Hi, there, fellow book lovers! My how time flies in the spring! We have been so busy enjoying the beautiful weather and getting things done to wrap up the school year that I have had very little time to write. But it is nearly the end of May already, so it is high time I get to work on this month’s edition of The Reading Report! I know in many parts of the country, this is “book sale season” in local libraries or homeschool groups. In honor of that, I thought I’d share a bit about my recent finds at our library book sale a couple of weeks ago!
Fun Book Sale Finds:
The first table I stopped by at the library book sale was the section with books about animals. Last fall I found a few pocket field guides there, which we have loved pouring over. This time I was pleased to find a book on Song Birds and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Butterflies and Moths. Both of these will be great resources for nature study, and the kids have already flipped through them several times just for fun!
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates: I read this a couple of year ago on Kindle, and I’m glad to have a print copy now for my kids to read when they are a little older. It’s actually on the free read list for AmblesideOnline Year 5, so we’ll get there soon! (How can this be? My son will be doing Year 5 in 3 years. Eek! I’m going to try and not think about that…)
Gulliver’s Travels: This book is scheduled in Year 9 of AmblesideOnline, so, in theory, we will be using it for school eventually. But regardless, it is a classic worth owning and reading myself!
Watership Down: This is another AO book for the future, Year 7, I believe. I have heard mixed reviews from moms reading it, so I’m looking forward to digging in and reading it for myself!
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: I doubt any of us will be reading this cover-to-cover, but I thought it would be good to have as a reference when we start getting into edited versions of Chaucer in the upper years.
My Ántonia: This is now one of my favorite books ever since reading the ebook via my Libby app last fall, and I was so glad to find a print copy to call my very own!
The Hiding Place: Besides being a book that everyone should read, Corrie Ten Boom’s WWII concentration camp memoire is also scheduled in AmblesideOnline Year 11.
Night: A different Elie Wiesel book is scheduled in AO Year 11, but this is another important book that I think everyone should read and needs to be part of our family library.
Jane Eyre: For some reason, I forgot that I already owned one copy of Jane Eyre. I know it is many people’s favorite, and while I like it, it’s not a book I care to re-read often. So I forgot it was even on my shelf. I passed up a hardback copy of Emma, and regretted that when I got home an realized my mistake. Oh well!
That ends the fun book finds portion of this post. If you care to hear what I’ve finished reading recently and what I’m reading now…keep on going! 🙂 If not, I’d love to hear what good used book deals you’ve scored lately! Scroll on down to the bottom of this post and leave me a comment!
The Books I’ve Finished Recently:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Wow. This book was heart wrenching and thought-provoking, even so many years after it was written. I am so glad I took the time to read it. Stowe writes with the typical somewhat “preachy” style of the Victorian period, but I think it worked well in this book, especially considering how much the message was needing to be preached at that time. May we never forget that all human beings are valued as equal in God’s sight and should be equally valued by us… We must keep history ever before our eyes, or we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. (Fulfilled the #1 spot of my Back to the Classics Challenge list.)
Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: This books was much longer and more detailed than I was expecting. My first and only exposure to Jules Verne before now was Around the World in 80 Days, and that was a quick, fun read. I foolishly assumed 20000 Leagues would be similar. Nope! I did find the story fascinating, even suspenseful at times, but there were also long sections of detailed descriptions of nautical navigation and marine life that could really bog a person down. Since I listened to this on audio, I just let the narrator keep talking through those passages and didn’t let them bother me much. The open ending of the book was, perhaps, a little disappointing, but I guess it was in character with the mysterious nature of Captain Nemo and his amazing underwater vessel! (Fulfilled the #7 spot on my Back to the Classics Challenge list.)
What I’m Reading Now:
My current main read is Jane Austen’s Persuasion. It is actually a re-read (to fulfill the #12 spot on my B2tCC list), but it’s been so long since I read it the first time, I barely remember anything. What I do remember is all from the movie adaptation, and even that is pretty foggy in my mind. I’m enjoying it, even though to me it seems to be one of Austen’s least humorous and most melancholy novels. But it don’t mind that one single bit. I feel for Anne Elliot immensely and can identify with her more than I do many of Austen’s other leading ladies. I am both reading and listening to this one, depending on what I have time for, so I am sure it will be finished in no time. I am not sure what I will pick up next, but it’s likely to be another title from my B2tCC list. What can I say? I’m determined to get all these books read this year, and I unwittingly picked some looooong ones!