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!
Happy New Year, sweet readers! I’ve finally put together my 2016 reading list. I didn’t finish my 2015 list (although I read 24 books, so that’s not bad!). I always start out planning to read two books a month, but then I add all sorts of books spur of the moment because if you can’t read what you want when you want, what’s the point of being a grown up?
I always try to tackle one big classic a year and this year it’s The Brothers Karamazov. Last year I FINALLY finished Les Mis and I’m excited to move on. I’m sure I’ll be adding plenty of re-reads because I can’t help myself, but here’s the beginning!
January
- ✓ The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (start)
- ✓ Emma by Jane Austen (re-read)
- ✓ One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden
- ✓ Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
- ✓ All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (to discuss on the podcast)
With the Kids:
- ✓ Shakespeare Stories for Young Readers by E. Nesbit
- ✓ Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
February:
- ✓ The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (continue)
- ✓ Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
- ✓ A Time to Keep by George Mackay Brown
- ✓ How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig
- ✓ Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (re-read)
March:
- ✓ The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- ✓ Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers
April:
- ✓ The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart
- Seeds of the Word: Finding God in Culture by Fr. Robert Barron
May:
- ✓ The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (finish!)
- Kid Cooperation by Elizabeth Pantley
June:
- After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory by Alasdair MacIntyre
- Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown
July:
- Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum: A Guide to Catholic Home Education by Laura M. Berquist
- Biblical Roots of the Mass by Thomas Nash
August:
- On Writing Well by William Zinsser
- The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You by Jessica Turner
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne and J.K. Rowling
September:
- The Spirit of the Liturgy by Pope Benedict XVI
- Gunnar’s Daughter by Sigrid Undset
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (re-read)
- The Awakening of Miss Prim
October:
- Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brant Pitre
- Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge
- The Mysterious Benedict Society
November:
- ✓ Home by Marilynne Robinson
- An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
- The Felicity Books
December:
- Mary: The Church at the Source by Hans Urs von Balthasar and Pope Benedict XVI
- Middlemarch by George Eliot
- The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
- The Kirsten Books
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
What’s on your reading list this year?
Your reading list is inspiring.
I used your 2015 list to put together my list for 2016. I added “In This House of Brede” as my first item to check off for the New Year.
What made me smile is your February selection “How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare.” It reminded me of the book, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” If I recall correctly, from the time they are little, Francie and Neeley must read a page from the Bible and a page from Shakespeare every night, before bed:)
Maybe I should add “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” to the 2016 list. Such a lovely story:)
Happy New Year!
Whitney
You’ll enjoy Daniel Pink. He’s a great writer and the research he cites is quite startling!
By the way, I love it that you have a reading list! “Bookish,” indeed.
Oh The Brothers Karamozov is tied with Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday for absolute favorite. It was assigned for a religion and lit course in college, and I tore through it in 2 days. Enjoy!
*Karamazov
All the Light We Cannot See is SO GOOD.
Brothers Karimazov and How to teach your children Shakespeare are in my list too as well as the read aloud handbook by Jim Trelease
Great list! You give me hope that I can still be a reader when I get married/have kids someday.
I’m looking forward to reading the following this year:
Fiction:
Rumor Godden’s novels (I’m reading In This House of Brede right now and I LOVE IT)
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
All the Light We Cannot See (I’ve been excited about this one since I saw Bishop Barron’s recommendation.)
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
Persuasion (believe it or not, I’ve never read it!)
Helena by Evelyn Waugh
Edmund Campion by Evelyn Waugh
Louis de Wohl’s novels
Christina Rosetti’s poetry
Non-fiction
God or Nothing by Cardinal Robert Sarah
Humane Generis by St. John Paul II
Exploring Catholic Theology by Robert Barron
Flannery O’Connor: Spiritual Writings
Chiara Corbella Petrolio: A Witness to Joy
The Case for Jesus by Brant Pitre
The Life of Saint Macrina
The Discarded Image by CS Lewis
Men, Women, and the Mystery of Love by Edward Sri
Fasting by Dag Tessore
God’s Battalions by Rodney Stark
The Eternal Woman by Gertrud von le Fort
To Know Christ Jesus by Frank Sheed
The Priority of Christ by Robert Barron
The Bells of Nagasaki by Takashi Nagai
Sin: A History by Gary A. Anderson
The Nature and Mission of Theology by Joseph Ratzinger
Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures by Joseph Ratzinger
Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word by Erasmo Levikakis
Christina Rossetti is one of my favorite poets!
Oh, man. I thought, “WHO has such an ambitious reading list??” Oh, Christina. That’s who!
I think I’ve only read Persuasion, which is, of course, excellent!
Yes, you can still read as a wife and mother- I just need to figure out getting books on the iPad. Books are tricky in the nursing takes forever days!
Hey Haley!! This is a great list, still working on mine for the year.
Question how many of your books do you read on an e reader? Or you a good old fashion print kind of girl?
I’m curious how you plan to approach Brothers Karamazov. Do you anticipate reading whenever the mood strikes or have specific times just for that book?
It took me two years to go through Doctor Zhivago (partly because of life circumstances) and I’ve been reluctant to tackle another big meaty book again. I’d’t do hardly any other reading while working on Doctor Zhivago and am worried I’ll get bogged down in another big book. Curious how you juggle the big book with your other reading.
Middlemarch…one of my most beloved books. Enjoy!
I’ve heard a lot of great things about The Fringe Hours, but I haven’t picked that one up yet. 24 books last year…amazing. With everything on your family’s plate, that really is just impressive. I only managed to make it through 13. Ha! My reading list for this year (which, by the way, you are totally the one who inspired me to start making yearly reading lists) is at http://oldoriginalthoughts.blogspot.com/2016/01/2016-book-list.html
=)
I’m trying to get through Emma again but it’s fallen into about five pieces, with random pages falling off. :-/
Middlemarch is *magnificent*! I tell everyone to read it: if you are thinking of getting married, if you are married, or if you know someone who’s married–basically, if you are a human being, you should read that masterpiece. Enjoy!
Looks like a great list! With a newborn in the house, my own hasn’t been thought through very far. I only have three books on it: Gaudy Night, The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Fr. Stanley Rother, Martyr from Okahoma, and Kristin Lavurnsdatter (the latter two I started in December). In addition to those, it will be whatever I can get on the iPad from the library, since it’s hard for me to nurse and hold a book!
Middlemarch and After Virtue are both fantastic, but I would guess they’d both take you more than a month. Especially After Virtue: it is dense!
Thank you for the book suggestions.
Seriously, thank you for your book lists! I have decided to make this year my “Live Intentionally” year and plan out different saint celebrations/liturgical year/day to day living things for myself and my family. I never thought about making a Book List for the year. Using nap time to create a list and as it turns out, a five-year list for must-read books. So many books good books!
Thank you for your inspiration!
I’m so glad you are reading All The Light We Can Not See! AND discussing it on the podcast. I loved this book and I am excited to hear your thoughts!