I heard about this reading challenge on a homeschooling discussion board and thought it would be fun to try:
http://triple8challenge.blogspot.com/
I started compiling my lists by first getting down what I've been wanting to read for awhile; I still had space so I started perusing some suggestions from various bibliophiles discussion forums and looking around on Amazon, and there were so many that sounded fabulous that I ended up not being able to keep most categories to 8 selections. I think I usually read more than 64 books in a year anyway, (though not certain as I've never kept track before), so I can probably get to most of these, or am hoping to. I figure I'll have lots of alternatives if I just can't get through some of my selections, (life is too short to waste on a book that's not being enjoyed), but I'm also reminding myself that I'll have 29 books to read already for Zach's next school year, (egads!) , I like to read them ahead of time so him and I can discuss them when he gets to them, and our next school year starts early this summer. So my list might be a little too ambitous. It'll be fun to take a look at this list again late this year and see how much I actually read. I see lots of good reads in my future. :D
I apologize for how sloppy this looks; for some reason everytime I try to re-space the paragraphs it won't save.
Here is my list:
The numbered items I'll make priority, but am hoping to have time for the others.
8 Biographies or Autobiographies
1. Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote(squeaking it in there, it's technically fiction of a "semiautobiographical" nature, but was already on my list and this was the only place I could fit it).
2. Period Piece: The Victorian Childhood of Charles Darwins Grandaughter by Gwen Raverat May
3. Forever and Ever, Amen by Karol Jackowski
4. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs April
5. The Cat who Covered the World by Christopher Wren June
7. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt May
8. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in WWII by Doris Kearns Goodwin
9. Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear
10. Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes May
11. The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father by James Wight
12 .The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery Feb.
13. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antartic Expedition by Caroline Alexander
14. Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light by Mother Teresa
15.Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
16.The Power of the Powerless by Christopher De Vinck
(I know it was supposed to be 8 but these 15 looked too good not to make time to read). The others below look interesting too, but not as compelling to me as the ones above. Maybe I'll have time for them all!
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
'Tis by Frank McCourt June
The Diary of Anne Frank: The Definitive Edition May
8 Non-fiction
1.Keeping a Nature Journal: Discovering a New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Claire Walker Leslie March
2. Baby-Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife by Peggy Vincent Jan
3. The Well Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer(She includes a reading list in here which I won't be able to get to this year but would like to glean some info about approaching a book in a purposeful way where appropriate).
4.Superfoods RX: Fourteen Foods that Will Change Your Life by Steven G. Pratt
5. It Takes a Mother to Raise a Village by Colleen Down
6. James Herriot All Things Bright and Beautiful Jan.
7. James Herriot's All Things Wise and Wonderful(I've already read All Creatures Great and Small and loved it). Feb.
8. James Herriot The Lord God Made Them All. July
9. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird
The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family ties by William J Doherty
The Case of Abraham Lincoln April
Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis
French Women don't get Fat by Mirieille Guilliano
8 Books on Religion/Spiritual growth
1. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
2. Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley
3.Prayer: Does it Make any Difference? by Phillip Yancey
4. Jesus, the One and Only by Beth Moore
5. Rebel With a Cause by Franklin Graham
6. The Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas
7. Grace(eventually): thoughts on faith by Anne Lamott
8. Whose Bible is it anyway?: A Short History of the Scriptues by Jaroslov Pelikan
Here's one dh just came home and told me about that I had to add:
The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus by Lee Strobel
8 Mysteries
1. Lean Mean Thirteen- Janet Evanovich (Haven't read past the 12th one) March
2. Fearless Fourteen- Janet Evanovich (Due out this summer)
3. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters(a reread but from 10 or so years ago and I don't remember it)
4. Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton- Jan.
5. Murder on the Orient Express by Agath Christy
6. Bootleggers Daughter by Margaret Maron
7. Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs
8. T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton(my all time favorite mystery series) Feb.
God Save the Queen by Dorothy Canell April
8 Classics
1.Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
2. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather July
3. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
4. Portrait of a Marriage by Pearl Buck {Not at my library so nevermind. Humph.]
5. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Jan.
6.The Awakening by Kate Chopin
7.Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen
8.Walden by Henry David Thoreau
9. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain July
10. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain July
11. Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain July
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
8 history or historical fiction (I'll make these adult only, since I already read a lot of young adult historical fiction with Zach for his Sonlight core reading).
1. 1776 by David McCullough July
2. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
3. The Life of Elizabeth I - Alison Weir
4. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
5. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
6. The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
7. The Flames of Rome by Paul Maier
8. Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick June
These is my Words by Nancy Turner June
Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
The Widow's War by Sally Gunning
Katherine by Anya Seton
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
Shadowbrook by Beverly Swerling
Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon
The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow
Historical Fiction I've been prereading for Zach's school year:
George Washington's World by Geneveive Foster (April)
The King's Fifth by Scott Odell (April)
A Murder for Her Majesty (April)
Madeleine Takes Command (May)
The Kidnapped Prince (April)
Escape Across the Wide Sea (May)
The Iron Peacock (April)
The Sherwood Ring (May)
8 books on Parenting (includes homeschooling)
1.Learning All The Time- John Holt March
2. The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Raymond and Dorothy Moore(a reread but it's been a long time)
3. The Relaxed Homeschool by Mary Hoode (a reread but it's been awhile and it's a worthy one)
4. Parenting With Love and Logic by Jim Fay and Foster Cline
5.Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
6.The Vaccine Book by Dr. William Sears
7.Math Power: How to Help Your Child to Love Math, Even if You Don't by Patricia Clark Kenschaft
8. The Unschooling Handbook: How to use the Whole World as Your Child's Classroom, by Mary Griffith Feb.
9. Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss
Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim and Charles Fay (a reread but worth a second look for the terrible threes we are currently experiencing ;) ; great tips in there)
Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series
Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers (reread that I absolutely love and is definitely worth a second read through)
The Discipline Book by Sears(a reread)
8 books on home management/cooking/hobbies/handicrafts
1. Totally Organized by Bonny Runyan McCullough
2. A Mother's Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to your Soul by Holly Pierlot
3. Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson (Didn't really read this one as once I had it in my hands I could see that it's more of a reference, but it would be good to have on hand).
4. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
5. Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson June
6. Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson
7.Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti
8.In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Food: The History of Taste by Paul Freedman
The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters
Omnivovore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Way We Eat and Why it Matters by Peter Singer and Jim Mason
The Book of Photography by John Hedgecoe
Fiction I want to read:
Not part of the 888 challenge categories I set for myself, but I came across too many great suggestions not to record them for future reference:
Thrush Green by Miss Read- March
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton
Spencer's Mountain by Earl Hamner
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
Keeping the House by Ellen Baker
The 13th Tale by Diane Setterfield
Under the Sweetwater Rim by Louis L'Amour
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
Trinity by Leon Uris
Books I'd like to reread if I have the time:
A Midwife's Story by Penny Armstrong
Jan Karon's Mitford series
The Harry Potter series
Travel Books that look interesting:
Talk to the Snail - Stephen Clarke- maybe
In a Sunburned Country(also published under the title Down Under) - Bill Bryson
Blood River - Tim Butcher
Round Ireland With a Fridge - Tony Hawks[not at my library so disqualified.]
Childrens books I haven't read yet but would like to:
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
The Narnia series
I'm also adding a Read-Alouds category for the kids and I, as our read-alouds in the past have been random and not consistent:
*Little House in the Big Woods and maybe the entire Little House series if Maddie, or Luke, shows interest; if not, we'll try again when they're a little bit older.
*In Grandma's Attic
*The House at Pooh Corner-we've read just bits and pieces
*The Littles- to try to get Luke interested in reading them on his own
*The Story of Dr. Doolittle Jan.
Stuart Little March
Pippi Longstocking March
The Boxcar Children #3 April
*Peter Pan
*Alice in Wonderland
Cappyboppy
* Farmer Boy
*Socks(from our Winter Promise Animal Worlds package)
Mr.Poppers Penguins Feb.
Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
Oliver Twist
*Magic Treehouse books(not exactly great literature, but a good springboard for learning about history)
Mummies in the Morning Jan. Pirates Past Noon (which Maddie read to us) March.
*A Little Princess- because for some reason Max really loved the abridged little copy we got from Chick fil A, so I want to try reading them the whole thing.
*The Swiss Family Robinson
*Five True Dog Stories(From SL Core C)
*Dolphin Adventure (From SL Core C)
Dolphin Treasure (From SL Core C)
*My Father's Dragon April
The Hundred Dresses April
*Henry Huggins
*The Light at Tern Rock- Christmas read aloud (From SL Core C)
*The Best Christmas Pageant Ever- Christmas (From SL Core 7 which we'll be getting soon for Zach, but I think all the kids will like it)
*James Herriot's Treasury for Children (From SL Core C)- Maddie just picked this one out with her Barnes and Noble gift card from Christmas, and it is beautiful.
*The Wind in the Willows
*Thronton Burgess' Animal Tales
The Indian in the Cupboard
*Bill Wallace books we have: A Dog Called Kitty; The Fying Flea, Callie and Me Feb.; The Legend of Thunderfoot
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims June
* Indicates the ones I'm going to make priority to read by the end of this year
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