Book stats for 2019

This week has been a HARD week as my mind tries to grapple with so many horrifically, sad tragedies. In my little home away from home, my work home, there was a quadruple homicide, something you never imagine will ever happen to small town America.

Yellow ribbons all the way down the road on my way to my school

My friend is grappling with a second suicide in her family realm. And today a basketball icon, Kobe Bryant, died in a helicopter crash along with his daughter. He was only 41. So many lives gone this week. Too many young lives.

And my mind just keeps regurgitating the WHY?

This week we also had an assembly where Meg Johnson came to speak. She is a quadriplegic from an accident when she was 17. She was so positive and upbeat despite the limited use of her hands and no use of her legs. The message she gave these students was that though her trial was more visible than others, it didn't make it any harder than trials we all face. And just because her body was broken, it didn't make her worth any less. She still had a lot to contribute to the world.

What a great message. Life is hard and we all have hard days, weeks, months, even years. BUT it doesn't last forever. Those come to an end eventually and life has its wonderfully good days and weeks and years too.

So on a slightly different tangent, when many people turn to food, alcohol, or television (screens) to escape the inescapable, my escape comes in the form of books. I read to learn and also read to escape to a new life, new scenery, and once in awhile I come up for air and wonder where I am. I love those kind of books that suck you in but only when I have the time for it. Usually, my favorite books are the ones with short chapters that I can digest a little at time without having to devour the whole thing at once.

2019 was a good year for reading. My Goodreads stats say I read 37 books but if you don't count the picture books I included to remember them, I averaged almost 2 a month. That's pretty good for me.

*The Wild Card (a PD book)
*The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
*Indestructible: Leveraging Your Broken Heart to Become a Force of Love & Change in the World
*Educated
*Long Way Down
*I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
*The Chocolate Touch
*Crossing to Safety
*Passionate Readers: The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child
*Elijah of Buxton (good one to listen to)
*Return to Red Castle
*Where the Crawdad's Sing
*Fish in a Tree
*The Wishing Spell
*Firefly Lane
*Insights from a Prophet’s Life: Russell M. Nelson
*David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
*Gooney Bird Greene
*Matilda
*The Case Against Sugar
*The Boxcar Children
*Lion
*Sold on a Monday
*The Giver of Stars

I also subscribe to various podcasts that I listen to on my walks and runs. Here's a list of my subscriptions:

*Book of Mormon (I listen to this on my morning walk around the block)
*Cold (this was an excellent one-time-through podcast to listen to)
*The First Vision: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast (same as Cold; not a continuous podcast)
*The Cult of Pedagogy (school related)
*Don't Miss This Study (great help for teaching my Sunday School class)
*BYU-Idaho Devotionals
*BYU Speeches
*Maxwell Institute Podcast
*All In (FAVORITE)
*Teach 4 the Heart (school related)
*Better Than Happy (FAVORITE)
*The Build Math Minds Podcast (school related)
*Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers (school related)