Saturday, January 09, 2010

Reading in 2009

I know this isn't everything -- it doesn't even touch on the things Anne, Betsy and Ramona read on their own.  I keep promising myself I'll get a little more organized about our booklists. I signed up for Good Reads and have done nothing with it other than to think, "I've done nothing with Good Reads."

And as I look over this list, I see that much of my reading time is spent either reading to my kids, previewing something for my kids, or keeping up with my kids. And, then, when all that's done, I throw in a few books for me. 


Fiction (mostly stuff I read with the kids/previewed for the kids/stuff I read to keep up with the kids):

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby (not for the kids)
A La Carte by Tanita Davis
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Midnight Dancers by Regina Doman


A Little Non-fiction:

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Mockingbird by Charles Shields
Wish I Could Be There by Allen Shawn 
Fruitless Fall by Rowan Jacobsen
Chocolate Unwrapped by Rowan Jacobsen
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
On Writing Well, by William Zinsser


Various read alouds with various kids, re-read alouds (Ramona's first time with some of these) or things I reread because the girls were reading them: 

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
The Moffats by Eleanor Estes
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
On Tide Mill Lane by Melissa Wiley 
The Road to Roxbury by Melissa Wiley
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,
Prince Caspian,
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,
The Silver Chair,
The Horse and His Boy,
The Magician's Nephew
by C.S. Lewis
Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The Penderwicks on Gardem Street by Jeanne Birdsall
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L'Engle


Spiritual Reading (and in some cases, re-re-rereading and looking over highlights):

Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade (a regular and constant reread)
Fr. Elijah (fiction ... my kids groan, "You're reading that again?" It's like medicine to me)
Fire of God's Love by Mike Aquilina
Angels of God by Mike Aquilina
Happy Are You Poor by Fr. Thomas Dubay
Miracles by C.S. Lewis 
The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
The Ministry of  Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
101 Devotions for Homeschool Moms by Jackie Wellwood
Grain of Wheat by Fr. Michael Geisler  (fiction)
Mother Teresa and me by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle
Grace Cafe by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle
View The Domestic Church by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle
The Miracle of Lourdes by Fr. John Lochran
New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton 


A few of the books I started and need to get back to:

Mary, Mother of the Son (volumes I, II and III) by Mark Shea
Mother Teresa's Secret Fire by Fr. Joseph Langford
Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing by Fr. Dwight Longenecker
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

5 comments:

Faith said...

I love books lists!

I've already slated the Mary, Mother of God series by Shea as my Lenten reading.

And I really want to read Omnivore's Dilemma.

What did you think about the Ephron book? Would you recommend it?

I hated that book How to Be Good! Did you like it? I was so turned off by the characters that I gave up about 3/4s of the way through.

Melanie Bettinelli said...

Karen, you sound so like me. I wish I kept better reading lists. I also signed up for Good Reads. Did nothing with it except peek at what friends are reading... which is itself a fun use.

Funny that many of the books you read with/for the kids are ones I've read in the past year just for myself. I suppose it's a sort of long-term preview for the kids in that they'll get to them by the end of the decade. Sometimes I just like to read juvenile fiction. It can be as meaty as adult fiction, tends not to be full of unpleasant surprises.

I just finished re-reading Father Elijah for the second time. I was uncertain the first time through. Liked it much better this tie having read the rest of Michael O'Brien's books. I can definitely see myself reading it again. Though I think I still prefer Cry of Stone and Sophia House.

Rochelle said...

I'm another book-list lover, and I've also joined Good Reads.
I'm including a weekly list of the books I read in my blog.
I simply MUST read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I'd never heard of it before, but I love the title!

Karen Edmisten said...

Faith, Nora Ephron makes me laugh, so I enjoyed it.

Re. "How to be Good" -- I just love Nick Hornby's writing, and he, too, can make me laugh out loud. It would be most accurate to say that there were many things I liked about the book, little tucked in gems.

For example, in the last few pages, you find this:

"Ever since I moved back into the house after my stay at Janet's, I have had the nagging feeling that I miss something, without being able to describe precisely what that something was. ... it's some spiritual equivalent of fruit, which I am bad about eating. And it is only when I have shut the bedroom door for the third or fourth time on my husband and children in order to find out precisely how Vanessa Bell's life was better than my own that I work it out. It is the act of reading itself I miss, the opportunity to retreat further and further from the world until I have found some space, some air that isn't stale, that hasn't been breathed by my family a thousand times already. Janet's bedsit seemed enormous when I moved into it, enormous and quiet, but this book is so much bigger than that. And when I've finished it I will start another one, and that might be even bigger, and then another, and I will be able to keep extending my house until it becomes a mansion ...."

Karen Edmisten said...

Melanie, I agree with you completely. I love to read YA and I'm so glad my kids have provided a reason for me to discover so many great books. :)

Have you read Strangers and Sojourners? That's a favorite of mine, too.

Rochelle, here's a little post about the Guernsey book. Enjoy!