Read in April
I read at the beach. I chatted about books with book club friends. I read at the pool. I read everywhere this past month!
[Two of these books I actually finished on May 1st and 2nd.]
I started out reading a light historical romance then progressed with a short book on how to study history, a children’s adventure book, a meandering but lovely “Western,” short classic stories, a fairytale/satire, a book on education, a non-fiction WWII book, and then ended the month with a light modern romance. If that’s not variety, I don’t know what is!
:: Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson [After enjoying Donaldson’s Edenbrooke last month, I had to try her second novel. It’s yet another satisfying light, fun, steamy, clean romance—possibly more complex and intriguing than Edenbrooke. Not great literature, but very dreamy for those of us who enjoy shallow romance novels. Haha!! 4 stars for enjoyment.]
:: A Student’s Guide to History [This was a very quick and excellent read in anticipation of the Classical Conversations Parent Practicum speaker training that I attended this past month. Our theme is “Navigating History” and I’m very exciting to be speaking in Albany, Oregon in July.]
:: Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle by N.D. Wilson [We pre-ordered this one and the 3 boys, my husband, and I all had it read within a week. We loved it. This is an excellent adventurous fantasy with excitement and heart, and now we’re waiting for a sequel. 4 stars.]
:: So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger [Enger’s Peace Like a River is in my top ten. I had heard that his second novel wasn’t as good as the first, so I put off reading it. I’m glad I finally sat down to savor it. I loved this one. I really did. Yes, it meandered, but I loved it. I fell in love with the characters. I loved the atmosphere Leif Enger weaves from word to sentence to page to story. Heroic in the quietest sense. The world is indeed a romance. 4 stars]
"He gave his story in bright shards." "Violent and doomed as this world might be, a romance it certainly is." "I could feel the draw of his silence, the draw of his naive and weak-eyed quest for atonement; no doubt even his shifty past was a draw, for his life seemed a curving line, capricious, moment by moment inviting grace." "In times of dread it's good to have an old man along. And old man has seen worse."
"Entering the shop I was jarred by my reflection in that glass. It was just barely me. I was used to resembling what I was--a well-meaning failure, a pallid disappointer of persons, a man fading. This fellow looked tired and rough, but--if I may say it--capable. Wary, I would say, and of dubious intent. It hit with a thump that people seeing this personage would not guess me for anything but a stranger with a firm grip. It was almost a pleasure to squint at the glass. What would Grace Hackle say, if she happened by and saw me? Nothing at all—but she'd think, The strenuous life!"
:: Words Aptly Spoken: Short Stories [I finally finished this collection of 25 classic short stories. It was a great variety.]
:: The Princess Bride [What a riot!! The introduction got a little long and crazy (and not really appropriate for a younger audience), but we absolutely loved the story part with the author’s “interruptions.” It is very similar to the movie, often word-for-word, but with a little more story and hilarious commentary. The boys and I loved it. (The author’s convoluted conclusion was a little long and crazy as well, and I didn’t read it aloud.) 4 stars for the story inside the story.]
:: The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education [This is an excellent primer on a robust and comprehensive traditional classical Christian paradigm, including and beyond the implementation of the Trivium. I’ll be sharing more about this book as I lay out our plans for this coming year. 4 stars]
:: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank [I really struggled with this one. I did not enjoy it for the first half of the book. Anne Frank is indeed a real life early teen and she is full of strong personality, but I think I have a bit of an early teen voice/personality “overload” at the moment without reading one’s diary. It’s amazing how universal this 13/14 year old thing is. Sigh. The book did grab my interest about halfway through, though, and I finally finished it. I’m unsure how to rate it.]
:: Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay [This is a modern literature-infused remake of Daddy-Long-Legs, which was the first book I read this year (a re-read for me, and listed under “novels” since it was published in 1912). Not realistic (who writes letters like that?), not deep literature, but yet another light, entertaining, clean, and quite enjoyable romance novel! 4 stars]
In Progress
[Yes, this list is a little ridiculous.]
:: Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories [I read The River this month.]
:: Mystery and Manners [I read a couple more essays this month.]
:: The Iliad [I’ve stalled, but I’m determined to finish… sometime this year… ]
:: Listening to Your Life [I continue to enjoy this daily devotional filled with excerpts from Frederick Buechner’s writings.]
:: Ambleside Online Year O Reading List [I’m reading all the books on this list aloud to Lola this year.]
:: Plutarch’s Lives [I am attempting to slow-read this one with the boys this year. I may chicken out and read the Greenleaf Guides Famous Men of Greece and Famous Men of Rome instead. Or even Augustus Caesar’s World.]
:: Julius Caesar retold by Leon Garfield [I’m working through both story volumes with the boys this year.]
:: The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers (re-read) [One of my favorites.]
:: Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper (re-read) [Another favorite.]
:: Beauty for Truth’s Sake by Stratford Caldecott (re-read) [And yet another favorite.]
:: The Law by Frederic Bastiat
:: Rhetoric by Aristotle
:: In Defense of Sanity by G.K. Chesterton
:: Pippi Longstocking [with Lola]
The 2016 Reading Challenge Master List
(I finally added all the books on my list. Well, there is not actually an “end” to the books on my list, but these are the main selections on my mind at the moment. There is no way I will read even half of these books this year and I’m sure to add a few as the months go on, but I’ll use this list for reference when I’m picking up the next book to read. I don’t really like how they are organized, but this will have to do at the moment.)
(Books marked out have been completed.)
Devotional/Faith
Listening to Your Life by Frederick Buechner [in progress]
In Defense of Sanity by G.K. Chesterton [in progress]
The Drama of Scripture: Finding our Place in the Biblical Story by Bartholomew
The Creed in Slow Motion by Reverend Ronald Knox
Real-Life Schole Sisters
The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O’Connor [I loved this biography of Flannery O’Connor. It is peppered with quotes from O’Connor’s own writings (letters and essays) as well as details about her stories. I feel much more equipped to understand her fiction writing. 4 stars]
Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories [in progress]
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O’Connor [in progress]
Online Schole Sisters
Awakening Wonder: A Classical Guide to Truth, Goodness & Beauty [There are some gems in this book, but I feel as if I had to work so hard to mine them. The last chapter of the book is fantastic, though. 3 1/2 stars]
Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper (re-read) [in progress]
Beauty for Truth’s Sake by Stratford Caldecott (re-read) [in progress]
[Also discussing Flannery O’Connor with this group.]
Symposium at Parnassus (Facebook Group)
Understood Betsy (re-read) [This is such a beautiful classic children’s book, but it is just as important for adults—particularly parents and educators. The author of the story, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, brought Maria Montessori’s teaching methods to the United States and was also named by Eleanor Roosevelt as one of the ten most influential women in the country. 4 1/2 stars]
Mother Carey’s Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin
Jack and Jill by Alcott
Little Women by Alcott
Little Men by Alcott
Rose in Bloom by Alcott
Climbing Parnassus by Tracy Lee Simmons
Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David Hicks [in progress from 2015]
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education [This is an excellent primer on a robust and comprehensive traditional classical Christian paradigm, including and beyond the implementation of the Trivium. I’ll be sharing more about this book as I lay out our plans for this coming year. 4 stars]
For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (re-read)
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler
Poetic Knowledge James Taylor
Plutarch’s Lives [In progress]
Potato Peel Pie Society (Facebook Group)
[Ambleside Online Year O book list with Lola] [in progress]
Dragonflight [Classic fantasy, and Russ’s favorite author. Fantasy is not my genre, but this one was enjoyable. Definitely some adult situations and not for young children. 3 1/2 stars]
Julius Caesar (re-telling by Leon Garfield) [In progress]
The Taming of the Shrew (“)
Henry V (“)
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers (re-read) [in progress]
The Green Ember/ The Black Star of Kingston by S.D. Smith
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (July-Sept)
[The Princess Bride (July-Sept) (listed under read-alouds)]
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers (re-read) (Feb)
Surprised by Joy by Lewis (Feb)
The Four Loves by Lewis
[Mere Christianity, The Weight of Glory, The Abolition of Man (re-reads)]
Something by Jane Austen
The Once and Future King
[Handmaid’s Tale, Alas Babylon, Ender’s Game, A Wrinkle in Time (re-reads)]
[George MacDonald’s Curdie books (re-reads)]
[Classic Fairy Tales]
[And discussing several other previously read books]
ChocLit Guild
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy [This was my first Thomas Hardy novel, and I loved it. His descriptions are vivid paintings, and I laughed out loud more times than I could count. His characters sprung to life. This is an early contender for 2016 favorites. I enjoyed the new movie version as well. 4 1/2 stars.]
The Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare by Chesterton [Loved it. Review here. 4 1/2 stars]
Wonder [I sobbed my way through this one. Excellent and important. 4 1/2 stars]
Becoming Human by Jean Vanier [This fascinating non-fiction book on the value of every human and the tension between individuality and community was a book club selection this month, paired with the middle grade novel Wonder. I’ll share some thoughts and quotes when I get my copy back. It’s making the book club rounds at the moment. 4 stars]
The Supper of the Lamb (re-read)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson [After enjoying Donaldson’s Edenbrooke last month, I had to try her second novel. It’s yet another satisfying light, fun, steamy, clean romance—possibly more complex and intriguing than Edenbrooke. Not great literature, but very dreamy for those of us who enjoy shallow romance novels. Swoon. 4 stars for enjoyment.]
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr. (re-read)
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and "Women's Work" by Kathleen Norris
Something by L.M. Montgomery
The Great Divorce (or other non-fiction by C.S. Lewis)
Still Life by Louise Penny
Book Detectives
The Family Under the Bridge (re-read) [This short children’s chapter book was a re-read for me. Our Book Detectives group had a wonderful literary analysis discussion on this one.]
Dominic (re-read) [One of my top favorites. Review and analysis here. 5 stars.]
The Cricket in Times Square (re-read)
Symposium Read-Alouds (with boys)
Shakespeare Stories (Leon Garfield, both volumes –Hamlet and The Tempest) [in progress]
Heidi [I don’t know that I had ever actually read this one all the way through before. The boys LOVED it. Every day they would ask for me to read just one more chapter, and then just one more! In fact, one evening Russ sat down and listened with us and he wasn’t content with the two extra chapters, so he sat next to me after the kids went to bed and I watched a movie and he read the rest of the book, laughing out loud and reading passages to me from time to time. 4 1/2 stars]
The Princess Bride [What a riot!! The introduction got a little long and crazy (and not really appropriate for a younger audience), but we absolutely loved the story part with the author’s “interruptions.” It is very similar to the movie, often word-for-word, but with a little more story and hilarious commentary. The boys and I loved it. (The author’s convoluted conclusion was a little long and crazy as well, and I didn’t read it aloud.) 4 stars for the story inside the story.]
Tuck Everlasting
Classic Fairy Tales (PPPS in December)
Pippi Longstock by Astrid Lindgren (with Lola)
Roman Roads Western Culture Greeks with Levi
[Also discussing with online Schole Sisters]
The Iliad [in progress]
The Odyssey
DRAMA ANDL LYRIC BOOK LIST:
– Aeschylus (The Oresteia)
– Sophocles (Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus)
– Aristophanes (The Frogs and The Clouds)
– Eurpipides (The Medea and The Trojan Women) included in Roman Roads Reader
– Sappho (various poems) included in Roman Roads Reader
– Pindar (collection of Odes) included in Roman Roads Reader
– Theocritus (Idyls I, VI, VII, and XI) included in Roman Roads Reader
– Hesiod (Works and Days) included in Roman Roads Reader
– Quintus of Smyrna (The Fall of Troy) included in Roman Roads Reader
– Apollonius of Rhodes (The Argonautica) included in Roman Roads Reader
THE HISTORIES BOOK LIST:
– The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories
– The Landmark Thucydides
– Xenophon: The Persian Expedition
THE PHILOSOPHERS BOOK LIST:
– Plato: Six Greek Dialogues
– The Basic Works of Aristotle
CC Challenge B short stories [2015-16] (with Levi and McKinnon)
Words Aptly Spoken: Short Stories [I finally finished this collection of 25 classic short stories. It was a great variety.]
God Lives by Hans Christian Andersen
The Teapot by Hans Christian Andersen
The Bet by Anton Chekhov
The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde
Little Girls Wiser than Men by Leo Tolstoy
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke
Araby by James Joyce
The Schoolboy’s Story by Charles Dickens
That Spot by Jack London
The Red-Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Celestial Railroad by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett
A Man and the Snake by Ambrose Bierce
The Cop and the Anthem by O. Henry
The Necklace by Henri Guy de Maupassant
The Hammer of God by G. K. Chesterton
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain
The Bird on its Journey by Beatrice Harraden
The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde
A King in Disguise by Matteo Bandello
The Startling Painting by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Last Lesson by Alphonse Daudet
Classical Conversations Parent Practicum (“Navigating History: The Art of Argumentation”)
Rhetoric by Aristotle [in progress]
The Law by Frederic Bastiat [in progress]
A Student’s Guide to History [This was a very quick and excellent read in anticipation of the Classical Conversations Parent Practicum speaker training that I attended this past month. Our theme is “Navigating History” and I’m very exciting to be speaking in Albany, Oregon in July.]
The Peacemaker by Ken Sande
The Tolkien Project
The Hobbit
Bilbo’s Journey by Joseph Pearce
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Frodo’s Journey by Joseph Pearce
The Philosophy of Tolkien by Peter Kreeft
Letters From Father Christmas
Life/Parenting
The Young Peacemaker by Ken Sande
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
Coming Clean by Seth Haines
A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Novels
Daddy-Long-Legs [Easy, short, old-fashioned, charming, funny, romantic novel. Brain candy I don’t have to feel guilty about. 4 stars]
The Martian [Gripping, fascinating, hilarious, and stressful sci-fi novel. The most interesting scientific and technical “manual” I’ve ever read, and science/technology/sci-fi are not my things. Lots of language and short, choppy journal-style writing for most of the book but it fit with the story. It is a fantastic tribute to human ingenuity and spirit, with an up-beat can-do attitude. 4 stars]
So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger [Enger’s Peace Like a River is in my top ten. I had heard that his second novel wasn’t as good as the first, so I put off reading it. I’m glad I finally sat down to savor it. I loved this one. I really did. Yes, it meandered, but I loved it. I fell in love with the characters. I loved the atmosphere Leif Enger weaves from word to sentence to page to story. Heroic in the quietest sense. The world is indeed a romance. 4 stars]
Heart of Darkness [This wasn’t as hard to read as I thought it was going to be. The prose was exquisite in places. His descriptive writing reminded me of Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, though this one was not nearly so lovely. The forward movement felt slow, and the characters less appealing (though one was fascinating). 3 1/2 stars]
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie [I love a good mystery. I watched this as a play years and years ago, but it was high time I read this, one of A.G.’s most famous stories. 4 stars]
The Lonesome Gods by Louis L’Amour
These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy Turner
The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber (short stories)
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
The Maytrees by Annie Dillard
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Mrs. Mike by Freedmans
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
Stephen Lawhead Song of Albion
The Cellist of Sarejevo by Steven Galloway
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Emma/Persuasion/Sense and Sensibility
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Roll-Overs from 2015’s List
Strong Poison (continuation of Lord Peter Wimsey series) by Dorothy Sayers
Invisible Man
The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel
Slaughterhouse-Five
Dune [I tried to start it in 2015 and just couldn’t get going. Maybe I’ll try again later this year.] [I found this article at The Guardian: Dune, 50 years on: how a science fiction novel changed the world. I guess it stays on the list…]
The Once and Future King (PPPS)
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers K
The Road
Paradise Lost (need to read in plain English novel form)
Frankenstein
Children’s/YA Novels
The Ranger’s Apprentice
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Young Readers Edition) [A beautiful and true story about a boy from Malawi who builds a windmill. 4 stars.]
The Glass Sentence [This is a hefty 500 page YA fantasy/sci-fi novel and the first in a trilogy. I read the whole thing on vacation, but I wasn’t sucked into the story. I didn’t love it. My fantasy/sci-fi-loving husband didn’t love it either. Interesting premise and world-building, decently written, but not great. 3 stars.]
Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories [This is a nice companion book to Wonder. I especially appreciated The Julian Chapter, but it isn’t quite as magical as Wonder. 4 stars.]
Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle by N.D. Wilson [We pre-ordered this one and the 3 boys, my husband, and I all had it read within a week. We loved it. This is an excellent adventurous fantasy with excitement and heart, and now we’re waiting for a sequel. 4 stars.]
The Folk of the Faraway Tree
Half Magic
Ella Enchanted
Popcorn Reads
Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw [I don't remember who recommended Greensleeves to me. It was written by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (author of the middle grade novels The Golden Goblet, Mara, Daughter of the Nile, Moccasin Trail, and others) and published in 1968. It is a hefty book at 334 pages. It is the coming of age story of 18-year-old Shannon Lightley. Yeah, an 18-year-old. It is written in first person, and seems light and modern-ish in style, but I was constantly surprised by a fantastic turn of phrase, description or witty comment. And it was way more...smouldering...than I expected it to be. But still clean. The ending was a little more open-ended than I expected (Miss Prim-ish), but not unsatisfying. The book has a decent theme without being preachy. (And it is not at all a "Christian" book as there is not a single mention of God or church.) 4 stars]
Edenbrooke [All that stuff I said about Greensleeves? Yeah. I read this on the first day of vacation, and then I just wanted to re-read it for the rest of the week. I skimmed/re-read it the following week and then I bought my own copy (the first one was a library copy). And then I ordered Blackmoore by the same author to read next (listed under ChocLit Guild reads). Super duper mushy clean romantic story. More romantic than Greensleeves, but maybe more cheesy. Definitely a more satisfying ending. Whatever. This is the kind of book I’d read all day every day if I didn’t care about my brain and my family. 4 stars.]
(Blackmoore) [listed under ChocLit Guild reads]
The Black Opal [Decent but somewhat forgettable. The author is a long-time mystery and romance writer, but I didn’t find this book particularly mysterious or romantic. Meh. I may try another one. 3 stars.]
Dear Mr. Knightly by Katherine Reay [This is a modern literature-infused remake of Daddy-Long-Legs, which was the first book I read this year (a re-read for me, and listed under “novels” since it was published in 1912). Not realistic (who writes letters like that?), not deep literature, but yet another light, entertaining, clean, and quite enjoyable romance novel! 4 stars]
CC Challenge A Reading List [2016-17] (with Luke)
[The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Carry On, Mr. Bowditch; The Magician’s Nephew; Number the Stars; Amos Fortune, Free Man]
The Secret Garden
[The Door in the Wall; A Gathering of Days; Crispin: The Cross of Lead; The Bronze Bow]
CC Challenge I Reading List [2016-17] (with Levi and McKinnon)
Billy Bud, Sailor
The Scarlet Letter
The Red Badge of Courage
The Gold-Bug and Other Tales (Poe)
Through the Gates of Splendor (Elisabeth Elliot)
Born Again (Chuck Colson)
Starship Troopers
Up from Slavery (Booker T. Washington)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (re-read)
Self-Reliance Ralph W. Emerson
Walden (Henry David Thoreau)
The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
Tom Sawyer
The Call of the Wild
Johnny Tremain
The Sign of the Beaver (re-read)
Harvey (Mary Chase)
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?
The Money Mystery
The Taming of the Shrew (re-read)
I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebekah
(American Documents)