). I have only read ONE Jane Austen novel (travesty, I know!), so I need to get on that in 2015.

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  12. I wish the library had an accessible list of everything you’ve checked out in the last year. I don’t remember very well. Probably my favorite reading of the year was some Neil Gaiman.
    Maybe Goodreads knows what I read this year?!? I’ll have to go look…

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  14. I read so much I blank out on actual titles, but, my some of my favorite authors released books this year, sarah kate lynch-the wedding bees, sarah addison allen had “lost lake” and the last book i finished and loved was “The rosie project”. It was so sweet and funny.

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  15. Villette = bad. I add the vicious anti-Frenchness to the vicious anti-catholicism in my list of things I dislike about the book, but that is probably less bothering for non-French people.
    In all the books I read this year, the one that stayed with me the most is “The Betrothed” by Manzoni, it was just great (it’s funny, it’s sad, it’s swashbuckling with a very keen analysis of characters, there’s redemption, forgiveness, terrible sins, deadly illnesses, social awareness, saintly monks, cowardly priests, angelic bishops, a great but flawed hero, it’s just wonderful! Read it, read it, read it!). And I agree on Something Other Than God and The Little Oratory.

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  16. After a few years of turmoil that totally shut down my reading habit, I’m quite excited to report 2014 was the year I started picking up books again. Went through about 20-some this year, mostly in the fall. My biggest accomplishment was finishing Doctor Zhivago which I started back in either 2011 or 2012.

    My favorites for the year include:

    Emily of New Moon
    I Capture the Castle
    Organizing from the Inside Out
    Life As We Knew It

    Biggest disappointment of the year was The Age of Miracles. Heard so many good things about it but it didn’t go anywhere and I didn’t particularly like any of the characters either.

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  18. Oh, I think I’ll do this at some point. I too love fiction but have read way more non-fiction (I nearly wrote ‘faction’ then…haha…why is it not ‘faction’, I mean it’s about ‘facts’ after all?).

    I haven’t read Villette so can’t comment on the contents, though I do know that it was written just after the Universalis Ecclesiae issued by Pope Pius IX in 1850 when the RC hierachy was reinstituted in England. Having a father of Evangelical (low church) Anglicanism with Calvinist tendencies, I think the book is probably a reflection of the religious climate of the time mixed with her obvious familial prejudices. I’m not a leading knowledge on the Brontes, but that would be my guess having a little idea of their lifestyle (I live not far from the Bronte’s old parsonage…so know a tiny bit about their history).

    Jennifer Fulwiler’s book was one of my favourites this year too. 🙂

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  19. What a great list! I also really loved Something Other Than God and The Little Oratory. Some of my very favorites this year are Jesus A Pilgrimage by Fr. James Martin, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, Untie The Strong Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day.

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  20. The Brothers Karamazov is super tough. Don’t start it until you’ve had a break from Les Mis. Get one with lots of footnotes too because there’s lots of layers and stuff that isn’t easy to “get” unless you have knowledge of Russian culture and their religious orthodoxy. Not trying to dissuade, just want it to be a good not frustrating experience!

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  21. Dear Haley
    i too read A Jane Austen Education.
    with what did you not agree?
    i’d love to hear your critique of it!

    thanks!
    melanie

    Reply

  22. I read The Brothers Karamazov this past year and highly recommend it. I also read (and re-read) some PG Wodehouse, Wendell Berry, and the book Driftless. I am so bad at writing down what I read each year, but I tried to list them in my most recent daybook (http://honeyandthehoneycomb.blogspot.com/2014/12/december-daybook.html)!

    I like your lists… I think I’m going to have to pick up some more non-fiction this year. And I have yet to read Brideshead Revisited!

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  24. I just started the book Thirsting for Prayer by Jacques Phillipe – so far it’s excellent and I would highly recommend it! I wish I had kept a list this year, but I didn’t! 🙂

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  25. Haley, I am almost done with my very first Willa Cather – The Professor’s House. The homeschooling moms in my new locale have a book group and have been reading her – I haven’t read literature in YEARS – though your blog has made me want to! I am always drawn to non-fiction as fiction feels more like a treat and I haven’t had down-time because i worked the last 4 years. Now I’m home and still needed a push to pick up literature – I still *thought* I wanted to have a moms group where we read non-fiction and talked about life. I can’t wait to keep up with reading fiction now that I’ve started, and discuss it with other moms. It’s SO refreshing – way different than my usual how-tos, conversion stories, and lives of saints. That said, I loved reading SOTG as well as Pope Awesome this year and re-reading Gianna Molla’s biography. I am sure I read other things but can’t think of them right now. Happy (almost) (reading) New Year!!! Thank you for your lovely blog. Blessings this Christmas!

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  26. I love to re-read the Anne books every year. I also re-read Sherlock Holmes this year. I feel like a winner every time I actually finish a book. I just finished reading “In the Kingdom of Ice” which is the true story of the USS Jeanette, a boat and crew attempting to reach the North Pole. That was a really good read that kept me interested.

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  27. Just finished my post – I feel like I’m late to the game!
    http://www.positivelyimperfect.com/2014/12/what-i-read-in-2014.html

    But I’m already salivating over all of these new titles from you and everyone else…

    I’m shocked that I didn’t re-read any Jane Austen this entire year…I think that’s a first!
    I’m intrigued by Karen Edmisten’s book, and Bread and Wine has been on my mental list too, I’ll have to add it for real! Dostoevsky has never been my favorite, I got through Brothers Karamazov, but not without some angst. I think Russian lit in general is just not my cup of tea!

    I think I might start some Anne with my daughter this year…6 isn’t too young, is it? It’s been forever, but just seeing you mention it brings back alllll the memories and an instense desire to go dig it out of the basement right now!

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    • Definitely get your hands on Bread and Wine (it’s usually discounted on Kindle!). It’s a really easy read with some great recipes and it’s broken down into short chapters you can read on the go. 🙂

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  30. I had a post like this swimming around in my head too, and I’m so glad you wrote this!! I love reading about what people are reading, and this post also gave me the kick in the pants to finish up my own post along those lines. You have so many good books on here that I want to read too, Deathbed Conversions, Consoling the Heart of Jesus, Diary of a Country Mother, to name a few. My favorite book that I read this year was “Pope Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves” by Jason Evert. It was amazing.

    Reply

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