Robert and I love reading together. Here’s how it most often works: probably 90% of our reading happens in the car, with HR driving and me reading to him out loud. We’re not picky in the type of books we read: fiction, nonfiction, biographies, science fiction, mysteries, coming of age, classics, poetry, self help, even children’s books.
We just finished our 200th book!
“The Message takes readers through Coates’ journeys all over the world, recounting his experiences in places like Dakar, Senegal; Columbia, SC; and Palestine’s West Bank. Each location is a springboard for reflecting on topics such as white supremacy, colonialism, and what it means to be a Black writer today.” oberlinreview.org
… and to love reading together.
I’m actually a TERRIBLE out loud reader. Sometimes I’ll get so caught up in the reading, that I’ll stop reading out loud and just read to myself more quickly, until Robert has had enough and yells, “NEAL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
Other times, when what’s happening on the page gets pretty emotional, I’ll get so choked up, I can’t continue. HR doesn’t yell during those times; he just waits impatiently until I have regained my composure.
He also tells me that (unbeknownst to me) I often weave in and out of pretty inauthentic dialects and reading styles trying to match the characters’ voices or the author’s “deep intentions.” I’m not sure I believe him.
Also, much to Robert’s consternation, I simply can’t say out loud the “F word.” Instead, when I get to that word, I’ll simply say the letter “F” or more commonly, switch it for another less dynamic word, knowing that he’s not seeing the page anyway.
For example, if the author has a character screech, “Just look at him! He’s an F-ing idiot!” I might read it to HR as, “Just looking at him! He’s a slightly less than intelligent, but probably well meaning, and soon-to-be much more mature and successful member of the human race!”
(Okay, I was kidding about that last part.)
I hope you love to read.
Is there a book you think we should read?
P.S. Because I’m sure you absolutely have to know, here’s what we’ve read. Yes, we’re nerdy enough to maintain an ongoing list of our reads …
Books We Have Read Together 4/3/25
1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Skloot
2. The Art of Being Together – Wade
3. Happiness For Two – Stoddard
4. Choosing Happiness – Stoddard
5. Graces Notes – Stoddard
6. Time Alive – Stoddard
7. Make Your Bed -McRaven
8. Care as the Soul – Moore
9. Soul Mates – Moore
10. Simon and the Homo Sopiens Agenda – Albertalli
11. Ten Poems to Charge Your Life – Housden
12. Reading Lolita in Tehran – Nafisi
13. Opera for Dummies
14. The Ten Spiritual Laws of Success – Chopra
15. Vermont Afternoons with Robert Frast – Orton
16. Midnight in the Garden of Goad + Evil – Berendt
17. Ageless Soul – Moore
18. Cranberry Christmas – Devlin
19. A Cup of Christmas Tea – Hegg
20. Christmas Jars – Wright
21. A Stronger For Christmas – Peasson
22. Pride + Joy – Archambeau
23. Meditations From the Monk Who Dwells in Daily Life – Moore
24. Meditations From the Mat – Gates
25. Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing – Tammet
26. Gullah: People of the Sea Islands – Faces
27. Stone Poems- Cellini
28. Candidates For Sainthood + Other Sinners – Cellini
29. Winnie the Posh- Milane
30. Fast Fond Genocide – Furman
31. Eat to Live – Furman
32. Johnathan Livingston Seagull – Bach
33. Chicken Soup for the Soul – Canfield + Hanson
34. The Houses on Pooh Corner – Milne
35. Grace Notes – Stoddard
36. Orphan Train – Kline
37. Marlon Bundo – Twiss
38. The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective – Rohr + Ebert
39. When We Were Very Young – Milne
40. Now We Are Six -Milne
41. The Wisdom of the Enneagram – Riso/Hudson
42. The Naked Now -Rohr
43. An American Marriage – Jones
44. More Happy Than Not- Silvera
45. Being Mortal – Gawande
46. The Dogs of Christmas – Cameron
47. What if it’s Us – Albetralli/Silvera
48. Happiness for Two- Stoddard
49. Harry Potter + the Sorcer’s Stone – Rowling
50. A Happy Pocket Full of Money – Gikarani
51. Harry Potter + the Cauldron of Secrets – Rowling
52. You are Your Choices – Stoddard
53. Harry Potter + the Prisoner of Azkaban – Rowling
54. Harry Potter + the Goblet of Fire – Rowling
55. Manifest Your Desires – Hicks
56. Harry Potter + the Order of the Phoenix -Rowling
57. Shortest Way Home – Buttigieg
58. Harry Potter + the HalfBlood Prince – Rowling
59. Holy Envy – Barbara Brown Taylor
60. Atlanta Then and Now – Rose
62. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Rowling
63. Max Makes a Million – Kalman
64. The BooK of Pride – Funk
65. Choosing Happiness – Stoddard
66. And the Pursuit of Happiness, Kalman
67. Everyday Positive Thinking – Hay
68. Why Is Blue Dog Blue – Rodrique
69. The pig of Happiness – Monkton
70. An Alter is the World – Taylor
71. Everyday Positive Thinking – Hay
72. Ooh lala, Max in Love – Kalman
73. Max in Hollywood, Baby – Kalman
74. Swami on Rye, Max in India – Kalman
75. Pride: The LGBTQ+ Rights Movement a Photographic Journey – Meason
76. New York: Not Only Buildings
77. Leaving Church – Taylor
78. Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu
79. Smarty Pants, Pete in school – Maria Kalman
80. What Pete Ate – Kalman
81. Hiding My Candy – The Lady Chablis
82. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Lewis
83. Disassembly Required – Wilett
84. The Magician’s Nephew – Lewis
85. Openly Bob – Smith
86. Savannah, Then and Now
87. Memory Rescue – Amen
88. The Orchid Thief – Orlean
89. The horse + His Boy – Lewis
90. Less -Greer
91. The Cat who Came for Christmas – Amory
92. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend – Dicks
93. Prince Caspian – Lewis
94. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – Lewis
95. Learning to walk in the Dark – Taylor
96. The Silver Chair – Lewis
97. Dancing on my Tears – Melita
98. The Last Battle – Lewis
99. David + Goliath – Gladwell
100. Eulogy of a Cracker Childhood – Ray
101. Becoming Nancy – Ronald
102. The soul of Money – Twist
103. Stillness Speaks – Tolle
104. Under the Rainbow – Laskey
105. White Fragility – Di Angelo
106. How to Be an Antiracist – Kendi
107. Names of God – Knight
108. Gay LiKe Me – Jackson
109. Between the World + Me – Coates
110. How the Penguins Saved Veronica – Prior
111. The Deviant’s Was – Cervini
112. Automatic Yall – Weaver
113. Mythology – Hamilton
114. I Have Something to Tell You – C Buttigieg
115. Lead Fran the Outbide -Abram
116. Pine + the Winter Spanow – Lumbard
117. Trust = Buttigieg
118. Huck Finn – Twain
119. Caste – Wilkerson
120. The Deal of a Lifetime – Backmon
121. Always a Guest – Taylor
122. Here where We Meet – Berger
123. Black Boy Out of Time – Ziyad
124. Hudson + Tallulah Take Sides – Kong
125. World of Wonders – NezhuKumatathil
125. Outside the Garden – Cellini
126. Getting the Love You Want – Hendrix and Hunt
127. The Velvet Rage – Downs
128. Antiracist Baby – Kendi
129. Stamped from the Beginning – Kandi
130. While Justice Sleeps – Abrams
131. Carry-on – Roswell
132. Wayward Son – Roswell
133. Any way the wind Blows – Roswell
134. Maybe You Should TalK to Someone – Gottlieb
135. Our Subway Baby – Espinso
136. Dancing with Daddy – Shulte
137. The Liars Dictionary – Williams
138. The Remaking of Corbin Wale – Parrish
139. In Defense of Food – Pollan
140. Here’s to us – Albertina and Silvia
141. Apples Never Fall – Moriarty
142. Dangerous Prayers
143. Stamped – Reynolds and Kendi
144. Nice Racism – DiAngelo
145. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Wiggin
146. South to America – Perry
147. On the Water – Brink
148. Calling Out the Gays – Larkin
149. This Way Out – Ahmed
150. The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle – Cain
151. The Black Flamingo – Atta
152. Ida B. wells – Duster
153. Baltimore – Then and Now – Mitchell
154. 1619 Project – Hannah – Jones
155. The Guncle – Rowley
156. Less is Lost – Greer
157. Boyfriend Material – Hall
158. Husband Material – Hall
159. Bright Winter Night -Brydon
160. The Universal Christ – Rohr
161. Boys Come First – Foley
162. The Book of Joy – Dalai Lama and Tutu
163. Anxious People – Bankman
164. Braiding Sweetgrass – Kimmerer
165. Remarkably Bright Creatures – Van Pelt
166. Patron Saints of Nothing – Riboy
167. God of the Hinge – Pool and West
168. Wild Spectacle – Ray
169. A Place for Us – Brandon J. Wolf
170. Pretty Perfect Kitty Corn – Hale
171. The Way Life Should Be – Dameron
172. Drifting into Darien – Ray
173. Wild Card Quilt – Janisse Ray
174. The Editor – Steven Rowley
175. The Mercies – Hargrave
176. The Old Place – Bobby Finger
177. Soil – Camille T. Dungy
178. The One and Only Ivan – Applegate
179. Happiness Falls – Angie Kim
180. Sleeping with the Ancestors – McGill
181. Christmas at Thompson Hall & Other Christmas Stories – Trollope
182. The Christmas Promise – VanLiere
183. The Nest – Sweeney
184. Gender Rebels – Locke
185. The Book with No pictures – Novak
186. A Winkle in Time – L’Engle
187. The Left Hand of Darkness – LeGuinn
188. Never Home Alone – Dunn
189. Y’all Means All: the emerging voices, Queering Appalachia – McNeill
190. The Silent Patient – Michaelides
191. Amelia Bedelia – Parish
192. The Cat WhoCould Read Backwards – Braun
193. The Heavenly Christmas Tree – Dostoyevsky
194. Cats Are Cats – Gorbachev
195. Jingle Bells: How the Holiday Classic Came to Be – Harris
196. Christmas by the Book – Ryan
197. Husbands – Gramazio
198. Detransition, Baby – Peters
199. Savannah: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure – Berinato
200. The Message – Coates
WHEW!
NealEnJoy 