It's my first time linking up with Jessica at Housewifespice for What We're Reading Wednesday (too bad we're not reading anything a little more riveting right now, huh? I really know how to jump into things with not-a-bang...) But I've always enjoyed being nosy and seeing what other people are reading and getting recommendations and adding to my inter-library loan request list which ensures that my revolving door relationship with the public library will go on ad infinitum. So here's what we've been reading...
With the kids, I've been reading nothing that you haven't heard of before....
The girls and I are happily making our way through Little House in the Big Woods
. Last night, while eating popcorn in front of a cozy fire, we finished the maple-sugar making chapters (how quaint! We'll be heading out to the local maple sugar shacks in the next few weeks, ourselves! And someday when we live in the country we will attempt it ourselves!) . We were even living some of the frontier experience as we read because our living room ceiling is leaking (darn you weeks and weeks of snow accumulation that's finally melting off of our roof and into our home...) so the drip, drip, dripping, made it feel like we were at least living in some sort of prairie sod house, if not the log cabin near Pepin.
The boys and I finally finished The Horse and His Boy
after almost nine months of slogging through it. I hate to say it, because it is C. S. Lewis after all, but we practically had to drag ourselves through The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy. I don't know... maybe did Clive go through a creative slump or something there?? Or maybe we're too unrefined to get the nuanced threads of genius in those two books?? I'm happy to say that we all seem to be enjoying The Magician's Nephew 
more than the previous books. It looks like we'll finish the series this year after all!
Aaron is reading. Let me repeat that... Aaron is reading!!!! For pleasure, on his own, no prompting from Mom, not for lessons. He thinks is cool that he gets to stay up late in bed with a finger light
on his thumb. And I am spinning cartwheels in my head because it's finally happened! As moms the world over know, it's hard finding books for boys at this stage - we're past our beloved Frog and Toad but not quite ready for The Hardy Boys
. Your suggestions are welcome. He's done plenty of the usual suspects - Boxcar Children, Magic Tree House, Encyclopedia Brown, My America books, the "Who Was...?" in American history series, and some illustrated classics. He's currently working through the Tomie DePaola 26 Fairmount Avenue books
.
A couple weeks ago we were on "Winter Break." Instead of all the regular reading, writing and math, we read Betsy Maestro's Liberty or Death: The American Revolution: 1763-1783 for fun! The boys and I (and even Ruth, sometimes) are big time Maestro fans! Over the summer we had read her books on the discovery of the Americas, colonial America, and the French and Indian War. Her picture books are perfect, perfect for teaching early American history in a comprehensive, interesting, and memorable way. The artwork by her husband, Gulio, is just as wonderful - detailed, engaging, and lovely. I can't recommend the books in their American Story series enough. However, we've also enjoyed many of her books that aren't specifically part of this series, most notably, The Story of Money
and The Story of Clocks and Calendars
.
I'm reading... um, not much. I recently got a few things out of the library for myself, but it's really hard to watch Netflix and read at the same time, and it's even harder to crochet and read at the same time. So my books usually end up being due back before I have a chance to crack the cover. "Required" reading for a woman's group I participate in has been Consoling the Heart of Jesus: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat- Inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
, by Father Michael Gaitley. It's good. It's a retreat though, so... not riveting ;)
Finally, I set up a new kind of book basket in our living room. Themed books baskets are an occasional thing around here, but this one is pretty random. I recently cleaned up and cleared out all the picture book bookshelves in the house and pulled out all the books we've never read. They're mostly books that I picked up at library sales and put on the shelves and for some reason, no one ever pulled them off. So they're all centrally located now and we've had some really fun evenings where the rule is "new books only for bedtime reading." We've uncovered some good ones like The King's Day: Louis XIV of France
(Aliki), A Drop of Water
(Gordon Morrison), and Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man
(David Adler) (fair warning: you might tear up reading that last one. woah.)
So that's what we're reading. How 'bout you? Let's chat here, or link up your own What We're Reading Wednesday post with Jessica and check out what other bloggers are reading while you're there :)
. Last night, while eating popcorn in front of a cozy fire, we finished the maple-sugar making chapters (how quaint! We'll be heading out to the local maple sugar shacks in the next few weeks, ourselves! And someday when we live in the country we will attempt it ourselves!) . We were even living some of the frontier experience as we read because our living room ceiling is leaking (darn you weeks and weeks of snow accumulation that's finally melting off of our roof and into our home...) so the drip, drip, dripping, made it feel like we were at least living in some sort of prairie sod house, if not the log cabin near Pepin. 
The boys and I finally finished The Horse and His Boy
after almost nine months of slogging through it. I hate to say it, because it is C. S. Lewis after all, but we practically had to drag ourselves through The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy. I don't know... maybe did Clive go through a creative slump or something there?? Or maybe we're too unrefined to get the nuanced threads of genius in those two books?? I'm happy to say that we all seem to be enjoying The Magician's Nephew more than the previous books. It looks like we'll finish the series this year after all! 
Aaron is reading. Let me repeat that... Aaron is reading!!!! For pleasure, on his own, no prompting from Mom, not for lessons. He thinks is cool that he gets to stay up late in bed with a finger light
on his thumb. And I am spinning cartwheels in my head because it's finally happened! As moms the world over know, it's hard finding books for boys at this stage - we're past our beloved Frog and Toad but not quite ready for The Hardy Boys. Your suggestions are welcome. He's done plenty of the usual suspects - Boxcar Children, Magic Tree House, Encyclopedia Brown, My America books, the "Who Was...?" in American history series, and some illustrated classics. He's currently working through the Tomie DePaola 26 Fairmount Avenue books. 
A couple weeks ago we were on "Winter Break." Instead of all the regular reading, writing and math, we read Betsy Maestro's Liberty or Death: The American Revolution: 1763-1783 for fun! The boys and I (and even Ruth, sometimes) are big time Maestro fans! Over the summer we had read her books on the discovery of the Americas, colonial America, and the French and Indian War. Her picture books are perfect, perfect for teaching early American history in a comprehensive, interesting, and memorable way. The artwork by her husband, Gulio, is just as wonderful - detailed, engaging, and lovely. I can't recommend the books in their American Story series enough. However, we've also enjoyed many of her books that aren't specifically part of this series, most notably, The Story of Money
and The Story of Clocks and Calendars. I'm reading... um, not much. I recently got a few things out of the library for myself, but it's really hard to watch Netflix and read at the same time, and it's even harder to crochet and read at the same time. So my books usually end up being due back before I have a chance to crack the cover. "Required" reading for a woman's group I participate in has been Consoling the Heart of Jesus: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat- Inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
, by Father Michael Gaitley. It's good. It's a retreat though, so... not riveting ;) Finally, I set up a new kind of book basket in our living room. Themed books baskets are an occasional thing around here, but this one is pretty random. I recently cleaned up and cleared out all the picture book bookshelves in the house and pulled out all the books we've never read. They're mostly books that I picked up at library sales and put on the shelves and for some reason, no one ever pulled them off. So they're all centrally located now and we've had some really fun evenings where the rule is "new books only for bedtime reading." We've uncovered some good ones like The King's Day: Louis XIV of France
(Aliki), A Drop of Water (Gordon Morrison), and Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man (David Adler) (fair warning: you might tear up reading that last one. woah.) So that's what we're reading. How 'bout you? Let's chat here, or link up your own What We're Reading Wednesday post with Jessica and check out what other bloggers are reading while you're there :)
The Silver Chair & The Horse and His Boy aren't my favorites, either - I think I just love Dawn Treader so much that everything else was kind of a let down after that, until The Magician's Nephew. I'm just really glad you're reading them in the correct order - I get irrationally angry when people read The Magician's Nephew first ;)
ReplyDeleteThe Silver Chair & The Horse and His Boy aren't my favorites, either - I think I just love Dawn Treader so much that everything else was kind of a let down after that, until The Magician's Nephew. I'm just really glad you're reading them in the correct order - I get irrationally angry when people read The Magician's Nephew first ;)
ReplyDeleteFor whatever reason, I've had more luck with my boys listening to the Narnia audiobooks rather than me reading them aloud. I ended up buying them since we were checking them out of the library so often. Maybe an English accent is essential for full full Narnian enjoyment?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree that the accent is a bonus!! We've been following the "rule" that the kids are allowed to listen to them on CD after we read them together, which was working out nicely until my boys broke one of the CD's of the Silver Chair and I got on the library's naughty list. They wanted me to pay $30 to replace it, but I insisted they take the exact same recording that I bought on Amazon for $8.99! Now we borrow audiobooks electronically so there are no more mishaps ;)
DeleteI like The Horse and his Boy (although not as much as the others) but I always slog through The Silver Chair. Have you ever read Planet Narnia? It theorizes that Lewis's theme behind Narnia was the ancient idea of the solar system, and each book represents one of the old planets (including the sun & moon). In this guy's interpretation, The Silver Chair is the moon--and its theme is confusion/slogging through darkness. So it might be intentional. :)
ReplyDeleteHmm... I haven't heard of that book. But I *have* tried to read Lewis' Space Trilogy and just couldn't get into it :(
DeleteI actually think Prince Caspian is the low point. I agree that Horse and his Boy isn't great but I love The Silver Chair. Puddleglum is just so wonderful and the part where he frees the prince from his chair and stands up to the snake witch is probably on my top three favorite parts of the whole series. "We're just babies making up a game if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world that licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead."
ReplyDeleteAh a book post, I'm sure you know I'm grinning and devouring:)
ReplyDeleteStill so excited about Aaron reading too, remember my Jelly Bean is at the same stage. She just read Fantastic Mr Fox and loved it!!
Ooh, thanks! I'll check it out :)
Delete