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Monday, December 29, 2008

Reading Round-Up 2008

Well, it is that time of year... time to review the book list I made back in January. Did I read the books I thought I would read? (Many, not all.) Did I add new books to the list? (More than I thought I would!) What did I think of them? (I tried to link to my reviews when possible.) Should I make another list for 2009? (Absolutely! I'm a list addict!)

It looks like the winning catagories were Children's Fiction With Levi (we read every book and added many more) and Book Club (I read all 11 selections). I was reading through my list trying to pick favorites, but the competition is stiff. Watership Down, Little Britches, Swallows and Amazons, What's So Amazing About Grace, Deconstructing Penguins, Ruth.... Lots of great stories, ideas, information I added to my little world this past year.

How was your reading in 2008? Any favorites?



Literature Set in Ancient History:
Ben Hur (decided to read only Quo Vadis this year)
Quo Vadis (in progress)
(With Levi:)
In Search of a Homeland (The Aeneid)
Black Ships Before Troy (The Iliad)
The Wanderings of Odysseus (The Odyssey)
We read parts of the above three books. Levi read or listened to many Iliad/Odyssey story retellings on his own. I decided to read The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum on my own and am part way through.
The Bronze Bow (in progress)
Detectives in Togas (Levi ended up reading on his own)
The Cat of Bubastes (unabridged audio CD) (Levi listened to on his own)
We also read:
The Story of the World: Ancient Times by Susan Wise Bauer
Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick
The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence
and many, many picture books, short stories, and non-fiction books about ancient times
Levi is currently listening to The Young Carthaginian by Henty on audio CD

Children’s Fiction with Levi:
Swallows and Amazons (finished)
Little Britches (finished)
Owls in the Family (finished)
The Great Brain (finished)
Understood Betsy (in progress)
Emily’s Runaway Imagination (finished)
All-of-a-Kind Family (finished)
Little Pear (finished)
We also read:
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill
The Real Thief by William Steig
Dominic by William Steig
Abel's Island by William Steig

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
(I didn't even begin to keep a list of the books Levi read or listened to on his own, or the picture books either of us read.)

Christianity:
The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens (decided against)
*Ben Hur (decided to read only Quo Vadis this year)
*Quo Vadis (in progress)
Victor Journey Through the Bible (read selections, will continue in 2009)
From Jest to Earnest (E. P. Roe) (finished)
Hard Questions, Real Answers (William Lane Craig) (moved to the 2009 list)
The Screwtape Letters (C. S. Lewis) (moved to the 2009 list)
The Problem of Pain (C. S. Lewis) (sigh, didn't get around to)
also read:
Mimosa by Amy Carmichael
What's So Amazing About Grace by Yancey

Education/Parenting:
The Intellectual Devotional (read selections, will continue in 2009)
The Closing of the American Mind (get around to finishing) (still didn't read, another sigh)
(I reviewed the next 4 books as needed during the year:)
Family Matters (re-read)
Protecting the Gift (re-read)
Bringing Up Boys (re-read)
The Well-Trained Mind (re-read)
The Essential 55 (Ron Clark) (never got a copy)
For the Children’s Sake (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay) (finished)
also read:
The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule
Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading by Goldstone
The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson and Nick Kelsh
More Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison
The Family at Home by Anita Kaushal

Book Club:
Watership Down (finished)
Me: Stories of My Life (Katharine Hepburn) (finished)
*From Jest to Earnest (E. P. Roe) (finished)
The Murder of Roger Akroyd (Agatha Christie) (finished)
Life With Jeeves (P. G. Wodehouse) (finished)
(7 more books to be decided at a later meeting)
also read (additional 4 selections were read and listed in other categories):
The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter (finished)
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell (finished)

Non-Fiction:
*The Closing of the American Mind (still didn't read)
Crunchy Cons (never got a copy)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver) (finished)
The Total Money Makeover (Dave Ramsey) (finished)
Eats, Shoots, and Leaves (Lynne Truss) (skimmed)
A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson) (in progress)
Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences (Kitty Burns Florey) (finished)
* Protecting the Gift (reviewed)
also read:
The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D

Just For Fun:
*The Murder of Roger Akroyd (Agatha Christie) (finished)
*Life With Jeeves (P. G. Wodehouse) (finished)
Tears of the Giraffe (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Book #2) (finished)
The Guardian (Nicholas Sparks) (didn't get to)
A Tom Clancey Novel (not sure which one…) (didn't get to)
Hotel Pastis (Peter Mayle) (didn't get to)
The Thirteenth Tale (finished)
*A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson) (in progress)
also read:
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Literature:
*Ben Hur (how many times did I list this?!)
*Quo Vadis (ditto)
A Wrinkle in Time (finished)
Animal Farm (finished)
Brave New World (finished)
Messenger (Lois Lowry) (reading for book club in 2009)
Taming of the Shrew (didn't read)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ditto)

12 comments:

Shell in your Pocket said...

A lot of books:)!
-sandy toes

Renee said...

Heidi,
I enjoyed your book list! I only read half of the ones I chose for 2008- so I already have my first New Year's resolution for 2009! I blogged about "my word" and how it affected me in 2008. Thank you so much for that idea. I have already chosen a word for 2009. Maybe I'll reveal it tomorrow.

Skeller said...

Heidi -
I'm so grateful for your book lists and reviews this year. Some of my year's favorites have been YOUR recommendations!! :-)
I just finished Benedict Society last week and now Cote is thru about half of it. Yesterday, in the car, he read me his favorite quote so far - and it was the same one about rules that you posted... which just happened to be one of my favorite quotes, also.

Hey - my copy of Philippa arrived yesterday :-) I can't wait to start. It's next on my list, after I finish The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, which btw, I think you would really enjoy.

Heidi said...

skeller~ That's funny that we all picked the same quote! :) I left the CA Philippa for you, so mine is coming from MI and I haven't received it yet, LOL. I'm looking forward to it. I've never heard of the book you mentioned... heading over to Amazon to check it out.

The Good~ I didn't do so well on my One Little Word this year. Things kinda fell apart half way through. I'm going to have to think about what I want for this next year. Hmmm. Heading over to read your post...

Laurel said...

What a list! Inspiring!

Hmmm some of my favorites - this year and generally. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner is one of my all time favorites. I have been reading a lot of South Asian authors while living here: Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri and Kiran Desai. I loved the Glass Palace by Ghosh. Guests of the Ayatollah by Bowden was fascinating. Hmmm what else? Spiritual Disciplines for Children and a really wonderful Celtic Devotional that I can't remember the exact title of!

One little word? I'll have to look into that! Happy New Year to you Heidi.

Precision Quality Laser said...

Whew! You made me tired just reading your list! lol :)

I love your idea of listing the books to be read in the year. May I ask how you find all those books in the first place?

Thanks for inspiring me to read more in 2009!

Happy New Year!

Heidi said...

Mrs. Q~ I have no difficulty finding books to read, obviously, LOL! I get ideas from other book lists (Semicolon's Favorite Fiction, other blogs, the homeschooling forum I visit often, etc...), our homeschooling sources (The Well-Trained Mind, The Well-Educated Mind, and catalogues such as Veritas Press), my shelves of books I haven't gotten around to yet, friends, my book club members, Amazon (when I look up a title, there are lists of similar books.... I surf and read *a lot* of reviews on Amazon!), etc...

Heidi said...

Laurel~ If you're interested in the One Little Word, check out here http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2008/12/best-laid-plans.html and the provided links.

Aja Jenise said...

Whoa I feel dumb!

hopeinbrazil said...

Wow! How in the world did you discover E.P. Roe? I inherited a dozen of his books from my grandmother. And collected as many of the others as I could find in used book stores. Unfortunately they are all stored away in a closet in the U.S. I liked your list a lot. We homeschooled using the Charlotte Mason method. =)

Sheila said...

I read over 60 books this past year and I'm quite happy with that. I posted my list on my blog. I'm coming up with my list for 2009 AND some suggestions for my book club. Prioritizing is always the hardest part and also mixing the light with the heavy/challenging.

I am almost through the #1 Ladies Detective series and I also finished the Mitford series. Sad to say goodbye!

Silly Bus said...

Excellent Post!!