Reading Round-Up 2008

Well, it is that time of year... time to review the book list I made back in January. Did I read the books I thought I would read? (Many, not all.) Did I add new books to the list? (More than I thought I would!) What did I think of them? (I tried to link to my reviews when possible.) Should I make another list for 2009? (Absolutely! I'm a list addict!)

It looks like the winning catagories were Children's Fiction With Levi (we read every book and added many more) and Book Club (I read all 11 selections). I was reading through my list trying to pick favorites, but the competition is stiff. Watership Down, Little Britches, Swallows and Amazons, What's So Amazing About Grace, Deconstructing Penguins, Ruth.... Lots of great stories, ideas, information I added to my little world this past year.

How was your reading in 2008? Any favorites?



Literature Set in Ancient History:
Ben Hur (decided to read only Quo Vadis this year)
Quo Vadis (in progress)
(With Levi:)
In Search of a Homeland (The Aeneid)
Black Ships Before Troy (The Iliad)
The Wanderings of Odysseus (The Odyssey)
We read parts of the above three books. Levi read or listened to many Iliad/Odyssey story retellings on his own. I decided to read The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum on my own and am part way through.
The Bronze Bow (in progress)
Detectives in Togas (Levi ended up reading on his own)
The Cat of Bubastes (unabridged audio CD) (Levi listened to on his own)
We also read:
The Story of the World: Ancient Times by Susan Wise Bauer
Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick
The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence
and many, many picture books, short stories, and non-fiction books about ancient times
Levi is currently listening to The Young Carthaginian by Henty on audio CD

Children’s Fiction with Levi:
Swallows and Amazons (finished)
Little Britches (finished)
Owls in the Family (finished)
The Great Brain (finished)
Understood Betsy (in progress)
Emily’s Runaway Imagination (finished)
All-of-a-Kind Family (finished)
Little Pear (finished)
We also read:
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill
The Real Thief by William Steig
Dominic by William Steig
Abel's Island by William Steig
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
(I didn't even begin to keep a list of the books Levi read or listened to on his own, or the picture books either of us read.)

Christianity:
The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens (decided against)
*Ben Hur (decided to read only Quo Vadis this year)
*Quo Vadis (in progress)
Victor Journey Through the Bible (read selections, will continue in 2009)
From Jest to Earnest (E. P. Roe) (finished)
Hard Questions, Real Answers (William Lane Craig) (moved to the 2009 list)
The Screwtape Letters (C. S. Lewis) (moved to the 2009 list)
The Problem of Pain (C. S. Lewis) (sigh, didn't get around to)
also read:
Mimosa by Amy Carmichael
What's So Amazing About Grace by Yancey

Education/Parenting:
The Intellectual Devotional (read selections, will continue in 2009)
The Closing of the American Mind (get around to finishing) (still didn't read, another sigh)
(I reviewed the next 4 books as needed during the year:)
Family Matters (re-read)
Protecting the Gift (re-read)
Bringing Up Boys (re-read)
The Well-Trained Mind (re-read)
The Essential 55 (Ron Clark) (never got a copy)
For the Children’s Sake (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay) (finished)
also read:
The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule
Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading by Goldstone
The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson and Nick Kelsh
More Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison
The Family at Home by Anita Kaushal

Book Club:
Watership Down (finished)
Me: Stories of My Life (Katharine Hepburn) (finished)
*From Jest to Earnest (E. P. Roe) (finished)
The Murder of Roger Akroyd (Agatha Christie) (finished)
Life With Jeeves (P. G. Wodehouse) (finished)
(7 more books to be decided at a later meeting)
also read (additional 4 selections were read and listed in other categories):
The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter (finished)
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell (finished)

Non-Fiction:
*The Closing of the American Mind (still didn't read)
Crunchy Cons (never got a copy)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver) (finished)
The Total Money Makeover (Dave Ramsey) (finished)
Eats, Shoots, and Leaves (Lynne Truss) (skimmed)
A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson) (in progress)
Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences (Kitty Burns Florey) (finished)
* Protecting the Gift (reviewed)
also read:
The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D

Just For Fun:
*The Murder of Roger Akroyd (Agatha Christie) (finished)
*Life With Jeeves (P. G. Wodehouse) (finished)
Tears of the Giraffe (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Book #2) (finished)
The Guardian (Nicholas Sparks) (didn't get to)
A Tom Clancey Novel (not sure which one…) (didn't get to)
Hotel Pastis (Peter Mayle) (didn't get to)
The Thirteenth Tale (finished)
*A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson) (in progress)
also read:
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Literature:
*Ben Hur (how many times did I list this?!)
*Quo Vadis (ditto)
A Wrinkle in Time (finished)
Animal Farm (finished)
Brave New World (finished)
Messenger (Lois Lowry) (reading for book club in 2009)
Taming of the Shrew (didn't read)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ditto)