Reading List 2021

This year began with graphic novels (a break from all the nonfiction of 2020) and more historical reading (although I stopped some time in the summer). I began a chronological trek through all the fiction I owned, read more homeschooling things, and here and there books from my husband’s reading list fell onto mine as well. The year didn’t end up being as themed as I had though it would but I certainly have re-discovered a love for the dusty classical fiction of my university years. I also finished reading the Bible, even though I stopped recording it here, and have restarted the same Bible reading plan to head into 2022.

Finished Reading (125)

So much better reading this the second time around.
Selengut was increasingly funnier and her tips for tasting are practical and easily applicable. Excellent book for self-gustatory-improvement.
One of my all-time favourite books. I like this better than Musketeers. Drama, justice, revenge, humility — if I could read it in the original French, that would be a life achievement.
Mildly entertaining but there were quite a few moments where Adams felt like he was going out of his way to prove how clever he thought he was.
So entertaining. I stayed up so late every night I picked this up because I just had to find out what would happen next. Shout-out to Walter Melon for its weird but memorable depiction in my childhood.
Poignant and transparent, this book has a lot of tips for joy-driven homeschooling.
Surprisingly fun to flip through XD also great and achievable ideas.
This is not the right book cover but I’ve always read my mum’s copy, purchased in Hong Kong for her, when she wa a child. Such is the value of fairy tales.
When I began returning to my university-assigned texts, I never thought I’d be so stunned by their emotional magnificence. This time when I read it I couldn’t stop raving about it to Jack.
The title sounds pearl-clutchy but Macauley scores point after point on how indeed parents must pay attention to their child(ren)’s education, regardless of whether they are public-schooled or home-educated.
That subtitle is incredibly apt, although I wouldn’t say “how buildings shape” so much as “physical indoor environment.”
I really clicked with this author in all her God-centric navigation around her tendencies to let feelings dictate reality. Certainly a book to re-read.
There are so many versions of the same story, but it’s neat to see such dedication in collecting common folktales.
Tons of examples demonstrating that the gospel writers wrote in the style of their time, and this explains a lot of what people today tend to think of as discrepancies. Certainly a well thought out challenge to our modern ideas of history.
Loved the style here but then they missed out on a lot of opportunities to use actual recycled goods.
Stereotypical American — the army’s great and humiliation is part of life, etc. I don’t know how I picked this up.
The idea that small things can change us is tempting but I am still dubious after reading this text.
I don’t know what it is about design-talk but this book gave me a headache. Enjoyed the illustrations XD.
Super pretentious language (maybe I’m just not a designer) but some great ideas.
Like chatting with a linguist friend. McCulloch addresses uses of emojis, acronyms, passive-aggressive periods, and more.
So there’s Defoe: travelogue! And then there’s Swift: tRAvElooOoooguE.

Swift’s satire is so much that I’m sure that being a Swiftian scholar is a thing but on a very surface level, it’s fun to read him poking fun at the respectable professions (lawyers, doctors, politicians, etc.) until I consider that his irreverence is echoed by the ignorant in… well, ignorance.
Read the abridged version when I was much younger and then the full version in university.

Problematic ethnocentrism (I guess that’s redundant), an example of where man mistakes his culture for God’s culture, but I found value in the very sincere discussion of discovering a personal need for God.
Surprisingly entertaining discussion on cake vs. bread (they started out much the same); as well as what femininity entails in the kitchen and especially with regards to cake.
N.T. Wright is almost as refreshing as C.S. Lewis; both English Christian academics who discuss the logic and rationality of Christianity.

Very precise discussion on the authority of Scripture, but what caught my attention most was the discussion on reader positionality and how that affects our interpretation of the Bible.
A.S. Neill was one very weird dude. As much as he claims to love love and that love is the answer to everything, I wouldn’t want this Freud-worshipper as the sole inspiration to any classroom.

That and he was very definitely not a help to rape culture or someone you’d run to about sexual abuse.
I couldn’t find the cover of the large print edition I read D: anyway, this collection of stories was much more satisfying than the ones pitting him against Herlock Sholmės 😆.
As illuminating as this book was in the life of a gay celebrity, it was also heartbreakingly lonesome.
I’ve realized that these captions aren’t so intrusive after all and so I think I will be adding my two cents here and there.

A hilariously convoluted plot that took much longer to read than expected. Plays should always be performed.