The Best Books I Read in 2017 (SUYB link up!)

I’m here to (belatedly) link up with Steph & Jana to share the best books I read this year.

I read 39,597 pages across 118 books Img bookstack 360

I love all of the best-of lists that come out at this time of the year because I always end up adding tons of books to my TBR list and finding lots of new gems to check out next year.

I plan to post a bit of an analytical post about my reading life in 2017 early in January 2018 but I wanted to link up today with Steph and Jana for a December bonus Show us Your Books post with the best of 2017. I am sharing the best books I read this year whether they were published this year or not.

As usual, I gave a lot of 4 star reviews this year. I think I have gotten a bit stingier with 5 star reviews, but four stars feels like OMG I loved this book and it is highly likable and recommendable.

Here are the books I rated 5 stars and would highly HIGHLY recommend if they sound like something you’d like:

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have thought of this book at least once a week since I read it, which is rare for me. I need to read it again sometime to absorb the story again. I am beyond excited that there will be a sequel coming out in mid 2018!!! This isn’t *really* a feel good book, but the writing was incredible, and I know it has been quite well-received this year so I’m sure this is not news to anyone but this book was SO, so good.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book. The audio was especially fantastic – I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much in print. The narrator was wonderful. Loved all of the supporting characters and can definitely appreciate Ove’s views on life: simple and profound at the same time. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. I sent it to both of my grandmothers in the past few months, but I think it is great reading for anyone.

This one was also incredible in a completely different way:

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There was so much that I wanted to highlight and re-read in this book. I loved all of these whimsical and interesting observations about the world. AKR’s writing is so positive and fun. I can’t wait to read her first memoir now.
Reading this book was quite bittersweet knowing that we will never read her beautiful words again.

Of course, I expected my beloved Louise Penny’s 2017 book Glass Houses to be awesome, and it was all that and more. The icing on the cake for that one was reading it early via Netgalley and then MEETING HER in person and getting my copy signed. ❤

Glass Houses by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Glass Houses was unbelievably good. The style was a bit different as many parts of it were told between two time periods (about 9 months apart so not a major time travel type book). As always, the residents of Three Pines featured prominently in the book, and there were a few newcomers too. Gamache’s character made some very tough decisions and some actions in this book that really caused me to pause and think. I don’t want to say much more about it but I do understand all of why it had to happen. All of the corruption in the past books really led up to the major plot in this particular story. I recommend this series ALL THE TIME, but start with book 1!!! It really hits its stride around book 4.

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a story that needed to be told. As a mother and a wife, I absolutely loved this book. It was so uniquely told and the writing was fantastic. Favourite quote from the book: “If you give all your worry to one thing, soon you’ll realize that’s way too much and worry about it less and you’ll feel more in control of it for keeping it at the front of your mind and that will help you worry less too.”

Children’s/Middle Grade/YA that I really enjoyed:

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved this beautiful book.

Emily of New Moon and A Wrinkle in Time were also two re-reads that I enjoyed profoundly on audio this year.

And here are a few 4-4.5 star books that I also loved:

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So cute. I actually read this book twice this year and bought it. One of my favourite YA reads ever. I also loved her other YA book which was new this year, entitled What to Say Next.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I fully expected this book to be incredible, and scientific, and intense, and it was all of those things and more. It was also a lot more heartfelt and hopeful than I expected. Some of it definitely went over my head, but I didn’t mind and felt like I “understood” it all enough to enjoy it immensely. The hype is real for this book.

A Thousand Letters by Staci Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this in one sitting and loved it. I enjoyed the Persuasion aspects of it, and I will absolutely be seeking out more books in her Austen adaptations series. Parts of this were absolutely heartbreaking and made me teary. Beautiful writing. Thanks Kristen for the recommendation!!!

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an extremely enjoyable reading experience. I read this book in one night because I loved it so much. I also thought about it all the next day. The characters were super fun. Definitely a wonderful addition to the romance genre.

A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell, #1)

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was such a fun book to read! Loved the characters, was quite invested in the story, and enjoyed the way it unfolded. Looking forward to continuing the series.

The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn
Born a Crime: Tales from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
The Lost Husband by Katherine Center – I love her books & can’t wait to read a new one in 2018!!
The Darker Shade of Magic series (I still have one more book to read in the trilogy)
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Books that were good and really, really made me think:

The Hate U Give – by Angie Thomas
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Count of Monte Cristo (no kidding – it consumed 4 months of my life/51 hours of audio)
The Casual Vacancy
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
The Crossover
Murder on the Orient Express

I also love that the first book I read this year was The Bookshop on the Corner and the last one I am hoping to finish up is How to Find Love in a Bookshop. 😉

I can’t wait to share more detailed stats in the new year!!! Check out what everyone else is recommending over at the link up (Thanks for hosting, as always, Steph & Jana!!!!)

What’s New: July recap

I feel like I say this every month, but July was a BUSY month!! haha. Really though, summer is always a bit busier than winter for us. We have soccer, Brian has baseball, and more friends want to get together. (I love it!!) Linking up with Kristen and Gretch to talk about what’s new lately!!

In July, we were also super fortunate that my brother and his girlfriend came to visit for a week from Calgary to celebrate my mom’s birthday! It was great to see them, and it was the first time Brian and my girls had met my brother’s girlfriend so that was special. We spent lots of time with them despite them staying at my parent’s house 30 minutes away and working a lot of the week. Another great thing that happened this month was that my sister, brother-in-law, and niece moved to the city! They are only about 10 minutes away from us, so it’s been great to see them more often and for my daughters to nurture their bond with their younger cousin.

Here are a few pictures from our month:

We celebrated Canada Day with some friends and it was great! Didn’t end up seeing any fireworks, but our kids are at a not-so-good age for that anyway. The day off work was certainly appreciated too.

My brother arrived a few days later, and we got some family photos taken while he was here, including this one of my little foursome:

Photo credit: Chantal Davie Photography

I had the opportunity to hear my cousin’s celtic string quartet one lunch hour

And got to spend lots of time with my favourite younger bro:

We spent an afternoon babysitting my niece, in which I realized that I am absolutely 100% satisfied with having 2 children:

The weekend after my brother left, we went camping for the first time with the girls and with some friends. It was wonderful, overall. The campground is 100% geared towards families and it has an outdoor pool, a huge playground, and an inflatable air pillow (pretty crazy). We had a campfire, and some drinks, and got dirty. It was also Water War weekend, so we went on a wagon ride and got totally completely soaked ( hoses, rubbermaid containers of water, and crying children)…it was kind of intense?!?! After we dried off, we were much better off. The girls slept pretty well, Brian and I did not, but we survived our first night in a tent as a family!!!

Here’s a view of the campground with the slip n slide set up and the inflatable pillow in the background:

A couple days after camping, Molly lost her first tooth when she spent the day with Brian’s parents!! It was so exciting for her. She actually somehow lost the tooth WHILE my mother in law was reading a book about the tooth fairy. LOL. It was fate. She was a bit freaked out but mostly excited.

My awesome hubby and I got to go on a random Tuesday night date out for sushi and to see The Big Sick (which I cannot recommend enough – I laughed so hard at some parts and cried a bit at others). Definitely go see that movie if you can!! It was worth it, in my opinion.

And on the last weekend of July, we went to see the Tall Ships in Halifax and got to hear Natalie MacMaster playing with Symphony Nova Scotia (this was amazing). It was a great atmosphere down on the waterfront despite being EXTREMELY crowded. Such a great way to end off the month. I was pretty tired the next day though 😉

Also read a bunch of awesome books this month which I will talk about next Tuesday and got to spend a bunch of time with friends and family. All in all, an amazing summer month. Gorgeous weather, wonderful people, and August is going to be amazing too. It’s my birthday month and we are taking a 12 day vacation to Toronto Ontario to visit family and see Coldplay and go to the Toronto ZOO. So excited 🙂

What’s new with you lately?!?!?

Looking Ahead to 2017

After reading Better than Before towards the end of last year, I am still a bit torn as to my tendency. I would say overall that I am an Obliger, though. For this reason, I don’t find that New Year’s resolutions always work great for me unless I have external accountability. For instance – I never miss my weekly yoga class. I’ve paid for it, it’s a small class so my teacher is aware if I’m not there, and I enjoy the commitment I’ve made to it. I almost NEVER do yoga at home though, even though I would like to. Last year, I signed up for a 5-race package and ran four of those five races (I missed one because I was across the country for my cousin’s wedding). Had I not signed up for this, I might not have signed up for any races or done nearly as much running.

Here are some things I am really looking forward to in 2017, in no particular order:

1) Taking a trip to Toronto in August to see COLDPLAY live in concert (we will likely take the girls, drive out, and make it a family trip – Brian’s sister lives near Toronto and so do my aunt and uncle). I am BEYOND excited for this.

2) Seeing Beauty & The Beast in theatres in March (the trailer looks amazing, I can’t wait)

3) Running 5 MEC races starting with a 5K this weekend

4) Continuing to work on yoga with my wonderful teacher

5) Reading at least 100 books again, including a great start with my choices for Erin’s book challenge 6.0. Focusing on quality over quantity but continuing to prioritize reading in my daily life. Work on better book tracking in my bullet journal & on Goodreads.

6) Lucy turning 3 and Molly turning 6 – Lucy might even get to start preschool in the fall

7) My sister, brother-in-law, and niece moving closer to us in June/July (right now they are an hour away but they’re moving to the city!)

8) Finding/starting a new job (my current position ends at the end of June) – I have mixed feelings about this, but I always knew it was coming and I am so fortunate to have had this experience in my position

9) My 10-year Homecoming Reunion at St. FX in October (I hope a lot of my classmates make the trip!)

10) My sister-in-law and her fiance’s wedding in May – this will be a fantastic family event, and I’m so excited for them. Her fiance has been “part of the family” for longer than I have, so it will be nice to celebrate it officially 🙂 The girls are both going to be flower girls too.

On another note, here are some of my goals and aspirations for 2017:

Go on (at least) a weekend getaway with Brian and also focus on one date night a month
Continue to work on being a calmer and more kind parent, wife, and friend
Continue to declutter our home
Work on my posture with yoga, stretching, monthly massages, and my new posture corrector band that I got for Christmas 🙂
Find a fulfilling and exciting new job to feel passionate about
Continue to nurture my friendships with the women in my life
Continue to pursue health and happiness by finding time to relax, eating healthy food, and exercising
Attempt to publish blog posts at least twice a week including sharing more parenting thoughts, random writing, recipes, and more in-depth book reviews

Bring on 2017! It’s going to be a great year.

In case you’re interested, here are my goals from last year – overall, I did pretty well! 🙂