I Used to Read

I used to read, a lot. But now, looking back over my 2010 book list, I find that I just don't read much anymore. I suppose it's not surprising, what with 7 kids at home. But it is disturbing. I find that when I pick up a "difficult" book, one that makes you think, it isn't as easy for me to read as it once was. I don't like that. At. All. In 2011 I intend to begin to remedy the situation. I Intend to read more. One the one hand it will be unavoidable, because I am reading the majority of Hailey's school books in order to keep the discussions meaningful. It is shocking how few of them I have read. So, we will broaden our horizons together this year. But I also want to get to some of the things that I have been wanting to read. For me. I have many on my shelves, and I check books out from the library regularly. Only to return them 6 weeks later with the covers barely cracked. But I AM going to do that less often this year. Really. I am. Stop laughing.

These are the books I read last year. They are shockingly few, and the majority were read-alouds to the kids. Do those count? I sure hope so, because otherwise I was almost a non-reader last year.

Nick of Time - RA
Cowboy and Wills - Me

Hatchet - RA
Guts - Audio for all
Rats of Nimh - RA
Maggie - Me
Wrapped in Rain - Me
The Dead Don't Dance - Me
Time Pirate - RA
Swiss Family Robinson - RA
When the Tripods Came - RA
The White Mountains - RA
The City of Gold and Lead - RA
Pool of Fire - RA
Atlas Shrugged - Me

What is that, 15? Not much weight there either. Maggie, Wrapped in Rain, and The Dead Don't Dance are all novels by Charles Martin. Entertaining, but not too deep :-) The kids loved Nick of Time, a time-travel tale full of sea battles, chivalry, and love of country. Its sequel, Time Pirate was enjoyed as well.

When the Tripods Came through Pool of Fire was an interesting series. Sci-Fi I guess it was. About a group of people fighting to remain free men after an alien invasion that takes over the minds of people, causing them to become complacent and servile. Lots of good conversation about what it means to be free, and what is worth dying for. We enjoyed it.

Right now we are reading Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper, which is the first of the 5 book The Dark is Rising series. It was slow to start, but yesterday they begged me to keep reading for 3 1/2 hours straight. It seems it got exciting :-) I'm still undecided about whether we will read the whole series, but this book has been great if you like King Arthur legends and are comfortable with myths and and such. It is about the battle between good and evil featuring children as the main characters. It isn't a book I would hand them to read alone, but it has fostered a lot of great discussions. I'm interested to see how they develop it though.

I'm also reading The Woman in White to the girls, which is one of the first mystery novels ever written.

I am also reading Birth of Britian and How To Read a Book (very slowly) with Hailey. And we are reading (each of us separately) and discussing:

Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People
The Life of King Alfred - selected passages
The Brendan VoyageThe Once and Future King
Ivanhoe
The History of English Literature
The Lay of the Land
Watership Down
More Than a Carpenter

Well this post got a lot more full of things no one cares about, but see I AM reading more this year!