Photo by Deborah Krusemark from FreeImages

Here are the next five books that I read last year, along with my mini-reviews! I hope you enjoy reading them and that my thoughts are helpful to you!

This was another one that had been on my Kindle app for years, though this time I know why. My bestest friend had written one of the pieces in it, so I downloaded it back when it came out. This one was hard to rate because it was such a mixed bag — it’s essentially book form of a blog event done by the author, with various writers doing posts/essays about different aspects of writing fantasy fiction.

Some of the pieces were very interesting and helpful, while some just didn’t apply to me or interest me as much. But it was a quick, enjoyable read, and it’s only 99c on Amazon if you want to check it out!

As you can see, I was in a bit of a C.S. Lewis mood early in the year! I had started re-reading this series in 2019 but only got through the first three, so I continued in 2020.

The Silver Chair is one of my very favorites of The Chronicles of Narnia (probably number two, if we really want to get serious about rating them). I absolutely love the story, the characters (Puddleglum!) and the reflections of the Truth of our own world and reality. Such a wonderful book and series, and it holds up as well or better reading it as an adult!

Okay, so you might think I’m biased on this one (in case you don’t know, Lisa Pennington is my mom), and it wasn’t completely my first time to read it since I helped with some research while it was being written. But this was my first time reading it all the way through, and it was of course different reading it now that I’m a mom myself.

The subtitle pretty much sums it up — this is helpful ways to reset your day when things are going a bit out of control. Probably my favorite thing about the book was just how practical it was. I always appreciate when a book can give more hard-and-fast things to try than just theoretical things (though this book definitely delves into the big ideas of motherhood and womanhood, too). I’ll probably be revisiting this one when I need a reminder of things to try when things are going a bit crazy around my home!

The fact that these books are on the shorter side definitely helped me speed through them and work towards my quota when I didn’t have as much reading time (side note: I read these on audiobook and I HIGHLY recommend the audio versions — they are read by professional actors and are really wonderful to listen to).

This is my all time favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia, so I enjoyed it especially. I don’t know why it’s my favorite, exactly — though I do really relate to the main character and I find so many reminders of truth in it. Lewis really has such an insightful and memorable way of putting things!

Again, I read through these quickly! (Another side note — the CORRECT way to read these books is in published order.) This one was never my favorite as a child, but the last few times I’ve read it I enjoy it more every time. I think it’s partly because I can sense the deeper layers more thoroughly than I used to be able to, but it’s partly also just as a writer having SUCH appreciation for the imaginative settings and storytelling. I will always recommend these books!

I will be back later in the week, Lord willing, with five more books!