On the Bookshelf for January // Intro to #whatsonourbookshelves

I grew up on a diet of books. I remember weekly trips to the library as a child, my Mum reading children's classics to me every night on the sofa downstairs after my younger siblings had gone to bed, summers "camping" in the garden tent, or lying on the hammock, with a book and a bowl of snacks; fiction, historical, biography... it didn't matter - I had an insatiable hunger for learning and books were my favourite way to ingest!

25 years later and my love of reading has not changed - but my capacity has... a Mama of (soon-to-be!) five children, a house to look after, meals to cook and work to do. Perhaps also the internet has a lot to answer for here too. Time now spent scrolling and researching would previously have been spent with my nose in some well-loved pages. It's hard to know what difference that might have made.

Either way, I'm kicking off this year with a determination to get reading again!

Back in 2015 I set myself the challenge of reading a book by an author for every letter of the alphabet (you can catch up on that here if you missed it!) - it was SO much fun, and so many of you helped me out by recommending books in genres I hadn't really explored before! I loved it. I didn't get to Z, but I did get to S, and read some of my all-time favourite books that year 

It wasn't bad going, considering it was a year I had a newborn in tow (why do I always get in the reading mood when life's about to get crazy?!)

The following year, I did something called "one for them and one for me" and shared one book I was reading, and one the children were reading. Well, everyone here is now an independent reader, but I also know how much I love a book recommendation for me and for the children, and so this year, I'm thinking I'll write a post each month with what we're all reading (be warned - we'll all have one book to Ava's ten - the child devours literature!)... I'd love you to come join us and tell us what you're reading too! There's something fun about sharing recommendations and I love hearing from others what they're enjoying!

So here's me kicking this off... I have a pile of books I want to tackle this year, but no doubt my kindle and the library will keep me well stocked too...

Here's where I'm starting!

One is a newbie - one is a re-read!

1. Becoming Baby Wise by Bucknam and Ezzo.* This is a book I can recommend because I have read it before - 13 years ago when I was about to become a Mum for the first time! It probably was the most influential book in my early parenting and I'm convinced is the reason our first three babies slept through so early (They slept through the night at 11 weeks, 5 weeks and 8 weeks - I didn't follow it with our prem 4th and he didn't sleep through til 10 months!) It'll be tried and tested again this time!

2. The Mapmaker's Daughter by Clare Marchant * - I grabbed this one from the library - Heidi spotted it and threw it my way. It combo's my love of history (its a dual timeline historical novel) and good old fiction. I'm only about four chapters in but really enjoying it so far. It flits between the modern day and Tudor times. And its not predictable (at least at this stage!) which I'm also appreciating! I actually have no idea where its going yet!

So my plan is to pop back at the end of the month... share what I've read, and what the rest of the family have been reading - and I'd love you to join me!

What is on your bookshelf for January 2024??

If you want to join the fun, I'm going to hashtag on instagram #whatsonourbookshelves - would absolutely love you to join the party! Take a pic of what your reading and tag me in it with the hashtag and I'll share some favourites!

* PS - If you want to grab any of the books we're reading, I'll be sharing the links here - the links are all affiliate - it means if you click on the link and decide to grab any of them for yourself, Amazon will give me a little financial thank you for the recommendation. It blesses our family! So thanks in advance if you do nab any of them!