I pulled these screen shots from Goodreads, so they may not be in the exact order that we read them. :)
Goodreads also tells me that somehow I managed to read 39 books to the girls and 17 books to myself for a total of 56 books last year- not sure how that happened. haha. Actually, it helped that Miri went through a phase of taking a few minutes to fall asleep for naps/bedtime and I would hang out next door in my room and read until she went to sleep. Once she decided that she didn't need naps anymore, my reading time nosedived. I'm sure I won't be able to read that much this year!
I apparently started off the year on a Georgette Heyer kick... haha.
1-5. Devil's Cub, Cousin Kate, Black Sheep, The Reluctant Widow, The Masqueraders. Why do I like Georgette Heyer regency romance novels so much? Well, they're witty, well written, and more situational comedy than "romance." They are older books so they are very clean. There's generally very little romance involved until the very end of the book (like, the last page) and therefore are in a class above the general christian-romance-unrealistic-emotion-porn.
6. Charity Girl- Like I said... I was on a Georgette Heyer kick. :)
7. Tuck Everlasting- I was looking through lists of good read aloud books and saw this classic that I'd never read. I didn't read it to the girls, but I enjoyed it. It is interesting to think about what immortality in a mortal world would really mean.
8. Tonight on the Titanic- Guess who picked this one, hehe. Emmy really wanted me to read this Magic Tree House book to every one. It's short, thankfully. :D
9. White Fox- So Emmy picked this one too, I think she just liked the cover and wanted to get it from her book order. It is apparently a Chinese bestseller. I was.... unimpressed. The story was weird and didn't have much of a plot, it was far too long, and far too many characters died sudden violent deaths. Maybe something was lost in translation? I was glad to finish it and I refuse to read any of the rest of the series. ha.
10. Bridge to Terabithia- another YA classic that I had never read. I liked it, I'm not sure I would have liked or really understood the ending if I had read it in middle school.
11. Through Gates of Splendor- I couldn't remember if I'd read this before (it was on Bob's shelf). I think I maybe had, or another book about the same events. Anyway, anything by Elisabeth Eliot is worth a read.
12. One and Only Ivan- This was a sweet story about a Gorilla, based on a true story. The girls really liked it and it was fun to read.
13. Hitty, Her First Hundred Years- I actually read this twice, first to see if the girls would enjoy it and then again to the girls. It's about a doll named Hitty, starting from when she is first carved, and follows her adventures and various owners around the world and over the course of a century. We all really liked it. Sometimes older books can go over their heads a little bit, but there was enough funny situations that it kept their interest.
15. Cotillion- oh hey look, another Georgette Heyer. :D
16-21. The Josefina books- I read these to the girls when they inherited a Josefina doll. Can't go wrong with AG's historical fiction.
23. The Year of the Bloody Sevens (no cover picture for some reason)- I think Bob was getting tired of overhearing us read so many "girly" books, because he suggested this one. It's definitely a 'boy' book and definitely older (1960's). It's about a boy who is traveling on foot from Virginia to Kentucky in 1777 to meet up with his Dad and most of his traveling companions die gruesome deaths by Indian attack and then he almost gets killed by Indians. Yeah. Haha. I probably would have read it and the author's other books when I was a kid if they had been in our libraries, but I'm not sure if I would choose them as a read aloud again. 😝
24-26. Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King- I reread the Lord of the Rings because it had been a very long time. Since college at least. Still just as good, and definitely worth reading once if you've never read them before. Tolkien is the best.
27-32. The Kirsten books. I read these to the girls over the summer since we were doing pioneer type things. Even though I read these several times as a kid, it always surprises me how they don't sugar coat some of the harder aspects of frontier life.
33. The Little Prince- I read this to the girls because it is a classic and is recommended a lot.... I had never read it before. It was... ok. I'm not sure if it's a translation issue, or if it's just not our style, but I wasn't overly impressed and thought it was kind of weird. The girls weren't super excited about it either. But now we can say we've read it. :)
34. Sewing Without Mother's Help- What's a year in reading without a random really old sewing book?? hehe. I was looking for some motivation to teach the girls to sew more things. Not that we did, but it was inspiring. Maybe this summer I won't be dealing with nausea and we can do more sewing/life skills projects.
35. The Silmarillion- If you're a LOTR nerd, you have to read the Silmarillion. It's less of a story than the Hobbit or LOTR and more the history and legends of middle earth. It's good stuff. And where Miri's name came from.
36. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle- We took this to read on vacation. I remember it from grade school- it's still just as zany and funny. The girls thought it was hilarious.
37. The Thorn Birds- I forget where I heard about this book. It was an international bestseller back when it was published and apparently very controversial because of it's critique of Catholicism. It was very well written, but literally anything that can go wrong in the character's lives over three generations of an Australian family does go wrong. So unless you like slightly depressing books.... haha... I wouldn't suggest rushing out to read it. :)
38. A Girl of the Limberlost- after I went to Gene Stratton Porter's house this summer I had to reread my favorites of hers. They're just so good. :) This one is probably one of her most read books, for good reason, and I love it. It's about a girl who collects moths and butterflies in the Limberlost swamp and sells them to finance her education, and of course strengthens her faith and finds purpose and love at the same time.
39-44. The Kaya books- Since we read about a pioneer, I figured it would be good to read about the early American west from a different perspective. Haha. Or just because I have most of the old AG book series and it was sort of the same time period.
46. The White Flag- This was a Gene Stratton
Porter book that I had not read before. I enjoyed it, although it was
less about nature than any of her other books that I have read. It was
also the most melodramatic book! The ending was... crazy. Hehe. :D
But yes, you should read all of her books. :P
47. Moths of the
Limberlost- Oh hey, another GSP book. A slight departure since this is
not a novel; it's her observations and studies and anecdotes of the
different Moths that she collected in the swamp. It's definitely not a
dry, scientific type book and it was more fun to read than I thought it
would be and it made me want to become an entomologist and raise
caterpillars in the house. (only briefly, the urge passed pretty
quickly.)
48. Morning Face- Another GSP that is not a novel,
instead it's a collection of poems/songs stories that she wrote for her
Granddaughter (who was nicknamed "Morning Face"). It's sweet and light
and fun.
49. The Indian in the Cupboard- The girls loved this book.
It's so fun to imagine your toys coming to life, and the situations
Little Bear and Boone get into are just funny...
50. Reflections on
the Psalms- C.S. Lewis is just great. But it takes me forever to read
his books because I have to stop and think about everything. :)
Especially since my brain is essentially scrambled eggs anymore. I
liked how he approached the Psalms from a more scholarly, Jewish
perspective than the typical Christian perspective of applying meaning
retroactively. Since the psalms were important to Jewish worship and
culture long before Christ came along. Good stuff.
51. Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie- I read this to the girls because it's an Oregon Trail diary (fictional). It's harder to read a diary style book aloud, but we all liked it. Once again, it was a lot more gritty/realistic than I remember when I read it way back in Middle School. :P
52. Wind in the Willows- Ok, I know this is a classic that everyone 'should' read at some point, but I just don't really like it. Parts of it are funny, parts of it are just plain weird. Like, why are there anthropomorphic animals interacting with humans and driving horse carts and cars? It just doesn't make sense... it's like the author can't decide if it's just for fun, or if it's social commentary on British society. The girls liked the funny parts with Toad, but the rest was just meh.
53. The Borrowers- This is another fun book I remember reading long ago. Who doesn't want to read a book about little people who live under the floors and in the walls of regular size houses? So much scope for the imagination. :D The girls thought it was pretty cool, and they got me the rest of the book series for Christmas so I can read it to them... haha....
54. Person of Interest- this is one of Bob's books that he thought I would like. It's written by a man who was a cold case detective about his 'investigation' of Christianity and how he came to believe in Christ. So, in the same vein as "Case for Christ," etc. The whole book followed his cold case solving process; each chapter he would illustrate his method using an actual murder case he had solved, then use the same method and apply it to Christianity. Since I haven't really ever doubted the historicity or truth of Christianity these were probably my favorite parts of the book. I did really like how he said he looked at the 'fallout' of Christ and how He influenced so many different spheres in the world. For instance, if you looked at all of the great and famous art since the crucifixion and only at the art, never read a Bible, you could recreate the entirety of the gospel stories just from the existing art and paintings alone. Which is cool.
55. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler- The girls and I liked this one. It's about a brother and sister who run away from home for a week and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They liked that they slept in a famous antique bed and had to take baths in the fountain. :P
56. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever- we read this every year because it's the best.
I'd love suggestions for good books that would appeal to girls ages 5-10... we'll probably try and reread the Little House books again at some point, but I also like variety. :)
Blessings.
