Thursday, January 07, 2016

at last! A book list!







   


The air warmed a little today and the snow began to melt into piles of soft slush.  Snow melting off the roof of our big shop ran into the gutter and streamed into our overflowing rain barrel, a pleasant sound whenever we stepped outside. 
The walk we took through the orchard was... difficult.  It was our planned nature walk day and I did want to get into the air since it wasn't so bitingly cold (not that that has stopped us anytime recently either) but a two year old's legs have a rough time trudging through soft and deep wet snow. We only made it a little ways around.  Six year olds, however, slow down for nothing and plow ahead in great exultation. 

We piled into the car (realizing late that the carseats and boosters were all piled in the back from Jesse's recent trip to pick up an exercise machine from a Craigslist seller- success!) and headed to the church to be part of Kingdom Kids for the afternoon.  The fog hung low so that it was impossible to distinguish how far I could see and where the snow and the fog met.  The drive home, though, was harrowing after dark.  I could hardly see ten feet ahead and the darkness pressed ominously on the windowpanes.  I was grateful that our friend was in a car ahead of us most of the way, lighting the path with his tail lights so I knew I wasn't alone in a cold abysmal sea of seeping mist.  

All week I have wanted to share my reading plan for this year but have had to share my computer with my husband who accidentally killed his beloved Mac earlier this week (and lost his keys on the same day... it was a bad day.  Fortunately the keys were found.  The computer is dead). A new one is hopefully arriving soon but in the meantime, I have my Kindle during the day while he borrows my laptop for work.  So with great fanfare, here is the list of books, with links, I plan to read this year.


My 25 planned books for the year... plus 5 unplanned open spots 
Teaching From Rest - Sarah Mackenzie
The MoleHill, vol. 1 
The Warden and the Wolf King - Andrew Peterson
Hamlet - Shakespeare (Listening on Chop Bard)
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
For the Children's Sake -  Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights- Howard Pyle
Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
The Inspired Room - Melissa Michaels
My Antonia - Willa Cather
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain (I will listen on CraftLit)
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Caddie Woodlawn - Carol Ryrie Brink
The Pastor's Wife - Sabina Wurmbrand
One of these:  A Pocketful of Pinecones or Lessons at Blackberry Inn-- by Karen Andreola
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions- Edwin Abbott (Also listening on CraftLit)
The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge
The Shepherd's Life - James Rebanks
The Shepherd's Castle - George MacDonald
Third Culture Kids - Pollock and Van Reken
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Rebecca - Daphne DuMaurier
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (another CraftLit listen)
....+ five more undetermined books through the year

To equal thirty books in 2016 (Actually in recounting I realized I have 26 planned so I guess I'm really at 31)!  I read 28 over the past year and a couple of those were really big books (like All the Light We Cannot See) so I think I can do it especially if I just always have a few books going at once in different locations that I might sit down and pick one up for a few minutes.  

There a several books on the list that have a specific reason for selection. A few are irons I already have in the fire and just need to finish, some are by an author I've wanted to read more of (Goudge, MacDonald), some are books I have wanted to read but been intimidated by (Wuthering Heights, King Arthur, Middlemarch, Hamlet) but know I can tackle if I just committed to it, and some are just fun (like The Shepherd's Life!  So excited for that one to come up!)

I divided these up to include 2-3 books per month and tried to have this framework in mind:

One simply pleasurable read, one book that would stretch my mind (like Shakespeare, King Arthur), and one more non-fiction book to "learn" from (like Third Culture Kids or Teaching From Rest).  That way I always have a book for any mood I might be in. There will be other books that I am reading aloud with the girls but these are my choices.  Let's see how it goes!  

Up until now I have just read whatever book  I settled on when I finished one, but sometimes that has meant a lag in my reading because I didn't have access to whatever book I wanted to read next or because I wasn't feeling like putting in any effort to deciding what book to find next.  Having a knitting queue has helped with the same kind of problem so I am hoping that a queue for my books will keep me from getting waylaid! 

Do you make a book list?  How do you determine what goes on it or what you will read next if you don't have a list?  Is there anything you definitely think I should have put on my list that might be able to fill one of those other five spots? 




5 comments:

  1. I cannot wait to see what you think of your books once you read them, I have read a handful. I do not make a list, but I have a general idea of what I want to read :) love your snow, I do not have a flake.

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  2. I don't make lists of my books. I just read whatever comes to mind at the time. How organized you are! I enjoyed the pictures of your children playing in the snow. Our snow is also soft and mushy here in Spokane, although we did get a little bit more last night.
    Blessings, Betsy

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  3. Look at that snow! Miss it dearly. I bet the kiddos have a blast!
    My you do have your book list all set. I wish I was that diligent. I just pin what I like on pinterest, and then choose when I have time. However, having a list would make choices a lot easier. I have only read one on your list so far....maybe I will just keep your list as well. lol
    Happy reading.

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  4. Look at that snow! Miss it dearly. I bet the kiddos have a blast!
    My you do have your book list all set. I wish I was that diligent. I just pin what I like on pinterest, and then choose when I have time. However, having a list would make choices a lot easier. I have only read one on your list so far....maybe I will just keep your list as well. lol
    Happy reading.

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  5. You are so organized! Next to you I'm the kid going wild in the candy store! I go raring through the book shop or library grabbing everything that seems interesting, stuffing myself with abandon. Luckily, books are low in calories. :) I love your list, though. Wuthering Heights and I had to come to an understanding, but The Count of Monte Cristo is a dear. Might be raring through your book list myself this year!

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