This past year's reading

I went to Willa's blog only to see a link to my own New Year's 2008 To Read list. Wow, I'd forgotten all about that list of books. So I thought it would be interesting to see what books I did actually read. Maybe I can remember the other books not on the list that I also read. My brain is fuzzy right now though and a Muppet Christmas movie is playing loudly . . . .



An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor (Mommy Brain) Nope!
Austenland by somebody???? (Pemberley; Mommy Brain) Nope!
Holiness for Housewives by???? (Can’t remember! Re-reading it off and on over the last couple of weeks) Nope! Or maybe I read bits of it. I tend to take it off the shelf, read a few pages, get inspired and then put it down again.
The Love that Satisfies by Christopher West (started this around Thanksgiving, stalled out about 1/2 through but really want to finish it.) Nope!
The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis (Brit Lit) Yes!
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (Brit. Lit) Yes!
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (re-read for Brit. Lit – loved this book the first time) Yes!
The Scarlet Pimpernel (recommended by everybody including my friend Carol) Nope!
A Thousand Suns by the guy who wrote The Kite Runner (gathering dust on bedside table) Nope!
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden (just finished An Episode of Sparrows; I want to read all her stuff! I think I actually read this book back when I was a teenager but I only have the haziest memory of it) Nope!
Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen (contemporary Catholic novelist; been intrigued by him for a while) Nope!
A Philadelphia Catholic in King Arthur’s Court by Martin de Porres Kennedy (Will got this for Christmas.) Nope!
Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel (Willa mentioned this one a while ago) Read parts.
Black as Night by Regina Doman (I love her House Art site. The book looks wonderful; she’s got a whole series of fairy tales retold for young adults.) Yes. This was wonderful!
Quo Vadis by ????? (A classic I’ve never gotten around to reading.) Nope!
Silence by Shusaku Endo - (I keep seeing this book come up on various Catholic booklists) Nope!
Sophie’s World - (reading this currently to teens) Only got through 1/2 much to my sorrow.
Tale of Two Cities by Dickens (Brit Lit) Yes!
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (and other books by Goudge; love her writing; currently reading this aloud to anyone who’ll listen.) Yes! Lovely, lovely story.
Children of Men by P.D. James (this is my before-bed, current read; I’d like to read other books by her) Yes! Made a great impression on me. Very thought-provoking.
Animal Farm by George Orwell (Brit Lit.)Yes! Clever book.
The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy (been curious about him for a while now) Nope!
Georgette Heyer - (want to read more of her work; just finished Royal Escape about Charles II’s escape fromEngland; lovely!) I have become a Heyer fan! I have now read five or six of her novels, several of them more than once!
Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher (in prep for Economics next year) Nope!
Small is Still Beautiful by Joseph Pearce (his take on the above book, plus I just want to read all of Pearce’s stuff) Nope!
Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict VI (this is my current theological read. It is a very clear but very deep and scholarly explanation of the Creed.) I gave up on this. I am now reading his Jesus of Nazareth with other homeschooling moms in my TORCH group.
Language of God by Collins (audio) - We’ve had this gathering dust for a while. Yes! Listened to this with great admiration. Very illuminating!
Priestblock 25487; A Memoir of Dachau by Jean Bernard (Will’s) Yes! Extremely interesting.
To The Ends of the Earth by William Golding (I gave this to Rick for Christmas, with the ulterior motive of reading it myself!) Yes! Loved it! Made me want to try classical schooling again!
Dante’s Divine Comedy (summer study) Nope!
C.S. Lewis’ Perelanda series (summer study) - My goal this summer to read Dante’s Divine Comedy, though realistically I might just get through the first book. I’m going to watch a Teaching Co. lecture series on Dante. Then I plan to read C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy which is based on the Divine Comedy or so Joseph Pearce says. Nope! Plans moved to this coming summer!
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (this will be in prep for the American Humanities course I’m planning for teens next year) Yes! It was wonderful! Read a lot of Hawthorne over the summer and really enjoyed him.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (ditto) Yes!
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (ditto again!) Nope and I took it out of my reading plans.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (a reread for next year’s American Humanities) I'll read this spring 2009 for our American Lit class
My Antonia by Willa Cather (ditto)
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (ditto)



I really went on a Georgette Heyer jag. After reading Royal Escape, I read Cotillion, then The Spanish Bride, then Regency Buck (which I have reread an embarrassing number of times as I fell completely in love with Lord Worth), then An Infamous Army, then Friday's Child. I have Frederica sitting on my bedside table waiting for me to finish up two others books. Heyer writes two types of books: historical novels about famous battles or people or lovely, fluffy, Pride and Prejudice type romances. I enjoy them both!



I also remember reading Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe during the summer. It is a long book but a very interesting glimpse into the time period before the Civil War. I also read not too long ago The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith which I found to be delightful.



I am currently just finishing up reading two books: The Motivation Breakthrough by Richard Lavoie and The Water-babies by Charles Kingsley.



For American Lit we read The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass which was fascinating. What a truly admirable man!



With the kids we read Nacar, The White Deer by Elizabeth Borton Trevino. Lovely! We also read The Wonder Book by Nathaniel Hawthorne, D'Auliere's Greek Myths and Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliffe.



Trying to remember other books I read. . . . .I'm the Teacher, You're the Student by Patrick Allitt, Daniel Boone by William O Steele (this is a kid's book and I am quite sure I read this same book as a child, as I read it I remember passages distinctly. I loved the Dan'l Boone show on tv starring Wes Parker!), a book about Blessed Miguel Pro (is he now a saint?).



I have beens slowly reading through Paul Johnson's A History of the American People.



I know there are other books but I can't remember! I probably read at least 30 books or maybe a few more than that, not counting read alouds for the kids.



I think that starting in 2009, on this blog, I'll keep a record of books I read as the year goes along.