Tuesday, September 29, 2015

What We're Reading :: September

Sneaking in at the very end of the month with what we've been reading this September...

Me
C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters (in bits here and there)
Pearl Buck's The Good Earth (for our local book club)
Charlotte Mason's Volume 6 and Macaulay's For the Children's Sake (for our CM study group using Brandy's Start Here)

To the Big Kids
Sewell's Black Beauty (just finished on audio--a Year 4 free read that I mentioned here)
Salten's Bambi (another Year 4 book--the three of us just finished reading it in tandem and I'll have more to say about it soon!)
Speare's The Sign of the Beaver (put this on hold to finish Black Beauty, so we're still at the very beginning)

Vincent, age 9
Seredy's The White Stag (a re-read)
Masefield's Jim Davis: A High-Sea Adventure (free for Kindle!)
Pyle's The Book of Pirates (another birthday book)

Gianna, age 9
Pierson's Among the Forest People
MacDonald's The Light Princess (MacDonald is a big favorite of hers)
Nancy Savage Carlson's A Brother for the Orphelines (with lovely illustrations by Garth Williams)

To the Middles (Cate, age 6, and Xavier, age 5)
The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh and The Complete Beatrix Potter Treasury (our scheduled Year 0 books)
Neumann Press' First Communion Days (I'm half reading this and half letting them listen to the Librivox audio)
For this week's reading lessons: Stevenson's "The Cow" (for Cate) and the first set of Bob books (for Xave)

To the Littles
Zimmerman and Clemesha's Trashy Town (one of the Big Kids' favorites when they were obsessed with the trash truck -- I picked this up with Xave in mind but my girls giggle like crazy over Mr. Gilly!)
McLerran and Cooney's Roxaboxen (a long-overdue new addition to our home shelves)
Hall and Cooney's Ox-Cart Man (their current favorite from Xavier's kindergarten shelf)

In the mailbox...
A couple of my longtime PaperbackSwap wishlist books finally came up, so it was nice to get those in the mail this month, along with another batch from my favorite Instagram sellers.  And there are a couple in the middle from the new for-sale table at Mass and a couple library sale rack finds too:



All About Moths and Butterflies (to add to my collection of All About books, which are sadly oop)
de la Mare's Rhymes and Verses
Buff's The Apple and the Arrow
Weils' Red Sails to Capri
Bishop's Twenty and Ten (from the AO list of free reads)
de la Mare's The Voice (haven't had a chance to look through this one yet)
Komroff's Marco Polo (we used the free Towle version when my Big Kids went through Year 3, but I'm looking forward to trying this one for Cate in a couple years)
Pope's Reptiles Round the World (a cheap garage sale find from last weekend)
Go In and Out the Window (finally got to the front of the line at PaperbackSwap for this one!)
My Catholic Faith (the vintage text our Traditional Latin Mass community uses for catechism--lovely!)
Tan's A Manual of Practical Devotion to St. Joseph (on my list for a long while)
a Botticelli book for art study images
The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems (because I can never pass up a nicely-illustrated poetry anthology)
The Fireside Book of Love Songs (because I can never pass up a vintage songbook!)

We also brought some new books into the home for my birthday girls...but I'll save those for next month. :)

What are you reading lately?  Any fun garage sale scores or boxes in the mail?

18 comments:

  1. Awesome! :) I might have to list some of our reads lately too...fun! :) I can talk for HOURS about books, should be a blog post my brain can handle! :) To be honest, I've had a hard time with Berry's fiction...I enjoy his poetry and memoir type books if I read them slowly, but for some reason his fiction DRAGS for me. It's GOOD, but S - L- O - W. I know, I'm weird. ;)
    I will have to check out the Book of Pirates! I recently found He Went with Marco Polo in my stacks of books by Kent??? I want to do that one with my 2nd soon....
    Oooo...the de la Mare and the Moths and Butterflies! lovely!


    How soon is your little one due? So excited for you! :)


    I'll try to put a post up of our latest favorite reads soon and share! :)

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    1. I know what you mean--these are the posts that I can just rattle off because there are always books everywhere around here. Lots of good fodder for the blog. ;)

      Jayber Crow has been dragging for me even though I am really enjoying the story and characters. Hannah Coulter I read through much faster. I'm not sure what the difference is. But I do like both. And I don't think you're weird at all. :)

      Baby is due November 1st, so five weeks left! I can hardly believe it...but on the other hand, I am ready to get this show on the road, if you know what I mean! This is about the point when I always start to feel this way. Thankfully I am still pretty comfortable. Though I would feel a lot *more* comfortable if we weren't still stuck in summer weather around here!

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  2. Oh and PS - I'm interested in what you have to say on Bambi. My oldest read it just as a free read and pretty much hated it! :P LOL!

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    1. Bambi was, um, not what I expected. I knew already that it wasn't anything like the feel-good Disney version thanks to conversations on the forums, but it was more raw than I thought it would be. It had its shocking moments, its gruesome moments...I think it got at the heart of what it means to live by instinct, and I found that incredibly interesting. The kids were very touched by it, actually, and Gianna came away from it with a firm grasp of the bigger issues the book dealt with all on her own. I was surprised by that. The language is beautiful. But I can see how someone might hate it. ;) I think it's likely to elicit strong responses. And that's not something I expected from "Bambi," if you know what I mean! :)

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  3. My oldest read Twenty and Ten I think when he was 6 or 7, hmm, can't completely remember. But it really impacted him. He talked about it with everyone in our family. I think it is such a great introduction to WW2 and all that goes with. Serious, but not scary or graphic, but not glossed over. Now he's read so much on WW2 and the Civil War (those seem to be his favorite parts of history so far). But I really think Twenty and Ten opened that door for him.

    I also have great difficulty passing up beautifully illustrated poetry anthologies, as well as beautifully illustrated Mother Goose. I figure there will be some for each kiddo to take when they get older. =)

    Glad y'all were gifted Roxaboxen. It's a must have!

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    1. Great to know that he so appreciated Twenty and Ten. My son just finished The House of the Sixty Fathers and it got him very interested in WW2, which he knew next to nothing about before. (I don't have many books around on the topic, and obviously we haven't hit it yet in AO.) So I think he will really enjoy Twenty and Ten at this point. I know what you mean about certain books opening the door to new interests for kids--I have a feeling Vincent has picked up a new passion too.

      Yes, beautifully illustrated Mother Goose! I have such a weak spot for vintage anthologies. Thankfully I ahve a lot of children to read them too so I never feel like they're going to waste. ;)

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  4. I've been meaning to post about some great finds at a recent library book sale. :) I picked up D'laire's (sp?) George Washington and Book of Trolls. I also got Seeds and More Seeds by Milicant Selsam! Fun!

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    1. My oldest son loves the Book of Trolls. And Millicent Selsam's science books were his very favorite a couple years ago! I just love her work. They're perfect introductions to scientific topics, and usually with vintage illustrations too. Can't beat that! :)

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  5. I’m reading Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather for Well Read Mom. I’ve read it once before last year, and am taking just as much (if not more) delight in it this time. LOVE that book!! I’m also trying to slowly read Jayber Crow since Circe in doing is doing a podcast on it and I don’t want to be left out! :)

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    1. I haven't read that one, though I do love Willa Cather's writing. I will put it on my TBR list! I saw it on the list for this year's Well-Read Mom, but our local group is deviating from the list this year and reading from The Year of the Mother booklist a few years back. (Hence my reading of The Good Earth!) I did not know that Circe is doing a podcast on Jayber Crow! I will have to check that out. Maybe that will spur me on to finishing it! I have had to return it to the library and wait to pick it up again twice now, so I really need to move along on it. :)

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  6. I love your 'what we're reading' posts:)

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    1. Thank you, Erin! I get almost all my book suggestions from other bloggers and moms, so I always love reading what is on people's bookstacks. :)

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  7. Thanks for sharing what you're reading! I, too, am reading Shadows on the Rock for my Well Read Mom book club, and loving it. Makes me want to plan a trip to Quebec. Just finished reading a chapter from Swallows and Amazons to my daughter for bedtime. Did not think we would love that book as much as we do! It's a child's dream adventure!

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    1. My kids *love* adventure stories, so I am itching to dive in to S+A. And yet another glowing endorsement for Shadows on the Rock! As soon as I finish Jayber Crow, I think I need to pick that one up next. :)

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  8. Lots of good stuff here, as always. Glad you're enjoying the Roxaboxen. :-) Twenty and Ten is a favorite here, so satisfying. I smiled at some of your 'explanations' because I certainly can never pass up a nicely-illustrated poetry anthology or a vintage song book. I had never heard of the Fireside books and have now snagged a couple for gifts. I think they'll be great for singing around the piano. Thanks!

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    1. Ever since my kids starting playing piano, I haven't been able to pass by a vintage music book without snatching it right up! I imagine many years of my children playing and singing from those books. :)

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  9. You can buy books on Instagram? How did I not know this!? Please do tell how I might be able to find some of those wonderful sellers!

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    1. Hi there! My two favorite sellers on Instagram are dibbleanddash and lamplighterlanebooks -- check them out and tell them I sent you! ;)

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