Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

In Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Ally Nickerson is having quite a difficult time at school. She always has, but with moving every year or so as a military family, she's been able to hide it from her teachers and her family. Ally can't read and by 6th grade it is getting harder to get by without that particular skill. Things just seem to get worse for her until one day she suddenly has a new teacher, Mr. Daniel. Mr. Daniel is exactly the kind of teacher we would all like to have. He is kind, he is understanding and he sees each of his students as they are and individualizes their learning. Ally does what she can to keep her problem from him, but eventually she can keep it a secret no longer.

This was such a sweet, wonderful book. The title, Fish in a Tree, refers to this quote by Albert Einstein:

Ally, like a lot of young people, learns differently. She is certainly not stupid, but it takes one teacher paying the right amount of attention to see that and then to convince her of it. Ally is smart, but not in the ways that are measured at school. She is funny and kind and just the type of character that makes for a good role model in books for children. This book provides plenty of examples of students that don't have an easy road, but the concept of "grit" is well explained and demonstrated.

This book is also excellent for teaching a little compassion. Not everyone has the same experiences and my favorite thing about reading is exploring the life of someone else. Maybe the reader is the "weird kid" at school and is able to see that weird kids turn out to be pretty interesting. Or maybe the reader is the "cool kid" who isn't always very nice and can see the consequences of bullying or exclusion. Or maybe the reader is just a regular kid- is there really such a thing?- who learns that everyone around them has something special, themselves included.

I highly recommend this book, especially for teachers, but I think anyone can enjoy it. My 9-year-old has been impatiently waiting for me to finish so she can have her turn.

The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

Spy novels aren't usually my thing, but when a friend offered to loan me The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer, I was happy to give it a try. After all, I had heard that it was inspired a bit by Jason Bourne and I am a fan of his, though it would be more accurate to say I am a fan of Matt Damon. The Chemist features a young woman, a scientist whose real name isn't disclosed for some time; for most of the story she is called Alex. Alex was a brilliant young medical student when she was recruited by "the department" (no name, not even a capital D) to work on chemical compounds to be used in interrogations. After a number of very successful years, Alex decided to leave the department, but suddenly she is being called in again.

There are good guys. There are bad guys. There are guys whose affiliation of which we aren't certain. What we do know is that Alex is a bad ass. She is smart and strong and her survival instincts are sharp. This is no damsel-in-distress novel. This is a girl-saving-the-world novel and it's quite exciting. While Meyer is not likely to ever win a Pulitzer, her books are entertaining and this one had me reading late into the night. For those of you scoffing at the author's name, forget that YA series that made billions of dollars (who would want that, anyway??). Did you read The Host? It was really good and this one was, too, though in a completely different vein. I challenge you to read this. I think you'll really like it.

I'll leave you with this quote from Alex:

"I am the bogeyman in a very dark and scary world. I frighten people who aren't afraid of anything else, not even death. I can take everything they pride themselves on away from them; I can make them betray everything they hold sacred. I am the monster they see in their nightmares."

What I Heard- Harry Potter

I love the Harry Potter books. I really do and I was thrilled to share them with my children. We made them a promise a while back that when the read all the Harry Potter books, we could all go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter together. I started out reading the books to them, but then we switched over to listening to the audio versions. My voice is certainly no match for that of the great Jim Dale!

Over Christmas vacation, we finally finished and it was fantastic! My favorite part, a moment I will always treasure is when my two sweet children looked at each other and me in shock as they then shouted in unison, "Harry's a horcrux!" It was wonderful! And as we discussed all the tiny little things that JK Rowling had woven into the story from the very beginning, they were fascinated with all the things they didn't realize were important. When the truth about Snape was revealed, they were so surprised. I think they will want to reread just to understand all of the things that were working under the surface.

I love these books and the audio versions are my favorite audiobooks. It was our rule that we had to read or listen to the books before we were allowed to watch the movies and we love to talk about how much less sense the movies make without reading the books. The movies mean well, but they just leave out too much. I am so glad we did this together as a family. I cannot recommend these audio books highly enough.

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

My 9-year-old received A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron last year for Christmas. It took her a while to get around to it, but as soon as she finished she insisted that I read it. She is a huge dog lover and this was JUST the book for her. Perhaps you've seen the movie trailer? The film version is set to release January 17th and we will absolutely be there to see it.

It is hard to describe this book without telling too much of the story, but seeing as how the film trailer gives so much away, I don't feel badly about telling you a bit. This book follows the lives of one dog, reborn into many different dog lives. First he is Toby, then he is Bailey, then a few more, but I won't tell you too much about it. Throughout the book, this dog tries so hard to understand his purpose in life and each time he thinks he has found it.

My purpose, my whole life, had been to love him and be with him, to make him happy.

If you are a dog lover, or even if you just like them from a distance, you should really read this book. I hope the movie does it justice.

2016 in Review

1. The World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellows

2. Nest by Esther Ehrlich

3. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

4. The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie

5. The Birth House by Ami McKay

6. Lost and Found by Emily Parkhurst

7. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

8. Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski

9. Slated by Teri Terry

10. The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster by Scott Wilbanks

11. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

12. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

13. The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

14. Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

15. Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster

16. Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent

17. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

18. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

19. I Am Sophie Tucker by Susan and Lloyd Ecker

20. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

21. Talk to Me by Sonia Ellis

22. The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright

23. Girls, Drums and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

24. Repeat by Neal Pollack

25. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

26. Stuffocation by James Wallman

27. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg

28. The Sound of Glass by Karen White

29. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

30. Scary Mommy's Guide to Surviving the Holidays by Jill Smokler

31. The Doctors Are In by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?

32. The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

33. The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

34. This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

35. Reading the Sweet Oak by Jan Stites

36. The League of Unexceptional Children by Gitty Daneshvari

37. Smoke by Catherine McKenzie

Well, what a year it has been! I read some books I really liked and some that didn't really speak to me as much. I had stretches of heavy reading and other times when I languished with a book for far too long. Personally, it was a bit of an upside down year with an unexpected move so that hampered my reading with busyness and feelings of distraction. I would still say that 37 books is a perfectly respectable number. Perhaps I will improve on it a bit in 2017, but I refuse to allow my reading to become about the number of books I complete.

In addition to the books I completed, I was also very proud of my success at my first reading challenge. Since the challenge was about tackling my TBR pile, I was able to count books that I read and also that I removed from the pile completely. I was able to remove FIFTY-NINE books from my TBR list. I was especially grateful for this when it came time for that move across the country. I enjoyed the challenge to stop ignoring the books I've had for so long and, as a bonus, I didn't purchase ANY books for myself in 2016. Between that and the fact that I only purchased one book in 2015, I have come to realize that I really don't need to own nearly as many books as I used to think that I did. I still love receiving them as gifts, but I find that I am less interested in buying them for myself. I have so many still to read and I have access to a wonderful library system, so perhaps I won't buy many in 2017, but I'm not making any promises.

Speaking of 2017, I am making a goal to read 45 books, but I won't stress about it too much. I will be more flexible about what I read and the source of those books. I will continue to only read what I enjoy and any books that aren't holding my attention will be quickly put aside. There are too many good books out there to read to waste any time with stinkers.

How was your reading year? Did you participate in any challenges? Do you have any goals for the year ahead? I'd love to hear all about it!

Smoke by Catherine McKenzie

Her whole life was about fire, forest fires- detecting them, fighting them, investigating them. At least it had been before she had given it up to fight for something else. Elizabeth is the main character in Catherine McKenzie's Smoke and things have not been going as planned in her life. Unfortunately, it seems as if Elizabeth's work has come to her this time. The small, picturesque town in which Elizabeth lives with her husband, the town where he grew up, is on the edge of a huge fire that may or may not be controllable. We also meet Mindy, Elizabeth's former friend, who is feeling unsure and perhaps a bit useless in her life as a stay-at-home mom to a distant teenaged son and a young daughter whose early-in-life health troubles still keep Mindy up at night. She yearns for purpose and hopes that helping a local man will provide that.

While I would categorize this as "Chick Lit", something I don't always like, it was a very enjoyable read. I was anxious to learn what would happen to each of the characters. It also had a slight mystery tone to it as the reader waited to learn who was really responsible for the fire that just might destroy the whole town. I particularly enjoyed the theme of a woman searching for her purpose. Elizabeth loves her work, but chooses marriage and family. Mindy loves her family, but still wishes for fulfilling work outside of the home. Neither is right or wrong. Each woman must decide what is best for herself at the time. And what is right for now may change in the future.

This book would make for a wonderful vacation read and it was perfect for my last book of 2016. Please let me know if you enjoy it, too.

What I've Heard- When Breath Becomes Air

I read When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi just two months ago and it is still with me. When I had the opportunity to listen to the audio version, I was a little concerned it might be an emotionally difficult listening experience. While it did make me cry at the end (runners give cyclists the strangest looks when they are cycling and blubbering at the same time), it was so beautifully read. This book is so touching and the audio version is just the same. I hope you will read and/or listen to this book.

It really should be required reading.