On reading, hiking and bread-baking my way through the new year

We’ve always been an ‘outdoors’ family, but in the past year – new schools, new responsibilities – I noticed the car was racking up increased mileage, while I was becoming more sedentary. Carlines to get kids picked up, shopping trips to feed three hungry boys, time at the computer to manage the mundane chores of a mother’s life.

Blogging has long been a release for me, but in recent years has taken on a life of its own: a tribute to the outdoor spaces in the Upstate and a diary of one family’s travels in the Southeast, but also a huge commitment of time and energy. Upon our return from France I felt I had reached a crossroads – what would become of Femme au Foyer? While the transition from expat abroad to Yankee hiker in SC happened without much thought, with the recent arrival at what feels like another fork in the road, I feel that I have to be a bit more deliberate with my time – there is just less of it. While writing about these natural places gives me great pleasure, I enjoy the exploration of them even more, and while I will not be abandoning the blog entirely, I will be shifting focus, and blogging less often.

With the New Year, I set about with new priorities for personal growth: hiking, reading and baking. My goal is to hike 365 miles this year, read 10 books a month, and bake bread once a month. Inspiration was drawn from cookbook club, my cousin Kaiva's Instagram feed, a 'daughters who like to read' message thread, and the dozens of trails within an hour's drive still unexplored, even after some 15 years in the Upstate. Instead of writing about places I will be out in them, all that time spent in the carline will be put to good use, and the taste/smell of home-baked bread will hopefully be more common in our hectic kitchen. With March drawing to an end, I can announce that it has so far been a successful endeavor; I’ve logged 97 miles of trail, baked four different breads (baguettes, rupjmaize, cornbread and scones), and read 32 books – and there are a few days left in the month!

While I’m proud of each mile that I’ve charted, I’m feeling especially accomplished looking at my reading list. While my usual fare tends towards mysteries (extra points if it’s a game warden solving a murder!), I’ve ventured outside the boundaries of suspense into everything from social commentary and poetry to short stories and nonfiction – here they are, in the order that I read them (and I've added amazon links that have reviews and more complete descriptions for those interested): 

1. Where the River Ends – Charles Martin
2. A Delicate Touch – Stuart Woods

3. Squirm – Carl Hiaasen

          Hiaasen’s book for young readers are just as lively and entertaining as his adult fiction!

4. The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century – Kirk Wallace Johnson

          Exotic bird trafficking, fly fishing, and the 2009 heist of 299 rare bird skins from a British natural history museum… a surprisingly fascinating read…

5. The New Iberia Blues – James Lee Burke

          James Lee Burke is one of my all-time faves, and although maybe not the most striking, the newest Dave Robicheaux novel was no different from his usual.

6. The Witch Elm – Tana French

7. Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century – Jessica Bruder

          Longing to pack it all up and go… Completely not my usual read, however intriguing look at the growing community of nomads traversing the U.S. between seasonal jobs.

8. The Story of Land and Sea: A Novel – Katy Simpson Smith

9. Birds of America – Lorrie Moore

          A book of short stories that has it all: the funny, the sad, the banal and the grace.

10. Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger – Rebecca Traister

          Struck so many chords with me that I went and bought it after returning the library’s copy. This book vocalizes so many thoughts, feelings and emotions that I’ve heard from friends, family and my own heart over the last 5 years.

11. Bearskin: A Novel – James A. McLaughlin

          “James McLaughlin expertly brings the beauty and danger of Appalachia to life. The result is an elemental, slow burn of a novel—one that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.”

12. Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country – Pam Houston

13. The River of Kings: A Novel – Taylor Brown

          I’ve been fascinated with the The Altamaha River (Georgia’s “Little Amazon”) since I read Janisse Ray’s “Drifting into Darien: A Personal and Natural History of the Altamaha River” while living in the middle of nowhere, Georgia. This novel has a good balance of the natural world to mystery to the human heart.

14. The Girl Who Was Taken – Charlie Donlea

15. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love – Dani Shapiro

16. The Mountain Between Us – Charles Martin

17. Fates and Furies: A Novel – Lauren Groff

18. Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman – Anne Petersen

19. Crimson Lake – Candice Fox

20. The Library Book – Susan Orlean

          A story of a fire – a big one, mind you – woven into the larger tapestry of the role of libraries in the modern world.

21. The Winter of the Witch – Katherine Arden

          The third book in the Winternight Trilogy, a Russian fairytale that was spellbinding – possibly my favorite of the year so far!

22. The Gilded Wolves – Roshani Chokshi

23. The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild – Craig Childs

24. Bad Optics: A Woods Cop Mystery – Joseph Heywood

25. The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America – Timothy Egan

          The wildland firefighter in me could smell the smoke in this novel, but was also astonished that I hadn’t read it until now.

26. Upstream: Selected Essays – Mary Oliver

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Sad to say I only discovered Mary Oliver after her passing this January, however am making up for lost time by working through her books, one by one, morsel by morsel. Yesterday I stuck 'Upstream' in my pack, and it came in handy when the boys found a spot in the creek they wanted to explore - usually I'm too impatient for an hour spent perched on a rock when the trail awaits. • • • • "For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple." - Mary Oliver, from 'Upstream' #maryoliver #upstatesc #leefalls

A post shared by Liene | Femme au Foyer (@femmefoyer) on Mar 3, 2019 at 9:28am PST

27. Alternate Side: A Novel – Anna Quindlen

28. The Victory Garden: A Novel – Rhys Bowen
29. Becoming – Michelle Obama

          Chicago was my home for a quarter of a century, and I enjoyed seeing it from the author’s perspective. DC is about as far from home as it gets, and I enjoyed seeing it from a woman’s perspective. And with today’s political climate, there was insight into the racial divide as well…

30. Bridge of Clay – Markus Zusak

31. Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens

          “Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.”

32. Only Killers and Thieves: A Novel – Paul Howarth

          An epic tale set in the 1880s ‘Wild West’ Australian frontier: brutal, cruel and tragic. Despite the harsh imagery, no regrets – a raw, no-holds-barred, coming-of-age story that I couldn’t put down.

What’s next? Returning to a few mystery series that I’ve not yet finished, new books by favorite authors coming out in the next months, and a half-dozen books on hold from rabbit-hole wanderings on social media. Tell me – have you read any of the titles on this list? If you’ve got suggestions for me of novels in the same vein as these, I’m all ears – I’ve got 88 books to read this year!