January Book Report

Contoocook, NH, Jan 2025

I finished 10 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“Consider my grandmother... But she wasn't a fan of the unvarnished truth. She liked the truth fully varnished, with a tinted glaze and a doily on top.” --A. J. Jacobs, It's All Relative

Here are the books I finished in January 2026: 

1. The Road that Made America by James Dodson (5-stars)
2. N or M by Agatha Christie (3-stars)
3. Love Lies Bleeding by Susan Whittig Albert (4-stars)
4. Evans Above by Rhys Bowen (3-stars)
5. It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree by A. J. Jacobs (4-stars)
6. Get a Hobby: 365 Things to Do for Fun by Jasmine Cho (3-stars)
7. Monday the Rabbi Took Off by Harry Kemelman (3-stars)
8. The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are by Libby Copeland (4-stars)
9. Iowa, the First Free State in the Louisiana Purchase : From its Discovery to the Admission of the State into the Union, 1673-1846 by William Salter (4-stars)
10. Chile Death by Susan Whittig Albert (3-stars)

I am off to a good start with my reading this year. It was very cold and snowy in New Hampshire last month which made curling up in a comfy spot with my book very appealing.

26 Questions in 2026 (#3)

To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026. 

 #3 - Best book you’ve read so far with the club? Why?

I give all the books I read star ratings, and 5-star books are fairly rare -- I save that for books that were really wonderfully written and that really spoke to me in some way. Out of the 110 books I have read for the club there are only 8 that I gave 5 stars.

• The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
• Roots by Alex Haley
• Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather
• Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
• The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

I understand that the question asked for a favorite, but looking back at these amazing reading experiences I really can't put one above the others.

 

26 Questions in 2026 (#2)

To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026. 

 #2 - What classic are you planning to read next? Why? Is there a book first published in 1926 that you plan to read this year?

I don't have a 1926 book on my current list but an earlier list included Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy which was published in 1926.

I'm not sure which one I will read next, I rarely plan that sort of thing in advance, I just pick up whatever appeals to me in the moment. I have a couple of Classics Club titles in progress -- both very slow progress. War and Peace is my "read at lunch at the office" book and has been for several years now--I am making slow but regular progress on it. Several months ago I began listening to One Hundred Years of Solitude on audio in the car, but other things to listen to while I drive keep appealing to me more. Not sure if that one will end up abandoned or not. 

Making Progress on Series

In 2023 I set it as a goal to make progress on some of the many multi-book series that I had been reading. I set a specific goal of reading 20 books from a specific list of series and I accomplished that. Since then I have continued reading from these series and have added a few new ones. In 2026 I am setting myself a goal of reading another 20 books from specific series.

1. Vintage Kitchen Mystery series by Victoria Hamilton. There are 12 books in this series and I have read the first 6.  [6 remaining]
   
   
2. Commissario Brunetti series by Donna Leon
   There are 32 books in this series and I have 6 left to read.  [6 remaining]
   
   
3. Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear
   There are 18 books in this series and I have read the first 7.  [11 remaining]
   
   
4. China Bayles series by Laura Whitig Albert 
   I have only read 6 of the 29 books in this series, but I have enjoyed them so want to keep going.  [23 remaining]
   
   
5.  Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper series
   I am up to book 12 in this 15 book series of quilting-themed mysteries so I may wrap this one up this year. [4 remaining]
   
   
6. The Bibliophile Mystery series by Kate Carlisle
   I have read 10 of the 17 adventures of book-restorer Brooklyn Wainwright. [7 remaining]

I will need to read 57 books to finish up these series which I don't expect to happen this year, but if I finish 20 that will be good progress. Then I can start reading some more new-to-me series!

The Road that Made America

The Road That Made America: A Modern Pilgrim's Journey on the Great Wagon Road by James Dodson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a book of history, a travelogue, and a memoir, all mixed together into a very readable and super-informative story about early America.

"Little known today, the Great Wagon Road was the primary road of frontier America: a mass migration route that stretched more than eight hundred miles from Philadelphia to Augusta, Georgia. It opened the southern frontier and wilderness east of the Appalachian mountains to America's first settlers, and later served as the gateway for the exploration of the American West. In the mid-1700s, waves of European colonists in search of land for new homes left Pennsylvania to settle in the backcountry of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas." --flap copy

Dodson was an excellent companion for a modern-day journey along this historic route. His writing reminded me of John McPhee and John Gierach, which I really like. I learned a lot about the history of Pennsylvania and am inspired to check out the Pennsylvania Trails of History at some point. 

26 Questions in 2026

To kick off the new year the Classics Club posted a list of 26 questions designed to help members consider their relationship with reading classics. I love this idea, but want to take a slow approach to this so I can really think about my answers. I plan to answer one question every few weeks throughout 2026. 

 #1 - When did you join The Classics Club? How many titles have you read for the club so far? Share a link to your latest classics club list.

I joined the club in September 2012. It took me until 2018 to read my first list of 50 titles. I finished my second list in November 2023 and started in on my third (and current list) which will ideally be completed by December 31, 2028. From the beginning I have set the additional rule for myself that once I compile a list--which has more than 50 books on it--I can't add to it, I have to select my 50 books from the compiled list. I have finished 10 books from my current list so my grand total for the club so far is 110 books read. 

December Book Report

Frozen rain chain
Manchester, NH

I finished 4 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“Let go of who you think you are supposed to be; embrace who you are.” --Brené Brown, Dare to Lead

Here are the books I finished in December 2025: 

1. Dare to Lead by Brene Brown (4-stars)
2. Rueful Death by Susan Whittig Albert (3-stars)
3. A Poisonous Silence by Jenny Adams (3-stars)
4. Ornaments of Death by Jane Cleland (3-stars)

I did not finish my Doorstoppers in December book, but I made progress on it, am enjoying it, and will keep going with it. 

This is the second year in a row that I didn't meet my goal of reading 100 books. I have set the same goal for 2026, but will re-think my number if I fall short again this year. 

Doorstoppers in December

On the Elle Thinks blog I came across a new-to-me reading challenge: Doorstoppers in December hosted by writer and historian Laura Tisdall.  I love the concept of this: one big, chunky book to sink into in this cold month. 

Several months ago I started New York by Edward Rutherford which is an 862 page-long work of historical fiction. I was liking it, but it has languished next to my chair for a while now. I am going to jump back into it and see if I can finish it by the end of the month. 

November Book Report

Some of the sewing that is
cutting into my reading time

I finished 8 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“Families are like fingerprints; no two are the same, and they tend to leave their mark.” ― Alice Feeney, Daisy Darker

Here are the books I finished in November 2025: 

1. A Deadly Endeavor by Jenny Adams (4-stars)
2. Heaven's Ditch: God, Gold and Murder on the Erie Canal by Jack Kelly (4-stars)
3. Tidy Up Your Life: Rethinking how to Organize, Declutter, and Make Space for What Matters Most by Tyler Moore (4-stars)
4. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (4-stars)
5. Broken Dishes by Earlene Fowler (4-stars)
6. You Feta Watch Out by Linda Reilly (3-stars)
7. Sticks and Scones by Diane Mott Davidson (3-stars)
8. Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson by Claire Hoffman (4-stars)

There are fewer than 30 days left in the year and I have 18 books left to read in order to reach my goal of 100 books read in 2025. This is not going to happen. At this point I plan to read what I feel like reading and get to whatever number I get to and not worry about it. 

I am considering changing my goal number for next year as I seem to have shifted toward reading less (I am sewing more and have gotten into genealogy) and reading more history which I am enjoying. It takes longer for me to read though, so my numbers are lower. 

September/October Book Report

Newport, RI, October 2025

I'm not sure what happened to October, it was just starting and now I seem to have missed it! Since my last book report I finished 12 books.

A quote from this month's reading:

“I didn’t tell him that it was all stored as binary information on rapidly spinning shiny discs, partly because I’d have to look up the details myself, but mostly because by the time he’d understood the technology it would have been replaced by something else.” ― Ben Aaronovitch, Broken Homes

Here are the books I finished in September and October 2025: 

1. Ripped from the Pages by Kate Carlisle (4-stars)
2. Fair Play by Louise Hegarty (3-stars)
3. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch (audiobook, 4-stars)
4. Steps to the Altar by Earlene Fowler (4-stars)
5. Seduction Theory  by Emily Adrian (3-stars)
6. Gallows Court by Martin Edwards (3-stars)
7. Books of a Feather by Kate Carlisle (3-stars)
8. Knave of Diamonds by Laurie R. King (4-stars)
9. Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide by Diana Elder and Nicole Dyer (3-stars)
10. Retreat Yourself by Joey Hulin (3-stars)
11. Sunshine and Shadow by Earlene Fowler (5-stars)
12. The Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin (4-stars)

At this point it looks like I may not read as many books this year as usual. I am doing other stuff though, so am not going to worry about it. I'm going to read what appeals to me and see where I end up at years' end.

August Book Report

August 2025
A Constructive Month!

I finished 9 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“If you want one thing too much it’s likely to be a disappointment. The healthy way is to learn to like the everyday things, like soft beds and buttermilk—and feisty gentlemen.”
― Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

Here are the books I finished in August 2025: 

1. Enquiry by Dick Francis (3-stars)
2. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (5-stars)
3. Arkansas Traveller by Earlene Fowler (4-stars)
4. The Antidote by Karen Russell (5-stars)
5. Bitter Roots by Ellen Crosby (4-stars)
6. Bibliomaniac: An Obsessives Tour of the Bookshops of Britain by Robin Ince (audiobook, 3-stars)
7. Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch (audiobook, 4-stars)
8. Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz (3-stars)
9. The Family Tree Toolkit by Kenyatta D. Berry (4-stars)

My 20 Books of Summer project did not get completed. I read 6 of the books on my list which I am considering progress as they were all from my shelves. Unfortunately, I felt compelled to attend my library's book sale so there are now even more unread books on my shelves than there were at the start of the summer.  

Lonesome Dove

Lonesome Dove 

by Larry McMurtry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! I wouldn't have expected too, but I did. It is quiet, and thoughtful, and full of complicated people doing the best they can in a challenging world. Lots of hard things happen--but ultimately I found the book to be optimistic. The descriptions of the landscape of the American west were beautiful. Harsh at times, but beautiful. It felt like you were riding along with the herd seeing what the cowboys saw. 

“It's a fine world, though rich in hardships at times.”

The point of view in the novel moves around --you are in the thoughts of most of the characters at some point in the story--so you get a full picture of events from all the sides. The main characters have both lived long lives by the time the story begins so they are able to both look back and have a more experienced perspective on things than some of the younger characters. 

“Yesterday's gone on down the river and you can't get it back.”

Augustus McCrae was my absolute favorite character. He is a charming loafer, but ultimately he is a solid, dependable man who is standing up for what he believes is right as he works his way through a complicated world. 

“My main skills are talking and cooking biscuits,' Augustus said. 'And getting drunk on the porch.”

He is also very self-aware and practical about it.

“I'm glad I've been wrong enough to keep in practice. . . You can't avoid it, you've got to learn to handle it. If you only come face to face with your own mistakes once or twice in your life it's bound to be extra painful. I face mine every day--that way they ain't usually much worse than a dry shave.”

This Pulitzer-winner is on my Classics Club list and was part of Nick's 2025 American classics chapter-a-day read-along.