Zoë's 2026 Challenge

Another year, another attempt! I barely have any time for myself these days, and I also can't seem to focus, so I read the same sentences over and over and end up moving on to new books before finishing the old ones. By my official count, I only finished eight books last year.

But also, I regularly read more than a dozen books in a day! I just haven't been counting board books or picture books. I've succeeded in my most important goal, though: my two-year-old loves books and reading.

So this year I'll try to be more honest about what books I'm actually reading, and will make at least some effort to acknowledge the tiny books too. I don't think it will be possible to track them perfectly, and I hope it won't drive me crazy to have an incomplete list, but I'll at least make the attempt to record the board books and picture books on their first read-through this year—in a separate list from my regular reading, but it's a start.

I think I'll need a dozen messages after this for my various lists, and then this thread will be open for business!

Books Read in 2026

January
none

February
none

March
none

April
none

May

Reading Progress by Month

January
Stolen Focus (p. 74)
The Work of Our Hands (p. 15)
Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (p. 68)

February
Stolen Focus (p. 89)
One Classroom at a Time (p. 28)
Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (p. 87)

March
Stolen Focus (p. 129)
One Classroom at a Time (p. 34)
The God of the Woods (p. 154)

April
The God of the Woods (p. 320)
Stolen Focus (p. 134)
One Classroom at a Time

May

Board/Picture Books Read in 2026 - Part 1

January
1. Five Speckled Frogs
2. Dandelion Magic
3. The Wheels on the Ice
4. Good Night Beach
5. Good Night Toronto
6. Bubbles
7. Good Morning, Canada
8. The Gruffalo's Child
9. There's a Monster in Your Book
10. Little Blue Truck's Valentine
11. I Am Kind!
12. How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs?
13. The Mommies on the Bus
14. Sloth & Squirrel in a Pickle
15. Good Night Mermaids
16. Shake My Sillies Out
17. When We Went to the Park
18. The Wind Blew
19. Bouncing
20. Dear Zoo
21. Goodnight Moon
22. Sally's Secret
23. Dogger
24. Helpers
25. An Evening at Alfie's
26. Bavajadas!
27. Time for Hamantaschen!
28. Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go
29. Madeline
30. Dylan the Dump Truck
31. Peter Loves Penguin
32. Vrooom! A racing countdown book
33. The Going to Bed Book
34. Richard Scarry's Best Little Board Book Ever
35. I Am a Tractor
36. The Nose Book
37. The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Garden Friends
38. The Gentlest Touch (Lovevery)
39. Peekaboo Love
40. Goodnight, Teddy Pear
41. Goodnight Bubbala
42. Baby's Very First Black and White Book: Babies
43. Baby's Very First Black and White Book: Faces
44. Baby's Very First Black and White Book: Going Out
45. Baby's Very First Black and White Book: Animals
46. Puff, the Magic Dragon
47. One Love
48. We're Going on a Bear Hunt
49. The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Snowy Hide and Seek
50. Where is the Very Hungry Caterpillar?
51. Sleep Tight with the Very Hungry Caterpillar
52. Can You Snuggle a Snail?
53. How I Feel (Lovevery)
54. Baby Touch and Feel Tractor
55. Big Dog... Little Dog
56. My First Touch and Explore Farm
57. Hop on Pop
58. Making Muffins (Lovevery)
59. Ice Cream Face
60. Baby Sees Colors!
61. The Cows on the Bus
62. Where Is the Green Sheep?
63. Elmo
64. Solitary Animals
65. I Spy Imagine That!
66. Sheep in a Jeep
67. Sheep Go to Sleep
68. Grumpy Monkey
69. Beautiful Yetta the Yiddish Chicken
70. Gift & Box
71. Help Wanted: One Rooster
72. Planting Parsley
73. The Gruffalo
74. The Very Hungry Caterpillar's First Signs
75. What If I Know My Feelings?
76. C is for Camping
77. Peekaboo Zoo
78. A Bedtime Hug for You
79. On the Farm
80. Ford Road Trip!
81. Moo, Baa, La La La!
82. Ready to Go: Poop (Lovevery)
83. Potty Time with Bean
84. Buffalo Fluffalo
85. Bunnies on the Bus
86. Curious George's Fire Truck
87. Curious George's Train
88. Curious George Visits a Toy Store
89. Curious George Makes Pancakes
90. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
91. Paletero Man
92. Dinosaur Dance
93. Barnyard Dance
94. The Paper Bag Princess
95. One, Two, Three!
96. Busy Bookstore
97. Kindness Makes Us Strong
98. Sheep Trick or Treat
99. Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Car
100. Sleepy Farm
101. Vehicles (touch think learn)
102. Naptime
103. Popcorn
104. The Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog
105. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh!
106. Will the Pigeon Graduate?
107. The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster!
108. A Day on the Farm with the Very Hungry Caterpillar
109. Welcome to Cocomelon Lane!
110. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
111. My First Busy Book (Eric Carle)
112. Cody Is a Big Brother
113. There's a Bear on my Chair
114. Bunnies in a Sleigh
115. Bunnies in a Boat
116. Busy Airport
117. How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?
118. The Quiet Book
119. No More Naps
120. The Color Monster
121. Goodnight, Gorilla
122. Three Grumpy Trucks
123. A Day on the Road with the Very Hungry Caterpillar
124. Baby Loves Automotive Engineering!
125. An Eggcellent Book of Kindness
126. Oakley the Squirrel Camping 1 2 3!
127. Curious George and the Dinosaur
128. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
129. Llama Llama Misses Mama
130. Bath! Bath! Bath!
131. Snakes on a Train
132. Interrupting Chicken
133. Avi the Ambulance to the Rescue
134. Les & Ronnie Step Out
135. C is for Car
136. Little Excavator
137. Touch and Feel Canadian Animals
138. Blankie
139. Giraffes Can't Dance
140. Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy
141. Teeth Are Not for Biting
142. What to Do When You Feel Like Hitting
143. Let's Dance, Little Pookie
144. What's Wrong, Little Pookie?
145. Spooky Pookie
146. Richard Scarry's Colorful Cars and Trucks
147. Hitting Hurts (Lovevery)
148. Clap Your Hands
149. I Love You, Little Pookie
150. Bedtime for Zoe (Lovevery)
151. Peek-a-Boo (Lovevery)
152. Augie Does It Himself (Lovevery)
153. My First Signs (Lovevery)
154. There's a Mouse in My House
155. Monster Jam Rev Up! Touch and Feel
156. Kellan's Neighborhood Adventure
157. Kellan to the Rescue
158. Dinosaurs in Trucks Because Hey, Why Not?
159. In My Own Bed (Lovevery)
160. Max and Nana Go to the Park (Lovevery)
161. Graham Turns Two (Lovevery)
162. Bea Gets a Checkup (Lovevery)
163. That's Not My Frog...
164. Biscuit's Snowy Day
165. I Am a Dump Truck
166. I Am a Garbage Truck
167. Bus (DK)
168. Germs Are Not for Sharing
169. Murmel, Murmel, Murmel (abridged)
170. Mortimer
171. Counting on Shabbat
172. Ten Little Monsters
173. Good Night Pittsburgh
174. Good Night Adirondacks
175. Shabbat Light
176. A New Week
177. One, Two, Three, Sukkot!
178. Look Thru Things That Go
179. A Magical My Gym Day!
180. Dragon's First Taco
181. Count and Slide Things That Go
182. Vegetables in Halloween Costumes
183. Dinosnores
184. Your Personal Penguin
185. Night-Night, Little Pookie
186. Big Red Barn
187. Room on the Broom board book
188. Sing a Song of Mother Goose
189. Shabbat is Coming!
190. Blinker, Blinker Little Car
191. My First Words (Lovevery)
192. Olivia Goes to the Dentist (Lovevery)
193. My First Canadian Colors
194. 50 Below Zero
195. Corduroy
196. Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!
197. A Very Mickey Valentine's Day
198. Baby Loves Structural Engineering!
199. The Boy in the Drawer
200. The Fire Station
201. The Dark
202. When You Love a Living Thing (Lovevery)
203. That's Not My Pumpkin...
204. The Big Slide
205. Pajama Time
206. A Visit with Captain Shelby (Lovevery)
207. Where's Spot?
208. Sheep in a Shop
209. Blue Boat
210. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
211. My Favorite Nature Buddy
212. Busy Hanukkah
213. Belly Button Book
214. Where Do Diggers Celebrate Hanukkah?
215. The Lorax
216. In the Beginning: A High-Contrast Board Book
217. How Big is Zagnodd?
218. Moo, Baa, Fa La La La La
219. Christmas Parade
220. Latke's First Christmas
221. Llama Llama Meets the Babysitter
222. Never Touch a Grumpy Bat!
223. Never Touch a Grumpy Bunny!
224. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
225. Race Day
226. I Love You a Latke!
227. Baby Beluga
228. Fifteen Animals
229. Happy Hippo, Angry Duck
230. Never Touch a Snake!
231. A Cuddle for Little Duck
232. Never Touch the Hungry Bears
233. Never Touch the Grumpy Pumpkins
234. Orange Excavator
235. My First Book of Hiking
236. On a Rocket
237. I'll Be a Chicken Too
238. Cookie's First Book of Numbers
239. Old Hat New Hat
240. Baby Loves the Five Senses - Taste!
241. Baby Loves the Fives Senses - Touch!
242. Time for Bed! Little Softies
243. Vegetables in Pajamas
244. Dino Shapes
245. Richard Scarry's A Day at the Fire Station
246. K is for Kindness
247. The Baby's Catalogue
248. Red Canoe Shows Up at Two
249. Go, Dog, Go!
250. Elmo on the Farm

I think I also read Amazing Animals, but for some reason I failed to write it down.

Board/Picture Books Read in 2026

February

1. The Wheels on the Bus - Trip to the Zoo
2. 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street
3. Clap Your Hands! (Elmo)
4. Pete the Cat's Cool New Ride
5. Gabrielle
6. Never Feed a Yeti Spaghetti
7. Oh My Gosh, Mrs. McNosh!
8. Sunny Day: A Celebration of the Sesame Street Theme Song
9. Minerva Louise and the Red Truck
10. A Fire Truck for Chuck
11. My Bus
12. Llama Llama Mad at Mama
13. Dinosnores
14. The Going to Bed Book
15. Goodnight Moon
16. Peek-a-Boo (Lovevery)
17. Bath! Bath! Bath!
18. Snakes on a Train
19. Don't Touch My Hair!
20. Dylan the Dump Truck
21. Pajama Time!
22. Happy Hippo, Angry Duck
23. When You Love a Living Thing
24. Time for Bed (Little Softies)
25. Goggles!
26. Tar Beach
27. Where's My Mom?
28. The Digger and the Duckling
29. Vegetables in Pajamas
30. Baby Beluga
31. Dino Shapes
32. Old Hat New Hat
33. Silly Lullaby
34. Night-Night, Little Pookie
35. Richard Scarry's Easter Cars and Trucks
36. Richard Scarry's Good Morning, Busytown!
37. Grumpy Monkey: Party Time!
38. Orange Excavator
39. Norman the Slug with the Silly Shell
40. Grumpy Monkey: Play All Day
41. My Friends Make Me Happy!
42. Snappsy the Alligator and His Best Friend Forever!
43. Stanley the Farmer
44. Rick the Rock of Room 214
45. Dandelion Magic
46. Busy Hanukkah
47. Happy Llamakkah!
48. Where Do Diggers Celebrate Hanukkah?
49. Peter Loves Penguin
50. Where's Spot?
51. Big Red Barn
52. Spooky Pookie
53. Christmas Parade
54. Let's Dance, Little Pookie
55. Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Car
56. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
57. Busy Bookstore
58. Busy Airport
59. Madeline
60. The Baby's Catalogue
61. Let's Go! On a Train
62. Purim Masquerade
63. Goodnight, Gorilla
64. Monster Jam Rev Up!
65. Llama Llama Meet the Babysitter
66. K Is for Kindness
67. Skinnamarink
68. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
69. Ten Little Dinosaur Eggs
70. Madeline's Rescue
71. Madeline and the Bad Hat
72. Birthday Monsters!

...gap of recording for about two weeks in the middle of February, so these books are no longer in the right order and some are missing....

73. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
74. Never Touch the Hungry Bears
75. How Do You Hug? Little Softies
76. The Wheels on the Tuk-Tuk
77. Grumpy Monkey - Yuck!
78. Bunnies in a Sleigh
79. How do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?
80. Parts of Me (Lovevery)
81. My First Words (Lovevery)

...Well, this doesn't work very well when the semester is underway. Nevertheless....

March
1. The Tiny Chef Show: Pizza Party!
2. My First Words (Lovevery)
3. Down by the Station
4. Never Feed a Tiger!
5. Let's Go on a Train
6. The Baby's Catalogue
7. Hippos Go Berserk!
8. The Bunny Rabbit Show!
9. Are You a Cow?
10. A to Z
11. Snuggle Puppy
12. Opposites
13. Oddbird
14. We Found a Hat
15. Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth
16. Biscuit's Hanukkah
17. Green Tractor
18. My First Touch and Explore Farm
19. Your Truck
20. Sleepy Farm
21. Pajama Time!
22. The Better-Than-Best Purim
23. Dinosaur Goes to Israel
24. Green Eggs and Ham
25. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
26. Dear Zoo
27. Your Personal Penguin
28. Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Car
29. Goodnight Moon
30. I Want My Hat Back
31. Hop on Pop
32. Let's Dance, Little Pookie
33. Spooky Pookie
34. Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go
35. Popcorn
36. My Busiest Book Ever
37. Kindness Makes Us Strong
38. Goodnight, Teddy Pear
39. Richard Scarry's A Day at the Fire Station
40. Your Farm
41. The Going to Bed Book
42. Night-Night, Little Pookie
43. The Gruffalo
44. Can You Snuggle a Snail?
45. Sing a Song of Mother Goose
46. Look Thru Things that Go
47. Madeline's 1 2 3
48. Paletero Man
49. How We Say I Love You
50. K Is for Kindness
51. Madeline and the Gypsies
52. Llama Llama Mad at Mama
53. Minerva Louise and the Red Truck
54. Norman the Slug with the Silly Shell
55. The Digger and the Duck
56. Counting to Calm
57. Bunnies in a Sleigh
58. Grumpy Monkey: Play All Day
59. Rick the Rock of Room 214
60. When You Love a Living Thing (Lovevery)
61. Oakley the Squirrel Camping 1 2 3!
62. Fred and Ted Go Camping
63. Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer
64. On Beyond Bugs! All about Insects
65. Dinosnores
66. Time for Bed! Little Softies
67. Peekabook Farm
68. Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!
69. Don't Look Inside - Monsters Are Moving In!
70. Who Said Moo?
71. Ford Shapes
72. Never Touch the Dirty Diggers
73. Never Feed a Yeti Spaghetti
74. How to Say Hello
75. Horseplay!
76. Madeline's Rescue
77. A Fire Truck for Chuck
78. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
79. One, Two, Three!
80. Llama Llama Meet the Babysitter
81. Elmo on the Farm
82. Busy Bookstore
83. Busy Airport
84. Dalmatian in a Digger
85. Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy
86. I Spy Little Book
87. There's a Mouse in My House
88. There's a Bear in My Chair
89. Lowly Worm Word Book
90. Skinnamarink
91. Never Touch a Snake
92. Never Touch a Porcupine
93. How Does a Dinosaur Say I'm Mad?
94. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
95. Birthday Monsters!
96. Grumpy Monkey - Yuck!
97. Down by the Bay
98. The Wheels on the Bus
99. Goodnight Bubbala
100. See, Touch, Feel
101. Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?

Ordering is a bit off for this group:
102. Good Night Adirondacks
103. Baby's First Passover
104. Making Muffins (Lovevery)
105. Murmel, Murmel, Murmel (abridged board book)
106. Big Red Barn
107. Your Personal Penguin
108. Good Night Toronto
109. Donut Give Up
110. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
111. Buffalo Fluffalo
112. The Best Nest
113. Baby Loves Structural Engineering!
114. My Bus
115. Twenty Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street
116. Goggles!
117. Good Night Pittsburgh
118. Ten Little Dinosaur Eggs
119. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
120. Baby Loves Quantum Physics!
121. Horns to Toes and In Between
122. The Clean-Up Monster
123. Blankie
124. Bubbles
125. Hi, Cat. Bye, Cat.
126. Radiant Ramadan
127. Happy Valentine's Day, Corduroy!
128. Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!
129. Good Night Beach
130. Good Night Mermaids
131. Ten Little Monsters
132. Peepo!
133. This is Not My Hat

Next Five
Stolen Focus
Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
Psychological Safety
The God of the Woods
One Classroom at a Time

Next Twenty
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
The Siren's Call
Good Inside
The Handmaid's Tale
The Work of Our Hands
Eat Your Ice Cream
(North Korea graphic novel)
Long Bright River
Paying the Price
The Anxious Generation
Meditations for Mortals
The Project
Logicomix
Enshittification
Bringing Up Bébé
The Digital Delusion

By Category

Non-Fiction about Technology
Stolen Focus
The Anxious Generation
The Siren's Call
The Digital Delusion
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies

Non-Fiction about Education
One Classroom at a Time
Paying the Price

Non-Fiction about Well-Being
Psychological Safety
Meditations for Mortals
Eat Your Ice Cream
The Work of Our Hands

Non-Fiction about Parenting
Good Inside
Bringing Up Bébé

Non-Fiction about the World
The Project
Enshittification

Adult Novels
The God of the Woods
The Handmaid's Tale
Long Bright River
A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Other
Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
Logicomix
(North Korea graphic novel)

Monthly Reading Goals

Given my current reading habits, I've found that instead of listing a few books that I plan to finish, I do much better listing 10 books that I want to make progress on, with specific page goals that are more or less ambitious depending on how enthusiastic I'm feeling about the book. I find it motivating to have a variety of targets that take different amounts of effort to achieve, and it encourages me to keep moving along with books that I've started previously.

January
1. Stolen Focus (currently p. 13, target p. 105)
2. Psychological Safety (currently p. 12, target p. 43)
3. Good Inside (currently p. 22, target p. 51)
4. The God of the Woods (unstarted, target p. 50)
5. Meditations for Mortals (to end of next chapter)
6. The Project (10 pages)
7. Logicomix (5 pages)
8. One Classroom at a Time (unstarted, target p. 20)
9. Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (20 pages)
10. The Siren's Call (currently p. 38, target p. 59)

February
1. Stolen Focus (currently p. 74, target p. 156)
2. Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (currently p. 68, target p. 98)
3. (Becky Albertalli - 20 pages)
4. Logicomix (3 pages)
5. The Project (5 pages)
6. Good Inside (10 pages)
7. The God of the Woods (unstarted, target p. 20)
8. Psychological Safety (10 pages)
9. One Classroom at a Time (unstarted, target p. 20)

March
1. One Classroom at a Time (40 pages)
2. Stolen Focus (50 pages: currently p. 89, target p. 139)
3. Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (30 pages: currently p. 87, target p. 117)
4. The God of the Woods (30 pages)
5. The Work of Our Hands (15 pages: currently p. 15, target p. 30)
6. Logicomix (3 pages)
7. Good Inside (10 pages: currently p. 22, target p. 32)
8. The Project (5 pages)
9. Psychological Safety (10 pages)
10. When the Tides Held the Moon (20 pages: currently p. 67, target p. 87)

April
1. The God of the Woods (150 pages)
2. Stolen Focus (50 pages)
3. One Classroom at a Time (10 pages)
4. Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (20 pages)
5. Good Inside (10 pages)
6. Logicomix (3 pages)
7. Bringing Up Bébé (20 pages)
8. Psychological Safety (10 pages)
9. The Project (5 pages)
10. When the Tides Held the Moon (20 pages: currently p. 67, target p. 87)

May
1. The God of the Woods (finish)
2. Stolen Focus (50 pages)
3. One Classroom at a Time (20 pages)
4. Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (20 pages)
5. Psychological Safety (20 pages)
6. Meditations for Mortals (complete current chapter; read next full chapter)
7. Good Inside (10 pages)
8. A Lady for a Duke (10 pages)
9. The Handmaid's Tale (unstarted; target 20 pages)
10. When the Tides Held the Moon (10 pages: currently p. 67, target p. 77)

June (made June 5)
1. The God of the Woods (finish)
2. Born to Flourish (50 pages)
3. Stolen Focus (20 pages)
4. Goodbye Phone (all)
5. One Classroom at a Time (15 pages)
6. The Project (10 pages)
7. Good Inside (10 pages)
8. Psychological Safety (10 pages)
9. Bringing Up Bébé (first 20 pages)
10. A Lady for a Duke (5 pages)

Acquisitions

January
1. The Work of Our Hands
2. Toddlers Made Easy

February
3. One Classroom at a Time

March
none?

April
4. The Happiness Equation

May
5. Born to Flourish

June
6. Goodbye Phone... (?) check title

Discards

January
1. The Mennyms (one of four copies!)
2. Collins Gem French-English English-French Dictionary (I think I have a newer copy?)
3. Gods, Demigods & Demons: An Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology
4. The Hollow Tree
5. Byzantium
6. I've Got a Home in Glory Land
7. Tulipomania
8. New Handy Webster's Dictionary
9. African Proverbs and Wisdom
10. Dazzling Brightness
11. The Thorn Birds
12. The Crystal Cave
13. The Hollow Hills
14. Thrice Bound
15. A Mortal Bane
16. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
17. City of Bones
18. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
19. Lateral Thinking Puzzlers
20. A Brief History of Cyprus
21. Notes on a Nervous Planet
22. Another Day in the Death of America
23. Punching the Air
24. Requiem for the American Dream
25. Why We Get Fat
26. The Greek Tyrants
27. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Workbook
28. A Perilous Path
29. 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act (unfinished)
30. The Frick Collection
31. Uprooting Racism
32. Promises I Can Keep
33. Blue Willow
34. About a Boy
35. Burro Hills
36. The Sky Inside
37. The Future, Declassified
38. The Ageless Generation
39. Lair of Dreams
40. My Name is Seepeetza
41. Hush
42. The Paper Magician
43. A Mango-Shaped Space
44. Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis
45. The World in 2050
46. The Thorn Birds (another copy!)
47. Masterminds
48. The Price of Admission
49. The Doubt Factory
50. The Island of the Colorblind
51. What They Didn't Teach You in Graduate School
52. The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing
53. Situations Matter
54. Becoming an Academic
55. Could It Happen Here?
56. Einstein's Dreams
57. The It Girl
58. Ejaculate Responsibly
59. Kushiel's Dart
60. Expiration Date
61. Memory and the Mediterranean
62. You Will Find Your People
63. Art's Agency and Art History
64. The Clockwork Crow
65. Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too
66. You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P
67. The Human Genome
68. Three Cups of Deceit
69. Parkland Speaks
70. Son of the Storm (read to p. 220)
71. The Numerati
72. Lion in the Valley
73. The Last Camel Died at Noon
74. My Name is Asher Lev
75. Weight
76. The Girl Who Married a Lion
77. Water for Elephants
78. Stones into Schools
79. Daughter of Venice
80. Wise Child
81. Rosemary and Rue (possibly a duplicate copy? but I think I already got rid of the other one too)
82. The Master Algorithm
83. We Regret to Inform You
84. A Touch of Gold
85. Last Stand
86. The Brain That Changes Itself
87. Lord of Shadows
88. Book of a Thousand Days
89. Straw into Gold
90. Foucault's Pendulum

March (were some of the Jan. books actually February?)
91. People We Meet on Vacation
92. If Cats Disappeared from the World
93. Part of Your World
94. Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication

started previously

Yearly Releases I Want to Read

2026
Riftwake (new Skyward book)
Mattering
Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Happy Life
How to Feel Loved

2025
Everything Is Tuberculosis
There Is No Place for Us
The Digital Delusion
Enshittification
Abundance
Ten Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World

2024
The Anxious Generation
Magic Pill

2023
Feel-Good Productivity

2022
Good Inside

Previous:
Lost Connections

Guesses about 2026 Reading

I always enjoy trying to guess what books I'll read in the coming year, though I'm never very accurate. I feel like this list in particular was a bit rushed and last-minute.

1. Stolen Focus
2. The Project
3. Logicomix
4. Good Inside
5. Psychological Safety
6. Alanna: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
7. Meditations for Mortals
8. The Siren's Call
9. The God of the Woods
10. Supercommunicators
11. The Good Life
12. Project Hail Mary
13. Russell: A Very Short Introduction
14. A Psalm for the Wild-Built
15. Circe
16. The Anxious Generation
17. Blightfall
18. Flourish
19. The Break
20. Invisible Child
21. Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part 2 Volume 1
22. Amelia, If Only
23. Educated
24. The Handmaid's Tale

If I read a book from a reading challenge....

I enjoy looking at the Goodreads reading challenges, though I never have time to actually read the books. But here are my imaginary plans.

Challenge Faves - The God of the Woods
Choice Archive - Project Hail Mary
Lasting Reads - Circe
Star Selections -
Tale Spinners -
Black Heritage -
Swoony Stories -
Persona Picks -
Her Story -

more?

one more just in case

Open for business! Welcome, all!

New Year greetings from Kuala Lumpur. My project is at least physically completed and an addition to the city scape.

Look forward to keeping up with you in 2026, Zoe

Welcome back, Zoë!

Happy new year, Zoe! I will enjoy seeing the picture books/ board books that you're able to track. And I should be starting God of the Woods soon for a librarian group that's discussing it, um, Wednesday so wish me luck finishing it on time...

Happy New Year, Zoë!

Zoë! Glad to see you resurface. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Good to see you!

>18 drneutron: >19 bell7: >20 kidzdoc: >21 qebo: >22 foggidawn: Welcome, all! Thank you for visiting.

Katherine, I'm ever optimistic at the new year, but I'll probably disappear again once the semester starts!

Mary, here's the list of board/picture books so far:

1. Five Speckled Frogs
2. Dandelion Magic
3. The Wheels on the Ice
4. Good Night Beach
5. Good Night Toronto
6. Bubbles
7. Good Morning, Canada
8. The Gruffalo's Child
9. There's a Monster in Your Book
10. Little Blue Truck's Valentine
11. I Am Kind!
12. How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs?
13. The Mommies on the Bus
14. Sloth & Squirrel in a Pickle
15. Good Night Mermaids

I've decided that I'll list each one once per month, to make the tracking more manageable while hopefully still giving a meaningful picture of what he's currently reading. So we read Good Night Beach again tonight, but I won't list it again yet. I'm also not listing books where we skip some words or pages (he sometimes starts turning the pages too fast), so Little Blue Truck will have to wait for another day, and some Richard Scarry books that have a lot of individual labels will never make the list.

Also, it's obviously too much to comment on each individual book, but in some ways that's sort of freeing! I can just comment on overall patterns and whatever individual books stand out. Brendan currently enjoys singing songs like The Wheels on the Bus all the time, so there are a lot of books that consist of songs, either in their classic form or modified: Five Speckled Frogs, The Wheels on the Ice, The Mommies on the Bus.

My favourite out of the current set is The Gruffalo's Child; I enjoy the well-crafted verses and the fun story. I just bought The Gruffalo last week, thinking it would be a bit too long for him now but that he'd appreciate it soon, and it turns out he actually enjoys it already, so I was happy to buy the sequel as well.

Good luck on finishing The God of the Woods in time!

>17 PaulCranswick: Oops, and I somehow missed Paul when I scrolled up through the list of messages! Happy New Year to you too, and thank you for sharing that beautiful photo!

Happy to see you back, Zoe, and glad to hear your kiddo is already a big fan of books. Wishing you all the luck with getting in a little more reading time for you into your days.

Gah, I was writing a long message and then accidentally opened a touchstone in the same window and lost it all.

>25 MickyFine: Thank you! I'll definitely need the luck.

Brendan's reading continues to go well; here's the latest batch:

16. Shake My Sillies Out
17. When We Went to the Park
18. The Wind Blew
19. Bouncing
20. Dear Zoo
21. Goodnight Moon
22. Sally's Secret
23. Dogger
24. Helpers
25. An Evening at Alfie's
26. Bavajadas!
27. Time for Hamantaschen!
28. Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go
29. Madeline
30. Dylan the Dump Truck
31. Peter Loves Penguin
32. Vrooom! A racing countdown book
33. The Going to Bed Book
34. Richard Scarry's Best Little Board Book Ever
35. I Am a Tractor
36. The Nose Book

It includes a bunch of Shirley Hughes books that my mother had on her shelf; I enjoyed seeing the pictures of a past urban world. I had written more about this in the post that got lost :(

And it includes a couple of Brendan's favourites from PJ Library (Bavajadas! and Time for Hamantaschen!), which sends free books to Jewish families—basically the Jewish equivalent of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which we also appreciate.

Madeline is one of my old favourites, so I'm glad that Brendan finally became interested in it just last month. And we both enjoy Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go, which always makes him laugh.

>26 _Zoe_: An excellent selection!

Happy New Year, Zoe! Looking forward to seeing all of your board books/picture books this year. My nephew is 18 months and he also likes to turn the pages faster than I read them so we don't always get through a whole book. Plus I only count and review board/picture books the first time I read them and most of his I already read with his older sister.

>27 foggidawn: Thank you!

>28 norabelle414: How is your nephew 18 months old already? I feel like he was just born—I think the last time I was in DC was when he was about to be born, so we couldn't see you on that visit, and then last year we only went as far as Lancaster.

I'm not sure how well it's going to work for me to record the books every month; already I can see that I'll soon have trouble checking whether I've already recorded a book within the current month. But I think that will give me the most meaningful picture of what he's reading, so I'll at least attempt to keep it up.

Meanwhile I've also been aggressively weeding my own books; it helps a lot to consider what books I'd want Brendan randomly picking up from the shelf in the future. The priority is books that are meaningful to me—ones that I've read and particularly enjoyed—so it's even easier than usual to get rid of something I purchased 10 years ago and never started. Plus we're accumulating so much toddler stuff, including books, that I'm just feeling overwhelmed and want to get rid of things. I'm currently at 46 discards for the year, though some of those are still piled in the hall and haven't actually made it out the door yet.

>29 _Zoe_: It seems like just yesterday you were pregnant and visiting me! My brother wants us to do a family vacation sometime soon (not winter) and he suggested the finger lakes so maybe we'll come visit you.
Are you in some kind of local trade/buy-nothing group? That's how my sister-in-law gets rid of all her toddler stuff (and gains a lot ... but sometimes it's easier to get rid of things when they're 2nd or 3rd hand to begin with). I still try to catalogue their books ( https://www.librarything.com/profile/AddyL ) but it's hard to keep up!

>26 _Zoe_: One of the greatest thing for me of being a parent, Zoe, is to spend time with the children reading and see them enjoy our own passions.

Brendan's reading is very impressive.

Happy New Year, Zoe and Mark!

You are so lucky to be reading all of those great books for tiny kids. I loved doing that all over again with my grandchildren, but they are now 8 and 12! The eight year old keeps telling me that "I am Level 2!" and refuses to take home any books that might below her reading level! LOL!

Re your kids' reading list.
---Barbara saw a copy of Goodnight Moon in our Little Free Library, and she stopped momentarily to remember how much she loved that book. She's in her mid-seventies! :D
---Of course I loved reading Madeline as a kid. You know why! :D
---I just got a donated copy of Gift and Box. I never saw that book before.
---Moo, Baa, La La La That's such a fun one to read...or any of Boynton's other books!
---if You Give a Mouse a Cookie - It may be fiction, but it's true. Loved that book!

I totally love the PJ Library books. They circulate through my Little Free Library all the time. If they are not taken, I put them in a pile to take to the Little Free Library that stands in front of my synagogue.

What are discards? Where did those books go?!! :O

If you've never read The Handmaid's Tale, read it NEXT!
Re Project Hail Mary - I have not read that book but acquired it for a friend who requested it. he said he could not put it down...it was that good!

>30 norabelle414: Yay, I hope you really do come to visit! The Finger Lakes area is great.

I have a vendetta against Buy Nothing because they were so unwelcoming when I moved to Oneonta—they said a signed lease wasn't sufficient and that I needed to be physically present in the city before I could join, even though I obviously couldn't take their stuff before moving there anyway. I've literally never before or since encountered anyone who refused to communicate with a new neighbor in advance of their move.

>31 PaulCranswick: It really is great to see Brendan enjoying the things I enjoy! Now I need to work at getting us to spend more time outside so he'll like that too.

>32 SqueakyChu: I've heard that there are still benefits to reading out loud when the kids are old enough to read on their own! So maybe you can convince them somehow.

I love the PJ Library books too, especially now that we're getting into the slightly longer stories. I find myself picking them up from free places a lot, like the book exchange at the Y (which is where some of my discards ended up). It's nice to know that they've been carefully selected, and I also find that they tend to be in better condition than other books—I think people are more willing to discard free books before they're completely worn out.

Some of my other discards will go to the Rescue Mission, a local charity. But currently a lot of them are still in the trunk of my car. Don't worry, I'm discarding enough that I'll have plenty for you next time I see you as well! I find it particularly satisfying to trade a few books that have been sitting unread on my shelf for years for a few picture books that will get read the same day, and reread on future days as well.

I'll try to read The Handmaid's Tale soon! That one I at least have a copy of. I don't yet own Project Hail Mary, but I've also heard very good things about that one.

And once nice thing about clearing out books is that I feel no guilt about purchasing new ones. If I go into a bookstore and buy four books for myself, I'm fine with that because I'm still very much negative for the year.

And here are the books I've read to Brendan in the last 10 days:

37. The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Garden Friends
38. The Gentlest Touch (Lovevery)
39. Peekaboo Love
40. Goodnight, Teddy Pear
41. Goodnight Bubbala
42. Baby's Very First Black and White Book: Babies
43. Baby's Very First Black and White Book: Faces
44. Baby's Very First Black and White Book: Going Out
45. Baby's Very First Black and White Book: Animals
46. Puff, the Magic Dragon
47. One Love
48. We're Going on a Bear Hunt
49. The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Snowy Hide and Seek
50. Where is the Very Hungry Caterpillar?
51. Sleep Tight with the Very Hungry Caterpillar
52. Can You Snuggle a Snail?
53. How I Feel (Lovevery)
54. Baby Touch and Feel Tractor
55. Big Dog... Little Dog
56. My First Touch and Explore Farm
57. Hop on Pop
58. Making Muffins (Lovevery)
59. Ice Cream Face
60. Baby Sees Colors!
61. The Cows on the Bus
62. Where Is the Green Sheep?
63. Elmo
64. Solitary Animals
65. I Spy Imagine That!
66. Sheep in a Jeep
67. Sheep Go to Sleep
68. Grumpy Monkey
69. Beautiful Yetta the Yiddish Chicken
70. Gift & Box
71. Help Wanted: One Rooster
72. Planting Parsley
73. The Gruffalo
74. The Very Hungry Caterpillar's First Signs
75. What If I Know My Feelings?
76. C is for Camping
77. Peekaboo Zoo
78. A Bedtime Hug for You
79. On the Farm
80. Ford Road Trip!
81. Moo, Baa, La La La!
82. Ready to Go: Poop (Lovevery)
83. Potty Time with Bean
84. Buffalo Fluffalo
85. Bunnies on the Bus
86. Curious George's Fire Truck
87. Curious George's Train
88. Curious George Visits a Toy Store
89. Curious George Makes Pancakes
90. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
91. Paletero Man
92. Dinosaur Dance
93. Barnyard Dance
94. The Paper Bag Princess
95. One, Two, Three!
96. Busy Bookstore
97. Kindness Makes Us Strong
98. Sheep Trick or Treat
99. Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Car
100. Sleepy Farm
101. Vehicles (touch think learn)
102. Naptime
103. Popcorn
104. The Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog
105. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh!
106. Will the Pigeon Graduate?
107. The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster!
108. A Day on the Farm with the Very Hungry Caterpillar
109. Welcome to Cocomelon Lane!
110. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
111. My First Busy Book (Eric Carle)
112. Cody Is a Big Brother (randomly selected by Brendan, no hidden meaning here!)
113. There's a Bear on my Chair
114. Bunnies in a Sleigh
115. Bunnies in a Boat
116. Busy Airport
117. How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?
118. The Quiet Book
119. No More Naps
120. The Color Monster
121. Goodnight, Gorilla
122. Three Grumpy Trucks
123. A Day on the Road with the Very Hungry Caterpillar
124. Baby Loves Automotive Engineering!
125. An Eggcellent Book of Kindness
126. Oakley the Squirrel Camping 1 2 3!
127. Curious George and the Dinosaur
128. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
129. Llama Llama Misses Mama
130. Bath! Bath! Bath!
131. Snakes on a Train
132. Interrupting Chicken
133. Avi the Ambulance to the Rescue
134. Les & Ronnie Step Out
135. C is for Car
136. Little Excavator
137. Touch and Feel Canadian Animals
138. Blankie
139. Giraffes Can't Dance
140. Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy
141. Teeth Are Not for Biting
142. What to Do When You Feel Like Hitting
143. Let's Dance, Little Pookie
144. What's Wrong, Little Pookie?
145. Spooky Pookie
146. Richard Scarry's Colorful Cars and Trucks
147. Hitting Hurts (Lovevery)
148. Clap Your Hands
149. I Love You, Little Pookie

This doesn't include repeats, and it doesn't include books he's read with Mark or anyone else! I'm definitely happy with how his reading is going.

I've decided to bold the ones I like best; currently it seems like good verses are the most common feature of the ones I like. A surprising number of children's books have rhymes that just aren't very good—sometimes they literally don't rhyme when they're supposed to, and more commonly the stress is just off.

From your list, I pick Giraffes Can't Dance. That's such a cute book. I frequently get that book to give away in our Little Free Library.

>34 _Zoe_: That is a lotta books!

>35 SqueakyChu: I actually went back and forth on whether I should include that one as a favourite! I've only read it once, so I decided it was too soon to tell.

>36 qebo: They're very short :D

>37 _Zoe_: It’ll be one of your favorites soon!!

>38 SqueakyChu: I can believe it!

And here's another batch, including That's Not My Frog... :D

150. Bedtime for Zoe (Lovevery)
151. Peek-a-Book (Lovevery)
152. Augie Does It Himself (Lovevery)
153. My First Signs (Lovevery)
154. There's a Mouse in My House
155. Monster Jam Rev Up! Touch and Feel
156. Kellan's Neighborhood Adventure
157. Kellan to the Rescue
158. Dinosaurs in Trucks Because Hey, Why Not?
159. In My Own Bed (Lovevery)
160. Max and Nana Go to the Park (Lovevery)
161. Graham Turns Two (Lovevery)
162. Bea Gets a Checkup (Lovevery)
163. That's Not My Frog...

>163 From this batch, I pick That’s Not My Frog. Your son also picks that book! ❤️❤️❤️

>40 SqueakyChu: I knew you'd be happy to see that one! :D

>41 _Zoe_: I was! I loved that book as I have an affinity for frogs. I could no longer read it to my now eight- and twelve-year old grandchildren. LOL!

>42 SqueakyChu: I can't believe they're so old already!

Here's the next batch of books:

164. Biscuit's Snowy Day
165. I Am a Dump Truck
166. I Am a Garbage Truck
167. Bus (DK)
168. Germs Are Not for Sharing
169. Murmel, Murmel, Murmel (abridged)
170. Mortimer
171. Counting on Shabbat
172. Ten Little Monsters
173. Good Night Pittsburgh
174. Good Night Adirondacks
175. Shabbat Light
176. A New Week
177. One, Two, Three, Sukkot!
178. Look Thru Things That Go
179. A Magical My Gym Day!
180. Dragon's First Taco
181. Count and Slide Things That Go
182. Vegetables in Halloween Costumes
183. Dinosnores
184. Your Personal Penguin
185. Night-Night, Little Pookie

I'm surprised by how happy I am to read Robert Munsch books from my childhood (even if I hadn't realized that the board book edition of Murmel, Murmel, Murmel was abridged!). I somehow didn't think I'd be so attached to books until it got to the point where I was reading to myself—if you asked me last year what my favourite childhood books were, I would have said something like Tamora Pierce rather than any picture books. But it's really nice to revisit familiar friends :). And Sandra Boynton continues to be fun as well.

My discarding is also continuing apace. While I'm certainly not going full-on Marie Kondo, it's nice to increase the percentage of my surroundings that spark joy, while getting rid of those that have no particular positive association.

>43 _Zoe_: I don't know any books in this batch. :(

You are reading a lot of books. I'm amazed he sits that long to listen to so many stories. My great nephew Jonah will sit for one or two, but his younger brother Silas might sit for 1/2 book at a time.

>43 _Zoe_: He is a lucky fellow soaking up all those books! Isn't it great fun reading to the little ones, Zoe?

>44 SqueakyChu: I'm curious whether Robert Munsch is known at all in the United States! Murmel, Murmel, Murmel and Mortimer are absolute classics—random Googling brought me to this 2017 list of the 150 best-selling English books by Canadian authors over the past decade (so, roughly 2007-2017), and both of them are on it, along with 33(!) other Munsch books.

>45 thornton37814: How old are your great nephews? We originally had to choose books very carefully to match Brendan's interests—there was a time when they had to be touch-and-feel books, or books with flaps, and when he was just starting to talk he wanted books with lots of individual pictures of objects, like My First Canadian Colours. But now that he's into it he just asks for another and another :)

>46 PaulCranswick: It really is great!

>47 _Zoe_: Robert Munsch is known here, but I only know two of his books. One is Love You Forever. I have a copy that Shelley gave me. The grandkids outgrew the book…but she gave it to me!! The other book I know is The Paper Bag Princess, but I never read it. That book came into my Little Free Library and was released from there. I remember it because of its unusual title.

>47 _Zoe_: I agree with Madeline -- Munsch is best known for those two books here in the states, though all of the libraries I've worked at have had at least four or five of his books. I think they're dwindling in popularity, though. :-/

>34 _Zoe_: currently it seems like good verses are the most common feature of the ones I like. A surprising number of children's books have rhymes that just aren't very good—sometimes they literally don't rhyme when they're supposed to, and more commonly the stress is just off.

I totally agree! Some people seem to think that its easier to write a good picture book than it actually is. All the more reason to write reviews of picture/board books, imo, even if the review is just "good pictures but no rhythm at all"

>48 SqueakyChu: >49 foggidawn: Those are definitely the best ones! They were the first ones we bought for Brendan, but Love You Forever is still a bit too long for him to sit through.

>50 norabelle414: I have aspirations of writing reviews one day! But I don't want to add all the picture books to my own account, so I'd review them in @RemarkableReads, which requires slightly more effort in signing in to another account. Currently we're so far behind in just cataloguing his books that I wouldn't expect reviews any time soon.

I have been making good progress in organizing and weeding books, though. I'm at 86 discards for the year so far (minus the part of actually taking them away to the donation center... they're mostly still sitting in bags in the trunk or the hall). Yesterday I put a bookcase on the landing for some of Brendan's books, which helps a lot! I'd been trying to empty the bookcases in his bedroom in preparation for when he's out of the crib, so we just had books piled everywhere in the house.

And here's the next set of books I've read with him. The count is slowing down as time goes on, since I'm not listing repeats (yet). I decided I'll actually start the list again each month, so that it will be a better record of how his reading tastes are changing. I was impressed that he sat through the entirety of The Lorax this weekend, though he got a bit antsy during the last few pages.

Some of the best ones/my favourites are bolded again. I decided arbitarily that no more than 20% should be "favourites", so there are still some other good ones here that didn't get bolded.

186. Big Red Barn
187. Room on the Broom board book
188. Sing a Song of Mother Goose
189. Shabbat is Coming!
190. Blinker, Blinker Little Car
191. My First Words (Lovevery)
192. Olivia Goes to the Dentist (Lovevery)
193. My First Canadian Colors
194. 50 Below Zero
195. Corduroy
196. Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!
197. A Very Mickey Valentine's Day
198. Baby Loves Structural Engineering!
199. The Boy in the Drawer
200. The Fire Station
201. The Dark
202. When You Love a Living Thing (Lovevery)
203. That's Not My Pumpkin...
204. The Big Slide
205. Pajama Time
206. A Visit with Captain Shelby (Lovevery)
207. Where's Spot?
208. Sheep in a Shop
209. Blue Boat
210. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
211. My Favorite Nature Buddy
212. Busy Hanukkah
213. Belly Button Book
214. Where Do Diggers Celebrate Hanukkah?
215. The Lorax
216. In the Beginning: A High-Contrast Board Book
217. How Big is Zagnodd?
218. Moo, Baa, Fa La La La La
219. Christmas Parade
220. Latke's First Christmas

>51 _Zoe_: Ones I still love so much:
Corduroy
The Lorax
Where’s Spot?

>52 SqueakyChu: Corduroy was another one that I went back and forth about marking as a favourite! You always manage to pick those out :D

I still haven't been reading much, but I can write the occasional review of an old book as I discard it!

I actually ended up flipping through that last book and deciding to keep it after all! There's a section at the beginning about values that I enjoy.

>53 _Zoe_: I like the vintage books...those books I've read both to my own kids and later to my grandchildren. They're so absolutely sweet!

Yay for 50 Below Zero. That was one of my favourite Munsch books as a kiddo.

>56 SqueakyChu: I can definitely relate! I'm surprised to see how much I enjoy reading old classics.

>57 MickyFine: Mine too!

And here's my final batch of books for this month. It was nice that the tracking calmed down a bit as the month progressed, but I've decided I want to try to track distinct books every month, instead of by the year, since his interests will presumably change a lot from January to December! So I'll start all over again now and list the same ones again if we revisit them. I think it will be fun to see which ones get read again and again every month.

221. Llama Llama Meets the Babysitter
222. Never Touch a Grumpy Bat!
223. Never Touch a Grumpy Bunny!
224. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
225. Race Day
226. I Love You a Latke!
227. Baby Beluga
228. Fifteen Animals
229. Happy Hippo, Angry Duck
230. Never Touch a Snake!
231. A Cuddle for Little Duck
232. Never Touch the Hungry Bears
233. Never Touch the Grumpy Pumpkins
234. Orange Excavator
235. My First Book of Hiking
236. On a Rocket
237. I'll Be a Chicken Too
238. Cookie's First Book of Numbers
239. Old Hat New Hat
240. Baby Loves the Five Senses - Taste!
241. Baby Loves the Fives Senses - Touch!
242. Time for Bed! Little Softies
243. Vegetables in Pajamas
244. Dino Shapes
245. Richard Scarry's A Day at the Fire Station
246. K is for Kindness
247. The Baby's Catalogue
248. Red Canoe Shows Up at Two
249. Go, Dog, Go!
250. Elmo on the Farm

I think I also read Amazing Animals, but for some reason I failed to write it down.

I did not finish any of my own books last month, but I decided to post some quotes and comments from Stolen Focus, which I'm currently reading and enjoying a lot. These were originally posted on Goodreads; I wish LibraryThing had a quick and convenient reading update feature like they have there.

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

"our ability to pay attention—to focus—was cracking and breaking. I could feel it happen to me—I would buy piles of books, and I would glimpse them guiltily from the corner of my eye as I sent, I told myself, just *one* more tweet. I still read a lot, but with each year that passed, it felt more and more like running up a down escalator. I had just turned forty... we would lament our lost capacity for concentration""

"At every stage in this trip, he had broken his promise. When the plane first touched down... he immediately took out his phone, while we were still in our seats. 'You promised not to use it,' I said. He replied: 'I meant I wouldn't make phone calls. I can't not use Snapchat and texting, obviously.' He said this with baffled honesty, as if I had asked him to hold his breath for ten days."

"I watched him scrolling through his phone.... Milling past him was a stream of people also staring at their screens. I felt as alone as if I had been standing in an empty Iowa cornfield, miles from another human."

"He said it might help me grasp what's happening if we compare our rising attention problems to our rising obesity rates. Fifty years ago there was very little obesity, but today it is endemic in the Western world. This is not because we suddenly became greedy or self-indulgent.... The way we lived changed dramatically—our food supply changed, and we built cities that are hard to walk or bike around...."

"The writer James Baldwin—the man who is, for my money, the greatest writer of the twentieth century—said: 'Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.' "

"One day, I spent three hours reading the same first few pages of a novel, getting lost in distracted thoughts every time, almost as though I was stoned, and I thought—I can't continue like this. Reading fiction had always been one of my greatest pleasures, and losing it would be like losing a limb. I announced to my friends that I was going to do something drastic."

"The study found that 'technological distraction'—just getting emails and calls—caused a drop in the workers' IQ by an average of ten points.... in the short term, that's twice the knock to your IQ that you get when you smoke cannabis. So this suggests, in terms of being able to get your work done, you'd be better off getting stoned at your desk than checking your texts and Facebook messages a lot."

"I turned to my piles of books, thinking idly of how, all through my teens and twenties, I would spend days on end lying in bed, doing nothing but reading in one great gulp. But {now}... I had been reading in a rushed, hyperactive way...."

"After the war, he + his parents ended up in a refugee camp, which he found squalid, + lacking in hope. One day, in these ruins of a life, Mihaly was told that he was going to join a Scout troop for boys in the camp, + he started going out into the wilderness with them. He discovered that he felt most alive when he was doing something difficult, like navigating a steep ascent.... He thinks this experience saved him."

"We now live in a world dominated by technologies based on B.F. Skinner's vision of how the human mind works. His insight—that you can train living creatures to desperately crave arbitrary rewards—has come to dominate our environment. Many of us are like those birds in cages being made to perform a bizarre dance to get rewards, and all the while we imagine we are choosing it for ourselves—"

"Once I knew {about flow}, I understood why, when I felt constantly distracted, I didn't just feel irritated—I felt diminished. We know, at some level, that when we are not focusing, we are not using one of our greatest capacities. Starved of flow, we become stumps of ourselves, sensing somewhere what we might have been."

Oof. A bit harsh for those of us with young children.

"It was hard. I didn't particularly enjoy it. But the next day, conscious that I had to retrain my habits, I made myself do the same. And so it went on, day after day. I struggled. I disciplined myself.

By the end of the fourth week, the flow states started to come... and soon, I was hurrying to my laptop, hungry to do it."

"After three months in Provincetown, I had written 92,000 words of my novel. They might be terrible, but in one sense, I didn't care.... I placed my deck chair in the ocean so the sea was lapping at my feet and I finished the third volume of War and Peace.... I had been sitting there for most of the day. I had been reading like this, day after day, for weeks. And I thought suddenly: It came back! My brain came back!"

"One day I woke up w/o any alarms after sleeping for nine hours and realized that I didn't want any coffee. This was such an alien sensation.... Then it finally occurred to me what I was feeling—I had awoken from my sleep feeling fully refreshed. My body didn't feel heavy. I was alert. As the weeks passed, I realized that I felt like this every day. The last time I remembered feeling like this was when I was a child"

It should go without saying, yet needs to be said: "you are more efficient when you are rested... it takes you less time to do things."

Rest is not the opposite of productivity; it's in many ways the prerequisite. Now if only I could learn to implement this in practice.

Our bodies think that lack of sleep is an emergency, so they prepare by raising blood pressure, wanting more fast food, wanting more sugar for quick energy, etc.

Keeping that in mind, I paid attention to how I felt when I did get enough sleep, and I really did seem to eat healthier without effort, just because I felt like it.

>58 _Zoe_: Go, Dog, Go. Yes!! Good one! 👍

>59 _Zoe_: Stolen Focus
Oh, I read this in... checking threads... 2023, near the end of the year when I was behind in reviews so I never wrote anything about it. Thanks for your notes as reminders!

>60 SqueakyChu: Yes, I love that one! This is a copy that I had in my old bedroom at my parents' house. We also have a new board book version that's not the same at all, and it's only recently that we've started reading the full version.

>61 qebo: Ooh, what did you think of it? It feels like exactly the book that I need to be reading right now, with my ongoing inability to focus. And it's already pushed me to get more sleep, which is huge progress.

I've concluded that I may never get around to full reviews of anything, not least since I barely finish any books, so my disjointed thoughts on the go are all there is!

And here's the list of books that I read to Brendan today, starting a new count for the new month. It includes some that we got from the library today, a few that we read at the Barnes & Noble, and some old favourites for bedtime.

1. The Wheels on the Bus - Trip to the Zoo
2. 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street
3. Clap Your Hands!
4. Pete the Cat's Cool New Ride
5. Gabrielle
6. Never Feed a Yeti Spaghetti
7. Oh My Gosh, Mrs. McNosh!
8. Sunny Day: A Celebration of the Sesame Street Theme Song
9. Minerva Louise and the Red Truck
10. A Fire Truck for Chuck
11. My Bus
12. Llama Llama Mad at Mama
13. Dinosnores
14. The Going to Bed Book
15. Goodnight Moon

I really like the art in the Sesame Street song book!

>14 _Zoe_: Awwww! Almost nothing can beat the combo of The Going to Bed Book and Goodnight Moon (a most beloved classic!)

This is what happened to my copy of Goodnight Moon:
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/13250412

I said goodbye to my copy! :O

And here are the travels of my The Going to Bed Book. :D
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/12477473/

It's really fun to revisit the travels of these much-loved books!

>63 SqueakyChu: I love that you can follow your books on their travels! I sometimes wish I had maintained a BookCrossing account, but I know I don't have time for it—I can barely manage to post in my thread here!

Now that the semester has started, it's especially difficult to find time for anything else. But I'm still trying to track the books Brendan reads, if no longer quite in order, and I'm still inching along in my own book.

Here's the next batch of books I read to Brendan. I started the count over in February, so there are some repeats from last month, which I'm happy to record. I'm not being as diligent about keeping up with them now, so they accumulate in a pile on the dining room table until I manage to write them down, and I think a few probably managed to escape. Let me know if you notice any duplicates within the same month, which would be unintentional.

16. Peek-a-Boo (Lovevery)
17. Bath! Bath! Bath!
18. Snakes on a Train
19. Don't Touch My Hair!
20. Dylan the Dump Truck
21. Pajama Time!
22. Happy Hippo, Angry Duck
23. When You Love a Living Thing
24. Time for Bed (Little Softies)
25. Goggles!
26. Tar Beach
27. Where's My Mom?
28. The Digger and the Duckling
29. Vegetables in Pajamas
30. Baby Beluga
31. Dino Shapes
32. Old Hat New Hat
33. Silly Lullaby
34. Night-Night, Little Pookie
35. Richard Scarry's Easter Cars and Trucks
36. Richard Scarry's Good Morning, Busytown!
37. Grumpy Monkey: Party Time!
38. Orange Excavator
39. Norman the Slug with the Silly Shell
40. Grumpy Monkey: Play All Day
41. My Friends Make Me Happy!
42. Snappsy the Alligator and His Best Friend Forever!
43. Stanley the Farmer
44. Rick the Rock of Room 214
45. Dandelion Magic
46. Busy Hanukkah
47. Happy Llamakkah!
48. Where Do Diggers Celebrate Hanukkah?
49. Peter Loves Penguin
50. Where's Spot?
51. Big Red Barn
52. Spooky Pookie
53. Christmas Parade
54. Let's Dance, Little Pookie
55. Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Car
56. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
57. Busy Bookstore
58. Busy Airport
59. Madeline
60. The Baby's Catalogue
61. Let's Go! On a Train
62. Purim Masquerade
63. Goodnight, Gorilla
64. Monster Jam Rev Up!

Among Hanukkah books (which we read at any time of year), I particularly like Where Do Diggers Celebrate Hanukkah? because it actually refers to the historical story, not just to dreidels and latkes like most of them. I'm at the Barnes & Noble now, but I'll try to remember to include a quote later.

Also, fun fact: the first four days of the semester were snow days.

>64 _Zoe_: Two of my favorites on that list:
Where’s Spot and (of course…) Madeline. ☺️

>65 SqueakyChu: I think those will be regulars on the lists! I love Madeline and recently ordered the next few books in the series.

>64 _Zoe_: One or two familiar titles there, but I am ashamed to admit that I haven't read a single thing from the list.

>67 PaulCranswick: What are your favourite picture books, or the most memorable ones that you've read? I'd recommend Madeline at least!

>68 _Zoe_: Zoe, for every new baby in years past, I always liked to gift new moms Goodnight Moon and/or Pat the Bunny. I loved those two books sooo much! The first is a board book,; the second a spiral bound book. By the time I got to picture books, there have been too many to mention. When you post the names of the ones I love, i just enjoy going down memory lane of reading those books to two generations of my own family!

>69 SqueakyChu: Somehow I've never read Pat the Bunny! I'll have to keep an eye out for that one. I wouldn't have thought that I'd remember picture books so strongly, but somehow I really love reading the old familiar ones to Brendan.

Meanwhile you'll be happy to hear that Brendan has gotten into jigsaw puzzles. Here's one of his favourites that he's done repeatedly:



I can't seem to rotate it correctly, but you get the idea. We help him by sorting the pieces and setting out ones that will fit into what he's done already, but mostly he does it on his own. He can do 12-piece puzzles entirely on his own now.

And I continued to not make much personal reading progress in February, but some progress is still better than none.

For the college's faculty/staff reading group, I started reading One Classroom at a Time: How Better Teaching Can Make College More Equitable, and I'm really enjoying it so far—to the point where I actually continued reading my current chapter after failing to finish it in time for the discussion, whereas usually I end up losing interest in actually reading the books as soon as I fall behind.

That meant I mostly set aside Stolen Focus, which was fine because the fourth chapter (on the decline of sustained reading) wasn't nearly as good as the first three. Hari starts by riffing on Marshall McLuhan's "the medium is the message", declaring that he, Hari, knows what the message of various social media platforms is and doesn't like it. For example, the message of Facebook (according to Hari) is

"first: your life exists to be displayed to other people, and you should be aiming every day to show your friends edited highlights of your life. Second: what matters is whether people immediately like these edited and carefully selected highlights that you spend your life crafting. Third: somebody is your 'friend' if you regularly look at their edited highlight reels, and they look at yours—this is what friendship means."

I'm aware of the shortcomings of Facebook, but I don't know anyone who thinks they're supposed to post there every day, or who really thinks Facebook friends are the same as real friends. And more importantly, Hari's opinion here is detached from the evidentiary basis, while attempting to make declarative claims that go beyond his own experience. It's just not a well-argued or convincing section.

And then later in the chapter he talks about studies on how reading fiction increases empathy, which I'd already heard about and appreciate—I'm in favour of reading fiction!—but which don't really relate to the book's topic of focus, despite Hari's assertion that empathizing with other people "is one of the most rich and precious forms of focus we have". It feels like he just stuck that in there to fill out the chapter on reading.

But I've finally moved on to the next chapter, on the importance of letting our minds wander, and it seems much better. So I'll probably make more progress on this book in March. Also, I'll have a week off for Spring Break!

>70 _Zoe_: So cool he's doing jigsaw puzzles. I am so addicted to them, but it's a good thing because it's very zen...almost like meditation.

>72 SqueakyChu: I agree that it's a great and relaxing activity!

And here's my list of books read to Brendan today, a fresh start for the fresh month. We'll see how long my tracking lasts this time:

March
1. The Tiny Chef Show: Pizza Party!
2. My First Words (Lovevery)
3. Down by the Station
4. Never Feed a Tiger!
5. Let's Go on a Train
6. The Baby's Catalogue
7. Hippos Go Berserk!
8. The Bunny Rabbit Show!
9. Are You a Cow?
10. A to Z
11. Snuggle Puppy
12. Opposites
13. Oddbird
14. We Found a Hat
15. Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth
16. Biscuit's Hanukkah
17. Green Tractor
18. My First Touch and Explore Farm
19. Your Truck
20. Sleepy Farm
21. Pajama Time!

Lots of good ones here! It was hard to limit it to my top 20%; honorary mentions for Let's Go on a Train, Oddbird, and Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth.

>73 _Zoe_: This time I pick Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton. I love all of her books so much. They are so joyful.

Happy Purim to your family and extended families!

>74 SqueakyChu: Brendan has been enjoying Sandra Boyton a lot lately! Happy Purim to you too :)

22. The Better-Than-Best Purim
23. Dinosaur Goes to Israel
24. Green Eggs and Ham
25. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
26. Dear Zoo
27. Your Personal Penguin
28. Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Car
29. Goodnight Moon
30. I Want My Hat Back
31. Hop on Pop
32. Let's Dance, Little Pookie
33. Spooky Pookie
34. Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go
35. Popcorn
36. My Busiest Book Ever
37. Kindness Makes Us Strong
38. Goodnight, Teddy Pear
39. Richard Scarry's A Day at the Fire Station
40. Your Farm
41. The Going to Bed Book
42. Night-Night, Little Pookie
43. The Gruffalo
44. Can You Snuggle a Snail?
45. Sing a Song of Mother Goose
46. Look Thru Things that Go
47. Madeline's 1 2 3
48. Paletero Man
49. How We Say I Love You
50. K Is for Kindness
51. Madeline and the Gypsies
52. Llama Llama Mad at Mama
53. Minerva Louise and the Red Truck
54. Norman the Slug with the Silly Shell
55. The Digger and the Duck
56. Counting to Calm
57. Bunnies in a Sleigh
58. Grumpy Monkey: Play All Day
59. Rick the Rock of Room 214
60. When You Love a Living Thing (Lovevery)

>76 _Zoe_:

This time I pick:
Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss is always fun!
Goodnight Moon - One of my all time favorite board books!
Hop on Pop - I pick this Dr. Seuss book as well.
The Going to Bed Book - A super book by Sandra Boynton!

Well, you know who my favorite board book authors are!

>77 SqueakyChu: A lot of overlap with my favourites as well! Brendan is just getting into Dr. Seuss, so expect to see more of those coming up soon :D

Meanwhile I meant to comment in my last post on Madeline and the Gypsies.... I'm a completionist, so of course I had to buy it. I got the hardcover because it seemed like it hadn't been recently re-released in paperback like the others, and I figured the title alone was problematic enough to cause that. But the book was even more problematic than I expected! It started out so well, and I thought the gypsies were just going to save them, but then they kidnapped them instead :/ . The pictures are really nice though, and the story is more coherent than Madeline and the Bad Hat. I feel a bit guilty for enjoying it.

61. Oakley the Squirrel Camping 1 2 3!
62. Fred and Ted Go Camping
63. Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer
64. On Beyond Bugs! All about Insects
65. Dinosnores
66. Time for Bed! Little Softies
67. Peekaboo Farm
68. Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!
69. Don't Look Inside - Monsters Are Moving In!
70. Who Said Moo?
71. Ford Shapes
72. Never Touch the Dirty Diggers
73. Never Feed a Yeti Spaghetti
74. How to Say Hello
75. Horseplay!
76. Madeline's Rescue
77. A Fire Truck for Chuck
78. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
79. One, Two, Three!
80. Llama Llama Meet the Babysitter
81. Elmo on the Farm
82. Busy Bookstore
83. Busy Airport
84. Dalmatian in a Digger
85. Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy
86. I Spy Little Book
87. There's a Mouse in My House
88. There's a Bear in My Chair
89. Lowly Worm Word Book
90. Skinnamarink
91. Never Touch a Snake
92. Never Touch a Porcupine
93. How Does a Dinosaur Say I'm Mad?
94. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
95. Birthday Monsters!
96. Grumpy Monkey - Yuck!
97. Down by the Bay
98. The Wheels on the Bus
99. Goodnight Bubbala
100. See, Touch, Feel
101. Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?

Dishonorable mention for How Does a Dinosaur Say I'm Mad, which is mostly a list of ideas for how to misbehave.

>79 _Zoe_: Oh!! The Very Hungry Caterpillar! I'll never get tired of reading that book.

>79 _Zoe_: Fred and Ted Go Camping brings back fond memories.

>80 SqueakyChu: We have another copy in German that I think I got from you! But Brendan doesn't appreciate the German version as much.

>81 foggidawn: I do enjoy Fred and Ted! We read the camping one at a nature center that has a nice peaceful children's room.

>82 _Zoe_: Brendan doesn't appreciate the German version as much.

LOL! Maybe try it in another language?!

>83 SqueakyChu: Ha, maybe that will work!

Here's another batch of books, not necessarily in the order we read them since I fell behind a bit:

102. Good Night Adirondacks
103. Baby's First Passover
104. Making Muffins (Lovevery)
105. Murmel, Murmel, Murmel (abridged board book)
106. Big Red Barn
107. Your Personal Penguin
108. Good Night Toronto
109. Donut Give Up
110. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
111. Buffalo Fluffalo
112. The Best Nest
113. Baby Loves Structural Engineering!
114. My Bus
115. Twenty Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street
116. Goggles!
117. Good Night Pittsburgh
118. Ten Little Dinosaur Eggs
119. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
120. Baby Loves Quantum Physics!
121. Horns to Toes and In Between
122. The Clean-Up Monster
123. Blankie
124. Bubbles
125. Hi, Cat. Bye, Cat.
126. Radiant Ramadan
127. Happy Valentine's Day, Corduroy!
128. Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!
129. Good Night Beach
130. Good Night Mermaids
131. Ten Little Monsters
132. Peepo!
133. This is Not My Hat

>110
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Such a sweet book...and non-fiction to me! LOL!

>68 _Zoe_: Sorry for being so tardy in responding, Zoe. Picture books would be something that I would definitely not be well placed to comment upon or recommend other than looking in awe at Linda (Whisper1)'s thread. For me graphic novels would be limited to Persepolis, the March books and Maus as it is not a medium that I am so familiar with.