Reading for Me

The Books I Have Read…..Just for Me

Feb 16

Another Year Older (February 16, 2026)

by kennithfreeman

Now that I look at what I managed to accomplish this week in my reading life, I have to admit that I am surprised that I got anything done. This week, I traveled to San Antonio for an annual music conference. Typically, my days there are full of talking to potential students and teachers. That means there isn’t much time for anything else. Life had other plans this year as I spent 72 hours in my hotel room horribly sick and missed the conference entirely! During those three days, there wasn’t a lot of reading happening either. Oh….and one of those days in San Antonio was my birthday. I celebrated by enjoying a bland turkey sandwich at the end of the day that managed to sit comfortably on my stomach. C’est la vie!

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros. I knew I was a fan of Yarros’ writing from my reading of Fourth Wing last year. I had no idea that she had also written contemporary literature that wasn’t based in a fantasy world. From the very beginning of the novel, I was hooked. The story centers around Beckett and Ella. Ella is a single mother, struggling to raise her twin children and manage her business. When her brother, Mac, is killed in action a world away, Ella’s world shatters. Mac’s last request to Beckett is that he return to Colorado to help Ella. Ella and Beckett have never met in person, but they have been exchanging letters. Ella has fallen in love with the man on the other end of the conversation, but she only knows him by his call sign, Chaos. When Beckett arrives, Ella’s daughter is fighting for her life after a recent diagnosis of neuroblastoma. This is a lovely story of chosen family and true love while exploring issues such as abandonment, depression, chronic illness, and death. Make sure you have a box of tissues nearby — especially as you near the end of the novel. 5 stars.

The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe. As I mentioned last week, this audiobook is part memoir and part vignettes in the style of The Rest of the Story. I found the book entertaining as I was able to slip in and out of the conversation because of the short readings. After a while, the format became mundane and I was just ready for it to come to an end. 3 stars.

What I’m Currently Reading

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (p. 181 of 281). Illness took me off my pace of reading this book, but I really am enjoying the epistolary style. It’s charming to read of a senior citizen making her way through retirement as she manages relationships with her children, learns of a sibling she has never met, and serves as an advocate for a child who is being bullied and has become suicidal as a result. Because of the style, it is a fast read, but each letter is written so beautifully that I find myself luxuriating in the prose. Because of the inspiration of this novel, I have renewed my membership with International Pen Friends and am awaiting my list of pen pals that should arrive in a few weeks. It’s going to be fun to start writing to people again.

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (p. 152 of 403). I selected this book because I have begun watching the Netflix series of the same name and have really enjoyed it. Additionally, I had a great time reading portions of Connelly’s Harry Bosch series. The book also seemed to be a good fit for the February “This or That” mini-challenge – “Crime” or “Punishment.” I started the ebook on Saturday evening and downloaded the audiobook for the drive back from San Antonio. I made a good start and now that I’m into the routine and the story, I’m finding this a very fast read.

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Feb 9

Buckle Up, Buttercup! (February 9, 2026)

by kennithfreeman

We survived another week, my reading friends! It wasn’t necessarily easy or pretty, but we made it to the end. Wowzers! When February arrived, I think someone sent out a memo telling people to put ALL the tasks into a single month for me. I felt like I was constantly running a massive marathon that almost took me out. Reading was a luxury. These are the times that led me to making reading appointments in my daily to-do list. If the reminder to allot 30 minutes to read wasn’t there, I probably wouldn’t have spent time in the pages of a story while I just caught my breath. I’m thankful this level of insanity is only for a season…..but I’m ready for this season to pass (even though it is just beginning).

What I Finished This Week

Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas. This was the typical story of a girl from the right side of the track falling for the bad boys. It was scandalous as she flirted and toyed with each of the brothers. However, what set this book apart from other romances was the way it dealt with issues. The discussions about suicide and depression were so lovingly handled that I found myself forgetting that this was really a romance novel. I was invested in the relationship that grew between Macon and Krisjen. 4.75 stars.

What I DNF’d This Week

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Despite my intentions and my best efforts, I had to admit to myself this week that another reading of Hugo’s classic was just not in the cards for me right now. The text required me to read really slowly. Life is too hectic at the moment to make the progress that I wanted to and reading the novel felt more like a chore than something that was bringing me joy. So I gave myself permission to shelf this read for another time. I enjoyed what I did complete and don’t regret a moment that I spent in the pages with Valjean. I’m just not in a place where finishing it is in my best interest at the moment.

What I’m Currently Reading

The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe (3:30 of 7:55). I hit a bit of a road block with this book this week. While I am enjoying the short vignettes, this week my drive time was frantic as I raced to rehearsals and I needed quiet to calm my mind. So I did not make much progress here. With a couple of longer drives ahead this week, I anticipate finishing this book before my next post.

The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros (p. 141 of 423). When the February mini-challenge arrived from The 52 Book Club, I set out to find my first book. After starting a couple of other works, I finally settled into this beautiful story. Chaos is a member of special forces serving in a dangerous war zone. His friend, Mac, suggests that Chaos begins a pen pal relationship with Mac’s sister back in the States. When Mac is killed in action, Chaos receives the last letter from his buddy, asking him to return to Colorado and support his sister in one of the most challenging times of her life. The book took a back burner while I finished up Five Brothers this week, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with the story and I’m looking forward to getting back to it this week.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (p. 13 of 281). I have heard so many good things about this novel and have planned to read it for several weeks. It is a bit shorter than what I typically read, so I’m hoping to make decent progress on it while I’m in San Antonio this week. We shall see how that plan works out.

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Feb 2

Hopefully Phil is Wrong! (February 2, 2026)

by kennithfreeman

Happy Groundhog Day, readers! If Punxsutawney Phil was correct this morning, we have 6 more weeks of winter weather ahead. I have far too much to do to deal with more of this mess. But….if I were to get snowed in again, I might actually be able to get some more reading done. That wouldn’t be the worst thing ever.

After the snow weekend last week, I found myself hitting a bit of a wall in my personal reading this week. Now that I could get out of the house, I wanted to spend less time with my nose in a book and more time breathing in fresh air. So I only finished one book this week. That will probably be the trend for the next couple of months as my professional life and rehearsals fly into full swing. Let the insanity of the spring semester begin!

What I Finished This Week

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall. This was such a great read despite the mixed reviews I have heard lately. It is hard to classify into a single genre. It is part suspenseful mystery, part romance, and part family drama. The novel opens with the death of a farmer and the question of whether it was an accident or murder. It is this image that the entire plot will propel the reader back to with lots of twists and turns along the way. The story centers around Beth, a farmer’s wife, and her first love from her teenage years, Gabriel. Beth and Gabriel come from two distinct worlds, yet they are drawn to each other. Beth has since married Frank and the couple mourn the death of their young son, Bobby. Beautifully written and enthralling, Broken Country is a novel that you will not soon forget. 5 stars.

What I’m Currently Reading

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (p. 625 of 1304). So I managed to read about 100 more pages of this huge book. I have to admit that I’m getting discouraged. Because the novel is so large, I find it very difficult to take around with me. That means I’m only reading it at home. When I’m in the recliner, there are always other things pulling my attention. It’s normally at the end of a long day and I’m not looking to be mentally challenged. I enjoyed the live chat Sunday afternoon with other members of The Active Mind Book Club, but I just don’t know that this is going to be a finish for me this month. February is too busy and I think I may just have to cut my losses. I’m not ready to make that call yet, but I’m getting close.

Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas (p. 67 of 516). This week’s first new read is off to an interesting start. The title refers to the five Jaeger brothers, without parents, living together in the large house on the wrong side of the tracks. Krisjen (that’s how she spells it!) is a bit of a princess from a seemingly wealthy family. However, with her parents’ impending divorce, her mother is on a terror and trying to marry her off in order to secure the family’s financial situation. This is definitely going to be a contemporary romance featuring the bad boys. The spice level has not been through the roof at the beginning of the novel, but there are definitely indications that things may heat up very fast. If you see me blushing, you’ll know…..

The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe (0:44 of 7:55). While driving to church on Sunday morning, I decided that I needed to start a new audiobook. I have always enjoyed Mike Rowe’s storytelling and thought this selection in the style of the classic Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story would be a relaxing option to move in and out of easily. Rowe tells the unheard portions of the biographies of famous people and manages to weave in anecdotes from his personal experiences. It is proving to be an enjoyable read thus far.

January in Review

January has been a successful month for my reading life, but the return to the reality of teaching has slightly dampened the amount of time I have to devote to the written word. It was really hard to select the highest rated book of the month since I had three contenders that earned 5 stars.

  • Books read in January: 10 books (down 3 from December)
    • 6 physical
    • 4 audio
  • Pages read in January: 2,292 (down 2,218 from December)
  • Highest rated book: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford – 5 stars
  • Lowest rated book: The Inferno by Dante Aligheiri – 2.5 stars

2026 Reading Challenge Progress – The 52 Book Club

I’ve been reading this month for several different purposes, so not all of my reads have been for prompts on the main reading challenge. Still, I’m ending the month on track — 4 books in 4 full weeks.

Traditionally, February is a challenging month for my reading life. This year doesn’t look as though it will be much different with trips to San Antonio and Wichita happening this month as well as a rather hectic rehearsal schedule for the children’s opera. I plan to set daily goals to get through at least one novel each week to keep me on track. I’ll probably be relying on audiobooks rather heavily this month as well.

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Jan 26

Snowmaggedon! (January 26, 2026)

by kennithfreeman

As the week came to a close, winter weather arrived in West Texas! With temperatures hovering around 0 degrees as snow, sleet, and freezing rain pelted my windows, there was little to do other than snuggle under a warm blanket and entertain myself with a few really good books. If it wasn’t for the difficulty in driving — I’m sick of turkey and cheese at the moment — I wouldn’t mind this kind of life. The snow is beautiful, the heat is doing its job, and I’m enjoying spending the day with my nose in a good book.

What I Finished This Week

Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg. I had mixed reactions when I first started this audiobook. The characters were flat and uninteresting. I also struggled with the shifting timelines early in the book. Once the “past” plot line was established and it became clear that those events would serve as motivation for the criminal activity, I was on board. Here’s the essence of the novel’s story. A convicted con man has decided to avenge the death of a friend at the negligent hands of the LA Fire Department by setting a series of wildfires in the midst of the notorious Santa Ana winds. As the fire rages, the crooks will target three multi-million dollar homes in the canyons to rescue the riches inside. I used this book to fulfill the prompt “features a natural disaster.” Now, while I understand that the fire was caused by man’s action, there is so much impact from nature included here — winds, dry brush, unexpected storms — so I feel completely comfortable calling it a natural disaster. 4.25 stars.

Chocolat by Joanne Harris. Who knew that a book about a mysterious woman opening a chocolate shop in a provincial French village would have so much to say about tolerance, religion, temptation, and corruption? Vianne is a single mother who rarely stays in one place very long. When she sweeps into town, she is immediately met with suspicion by the village’s elite women. When she opens her shop directly across from the church, her actions are viewed as evil and a direct attack on the church and the local priest. The daughter of a witch, Vianne is fluent in the language of the occult and frequently returns to the memories of her past almost as a reflex. Is she evil? Is she misunderstood? This absolutely beautiful novel explores the meanings of terms like “morality” and “free will” from a contemporary perspective. While I may not agree with everything that Harris presents, I find her questions valid and worthy of consideration. 4.75 stars.

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. I made it to the end. That was my greatest accomplishment with this work of verse. I really enjoyed the references to characters from classical literature, mythology, and Scripture throughout. It was fascinating to see which sins Dante considered most damning and the punishment that he associated with each. The depiction of Lucifer is one of the most disturbing images in all of literature in my opinion. As the work moved closer to the end, Dante became very political and made lots of references to historical figures of Italian government and the Church. As a modern reader, these references were mostly lost on me. It would be interesting to see where contemporary figures would fall in Dante’s portrait of hell. Actually, that would be a really fun assignment for a literature class. 2.5 stars.

What I’m Currently Reading

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (p. 526 of 1304). I have made some good progress with Hugo this week as well. The first of the live conversations about this book happens next weekend, so I hope to get caught up with the group (or at least close to it) this week. I found Valjean’s time in the convent incredibly interesting, especially as Hugo compared the religious institution to the prison from which he has already escaped. In this section, our hero has clearly been set up as a type of Christ in the novel. Now time has passed, Cosette is growing up and the Revolution is about to explode. Here’s hoping that the pace picks up once again.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (p. 33 of 302). A weekend confined to the house because of snow meant I got to finish a couple of books. On Sunday afternoon, I picked up this selection that has been on my TBR since the fall. I was drawn to the colorful cover art, the perfect remedy for the snowy blues! I’m still very early in the book, but it is clear that there is a history between Beth and Gabriel. With an opening paragraph like this, how could I not be pulled in?

The farmer is dead, he is dead and all anyone wants to know is who killed him. Was it an accident or was it murder? It looks like murder, they say, with that gunshot wound to the heart, so precise it must have been intended.”

Claire Leslie Hall, Broken Country, p. 3

Now….where did I put my glasses? Time to get back to the books.

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Jan 19

Can’t I Read All Day Instead? (January 19, 2026)

by kennithfreeman

It is hard to believe that January is half over already! Where did the time go? School started back up this week (both online and brick and mortar classes). That meant I actually had to start doing my real job instead of pretending I was getting paid to read all day. But I still managed to knock out two more books this week.

What I Finished This Week

Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser. Mona experiences an unexplained episode of blindness as the novel opens. While this is a crucial story element, it wasn’t really the focus of the book. As part of her journey to mental health, Mona accompanies her grandfather every Wednesday afternoon for 52 weeks to see artistic masterpieces in the museums of Paris. Along the way, Mona becomes obsessed with her limited knowledge of her grandmother’s life. Mona’s Eyes is an exploration of beauty, maturity, personal growth, family ties, and man’s free will to choose. While I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the art, I left the novel uncertain how I wanted to respond. I’m still quite conflicted about what I have experienced and can’t decide if I’m truly ready to move on to another literary experience or not. I’m not sure if that is a sign of a great book or an abstract compilation of loosely connected ideas. 3.75 stars.

First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison. Lucie is a single mother raising her pre-teen daughter. Next door are her baby’s daddy and his partner. While life is good, her dating life is less than stellar. When she checks on her daughter late one evening, Lucie hears a conversation from under the covers with an adult man. Ripping back the covers, Lucie demands the cell phone be turned over and learns that her daughter has called Aiden, the host of a late night romance hotline talk show. Against her better judgment, Lucie and Aiden talk late into the night. And thus begins a fun story about self-worth, love and loss, and daring to risk in order to find love. While there were some spicy scenes, I found this romance relying more on chemistry and flirting to keep up the heat. 5 stars.

What I’m Currently Reading

Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg (5:58 of 8:05). I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about a novel featuring wildfires after having lived through several of them while studying in Malibu in the 1990s. I decided that an audiobook was the way to go for this one so I could zone out if I needed to. The story is actually quite interesting. While fighting a wildfire, a criminal volunteer fire fighter dies due to negligence. The fire department denies any wrong doing. The fallen man’s fellow Penal Firefighters that witnessed the event know the truth and vow to take revenge. How? They plan to set fires along the wealthy coastal area and rob homes before everything burns.

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (p. 287 of 387). I didn’t read a word of this one this week. I only have 100 pages remaining. I really just need to finish it and move on. That may just become a secondary goal for the week.

Les Miserable by Victor Hugo (p. 355 of 1304). Not a lot of progress in this one either this week. Now I really am behind my reading schedule and need to give this work some serious attention. Who knew that reading a classic novel was going to be so demanding?

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Jan 12

Back in the Saddle Again (January 12, 2026)

by kennithfreeman

Greetings once again from West Texas. I returned to Plainview on Wednesday afternoon, just in time to begin professional development in preparation for another semester of teaching. As a result of driving from Arkansas over two days, I spent a lot of time in the car. That means much of my reading this week was in the form of audiobooks. I’m continuing to make progress in my physical reads…..well, sort of making progress. The current brick that is in my reading rotation may be the death of me!

What I Finished This Week

Mermaid Moon by Colleen Coble. This audiobook was with me through most of my drive back to West Texas this week. The story focuses on Mallory, a single mother who is trying to discover what happened on her father’s boat that ultimately led to his sudden death. This one is full of intrigue with lots of twists and turns. However, now that I had read Coble’s previous book in the Sunset Cove series, I saw things coming a little more clearly. Still, a fun read. 3.75 stars.

Twilight at Blueberry Barrens by Colleen Coble. It seems that audiobooks are the only thing I can finish this week! The conclusion to the Sunset Cove series, Twilight focuses on Kate’s story. With her father, mother, and uncle all serving time, Kate is convinced that she is destined to be alone. However, it appears that she has a stalker who wants to take advantage of her loneliness. Enter Drake, the handsome Boston entrepreneur who finds himself falling in love with Kate. Can the two find their way through the obstacles of their relationship while keeping Kate and Drake’s nieces safe? I found the conclusion of the series to be very fulfilling and enjoyed how the loose ends were all tied up. 4 stars.

What I’m Currently Reading

Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser (p. 382 of 446). I thought I would finish this novel before I had to post my weekly update, but it didn’t quite happen. I have really enjoyed watching Mona learn more about herself, her family, and her place in the world as she and her grandfather explore the masterpieces housed in Paris. It’s a lovely read.

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (p. 287 of 387). My descent into Hell took a back seat again this week. I’m finding myself looking forward to seeing the sinners frozen around Satan himself. So the cantos leading up to that momentous image are becoming a bit of a drudge to plow through. There are only so many times that I can imagine people tormented in rivers of various kinds.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (p. 290 of 1304). Travel was not kind to my reading of this massive tome this week. I enjoyed seeing Valjean’s distress as he tried to decide if he should come forward so a falsely accused man would not have to face a life sentence he did not deserve. I was horrified as Fantine’s death occurred so suddenly. Repeatedly, I found myself recalling images from the stage productions I have seen over the years as I read the most visually stunning scenes. As I approach the passages describing the scenes of carnage in the wake of Waterloo, I am struggling to proceed. There are other works calling my name and I’m ready for some lighter reading in my world. Here’s hoping that I can get back on track this week.

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