May I ask what you are reading?

[Crissy]

Is it wonderful?

Is it part of a challenge (888, perhaps)?

Is it for school (yours or your children's)?

Was it recommended by someone you respect?

Did it follow you home from the library or bookstore?

 

I'm between books, and I can't seem to settle on anything I'd like to read next.

[SFP]

I'm reading Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben. If you liked Black Beauty when you were a child or if you enjoyed the click of insight when you figured out what the conversation you were overhearing was about in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," this one might hit the spot.

[NYSue]

It was recommended by my mil. It is a true story of a young Jewish boy in Russia during the Nazi occupation. He escapes from his town during a raid and wanders in the forest only to be captured by Nazi soldiers. Because he doesn't look Jewish, he is kept as their mascot and taken from town to town for propaganda photos in a uniform made just for him. He hides this secret all his life, and it isn't unitl he is an old man that he tells his son (who is the author of the book). I am still in the begiinning parts of the book, but it is very intense but also very rivoting.

[PariSarah]

I'm listening to Will Durant's Story of Civilization on CD. I'm on the first (of, I think, twelve? twenty? does it matter, after five?) book now. It's pretty engaging, and even occasionally funny. "No one knows exactly when or how man came to domesticate animals for practical uses. Primitive man always bore his own burdens (unless he was married)." Reading this because my history education was nil in college, and I'm feeling the lack. Trying to get through the Renaissance by the end of the year. Loaned to me by a colleague in church history, and got put on my reading list for the year.

 

I'm just starting Simone Weil's Gravity and Grace. This was recommended by one of my thesis advisors, who believed it would be relevant to my dissertation. I fear that it will only be relevant to the dissertation she imagines I'm writing, not the one I actually want to write. Haven't gotten into it enough to give a yea or nay, yet.

 

And we're finally getting back into the family read-aloud, after a prelim/pregnancy/newborn hiatus. We're getting back to the Withrow's Peril and Peace. I like it well enough. Not wonderful, but enjoyable.

[Kelli in TN]

Love in the Time of Cholera, I just started it but I am liking it thus far. I am at the part where the parrot has escaped to the treetop.

 

Thus far, since Jan 1, I have read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,In the Country of Men,The Nazi Officer's Wife,The Saffron Kitchen, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, and See You in a Hundred Years.:)

 

I am determined to succeed in the 888 list. I am terrible about putting other things before reading with my meager "me time" and this book challenge has forced me to change that. And that is a good thing. Now, instead of getting on the internet I am more likely to brew a cup of Earl Gray and curl up in the recliner with the current book. Ah, much better!

 

I color coded the titles! Green=excellent read, Red=I survived it, please don't make me read it again, Blue=it was okay, not excellent but not painful either.

[Rhesa]

can someone fill me in?

 

I am currently reading Maximum City by Suketu Mehta- fascinating look at Bombay, India. I probably wouldn't be as interested if we didn't just get back from India.

 

also:

 

Free for for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee- (warning, lots and lots of language) interesting look at second-generation immigrant families in NYC.

 

Up next: I really want to read the Abstinence Teacher.

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I am loving From Jest to Earnest by E.P. Roe (for the second time). I am also reading Brave New World. It isn't the type of book that I fall in love with, but I'll feel well read at the end of it. :)

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe

Teaching the Trivium

The History of the Ancient World

Latin Centered Curriculum

 

Read Alouds w/kids:

Our Young Folks Josephus

Wildlife on the Farm

[Laurel]

I am reading "Mommy Wars: Stay at Home and Career Moms Face Off on Their Choices, Their Lives, Their Families" (it's okay, a little different than what I expected, and almost all the contributors are writers/journalists, so I would have liked essays from different sorts of moms), "The History of the Ancient World" (I am loving it, which is so exciting for me, because I've never liked history), and my night time, fall asleep reading lately has been Agatha Christie's "A Murder is Announced" (I've read it before, and it's okay, but not necessarily worth a reread, but it's working for now). Nothing too exciting. I'm interested to read others' responses.

[Karen in CO]

These are for British Lit with my ds. I read a lot and I generally read good stuff, but Paradise Lost defiantly qualifies as a book that stretches my mind. I picked up TWEM from the library this weekend to let Susan inspire me again. I think I am going to have to buy that book and work through all of her suggestions. Will I feel well-educated when I am done?

 

Next after this, I am planing to enjoy a couple of really nice SciFi fantasy books and something light before I have to jump into the rest of the reading for lit. class.

[KIN]

I'm reading Scared Parenting by Gary Thomas, "How Raising Children Shapes Our Souls". It is very good and giving me a lot to think about. :) I don't have any fiction book going right now - I'm trying to concentrate on keeping my family in clean clothes, plan next year's school, feed us and do this year's school. :p

[Janna]

Ack! I have too many going. I am nearly finished with Riders of the Purple Sage - were it not for the Super Bowl tonight, I'm quite certain I would finish it. Maybe it's still gonna happen...we'll see.

 

I've also been enjoying The China Study and have to start (when I'm finished with the above book), The Omnivore's Dilemma.

 

Oh, and I am listening to The Hiding Place on my iPod while I exercise. It's not exactly an "exercise" book, LOL, but it's the only way I'm gonna make a dent in my 888 list before baby arrives in May. :)

 

Oh, and I'm reading Johnny Tremain with dd.

[Maria from IN]

For my Health Psychology class we are reading Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Sapolsky. For a "textbook," it's actually entertaining.

 

For my Honors Religion and Culture class we are reading Stephen Prothero's Religious Literacy. It's a lot like Hirsch's Cultural Literacy, only at the back he doesn't just list the basic things we should know about world religions, he explains them. I will keep this book as a reference, definitely! Next we will be reading Karen Armstrong's The Battle For God.

 

My 13 yo will soon be reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, and I preread it to see if he could handle all that torture and death...I'm still not sure.

 

Beyond that, I am reading books on fibromyalgia for my Health Psychology paper, books and studies on classical conditioning for my Learning and Memory paper, and I will have to figure out something to write about for my Perception class (at this point, either color blindness or audio processing deficits).

 

So these are not necessarily what I'd want to read, but I'm learning and trying to enjoy them just the same.

 

Maria

[Colleen]

Current, recent, and upcoming books:

 

First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson ~ just published at the end of last year, this is an intriguing look at the role the infamous second baseman played in the civil rights movement; Robinson was an extremely principled, multi-faceted person but most of us of course associate him with baseball and nothing else

 

Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee ~ the story behind your cup of java; a highly worthwile travelogue penned by coffee entrepreneur Dean Cycon

 

Winter Hours and various other poems from both Thirst and Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver ~ February book club read, chosen by my friends who are more appreciate than I of poetry;)

 

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr ~ this is an amalgam of King's writing edited by Clayborne Carson and presented in autobiographical format; I've enjoyed this very much

 

Wuthering Heights ~ I was simultaneously drawn to and repelled by Emily Bronte's intriguing, disturbing tale; a definite page-turner

 

Village Centenary ~ I often dip into Miss Read again in the winter; reading of her idyllic British villages of Fairacre and Thrush Green are my comfort food

 

The Six Wives of Henry VIII ~ I selected this Alison Weir biography for our March book club fare and am really looking forward to it. I am borrowing it from my good friend Kate (also known as Kate CA on this forum:)).

[Kelli in TN]

Current, recent, and upcoming books:

 

First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson ~ just published at the end of last year, this is an intriguing look at the role the infamous second baseman played in the civil rights movement; Robinson was an extremely principled, multi-faceted person but most of us of course associate him with baseball and nothing else

 

Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee ~ the story behind your cup of java; a highly worthwile travelogue penned by coffee entrepreneur Dean Cycon

 

Winter Hours and various other poems from both Thirst and Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver ~ February book club read, chosen by my friends who are more appreciate than I of poetry;)

 

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr ~ this is an amalgam of King's writing edited by Clayborne Carson and presented in autobiographical format; I've enjoyed this very much

 

Wuthering Heights ~ I was simultaneously drawn to and repelled by Emily Bronte's intriguing, disturbing tale; a definite page-turner

 

Village Centenary ~ I often dip into Miss Read again in the winter; reading of her idyllic British villages of Fairacre and Thrush Green are my comfort food

 

The Six Wives of Henry VIII ~ I selected this Alison Weir biography for our March book club fare and am really looking forward to it. I am borrowing it from my good friend Kate (also known as Kate CA on this forum:)).

 

 

I read an Alison Weir biography last year, I can't remember the title but it was about Lady Jane Grey. It was very good. And very sad.

 

The Javatrekker title sounds interesting. I am planning to read Bitter Chocolate this year, though I will have to wait until I can purchase it as our library does not have it.

[prairiegirl]

I am currently reading Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. It is a Christian non-fiction book. I am liking it very much. This selection is part of the Winter Reading Challenge. The book was recommended by a fellow blogger whom I respect in the Christian non-fiction dept.

 

I am just about finished this (It amazes me how much reading you get done when you are sick.) Next in the wings is Father Brown's Short Stories by Chesterton. I picked this one cause it has been lying on the book shelf for a long time so I thought it was time to put it to use.

 

 

Julia

mom of 3 (8,7,5)

[Jenny in Atl]

I'm reading (for me)

The Problem with Murmur Lee by Connie May Fowler

Falling Man by Don Delillo (part of my 888)

What Dead Men Know by Laura Lippman (888)

 

For my dd7

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (888)

 

With dd12

Piers the Ploughman

 

With both

Adam of the Road by E.J. Gray

:D

[TammyinTN]

I'm reading the Bible each day, just started Night by Elie Wiesel and working to finish Jerusalem Countdown by John Hagee.

[Begonia]

Family read aloud:

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe-- harrowing, but dd13 seems to enjoy it.

 

Me, myself, and I:

Baudolino by Umberto Eco-- a delightful travelogue/quest in the medieval mode

Going it Alone by Michael Innes-- a gentle British mystery (no murder yet, but plenty of old fashioned hi-jinks)

Henry V by Christopher Allmand-- awfully dry. I might not get all the way through this one...

[Kelli in TN]

I am currently reading Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. It is a Christian non-fiction book. I am liking it very much. )

 

I thoroughly enjoyed that book and the counterpart Twelve Ordinary Men. (Notice the women are extraordinary and the men are ordinary? That John MacArthur is a smart man ;))

 

I actually assigned both of these books to my 11th grader this year. She liked them as well.

[Mrs. Readsalot]

I am reading Emma by Jane Austen for my own personal enjoyment. It is a delightful book and I am enjoy all the spar mements I get to read it.

 

I am reading aloud The Iron Peacock to my 14 yo ds. It takes place in Mass. in 1650 and it about Scotish workers(indentured servants) in an Iron operation in a Puritan town. We are both enjoying it very much.

 

Ds is reading The Light in the Forest so I am also reading it. It is a wonderful story about what happens to a white boy who was kidnapped by a Native Tribe and then released years later.

 

Last but not least I am reading the Bible in 365 daily reading segments. So far I have not missed a day which is great for me. I have tried this before and always seemed to get sidetracked or distracted and end up missing so many days it is very difficult to catch up.

[Mama Lynx]

Stephen Fry's autobiography.

 

I guess it's on my 888, because I'm making that list up as I go ;-)

 

It was very interesting. I came away with the feeling that I'd just had a very intimate conversation. Very open, honest, often embarrassingly so.

 

Could I recommend it? I don't know. I certainly enjoyed it, but it's also full of material that would be offensive to some. And unless you're a fan, or interested in dissecting adolescent angst, it might not be your cup of tea.

 

I'm also reading Moby Dick, which I *can* recommend, because it's fantastic.

[Caroline]

I just finished The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, which I read back in elementary school, and decided to read again. I am going to start Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver this evening. I am working my way through Precalculus with Limits, A Graphing Approach, because I am teaching Analysis this semester and I haven't thought about the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra in years.

 

As a family, we are reading Fellowship of the Ring. My seven year old and I are reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret for his free ticket to Six Flags.

[Bee]

I just finished "Into the Woods" on the recommendation of my 11yo dd who is now re-reading it.I didn't go on-line yesterday so I could finish it before I went to work.

Just finished "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School".

Now I'm reading "Making Money" by Terry Pratchett.

I have "The Great Tradition" on order at the bookstore and I'll start that when it comes in.

[Storm Bay]

Still reading I Suffer Not a Woman by the Kroegers, read 2 more of the Anne of Green Gables series this week to see if I'll read them all aloud to dd, 9 (I've decided I won't, but will read the last 2, skipping all the fairy and boring gossip parts freely as enough is enough already), The Bible cover to cover. I've been studying a new bread making technique but am too lazy to go downstairs to get the guy's name! It uses a biga and a soaker.

[Colleen]

I just finished The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, which I read back in elementary school, and decided to read again.

 

I so loved this book when I read it back in...6th grade, maybe? I'd forgotten the name of it and was super excited to see it in our Sonlight Core 6 package this year. I'm looking forward to sharing it with my guys soon!

 

 

I am going to start Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver this evening.

 

You'll have to let us know what you think of it. I read it last summer alongside Year of Plenty (titled The 100 Mile Diet in Canada, where it was originally published). Both books cover much the same territory, though Kingsolver is, to a degree, working with her own land, while the Canadian couple are urbanites, living in Vancouver. I enjoyed Year of Plenty much more, though, because Kingsolver, on her soapbox, was just grating, too often.:rolleyes:

 

 

I am working my way through Precalculus with Limits, A Graphing Approach, because I am teaching Analysis this semester and I haven't thought about the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra in years.

 

Oh, gulp. Say again? My oldest is starting the algebra journey and I'm reacquainting myself with things I'd gladly forgotten years ago.;)

[BarbaraL in OK]

After weeks of only magazines and Dresden Files mysteries (fun!), I kinda went crazy and borrowed the next five or so books coming up in my nonfiction book group, LOL!

 

Currently reading:

 

• :D A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances.
  My choice for the book group. I really enjoy the very readable and interesting history, and the photos and recipes are fascinating.

 

 

 

• :) The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.
  A quite readable, thoughtful assessment of stress due to the incredible variety and choices that surround us (which TV? which cereal? which curriculum??). Turns out to be not exactly about simplicity. I'm curious what his action points will be. Book group book.

 

 

 

• :( The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions.
  Very interesting thesis, but tedious to read. Lots of sociology, behavioral science, etc. Eh. I shall soldier on, because I think this book will spur us to discuss all kinds of (more) interesting things. Book group book.

 

 

 

• :( House Thinking: A Room-by-Room Look at How We Live.
  I enjoy this topic, so I borrowed this book by the previous book's author, but I'm tired of her discussion of historical American upper-class houses (Monticello, etc.). Eh. After this I will probably do some serious browsing through A Pattern Language, from my bookshelf; I love that book. If this topic comes up as a sideline in our book group when we discuss The Power of Place, I'll recommend The Not So Big House as a very enjoyable intro to what makes a house very liveable.

 

 

All will be bumped this week by next weekend's book, which I actually ordered:

 

Money-Driven Medicine.

An excellent, easy-to-read book about our health-care system, how it has developed in all aspects (physicians, hospitals, insurers, patients, relationships and dependencies among, etc.) since 1900. Maybe toward the end it'll have some ideas. We've been looking for a readable, substantive book along this line for a year, and this seems to be the one! Book group book.

 

Waiting on the shelf:

 

Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, the Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems

After I finish House Thinking. I expect to be annoyed by this because I think it's going to be all woe-is-me about a yuppie/first-world way of thinking, without presenting alternatives or a real critique. I hope the author is a great writer! I got the audiobook so I can listen while doing chores. Book group book.

 

MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country: How to Find Your Political Voice and Become a Catalyst for Change. Gonna thumb through it; just grabbed it at the library on a whim.

 

Six Easy Pieces is another book group book. It is the "easiest chapters" from Richard Feynman's Lectures in Physics for CalTech freshman several generations ago. As it happens, as a goofy physics undergrad I bought the 25th anniversary edition of LiP, so I figured out which chapters and will read them in LiP. It'll be strange to be thinking about physics again, and this conceptual, no-equations approach is about what I can manage.

 

As you can perhaps guess, right now NO blogging or knitting is happening chez moi!

[Tonia]

I just finished The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, which I read back in elementary school, and decided to read again.

 

I LOVED that book when I was young! One of my favorites as a child - I've still got it on my shelf. ;)

 

Recently finished Becoming Jane which was pretty good as far as biographies go, though I do think the author has some interesting views about Austen's life and family.

 

Right now I'm reading Persuasion, which I've never read before but I want to read all of Austen's works, and this is next on my list and How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Iliad (still reading, sigh... I will be glad when I finish - I'm finding it very difficult to read), and Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800's, just because I'm in a freakish Jane Austen mood. :p

[mcconnellboys]

I'm finishing up The Templars Secret Island and just beginning The Case for Ghosts. And yes, books follow me home from bookstores all the time, it's uncanny.....

 

Regena

[Colleen]

The Javatrekker title sounds interesting. I am planning to read Bitter Chocolate this year, though I will have to wait until I can purchase it as our library does not have it.

 

Can you ask your library to purchase it? Last month I put in a purchase request for both Javatrekker and the aforementioned collection of Jackie Robinson's civil rights letters ~ and I already have the books in hand. I love my library system!:)

[Laura Corin]

I studied it at school, thirty years ago, but haven't read it since. I'm enjoying it a lot - it's quite different from my memory. What I though of as 'the story' doesn't actually start until half way through.

 

I'm reading it because I just got Calvin to, and he has to write a character study of the eponymous hero - so I thought I'd better remind myself of the book. I'm glad to be reading it though.

 

Laura

[Caroline]

I chose Animal, Vegetable, Miracle because I have read a lot of Kingsolver's fiction, and I enjoyed most of it, especially The Prodigal Summer. I am hoping that AVM is set in the southwest part of Virginia, like The Prodigal Summer because I went to undergraduate school at Virginia Tech, and I love that area. (I wouldn't want to live there now, but it was a great place to go to school and it is a nice place to visit.)

 

I will look into Year of Plenty next.

 

And in the interest of full disclosure, I am a public school math teacher at an "at risk" high school, so that is where I am teaching Analysis. I just went back to work in August after staying home for a number of years. Before I stayed at home, I was an engineer.

[RoughCollie]

I am reading:

 

The Parting, by Beverly Lewis

 

Lottery, by Patricia Wood

 

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, by Gail Tsukiyama

 

I got them from the library because (a) I like Beverly Lewis and (b) the others looked interesting. They were all on the recent books shelf.

[Mom2boys]

Well, I plan to read all of Jane Austen's novels this year, but haven't started any of them yet. I tend to read mostly non-fiction. Right now I am working on:

 

Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend (I'm having MIL issues)

Homeschooling at the Speed of Life by Marilyn Rockett

Hold Onto Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Neufeld & Mate

[6packofun]

Just starting The Woman in White for my 888.

 

I finished a brain candy selection, The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (I love most of their stuff. Relic, Reliquary, Cabinet of Curiosities, etc.)

[ShelliR]

I'm currently working on 3 books.

"John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity" by Thomas Oden and for fiction,

"Uncle Tom's Cabin".

And then my husband and I are reading "Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture" for Luke. There was a really interesting article in Christianity Today this month on a return to the ancient church father's and the early church. This commentary series was mentioned in the article and contains teachings from ancient fathers such as Origin, Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, etc.... (I guess I'm on a thomas Oden kick as he is the General Editor of the Commentary series.)

[kat19]

Baby Wise

 

I want to read it before baby gets here of course :)

Hopefully I will get lots of good info from it..

[sdWTMer]

knitting book called "Son of a Stitch n B*tch" :D I'd prefer it not have that title but I do love some fingerless gloves that I'm working on for my dh!

[gardenschooler]

Love in the Time of Cholera, I just started it but I am liking it thus far. I am at the part where the parrot has escaped to the treetop.

 

Thus far, since Jan 1, I have read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,In the Country of Men,The Nazi Officer's Wife,The Saffron Kitchen, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, and See You in a Hundred Years.:)

 

I am determined to succeed in the 888 list.

 

I color coded the titles! Green=excellent read, Red=I survived it, please don't make me read it again, Blue=it was okay, not excellent but not painful either.

 

Wow, Kelli, you have read a lot since the new year! I'm right there with you about devoting more time to reading. I find I spend way too much time on school, not enough on my reading.

 

You don't mind if I copy your color coding idea do you? Or even some of your titles? I don't know how to make the slash mark for books I've read (I found the html page about it, but either I'm doing it wrong or it just won't work).

 

I just finished The Glass Castle. Make that The Glass Castle. I need something uplifting desperately now, after that and Brave New World. I was trying to read the books assigned to my 10th grader in ps, but I think I'll stop now. I can't read one depressing thing after another.

 

I really need to escape - maybe it's time for a Jane Austen marathon.

[HSMom2One]

Along with daily Bible reading I've been going through Eat Right For Your Blood Type by Dr. Peter.J. D'Adamo for my own health needs, and have two more lined up; Art & Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts, and Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders. Most of my reading has to do with ministry studies I'm working on as well as a workshop I'm teaching in Nashville in April. So many irons in the fire I rarely read just for pleasure anymore (a pursuit I hope to return to one day).

 

Oh, one more...forget to mention Stuart Little with dd - 8yo. :)

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[Plaid Dad]

I just got back from a week-long retreat where I read and read and read. Today I'm actually taking a breather! But next up on my list are Aquinas 101 and The Order of Things. Both are part of my ongoing self-education plans, but not part of any particular challenge.

[Karenciavo]

I just got back from a week-long retreat where I read and read and read. Today I'm actually taking a breather! But next up on my list are Aquinas 101 and The Order of Things. Both are part of my ongoing self-education plans, but not part of any particular challenge.

 

I'm looking forward to the discussion on Aquinas with the Great Tradition Group. My son and I did a very brief study of him last week and while we enjoyed it, he actually seemed easier to us then Anselm, we were a little :confused: with his statement that his work being as straw after his vision. I can certainly understand that if he was blessed with a vision from GOD even those who are closest to knowing the mind of God would think that since, really, how close could they be? But still, what was he saying when he said it was like straw? Something to be burned? That he got it all wrong?

 

Like I said, can't wait. :)

[Plaid Dad]

we were a little :confused: with his statement that his work being as straw after his vision.

 

Yes, it's remarkable that he just plain stopped writing after years of amazing productivity, leaving the Summa Theologica unfinished. I don't suppose we'll ever know more than that, but perhaps that's why he's Saint Thomas and not just Thomas the Medieval Guy of Prodigious Intellect. ;)

 

Are you familiar with his liturgical work? That's another side of him that we don't often see. He composed the liturgy (at the Pope's request) for the Feast of Corpus Christi. The hymns are his own work. Gorgeous stuff.

[mellifera]

The Von Trapp Family Singers (888)

Early History of Rome-Livy (888)

Cain His Brother-Anne Perry (888)

[mysticamethyst]

So, I am reading "The Mummy or Ramses the D****" by Anne Rice and the other day my oldest son and I were at the book store and I saw a new Amy Tan book,"The Bonesetters Daughter". I just got them both and will be starting them today. The weekend got spent on learning to knit a scarf; which is not going very well.

[Jenny in Florida]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child, by Alissa Quart. It's provoking some soul-searching, but so far I actually feel pretty good about the choices we've made and continue to make. I'm also re-reading a fun book called Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties, by Marion Meade.

 

In the car, I just started listening to Burning Bright, by Tracy Chevalier on CD. And on my mp3, which I use when I'm waiting for my son at dance school or other classes, I'm listening to Right Ho, Jeeves (P.G. Wodehouse), which I downloaded from LibriVox.

 

Oh, and I'm also still trying to get through reading Great Expectations aloud to my son. We're enjoying it, but life has been so hectic that we keep setting it aside.

 

I had a whole bunch of free time over the last couple of weeks while my son was in rehearsals. So, I read several things:

 

• Two books by Wendy Shalit, Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue and Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good. They were both interesting, although I found the second more thought-provoking.
  
• Memoirs of a Geisha, because it was on the shelf in the library and I had never gotten around to it before. It was okay, but not as terrific as I assumed, given the hype.
  
• Angel on the Square, by Gloria Whelan, because I just decided to add it to my son's reading list for this year.
  
• Fences, the play by August Wilson, again because it caught my eye on the library shelf and I'd never read it. Wonderful, but depressing.
  
• The Little Foxes, Lillian Hellman, because I hadn't read it for years and my daughter was reading it for a class and I wanted to be able to chat with her about it.
  
• The Tale of Desperaux, by Kate DiCamillio, which I picked up one morning when I was out of other reading material. Very cute.
  
• Candide, by Voltaire, because it is available in one of the trade-sized Barnes & Noble classic editions that I like and it caught my eye while I was browsing at the bookstore. Hmm. What to say? It was different from anything else I've read lately, and definitely had its moments. But I never could really connect with the characters, and, even with the footnotes and endnotes to explain references, I felt like I missed an awful lot of the humor. I'm glad I read it, but I can't say I "enjoyed" it.

Sitting on my shelf waiting for me to get to them are:

 

Harry Bernstein's Invisible Wall: A Love Story that Broke Barriers. I heard an interview with the author on NPR and was so excited to find the book at my local library.

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes, by Sharon Lamb. I just caught sight of it on the library shelf and thought it sounded like my kind of read.

 

I think that's it for right now.

 

--Jenny

[elegantlion]

I am almost finished with Pride & Prejudice. I am attempting to read the classics that I (um) missed in school. My goal is to finish before P&P starts on PBS in a few weeks. It is also on a high school lit reading list I hope my son will use in the future.

 

The Three Musketeers is waiting in the wings. I am working on a story where my charcter is reading that book, so it's really for research ;)

[lovemyboys]

Hi Rhesa,

Did you get an answer?

 

The 888 reading challenge is 8 books in 8 categories for 2008 = 64 books for the year. I think the idea is that you get a good overview of each of your 8 categories by reading several books about it.

 

Categories are whatever you choose, some that I've seen mentioned here -- local history, biography, mystery, nonfiction, historical fiction, books you never read as a kid, newbery winners, a particular author, "movies that made you want to read the book," politics of the middle east, nature, children's classics, christian writings, self-improvement, homeschooling.

 

Some people started with a complete list prepared of all 8 categories with 64 books. Some people have chosen their categories with a few books intended for each to be completed as they work through the year. And some have a few categories chosen with a couple categories left unnamed to be developed as they fill in later.

 

For me, the goal is to get me reading more, and not just about homeschooling!

 

Have fun if you try it.:)

[Rachel]

These are all part of my 888 List

 

I just finished Twilight (and now am adding the other 2 in the series)

 

I'm reading Israel, My Beloved by Kay Arthur

 

I am also reading my Daily Bible

[chiguirre]

I just finished World Without Us. I learned quite a bit and found it to be very enjoyable reading.

 

Before WWU, I read the Good Husband of Zebra Drive. If you like the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, it's a great sequel.

 

Before that was The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I loved this book, but be aware that there's a lot of strong language and slang Spanish. It was a great follow up to La Fiesta del Chivo.

 

Next on my list is a Karen Armstrong book, The Bible and Geraldine Brooks' new book, People of the Book.