Books Read in 2016

Yay! 2016 was a good reading year, and I made it to my goal of 52 books, plus a few. 🙂 I’ll share some of my favorites, and then the complete list.

Most Beautiful Book

Perhaps I should have saved Mike Grandmaison’s Ontario for the “book you chose for the cover” category in the 2017 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge, because I definitely chose it for it’s cover – it was shrink-wrapped on the bookstore shelf! I was born and raised in Ontario, but I realized while reading and looking at the photographs in this book just how little of Ontario I’ve seen. I hope a Trans-Canada Highway road-trip will be in our not-too-distant future to remedy that. I also learned more about Ontario’s geography from Professor Courtin’s essays than I ever had before (though I have a different view of how and when it got that way. 😉 ) This book has inspired me to explore much more of this beautiful province.

Best Family Audiobook

Half Magic by Edward Eager was the perfect audiobook for a long car trip – very funny, with a sweet ending. 🙂

Best Fiction

The Scarlet Pimpernel was a delightful combination of adventure and romance (I call it Georgette Heyer meets John Buchan), and the audiobook narrated by Michael Page is a treat for the ears.

Best Education Book

This is a tie between Charlotte Mason’s School Education (dense but rewarding) and Sarah Mackenzie’s Teaching From Rest (short but still rich, perfect pick-me-up read).

Best Biography/Memoir

Cindy Rollins’ Mere Motherhood is the perfect book for any mother, young or old – my own mother read and enjoyed it. I can’t do better than Dawn’s review here.

In the following list, RA stands for read-aloud, and the stars are the rating I gave them on Goodreads.

1. The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera (****)
2. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (audio & book) (****)
3. The No S Diet by Reinhard Engels (*****)
4. The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (RA) (****)
5. On Becoming a Writer: What Every Blogger Needs to Know by Denise J. Hughes (****)
6. Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton (audio) (*****)
7. My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart (***)
8. The UnWired Mom by Sarah Mae (****)
9. Blog at Home Mom by Christin Slade (***)
10. Utopia by Thomas More (****)
11. Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie (audio) (***)
12. Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell by Tom L. Matthews
13. Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (****)
14. Teaching From Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakeable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie (*****)
15. John Milton: Classical Learning and the Progress of Virtue by Grant Horner (****)
16. The Confident Homeschooler: How to Thrive in the Day-to-Day by Pam Barnhill (****)
17. Henry V by William Shakespeare (audio & book) (****)
18. The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat (RA) (***)
19. The Heroes by Charles Kingsley (RA) (*****)
20. The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis (audio – this was recording of Lewis himself, and I think it may be shorter than the actual book – but still wonderful) (*****)
21. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (audio & book) (****)
22. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (audio) (****)
23. Curtain by Agatha Christie (audio) (****)
24. The Black Star of Kingston by S.D. Smith (audio) (****)
25. Marco Polo by Manuel Komroff (RA) (****)
26. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy (audio) (*****)
27. The New World by Winston Churchill (audio) (*****)
28. Whatever Happened to Justice? by Richard Maybury (****)
29. Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula (RA) (****)
30. School Education by Charlotte Mason (*****)
31. Kim by Rudyard Kipling (audio) (***)
32. Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton (RA) (*****)
33. Give Your Child the World by Jamie Martin (*****)
34. Squanto by Feenie Ziner (RA) (*****)
35. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (RA) (*****)
36. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Paul Brand (****)
37. Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins (*****)
38. Half Magic by Edward Eager (audio) (*****)
39. The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson (****)
40. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (audio) (****)
41. Behind Her Mask was Death by Aria E. Maher (****)
42. The Moffats by Eleanor Estes (audio) (****)
43. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (audio) (****)
44. Setting the Records Straight by Lee Binz (****)
45. A Touch of the Infinite: Studies in Music Appreciation with Charlotte Mason by Megan Elizabeth Hoyt (****)
46. The Story of David Livingstone by Vautier Golding (****)
47.  A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul E. Miller (*****)
48. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (audio) (*****)
49. Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott (RA) (***)
50. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (audio) (****)
51. On the Incarnation by Athanasius (****)
52. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (****)
53. Mike Grandmaison’s Ontario by Mike Grandmaison (*****)
54. A Handbook to Morning Time by Cindy Rollins (****)
55. The Songs of Jesus by Tim Keller (****)