What are you reading?
Jan. 17, 2006 at 9:24 AM
family
Palm Tree Pundit has started her 2006 book list. Gena (TOS Publisher) commented that since she spends so much time online she doesn't read a book nearly as much as she used to. I still do. Although, when I first started blogging it did decrease for a little while. I make it a point to still read good books.
I divide my book reading into three categories; Inspiration, Information, and Vegetation. I usually have one of each going. Depending on my mood that's how I decide what to read. We usually have a family read aloud going as well.
Inspiration: Those are books that challenge me to think about my life and walk with God. The best ones convict me and inspire me at the same time. Right now I am reading The Disciplined Life by Richard Taylor. It is my annual read.
Information: These are books for learning about new topics or subjects. On Writing Well by Zinsser is my current read in this category.
Vegetation: This is a book for sheer pleasure and fun. I don't have one in this category at the present time. I guess this may be where my blogging as taken over. Any recommendations?
Family Read Aloud: The Red Pony by John Steinbeck.
What the Spunkettes are reading: My children are moving into World War II. So most of their reading is centered around that time period. The younger girls are also reading many historical diaries. The older ones are finishing Babbitt and will begin To Kill a Mockingbird. The boys are also reading the Left Behind Series.
The General of Spunky Homeschool (aka Steve) is reading a biography called General John Brown Gordon, Soldier, Southerner, American. He was a southern officer during the Civil War. (My husband was definitely born at the wrong time.)
And if what we're reading bores you all together then here's what constitutional scholar Robert Bork recommends as his five best books on the Constitution. His own book "A Country I Do Not Recognize: The Legal Assault on American Values" (Hoover, 2005) sounds pretty interesting too.
But if you're like Gena and want to do all your reading online, check out this week's Carnival of Homeschooling. Henry Cate has the ABC's of Homeschooling all ready to go.
I divide my book reading into three categories; Inspiration, Information, and Vegetation. I usually have one of each going. Depending on my mood that's how I decide what to read. We usually have a family read aloud going as well.
Inspiration: Those are books that challenge me to think about my life and walk with God. The best ones convict me and inspire me at the same time. Right now I am reading The Disciplined Life by Richard Taylor. It is my annual read.
Information: These are books for learning about new topics or subjects. On Writing Well by Zinsser is my current read in this category.
Vegetation: This is a book for sheer pleasure and fun. I don't have one in this category at the present time. I guess this may be where my blogging as taken over. Any recommendations?
Family Read Aloud: The Red Pony by John Steinbeck.
What the Spunkettes are reading: My children are moving into World War II. So most of their reading is centered around that time period. The younger girls are also reading many historical diaries. The older ones are finishing Babbitt and will begin To Kill a Mockingbird. The boys are also reading the Left Behind Series.
The General of Spunky Homeschool (aka Steve) is reading a biography called General John Brown Gordon, Soldier, Southerner, American. He was a southern officer during the Civil War. (My husband was definitely born at the wrong time.)
And if what we're reading bores you all together then here's what constitutional scholar Robert Bork recommends as his five best books on the Constitution. His own book "A Country I Do Not Recognize: The Legal Assault on American Values" (Hoover, 2005) sounds pretty interesting too.
But if you're like Gena and want to do all your reading online, check out this week's Carnival of Homeschooling. Henry Cate has the ABC's of Homeschooling all ready to go.
3 Comments and Trackbacks
posted by KarenW on Jan. 17, 2006 at 10:56 AM
While I'm certainly addicted to blogging, I don't think the computer will ever replace real live books. Not in my lifetime and not for me anyway. I like to curl up on the couch with a good book and be comfortable. Kind of hard to do with a computer.
posted by SusannahCox on Jan. 17, 2006 at 10:11 PM
Your read alouds sound great! I do almost all the reading aloud around here and I look forward to the little ones getting big enough to read some too.
I know it sounds kinda weird, but last year I had great fun reading *Don Quixote.* It was funny!
I'd tried *War and Peace* many times before, and never could get going with it. Too many characters. Last summer, somehow it hit me the right way and I tore through the whole thing (unfortunately putting many things on hold to finish it). Doesn't sound like vegetative reading, and I guess it's not, but it ended up serving that purpose for me.
The main reason I chose those is because I couldn't get to the library much and they were already on my shelves, and I'd never read them.
One idea for light reading is to read children's literature that you somehow missed growing up. The Wind and the Willows is a perennial favorite that I started reading only as recently as graduate school. I owned and read many times the first four books of the L. M. Montgomery "Anne" series as a girl, but had never finished the series. I finished those a couple of years ago, checking them out of the library one at a time. That was a real treat! The best children's literature can delight at any age.
posted by spunkyhomeschool on Jan. 17, 2006 at 10:18 PM
I agree Susannah! Somehow I missed Patricia St. John growing up and I have enjoyed her books tremendously. I also enjoy many of the Lamplighter books.