Friday, March 4, 2016

What We're Reading :: March

Me
Bronte's Jane Eyre (re-read for local book club with free Kindle edition -- just finished)
Cather's My Antonia (I've read several of Cather's books, but this is my first time through this one)
Robinson's Gilead (after being recommended in the same month by Angela and Leila, it went to the top of my TBR list!)
Karen Glass' Consider This for my local Charlotte Mason study group (re-read)

Vincent, age 9
From the Year 4 free reads list: Lassie Come Home and Gentle Ben
Nature Anatomy (of course)

Gianna, age 9
Hunt's St. Patrick's Summer (a Lenten re-read)
Garnett's Crossbows and Crucifixes (another re-read from our Year 3 history studies)
Brill's Madeline Takes Command (I didn't realize she's reading so much historical fiction right now!)

Cate, age newly-7
She has been busy with her birthday books:
a few from the Flicka, Ricka, Dicka series (great for new readers!)

To the Littles
Jim Arnosky's Wild World (5yo Xavier's favorite book he got for Christmas)
Sylvia Long's Mother Goose (4yo Bridget reads this to Clara and Andrew all day every day)
Elsa Beskow's Around the Year (3yo Clara is rarely without it!)
Aurelius Battaglia's Animal Sounds (1yo Andrew mimicking animal sounds is the sweetest)

Reading Together
Swallows and Amazons on audio (almost finished!)
Gone-Away Lake (Year 4 free read in the Morning Basket)
Forbes' Johnny Tremain and...
Garnett's The Red Bonnet (two Year 4 tie-ins that the kids and I are reading separately together ;))
Beatrix Potter stories (before bed, with Daddy on audio when there's time)

In the Mail...
I have a backlog of in-the-mail photos from the past couple months, so bear with my gazillion book photos here!


Walter Buehr's The Crusaders (haven't read it yet, but we like his Marco Polo and it looked intriguing...and that cover!)
Boggs' Three Golden Oranges (Spanish folk tales)
Our Country's Story (a fabulous vintage history find for the younger set)
A Newberry Christmas (already stowed with the other holiday books for next year!)
Robert Lawson's Watch Words of Liberty (great for copywork and I love Lawson's illustrations)
V is for Verses (a lovely poetry compilation for children)
My Shadow (Stevenson and Rand are a great combination!)


We Were There at the Battle of Gettysburg (because Molly threw it in for free ;))
Ox-Cart Man (because we needed a new hardcover version)
Church's The Odyssey of Homer
Enright's Thimble Summer (to replace our paperback -- a Year 4 free read)
Galdone's The Three Bears (because I never pass up Galdone)
Holder's The Lord's Prayer (the prayer set to beautiful illustrations)


St. Pius X Daily Missal (I have had great luck finding these at thrift stores lately!)
Mr. Gumpy's Outing
Garfield's Shakespeare Stories (we use Lamb, but you can never have too much Shakespeare!)
Birds of North America (large photos will help with identifications)
Bernadette Watts' St. Francis and the Proud Crow
Lullabies: An Illustrated Songbook (I buy any books for children that the Met puts out because they're always fantastic!)


Willa Cather's Shadows on the Rock (haven't read this Cather either, but it was scheduled for Well-Read Mom this year and I heard lots of raves from friends)
...and a few vintage readers


Augustus Caesar's World (in hardcover)
The Raphael Bible (with text by Rumer Godden -- so intriguing that I couldn't pass it up)
another version of Little Men that matches my edition of Little Women (pretty sure I now have three of each, but this is my first matched set ;))
Scott O'Dell's Streams to the River, River to the Sea
Nature Atlas of America

I didn't chat about books here in February, so it was nice to catch up!  What are you reading?

(Links above are affiliate links.  I left unlinked the books that are recommended by AmblesideOnline because I'd prefer if you bought through their affiliate links. ;)  As always, thanks for your support!)

13 comments:

  1. Wow!! Can't wait to hear more about the books you got! God bless!

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    1. Yes, I will need to come back and update once I have a chance to actually READ them! LOL

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  2. Celeste, the stacks of books you regularly post here are nothing short of dreamy...I admit I am a wee bit jealous of all the wonderful vintage books you find. Have you ever done a post talking about your book-shopping in more detail? Such as, where do you find your books, and how do you store them once they are home? I am in Canada so many of the deals available to Americans are not available to me (such as cheap shipping on Amazon for used books) but all the same I'd love to hear more about just how you are able to find so many wonderful old titles.

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    1. Hi Laura Jeanne! I have two main places I buy from: Instagram and one local thrift store. There are some booksellers on Instagram that host sales a couple times a month: they spend an hour posting book after book on their feed and first claimer gets the book. I have two sellers I buy from almost exclusively: dibbleanddash and lamplighterlane. Dibbleanddash in particular is a book collector herself, a homeschooler, and has wonderful customer service. :) Most of the thrift stores in my area have terrible book selection, but there is one at which I always find treasures. They aren't the cheapest, but they're cheaper than buying online, and they have a surprising selection of vintage titles. This thrift store is a bit farther from me, though, so I only go there a few times a year when I have to go to that city anyway to meet a friend or go to an appointment. If it was in my town, I'd be there every week! :)

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  3. SWOON! :D This makes my heart go pitter patter. :) Love your IG photos! Someday, I'm going to be on instagram and join all the cool people like you and Catie. LOL! :) I added a few to my wish list from this list. Btw, I got my 4yo the Walter Crane ABC one that you had up here once...she loves it! My next BD is April, so I have to be brain storming for a soon to be 7 yo girl. She is very imaginative, creative, and spunky! Any good ideas? Hope the adjustment with baby dear is going well for you! I know that can be a tiring time. Bless ya!

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    1. Hi Amy! I love that Walter Crane one. It has become one of my very favorite ABC books. It is so full of vintage charm and quirkiness. :)

      Your soon-to-be-7yo sounds like my new-7yo Cate. :) Is this the daughter you brought Brambly Hedge for for Christmas?

      A few suggestions off the top of my head...
      Cynthia Rylant's Thimbleberry Stories
      My Naughty Little Sister (by Dorothy Edwards, illustrated by Shirley Hughes)
      Also, if she's a strong reader - Gianna enjoyed the Schoolhouse in the Woods series at that age.

      Justin is such a sweetheart. It has been tricky fitting in school, but we're making it work. :) I will admit, though -- we have four weeks left in the school year and I'm looking forward to the slower pace of summer break. By the time we start up school again in late summer, he should be a more regular napper. ;)

      Please join IG! Your photos on your blog always have such a calming tone and I'd love to get more peeks into your school days. :)

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    2. Yes! This is the same one that I got Brambly Hedge for Christmas! :) Thank you! We have Thimbleberry Stories and really love that! I will look at the Edwards title! I appreciate it!
      Yes, one day I may emerge from the Dark Ages and get a smart phone and instagram! :D And thank you about my photos. A little bit of beauty goes a long way, doesn't it? :)

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  4. I just read Gilead in January. She has such insight into a person's mind and feelings. So I rate it high for that. The actual story was just medium for me. I've never read another book like it. She's a good writer, but at times the book was so sad to see the hurt from previous generations. At the same time there were such uplifting parts; his deep love for the Lord and his son. It was a hard one for me to say, I LOVED this or I disliked it. I went back and forth.

    I'm also rereading Consider This (just started again) because a good friend and I are going to discuss it together. Yay! And Jane Eyre is of course wonderful.

    You will have to tell us how you like Gilead.

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    1. Thank you for your thoughts on the book, Virginia Lee! I'm only a quarter of the way in, so I'll have to come back to chat once I've finished it. ;)

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  5. Mr. Gumpy's Outing (NOT Mr. Grumpy's Outing (as you have it listed) has always been one of our favorites, as has another book by the same author, Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car.

    I always get new ideas for books to add to our lending library from your posts like this! Thank you so much for continuing to offer them!

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    1. Ha -- of course you're right! That's actually a pretty funny typo. :) (I edited it above to the proper spelling. :)) We have gotten Mr. Gumpy from the library before finding this copy of our own, but I haven't seen Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car! I'll check it out. Thanks, Lisa!

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  6. Hi Celeste,
    I also enjoy your book pics - I just rediscovered your blog after a long absence! This is exactly how I built our home library; a few books here and there, and then I woke up one day and had thousands of books (with still more on my wish list). :)

    God bless you!

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    1. Welcome back, Kelly! :) Yes, that's how it has been here too: a few books here, a few books there, then it's ten years later and I'm almost out of walls for more bookshelves! LOL

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