TEN BOOKS OF SUMMER

 

via Anna Book Bel & Words and Peace

Summer is "right around the corner," but where I live, summer has arrived. 

Technically, summer begins when we take a break from school and all activities have halted. I only have one homeschooler left, and she is doing school at her own pace. (This fall she will be a senior.) Her year-end dance recital is this weekend, with a summer break to follow. Yay! And my son completed his final karate tournament a few weekends ago. Therefore, no more traveling until next year; then, summer officially begins next week for me. 

However, I am so behind!! I have seven unreviewed books sitting on my nightstand, which will be my homework for the summer. Then, I saw this on Fanda's blog -- Twenty Books of Summer, which will help me focus to knock out more reading and to add more books to my unreviewed pile. For me, I am going to aim for ten. Annabel is hosting on her blog Anna Book Bel. You can sign up there, if you haven't already. 

These are the books on my summer TBR list:

1. Muir: My First Summer in the Sierra 

2. Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451

3. Bainton: The Reformation of the 16th Century

4. - 6. Shakespeare: Richard III / A Midsummer Night's Dream / Hamlet 

7. Stewart: Letters of a Woman Homesteader

8. Barakat: Balcony on the Moon

9. Lewis: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

10. Kovaciny: My Rock and My Refuge

There are only two summer-related titles in my group, but I am already committed to three reading challenges this year, and many of these titles are also my unreads, which I need to get them read or else.

Enjoy your summer reading!!

 

WHAT I WANT TO READ IN 2025

GOAL: 50 books

Here are some of the books I intend to read in 2025 : 

key: (UR) = unread / (RR) = reread / (CR) = currently reading

The Gentle Challenge hosted by Silvia Cachia & You Might as Well Read

1. Smith: A Land Remembered (my new home: Florida)

2. Virgil: The Aeneid (difficult) (UR)

3. Lewis: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (youth) (RR)

4. McCullough: John Adams (recommended) (UR)

5. Kirk: Roots of the American Order (monster unread of 25 years!) (UR)

6. McCullough: The Pioneers (judge by cover) (UR)

7. Barakat: Balcony on the Moon (different "nationality": Palestinian Folktale)

8. Stewart: Letters of a Woman Homesteader (reread) (RR)

9. Eliot: Middlemarch (classic) (UR)

10. (new by 3 years...will find new bk from the  library)

11. (borrowed...from the library)

12. Sinclair: The Jungle (blue topic) (UR)

The Classics Challenge hosted by Tea & Ink Society

1. January: Clark: The Ox-Bow Incident (used bookstore find)

2. February: Pasternak: Doctor Zhivago (Russian) (RR)

3. March: Parkman: The Oregon Trail (pioneer) (UR)

4. April: Selden: Cricket in Time Square (turf: NYC) (RR)

5. May: Emerson: Emerson Collection (supposed to read in school) (UR/RR some)

6. June: Muir: My First Summer in the Sierra (nature) (UR)

7. July: Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (sci fi) (RR)

8. August: Bainton: The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century (read author once) (UR)

9. September: Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front (WWI or WWII) (RR)

10. October: Austen: Sense and Sensibility (Austen) (RR)

11. November: Wordsworth (Romantic poetry collection) 

12. December: Bulfinch: Bulfinch's Mythology (Medieval) (UR)

WEM Plays from The Well-Educated Mind Reading Challenge 

1. Aeschylus: Agamemnon (UR)

2. Sophocles: Oedipus the King (UR)

3. Euripides: Medea (UR)

4. Aristophanes: The Birds (UR)

5. Aristotle: Poetics

6. Everyman

7. Marlowe: Doctor Faustus (UR)

8. - 10.  Shakespeare: Richard III (UR) / A Midsummer Night's Dream (RR)  / Hamlet (RR)

Miscellaneous Must Reads

1. Kovaciny: My Rock and My Refuge

2. - 3. Morris: Theodore Rex (UR)(CR) / Colonel Roosevelt (UR)

Faith-based/Devotionals

1. Vincent: A Gospel Primer for Christians (UR)

2. Cleator: Always and in Everything (UR)

3. MacArthur: Truth Triumphs (UR)

4. McGee: Thru the Bible with Vernon McGee (UR)(CR)

5: Spurgeon: Morning and Evening (UR)

Christmas Reads

1. 

2.

* * * 

I'm am excited to start a new year of possibilities. Have you read any of these? Any favorites?

2024 Year-end Recap. I fell short.

Falling double-digits short of my goal is disappointing. Yikes! I have no excuse. I could have finished a good book instead of doing some of the other lazy activities I chose. I also had very little enthusiasm to write about my reading experiences. Overall, I was uninspired, unmotivated, and distracted. 

the 2024 Totals:

read (incl bails): 34/50

reread: 6

bailed: 2 

TWEM poetry: 8

books donated: -4

new books added: +8

unread books finished: -13

unread books remaining: 54 

the 2024 Winners:

intriguing new-to-me fiction: 

Anthem

agreeable reread/fiction: (tie) 

The Great Gatsby

Nineteen Eighty-Four

agreeable reread/non-fiction: 

In Order to Live

amazing new biography/memoir:

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt 

excellent biblical non-fiction:

Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee

endearing children's historical fiction: 

The Endless Steppe

disappointing tome:

Les Misérables

most gratifying poetry:

Paul Laurence Dunbar

insightful children's/YA non-fiction: 

Red Scarf Girl

enjoyable honorable mention:

One Bad Apple

THE BREAKDOWN:

(KEY: CR = currently reading / UR = unread / RR = reread / 💣 = did not finish)

FICTION:

Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (RR)

Orwell: 1984 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (RR)

Wharton: House of Mirth ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (RR)

Hugo: Les Misérables : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Rand: Anthem ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Kovaciny: One Bad Apple ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Buck: Sons ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR) / A House Divided 💣

Van Dyke: The Other Wise Man ⭐⭐⭐⭐

NONFICTION:

McCullough: 1776 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Morris: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR) / Theodore Rex (CR) 

Park: In Order to Live  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (RR)

McGee: Through the Bible, Vol. I - V ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (CR)

Hughes: Unmet Expectations ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Popov: Tortured for His Faith ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (RR)

Lewis: The Four Loves ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Gladstar: Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Van Fleet: Mao's America: A Survivor's Warning ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Marshall / Manuel: The Light and the Glory ⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Chambers: My Utmost for His Highest ⭐⭐⭐ 

Oursler / Armstrong: The Greatest Faith Ever Known 💣

CHILDRENS/YA:

Fraser (editor): The Little House Books, Vol. I & II ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR / RR)

Ji-li Jang: Red Scarf Girl ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (UR)

Hautzig: Endless Steppe ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tolkien: Letters From Father Christmas ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Laurent: Watchman Nee ⭐⭐⭐ 

DeJong: House of Sixty Fathers ⭐⭐⭐ 

Wartski: Boat to Nowhere ⭐⭐⭐

WEM POETRY:

Dunbar, Paul Laurence ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Frost, Robert ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hughes, Langston ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Auden, W. H. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sandburg, Carl ⭐⭐⭐

Williams, William Carlos ⭐⭐⭐

Pound, Ezra ⭐⭐⭐

Eliot, T. S. ⭐⭐⭐

This concludes the poetry section from TWEM. There are others, listed as post-modern, but I only read up through the suggested modernists. To see the other sections, including fiction, history, and biographies, visit HERE:

What I want to read in 2024

GOAL: 50 books

Here are some of the books I want to read in 2024:

Unreads: 15 - 20 books

For several years I have been reading through my unread books. It may have been close to 175 when I began, but now I am down to 61. (Many I donated because I knew I would never read them.) My goal is to read 10 - 15 this year. I did a little poll on social media of my top unread intimidating tomes, and more voters suggested I read Les Mis, Middlemarch, and John Adams, which is what I put at the top of my TBR. (CR = currently reading)

1. Hugo: Les Misérables ✅

2. Eliot: Middlemarch

3. - 5. McCullough: 1776 ✅ / John Adams / The Pioneers 

6. Lewis: The Four Loves ✅

7. Hardy: The Woodlanders 

8. Rand: Anthem ✅

9. Smith: The Wealth of Nations, Vol. I - III

10. Oursler / Armstrong: The Greatest Faith Ever Known 💣

11. Marshall / Manuel: The Light and the Glory ✅

12. McGee: Through the Bible, Vol. I - V (CR)

13. Hughes: Unmet Expectations ✅

14. Buck: Sons ✅ 

15. Van Fleet: Mao's America: A Survivor's Warning ✅

16. Morris: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt ✅ / Theodore Rex (CR)

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Rereads: 5 - 10 books

It is a joy to revisit my favorite books, and this year I am returning to these: 

1. Wharton: House of Mirth ✅

2. Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby ✅

3. Orwell: 1984 ✅

4. Stewart: Letters of a Woman Homesteader

5. - 6. Fraser (editor): The Little House Books, Vol. I & II ✅ 

7. Park: In Order to Live  ✅

8. 

9.

10.

WEM Poetry: 8 poets ✅

If all goes as planned, I will complete the poetry section of The Well-Educated Mind Reading Challenge; however, I am not completing all suggested poets because I plan to skip the modernists, an additional list of poets. Technically, there are only eight poets left, and then, in 2025 through 2026, I can finish up the entire project (which began in 2012) with the playwrights. 

1. Dunbar, Paul Laurence ✅

2. Frost, Robert ✅

3. Sandburg, Carl ✅

4. Williams, William Carlos ✅

5. Pound, Ezra ✅

6. Eliot, T. S. ✅

7. Hughes, Langston ✅

8. Auden, W. H. ✅ 

Kindle: at least 2, but maybe more?

Often I add unplanned books to my Kindle, but this year I plan to continue through Rachel's Once Upon a Western series. And if I finish OBA, I will read My Rock and My Refuge, which I am looking forward to very much. 

1. - 2. Kovaciny: One Bad Apple ✅ / My Rock and My Refuge

School books (w/ the kids): 8 books ✅

Reading aloud to my kids for school helps me read through books that I wouldn't normally read. This school year we have been studying Asia, particularly China and Russia.

1. Laurent: Watchman Nee ✅

2. DeJong: House of Sixty Fathers ✅

3. Hautzig: Endless Steppe ✅

4. Wartski: Boat to Nowhere ✅

5. Ji-li Jang: Red Scarf Girl ✅

6. Buck: Sons ✅

7. Buck: A House Divided 💣

8. Park: In Order to Live ✅

Christmas Reads: at least 2 books

Every year I like to read my favorite Christmas reads, like A Christmas Carol and Holly & Ivy, but I need new reading habits; therefore, I may try one or two of these: 

1. Tolkien: Letters from Father Christmas ✅

2. Beck: Immortal Nicholas (finish reading)

3. Van Dyke: The Other Wise Man ✅

I'm so excited to read so many of these. Which books are you excited about reading in 2024??

Reading Goals 2023

This is the time when I make my long list of books I intend to read all year, and then never touch half of them. 

Well, that's an exaggeration. I read over 2/3 of my 2022 reading goals list. It was a challenging year for reading because most of my books were tucked away in boxes, and I instead utilized the library, reading  books that were not part of my initial reading goal. 

Now that we are in our own house, and my books are finally on shelves, I do not know if it will make a difference -- if I will do a better job reading through my unread books on the shelves, or if it has more to do with personal focus. No one can predict a whole year, and I do not know how life will affect what I am reading or if I will read at all. 

Here is the problem I have currently: when I look at the unread books on my shelves, I do not feel like reading them. I want to reread books that I know I already love. However, Whitney at The Unread Shelf suggests reading an unread book each month. If by the end of the month you have not finished it (because you are dragging yourself through it), then get rid of it. (Or if after 100 pages you still have not connected with it, drop it. Or if after 25%, it is taking all your strength to read it, let it go. You get the idea.) 

So, I've got 79 unreads to start with, and I chose more than ten I may read this year. I also have a list of rereads, my book club list, and at least six titles for TWEM poetry. I may add more to that later depending on how I do. And there are always miscellaneous books that I will add as the year progresses. 

Unreads:

Dodds: Marriage to a Difficult Man

Stockett: The Help

Rand: Anthem; The Virtue of Selfishness; The Romantic Manifesto; 

          Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal; Atlas Shrugged

Lewis: The Four Loves; The Great Divorce

Zusak: The Book Thief

West: Adam Smith: The Man and His Works

Buck: The Good Earth

Morgenstern: The Princess Bride

Achebe: Things Fall Apart

McCullough: 1776; John Adams; The Pioneers

Rereads: 

Flaubert: Madame Bovary

Hardy: The Return of the Native

James: The Portrait of a Lady

Wharton: The House of Mirth

Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

Orwell: 1984

Book Club:

Tolstoy: Anna Karenina (reread)

Hanff: 84 Charing Cross Road

Applebaum: The Red Famine

Orszy: Scarlet Pimpernel (reread)

Oke: Love Comes Softly

Lewis: The Great Divorce (unread)

Rand: Atlas Shrugged (unread)

L'Amour: Walking Drum

Hugo: The Man Who Laughs

Zusak: The Book Thief (unread)

Rowlings: The Christmas Pig

Well-Educated Mind [poetry]:

Coleridge: Selected Poems

Keats: Complete Poems

Longfellow: Selected Poems

Tennyson: Tennyson's Poetry

Whitman: Leaves of Grass

Dickinson: Dickinson's Poems

Miscellaneous:

Begg: Truth for Life #2

Hardy: The Woodlanders

Have you read any of these? Any favorites? Any you want to send encouragement?

 

2022 Reading Goals

Happy New Year!

Dare I set reading goals?

I cannot commit to outside reading challenges - not this year - because I know I will not keep them. I have yet to follow all of my own reading expectations, but I have to start somewhere. So here goes nothing...

My reading objectives this year: 

1. read the next eight books off The Well-Educated Mind (TWEM) Poetry list; 

• Greek Lyricists 
• Odes (read selections)
• Beowulf
• Sir Gawain & the Green Knight
• The Canterbury Tales (bailed after several chapters)
• John Donne (read selected)
• Paradise Lost
• Songs of Innocence & of Experience
• William Wordsworth

2. re-read the first eight books of The Little House series (completed);

3. re-read eight books from TWEM novel list; 

• Don Quixote (read 254/518 of Book One)
• Pilgrim's Progress
• Gulliver's Travels (decided against)
• Pride & Prejudice
• Oliver Twist (decided against)
• The Scarlet Letter (done)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Madame Bovary

4. read eleven books from my unread shelf (in addition to unread titles from TWEM poetry list);

• The Road
• To the Edge of the World
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (read 15%)
• A Moveable Feast
• Tortured for His Faith
• These are the Generations
• Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (read 16% and quit)
• John Adams

5. and read five books (mostly re-reads for me) with my kids, as we finish our homeschool year.

• Animal Farm
• The Pearl
• Travels With Charley
• A Place Called Heartbreak (done)
• Let's Roll

On average, I read 50 books a year, give or take, but this year I am hoping for 40; and, yet, I wonder if that may be too ambitious since we are looking to relocate by March. 😬 We shall see.

Here's to a new year! 

**UPDATE (1/5/22)

I'm adding more books to this list because I am part of an awesome book club here in Cali. And yesterday we spent 1 1/2 hours choosing our books for 2022. I'm not saying every book will happen, but it's worth a try. Some of these titles are already on my list (AOL) and some are re-reads for me. 

• The Virginian (read 12% during relocation/had to return to library)
• Animal Farm (AOL)
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
• Beowulf (AOL)
• These Happy Golden Years (AOL) (We read something else in its place)
• Bleak House (read 16% and quit)
• The Hiding Place
• The Invisible Man (done)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (AOL) (read 15% and quit)
• The Immortal Nicholas (read 52% and could no longer renew from library)