Read-at-Home Mom Report: January 2024 Wrap-Up

January Favorites

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
My book club picked this for January, and I re-read it and took notes and everything only for book club to be canceled due to illnesses among the members. So now it's the book for our February meeting. I loved it the first time I read it, but I loved it even more the second time. 

Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne
The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren 
These two short stories from the Improbable Meet Cute series were the best of the bunch by far. I have never been able to get into any of Sally Thorne's books, but this story was adorable. The Christina Lauren story wasn't 100% clean, but I loved the epistolary format and slow burn trope. 

Designed to Fail: Catholic Education in America by Steven L. Kellmeyer 
I loved this not so much for its indictment of the failures of many Catholic schools, but for its unapologetic statement that parents are the primary educators of their children, and that religious ed. programs and similar roadblocks rob parents of the task that only they can properly accomplish by virtue of the graces of the sacrament of marriage. 

Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

This is exactly what a YA romance should be. I loved all the characters, even the parents, and the gaming store setting. 

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
This introduction to the Lord Peter Wimsey series was delightful. I especially loved the dialogue. I can't wait to read more from this series.   

Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
The Poems of T. S. Eliot: Read by Jeremy Irons
I read Four Quartets aloud to myself and then listened to Jeremy Irons read all of Eliot's poetry. I didn't understand a lot of it, but I loved it anyway. 

Read-Aloud and Homeschool Books

• The Animals' Christmas by Anne Thaxter Eaton (4 stars)
• The Tough Winter by Robert Lawson (4 stars)

Sequels and Series Books

• Summer Lightning (Blandings Castle Book 4) by P.G. Wodehouse (4 stars)
• Mercy Watson is Missing! (Tales from Deckawoo Drive Book 7) by Kate DiCamillo (4 stars)
• Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike Book 1) by Robert Galbraith (4 stars)
• The Civil Prisoners (Warstowe Saga Book 2) by Meriol Trevor (4 stars)
• Worst Wingman Ever (The Improbable Meet-Cute Book 2) by Abby Jimenez (3 stars)
• Drop, Cover, and Hold On (The Improbable Meet-Cute Book 4) by Jasmine Guillory (4 stars)
• With Any Luck (The Improbable Meet-Cute Book 5) by Ashley Poston (2 stars)
• Royal Valentine (The Improbable Meet-Cute Book 6) by Sariah Wilson (3 stars)
• Retying the Knot (The Fab Forties Book 1) by Liwen Ho (4 stars)
• Head Over Stilettos (The Fab Forties Book 2) by Liwen Ho (4 stars)
• Death in the Spotlight (Murder Most Unladylike Book 7) by Robin Stevens (3 stars)

Stand-alone Books

• A Christmas Resolution by Anne Perry (3 stars)
• The Getaway List by Emma Lord (4 stars)
• That Wintry Feeling by Debbie Macomber (2 stars)
• Courting Mr. Emerson by Melody Carlson (3 stars)
• The Relaxed Home School: A Family Production by Mary Hood (3 stars)
• A Winter in New York by Josie Silver (4 stars)
• Antigone by Sophocles (5 stars)
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (5 stars)
• The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg (2 stars)
• Daniel Boone by James Daughtery (5 stars)

DNF

• A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy 
• The Warden by Anthony Trollope 

Family Reading Lists

M. (girl, 10 years, 2 months)

• The Five Sons of King Pandu: The Story of the Mahabhárata by Elizabeth Seeger
• The Ramayana, adapted from the English translation of Hari Prasad Shastri by Elizabeth Seeger 

C. (girl, 8 years, 4 months) 

• Isaac Newton by John Hudson Tyler
• The Courage of Sarah Noble, by Alice Dalgliesh
• The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds
• The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson 
• Daniel Boone by John Mason Brown. 
• Benjamin West and his Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry 

E. (girl, 6 years, 3 months)

• In the Grip of Winter by Colin Dann

R. and A. (boy and girl, 3 years, 10 months)

• Mercy Watson series (mostly R., on audio)
• Bink and Gollie series (mostly R., on audio)
• Frances series (both)
• Rag (R., for reading practice)
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (both)

My husband 

• Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Benson Boy by Ivan Southall 
• Foster by Claire Keegan