Reading Round-Up 2009

Well, it is time to wrap up this year's book list.

I started with an ambitious 'want-to-read' list (in brown).

My final list looks much different! (what I actually read is in blue).

(Books also listed in previous categories are marked with *.)

Family Read-Alouds:

Man of the Family by Ralph Moody (didn't get to, on the list for 2010)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (listened to audio version)
The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon (nope)
The Wind on the Moon by Eric Linklater (nope)
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (Ah, finally, success!!)
Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome (Levi read on his own.)
The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (nope)
Heidi by Johanna Spyri (nope)

What we did read together:

Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Kildee House by Montgomery
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
(and several historical fiction selections listed below)

More in a Series:

Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith (yep!)
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart (yep!)
The Messenger by Lois Lowry (wahoo!)
A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle (nope, on the list for 2010)
*Man of the Family by Ralph Moody (nada, on the list for 2010)
Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery (sigh, no)
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (ooh, another yes!)
*Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome (Levi read independently)
A Light in the Window by Jan Karon

ChocLit Guild (Book Club):

*The Messenger by Lois Lowry (yes!)
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (si!)
April 1865 by Jay Winik (yep!)
(and 6 more selections!)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
I Am David by Anne Holm
Nature's Serial Story by E. P. Roe
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
*Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
(See what intentional reading with accountablility does for me?! I read all 9 book club selections!)

Medieval/Renaissance Themed:

(Story of the World Vol. II (With Levi)) (not quite through, but getting there!)
The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood (with Levi) (yes! but not with Levi...)
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green (with Levi) (chose a different retelling, Levi and I both read independently)
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray (with Levi) (Levi read on his own.)
The Edge on the Sword by Rebecca Tingle (yes!)
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney (read aloud a version translated by Ian Serraillier instead)
The Once and Future King by T. H. White (nope)
Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger (no)
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (argh, no, again!)

But...... I did read the following historical fiction:

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (with Levi)
Augustine: The Farmer's Boy of Tagaste by P. de Zeeuw (with Levi)
The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum
Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard (with Levi)
Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland (with Levi)
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanore M. Jewett (with Levi)
The Squire's Tale by Gerald Morris
The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady by Gerald Morris
The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean (with Levi)
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
(And that ain't bad. Grin.)

Non-Fiction:

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (continue) (still didn't finish)
The History of Science by Joy Haikim (continue) (still didn't finish)
The Intellectual Devotional by Kidder & Oppenheim (continue) (still enjoying)
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeline L'Engle (yes, and loved!)
My Life in France by Julia Child (moved to 2010)
*Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (yes!)
*April 1865 by Jay Winik (yes!)
What is a Family by Edith Schaeffer (nope)
The No-Cry Discipline Solution by Elizabeth Pantley (no, and I realllllly need to)
Teaching Montessori in the Home by Hainstock

Simple Mom Book Club (More Non-Fiction):

Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (didn't finish, but loved the part I read)
(Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver~ review)
(Last Child In the Woods ~review)
For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men by Shaunti Feldhahn (nope)
It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh (nope)
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R. Covey (nope)
(wow, I really failed there!!)

Christianity:

Year One of Two Year Bible Reading Plan (need to get better about keeping up with this, sigh)
*Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeline L'Engle (yes!)
The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey (moved to the book club list for 2010)
The Victor Journey through the Bible by V. Gilbert Beers (continue)
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (nope)
Hard Questions, Real Answers by William Lane Craig (yes)
A Year with C. S. Lewis (selections) (here and there)

Fiction/Literature:

A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L'Engle (nope)
The Europeans by Henry James (nope)
Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico (yes!)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (began, but haven't finished ~ on the list for 2010)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (yes)
Middlemarch by George Eliot (no)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (no)
*A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (no, sigh)
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers (no)
Philippa by Anne Douglas Sedgwick (yes)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (listened to parts and pieces on audio CD)
*A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (yes)

Biography/Memoirs:

Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz
26 Fairmount Avenue by Tomie DePaola
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl
Triangular Road: A Memoir by Paule Marshall
Chewing the Cud by Dick King-Smith

Various Fiction:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

Romance:

Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy
Bidding for Love by Katie Fforde
Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
Highland Fling by Katie Fforde
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

And that puts me at roughly 52 books in 2009 ~ a book a week.

I'm okay that my list changed (a lot) over the course of the last 12 months.

The point is, I deliberately made it a priority to read!

I'll be posting my 2010 To-Read List on Monday, January 4th. Want to join me?