Mama Squirrel's List of Books Read in 2020

This time last year, I made such a long list of things I wanted to read, but in a year when the cliché is that everybody had time to catch up on their reading, I didn't seem to. For the first time in a couple of years, I wasn't obligated to read any textbooks; but I was also busy making books of my own (four books in the Plutarch Project, plus an Advent devotional) plus other writing and curriculum projects (like an update to the Canadian version of AmblesideOnline); and sometimes I was just feeling the 2020 thing and not firing enough brain cells to get into a deep reading project.

Well, enough excuses. According to GoodReads, I finished 55 books this year, and that includes re-reads, and my own books that I had to mark as "read" because it would look silly if I didn't, but I'm not listing any of those here. It doesn't include things like  the Bible, Charlotte Mason, Plutarch, and other things that are ongoing.

I'm officially partway through several other books, but being as we're into December, I don't figure on finishing more than a couple more of them before the year's end.

And as always, just because it's on the list doesn't mean I recommend it.

Favourite Christian-themed book 

Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (John Piper)

Second-favourite

The Crime of Living Cautiously: Hearing God's Call to Adventure (Luci Shaw)

and

Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination, and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith (Luci Shaw)

One that I wish I'd read a long time ago

Fern-seed and Elephants and other essays on Christianity (C.S. Lewis)

Favourite new Charlotte Mason-related book

In Vital Harmony: Charlotte Mason and the Natural Laws of Education (Karen Glass) (read it at least twice)

Non-fiction

Intentional Interruption: Breaking Down Learning Barriers to Transform Professional Practice (Steven Katz)

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America (Thomas King)

Canoe Country: The Making of Canada (Roy MacGregor)

Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes (Dana Thomas)

Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale (Adam Minter)

Biography

Flannery O'Connor: Fiction Fired by Faith (Angela Alaimo O'Donnell)

Poetry

The Creatures' Choir (Carmen Bernos de Gasztold)

some of Wendell Berry's Sabbath poems (re-read)

Arts and Crafts Style

Living with Arts & Crafts (Ros Byam Shaw)

The Arts and Crafts Home (Kitty Turgeon)

Living in the Arts & Crafts Style: A Home Decorating Workbook (Charlotte Kelley)

Clothes, decluttering, and other practical things

Wardrobe Solutions (Susie Faux)

 The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good  (Elizabeth L. Cline)

Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really is So Much More (Courtney Carver)

My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today (Cindy Ann Peterson)

Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life (Marie Kondo)

Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day (Jake Knapp)

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future (Ryder Carroll)

On A Personal Note - A Guide to Writing Notes with Style (Angela Ensminger)

The Perfect Setting (Peri Wolfman)

The Useful Book: 201 Life Skills They Used to Teach in Home Ec and Shop (David Bowers)

Wear, Repair, Repurpose: A Maker's Guide to Mending and Upcycling Clothes (Lily Fulop)

Mysteries, mindless and otherwise

The Cater Street Hangman (Anne Perry)

Murder Must Advertise (Dorothy L. Sayers)

The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie)  (re-read)

The Old Contemptibles (Martha Grimes)

Other fiction 

The Substitute Guest (Grace Livingston Hill)

The Mask of Apollo (Mary Renault)

To Be Where You Are (Jan Karon) (re-read)

Come Rain or Come Shine (Jan Karon) (re-read)

Plainsong (Kent Haruf)

 That Hideous Strength (C.S. Lewis)  (re-read)

Fidelity (Wendell Berry)

Blackout  (Connie Willis) (re-read)

All Clear (Connie Willis) (re-read)

The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories

 A City of Bells (Elizabeth Goudge)

Children's books

 The Lost Words (Robert Macfarlane)

A Child's Book of Composers: Lessons and Listening Guides for Composer Study (Hannah Hoyt)

 The Black Cauldron (The Chronicles of Prydain, #2) (Lloyd Alexander) (re-read)

The Castle of Llyr (The Chronicles of Prydain, #3) (Lloyd Alexander) (re-read)

 Taran Wanderer (The Chronicles of Prydain, #4) (Lloyd Alexander) (re-read)

 The High King (The Chronicles of Prydain, #5) (Lloyd Alexander) (re-read)

  Running Out of Time (Margaret Peterson Haddix)