There were a solid 2 months in the year of 2022 that I read very very little. I had no mental or physical energy to read, and that was ok. When things calmed down a bit, I looked longingly at our Costello Family Goodreads tracking list that hangs in our kitchen and tried to be ok with the idea that I wasn’t going to reach my goal of 55 books this year. I think at the end of October I was at 37-ish books. I don’t sit well with defeat. So I started chipping away. I read a few books on grief. Timely. I read some work by C.S. Lewis and Ernest Hemingway. Quick, but not my favorites. I read a lot of nonfiction and a devotional during the month of December. Seasonal. I read some good fiction that pulled me in and I finished each in a few day’s time. And it worked! I finished. I made my goal of 55 books on December 30, 2022 with one day to spare.
I tend to read a lot more nonfiction than fiction, but I chose my favorites of each.
Best nonfiction of 2022:
This is one of those mom books that I may need to re-read every year. I found this book to be a breath of fresh air in mothering and parent advice. As the title suggests, Mom’s often feel desperate and need to breathe, literally and physically. This book gave many practical approaches and advice in order to enjoy motherhood in the way God designed it. This book made me feel great and may have been my favorite of the year.
Every Christian mother should read this book. I actually bought this book (rarely happens) and I’ve been passing it around to mom friends ever since. It’s about being more than today’s culture suggests of ‘wine o’clock’ moms or ‘bad mom’s club’ moms or mediocre moms who barely survive and live miserably with their blame on their own kids. Oftentimes current culture suggests surviving motherhood and living in disdain until your kids move out, but this author offers a Christian perspective on biblical motherhood. The author has 10 children. Highly enjoyed!
Well I’m a science nerd and this book was the bee’s knees. So cool. I’ve tried telling people about this book and they look at me weird, but it’s really not. Let me see if I can articulate it. Breathing has major effects on our entire body and health. Changes in our bodies due to changes in our diets over the past hundreds of years has led to changes in our palates and airways. This is why so many of us have trouble with mouthbreathing, need orthodontic work and have a slew of respiratory issues, especially sleep apnea. The author gives continuous evidence based, historical and personal information and facts. There are breathing exercises offered that are extremely effective. Many sacred prayers are said in 6 second rhythms (ie Hail Mary, Buddhist monk mantras, the traditional chant of ‘Om’, Hindu hand and tongue poses called mudras, and yoga chants) and interestingly enough, breathing in for 6 seconds/out for 6 seconds has been found to be the most calming and relaxing for people. Amazing book!
Jeremiah read this book first after hearing about it on a podcast that he highly respects. He raved about the book so I of course had to read it. The title “Intentional Father” gives you an idea of intentional parenting, but the book goes well beyond that. In our culture, there is no specific age or event that signals a boy transitioning from childhood to adulthood, and that most other cultures have something to fill this. The author (effectively) argues that this is lack of formal sending forth of our sons is creating huge disadvantages and problems for young men. He leads through a several year long coming of age journey that he did with his own son (and later his daughter) that reaped huge benefits in his son as far as preparing him to be an effective young adult full of healthy Christian masculinity. Highly highly recommend for anyone with a tween/teen son!
I read this shortly after Mom passed away and it gave me immense hope. I really really liked it. The premise of this book is how at the end of life there is an overwhelming pattern of things that people experience, regardless of religious or personal beliefs. Other than being very comforting to me, I found the book fascinating in that I witnessed several of these things with my Mom in her last months. The first is visions of deceased family members. Mom talked all the time about her Mother, Father and sisters visiting her in the nursing home, or that she was going to their homes. She was always very happy about this. The second is the person close to death will speak of going on a trip, something they are very excited about doing. In her last few weeks at the nursing home, Mom was telling me how she was headed to the airport, she was flying to Rochester, MN. According to her, my Dad was already there in meetings and she was very excited to go. And lastly, the dying individual seeing a crowded room when there isn’t one (that we can see). They usually report seeing a full room of people, some that they know or recognize, and a sense that these people want the person to come with them or are waiting for them. I did not experience this with Mom, but she was unconscious to us for her last 5 days or so as well. All of these things are very comforting to the dying person, although they may seem very eery to the living person. This book gave me hope and comfort in the fact that I WILL see my Mom again, in a healed body, and she may even be in my crowded room when my time comes.
Best fiction of 2022:
You know a book is good if you still think about it months later. This is one of those! The story plot takes place in an eerily similar, yet dystopian society where a single mother gets her baby taken away and has to go to ‘The School for Good Mothers’ in order to attempt to prove that she is fit to be a mother. While in this year-long boarding school, she must take care of a freakishly real doll that acts, looks and feels like a real toddler. Sounds weird, right?! I think what got me about this book is that it’s hauntingly only a flash of reality away from our current society. Dystopias always get me. Read it!
Man this was a good one if you like historical fiction (I do!). This was the loosely accurate story of Einstein’s first wife and her contributions to his discoveries, their life together and her lack of recognition. Very well written and so so good!
I recently read this book and it was so great I finished in just a few days. A fictitious account of a world renowned concert pianist who is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) soon after a divorce. His disease progresses over about 18 months and his ex wife ends up being his primary caregiver, despite her reservations and poor feeling about him. With ALS, a person gradually is paralyzed in their own body (even to the point of the diaphragm), but their mind is left intact. This is not a sappy love story. I saw many many parallels in being a part of caregiving for Mom and the journey of watching someone live with a progressive disease. Touched my caregiver heart. Excellent book. This author also wrote “Still Alice” about a woman with Alzheimer’s Disease which I read a few years ago and was also excellent.
Making a reading goal for myself has been a real deal game changer. I started reading on purpose when Lucy was a toddler, so about 10 years ago. I needed something that I enjoyed, that I could achieve, and that I could do when I had time (which was not very often). I only read light books as I was recently out of grad school and reading anything of heavy substance made my head spin. I read a handful of books and it made me happy, so I kept doing it. It grew from there. I hope everyone makes a reading a priority!
Happy reading!
House of Costellos 