Reading aloud to my children continues to be one of the best parts of motherhood for me. There’s just something so peaceful, so connected, so all-is-right-with-the-world about snuggling up together — everyone freshly pajama-ed, all quarrels postponed, lamplight low — to read another chapter. In the midst of a full life, I have found that the very best way to make time for reading together is to choose books that we can’t wait to return to each night — books that make us start dinner prep on time, work together to clear the table, bathe efficiently, and eagerly bounce onto whatever bed we’re gathering on. To help with this, I put in some effort each year to plan out of titles for the months ahead. (Just like with my own reading list!) We’ll almost certainly deviate from this plan, but it’s a good place to start. In case it inspires your own year of reading… Quarter 1 | January, February, and March The first three months of the year tend to be some of our best for readalouds: our schedule is quieter, and we’re (I’m) fired up from yearly planning. Knowing that June would want to start the fourth Harry Potter as soon as she received it for her early-January birthday, I wedged in a shorter-but-beloved favorite from my childhood right at the beginning. (Both kids loved it.) I’m currently deep into the fourth HP while John reads Prince Caspian to Shep (he hadn’t joined readaloud when John and June read it the first time). From there, John will read the final Narnia book and then I’ll crack open the first in the Wingfeather Saga, which June has been desperate to read. (All her friends have read it, apparently, which delights me no end.) From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs

Very happy to share my 2026 reading list! If you’re newer here, this is the very lowest-key of book clubs: I consider it a delightful exercise in thoughtfully planning my reading a year at a time (12 fiction, 12 non-fiction), and though I always read more than this, and I’m often at the whim of my library holds, it’s helpful to know where to turn when I’m ready for a new book! Without further ado… January:Little Women | A classic I’ve been meaning to read for years! It was on last year’s list and I didn’t get to it, so I’m putting it first this year :) June has already read the abridged version and is eager to watch the movie together once I finish.Meet Me in the Middle | I listened to the mother-daughter author pair on a podcast episode and enjoyed what they had to say. Thinking this might provide some good fodder for our upcoming tenth birthday getaway. February:Beartown | Backman’s book about a small town and its hockey team has been recommended to me for years and years. February seems like the right (chilly!) month to dive in.The Art of Spending Money | So happy to have a new Morgan Housel book to enjoy! John and I are planning to read this together for a little two-person book club :) March:Theo of Golden | There are two books that were read by almost everyone in Articles Club last year, and this is one of them. Must hop on the bandwagon!Parenting Ahead | This is a very under-the-radar parenting book, but it’s speaking my language: helping parents of younger children build a foundation for their family — based on Biblical principles — for the teen years to come. I’m also intrigued to read it for professional reasons, as

After a very successful 2023 list (20/24, by far the closest I’ve come to completing one), I faltered a bit in 2024, finishing 16 of 24. Part of that was due to the library holds system – The Power of Moments just arrived, and I’ve been waiting weeks for Delicious! and The Measure to be delivered – but I suspect I also fell victim to a defect I noticed in 2022: placing books on the list that I wasn’t absolutely chomping at the bit to read. That’s the bar I’m using this year (absolutely chomping at the bit to read), and I’m also making one other change: I’m putting some of the books I’m most eager to tear into in the last quarter. If I get to them sooner? That’s quite alright. I’m guessing I’ll just be grateful to have read them at all :) (If you’re new, this is the very lowest-key of book clubs: I consider it a delightful exercise in thoughtfully planning my reading a year at a time (12 fiction, 12 non-fiction), and though I’m often at the whim of my library holds (ahem, see above), it’s helpful to always know where to turn when I’m ready for a new book!) Without further ado… January:The Unmaking of June Farrow | I love a well-done time travel escapade and this 2024 NYT bestseller, set in North Carolina and recommended by Janssen, has all the makings of a hit: “a woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love.”Well-Lived | This is Sally Clarkson’s newest book, undoubtedly filled with her wisdom on family, hospitality, discipleship, and cultivating joy – and this time, accented by her time living in Oxford with her daughter’s family. February:Gilead | This Pulitzer Prize winner has come

I read Hunt, Gather, Parent almost a year and a half ago, and the fact that I’m still motivated to chat about it after all these months should tell you something! While it did take me some time to move this post to the top of the queue, it’s not for lack of enthusiasm. This is one of the most interesting, unique, and actionable parenting books I’ve read in awhile, and one I still think about often in our daily interactions as a family. And it’s one I regularly reference in conversation, so this post feels like a natural extension! A brief summary for the unfamiliar: the author, Michaeleen Doucleff (with her three-year-old daughter!), visits three of the oldest cultures in the world: the Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula, Inuit families in the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. All have found success raising happy, helpful, well-adjusted children, and her mission is to understand why by living with families – and applying their techniques to her own daughter along the way. She shares her findings (including lots of practical takeaways) with the goal of resetting the American paradigm, restoring sanity to parenting, and creating better outcomes for our kids. The Maya culture, with their unusually helpful, generous, and loyal kids, is the one that inspired Michaeleen to write the book. It’s the section I got the most out of, too – when I went back to look over my notes to write this post, I had far more starred and underlined ideas than I had room to share! Here are five that have particularly stuck with me: 1. Quit entertaining and instead invite. This starts from the beginning and continues until the teen years. “Toss out the idea that you have to ‘entertain’ the baby with toys and other