This is Nine

Books Read in 2015

I love to look back over the book post from each year. It's so weird to imagine my own life through the books I've read. Some of these, I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing while reading the books. Some of these, I only remember because the title is here on the list!

Stars next to the ones I would recommend....

1. Sinners and the Sea by Rebecca Kanner
2. Jacob's Oath by Martin Fletcher
3. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty*
4. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen*
5. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
6. The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laure Halse Anderson
7. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
8. The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
9. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins*
10. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
11. The Good Girl by Mary Kubica*
12. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah*
13. The Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers
14. Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers
15. After You by Jojo Moyes
16. Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin*
17. A Guide for the Perplexed by Dara Horn
18. My Heart is Laughing by Rose Lagercrantz
19. Dead Wake by Erik Larson
20. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
21. Yes Please by Amy Poehler
22. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
23. Kindness Wins by Galit Breen
24. Safekeeping by Jessamyn Hope
25. The Betrayers by David Bezozgis
26. Even in Darkness by Barbara Stark-Nemon
27. Gangsterland by Tod Goldberg
28. The Day of Atonement by David Liss*
29. Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
30. The Angel of Losses by Stephanie Feldman
31. What I Remember Most by Cathy Lamb
32. The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
33. The Broken Hearts Society of Suite 17C by LeighAnn Kopans*
34. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen*
35. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
36. In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
37. Paper Towns by John Green
38. The English Spy by Daniel Silva
39. Nexus by Ramez Naam
40. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
41. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler*
42. Starglass by Phoebe North
43. Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
44. Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
45. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates*
46. The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
47. Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner
48. Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica*
49. Uncaged by John Sandford
50. Outrage by John Sandford 
51. George by Alex Gino
52. We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
53. Wishful Thinking by Kamy Wicoff
54. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
55. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
56. The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks*
57. The Desert and the Blade by S. M. Stirling
58. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff*
59. The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
60. The Flood Girls by Richard Fifield
61. The Status of All Things by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

And thanks to Goodreads, I know this:

What was the best book you read in 2015? (I hate to answer that question, by the way. See above - the starred ones are those that I would recommend most broadly. I think that it often really depends on the person to whom I'm doing the recommending!)

What's not on my list that you think I must read? 

What are you planning to read in 2016???

This is Five

#BlogElul 29: Return

Today we return to the beginning.
To the Rosh of the year, to the head where it all starts.

And yet this day has nothing to do with our heads.
And everything to do with our hearts.

May our hearts be open to the newness of the year.
May our hearts be filled with love and light for all that we know and meet.
May our hearts be joined together in bringing peace to the world.

From my family to yours, from my heart to yours,
may you be blessed in this new year with sweetness and love.

L'shana tova, a good and sweet year to us all.

The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with prayers of forgiveness, but I like to think of it as a whole-person preparation activity. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, along with others, I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of preparation... I will be blogging here, and sharing #Elulgram photos on the same themes at imabima.tumblr.com and on Instagram @imabima. Follow me on twitter @imabima for all the #BlogElul posts, not only mine but others' as well! Read more about #BlogElul here.

#BlogElul 25: Intend

Intention matters.
I meant to do it.
I thought I would.

I intended to be there.
I planned to make it happen.

Intention matters.
Until we don't follow through.

Then it's just lost
in the
wind....

The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with prayers of forgiveness, but I like to think of it as a whole-person preparation activity. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, along with others, I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of preparation... I will be blogging here, and sharing #Elulgram photos on the same themes at imabima.tumblr.com and on Instagram @imabima. Follow me on twitter @imabima for all the #BlogElul posts, not only mine but others' as well! Read more about #BlogElul here.

#BlogElul 24: Hope

"a feeling of expectation"
"a desire for a certain thing to happen"

what do you do when
hope
leaves?

how do you continue
to
believe
in it?

what do you do without it?

The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with prayers of forgiveness, but I like to think of it as a whole-person preparation activity. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, along with others, I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of preparation... I will be blogging here, and sharing #Elulgram photos on the same themes at imabima.tumblr.com and on Instagram @imabima. Follow me on twitter @imabima for all the #BlogElul posts, not only mine but others' as well! Read more about #BlogElul here.

#BlogElul 21: Love

I look over and watch him.
And he feels my gaze, looks back at me.

Love.

It lifts and holds me.

The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with prayers of forgiveness, but I like to think of it as a whole-person preparation activity. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, along with others, I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of preparation... I will be blogging here, and sharing #Elulgram photos on the same themes at imabima.tumblr.com and on Instagram @imabima. Follow me on twitter @imabima for all the #BlogElul posts, not only mine but others' as well! Read more about #BlogElul here.