The older I get, the easier cliches are to understand. This year flew by, first in spit up and lots of diapers, then in cooing and squealing, then in the slapping of tiny hands and knees against hardwood while I rushed to baby proof the house, and finally in a little voice saying “mama dada nana papa mama dada” followed by slow, tentative steps down the hall and everywhere else.

Becoming a mother has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and with it, a joy I didn’t expect to find: reading aloud to my daughter.

I read less than 20 “big” books this year, but I read dozens and dozens of board books and picture books. My goal was to read to Amelia everyday, and I achieved it! It helps that she loves books and will now pick them up and hand them to me with wide, expectant eyes. She even has favorites now (2024’s absolute favorite was an octopus puppet book we found at the aquarium giftshop, followed by The Wide-Mouthed Frog, 10 Little Ladybugs, and You Are Special as very close runners-up.)

As for my personal reading life, I spent lots of time in nostalgia again.

In 2023 I reread the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, so it was only fitting to start the next series, the Heroes of Olympus, in 2024, especially with all the nursing and nap-trapping that filled much of my time. Percy and Annabeth are still my favorite. (I’ll also admit that I’ve said to Tucker more than once, “You know, Annabeth is a pretty baby girl’s name…”) ;)

I also finished some parenting/homeschooling/slow living books in 2024 - Amelia is only one year old, but I have a lifetime of teaching and nurturing her ahead of me and want to keep preparing.

I made it through Dune finally - I had started reading it after seeing the first movie. I stopped where the first movie ended. Sci-fi is difficult for me without visuals (my imagination isn’t wired for it, I guess), so once the second movie came out, it was easier for me to finish the book. I loved it and would like to read it again in a few years.

I revisited some Andrew Klavan fiction after a few years, but I ran out of Audible credits before I made it to the final book in his fantasy series. Hopefully it won’t be another few years before I get to it again.

I read a theology of art book for fun, and then finished a devotional book I’d unintentionally abandoned once Amelia was born.

Finally, I started reading “big” books aloud to Amelia as a way to nurture my own reading life without neglecting her, and I fell in love with it. Early in the mornings, between feedings, Amelia would practice tummy time and I’d read Northanger Abbey aloud, complete with different voices for each character (the theater kid in me woke up, I guess). Obviously, I had a lot more fun than Amelia did, though she seemed happy too.

After Northanger Abbey, we moved onto Anne of Green Gables (another one I’d never read before!) and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (just in time for Christmas!). To end 2024, we listened to a dramatized reading of Pride and Prejudice by the Ballarat National Theater while we did laundry together or made lunch. This was my first time reading it since middle school, which is to say it was basically my first time reading it ever and of course, it’s fabulous, as everyone knows.

And that was my reading year! I had a few books “in progress” as we rang in the new year, so the ones I’ve already finished are listed in my new Virtual Bookshelf for 2025.

Here’s to lots more read-alouds, more picture books, more board books, more classics, and more reading in general. Happy New Year and happy reading!

My 2024 Reading List

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Teaching From Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

Another Kingdom by Andrew Klavan

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan

The Nightmare Feast by Andrew Klavan

Art for God’s Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts by Philip Graham Ryken

The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Living Slower by Merissa A. Alink

Luke: Part 1, A Study of Luke 1-8 by Hope Blanton and Christine Gordon

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen