Books Read in 2010 (and Some Book Memories That Just Came Spilling Out)

I have always loved to read. My mom always said I learned to read when I was 2 years old, but I think I more likely memorized the words to books and would re-tell them. I remember reading Dick and Jane readers in school and not really liking them. (Although, I have the new released versions now, and the illustrations are so sweet.) I had a large, deep, bottom drawer in the hallway when I was a little girl-it must have been like a built in towel cupboard- that was filled with my picture books. Some of my favorites were The Monster at the End of This Book Starring Me, Grover!, The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats and Amelia Bedilla by Peggy Parish. I also had a collection of Collier's Junior Classics from our set of encyclopedias that had excepts of classic books and stories that I would read over and over. That was the first time I met Laura Ingalls Wilder and read about the Indian with the skunk skin around his waist. I also re-read the Greek Myths over and over. Several years ago I bought the same edition of that set on e-bay, since they were lost to moving around a lot after high school.

My favorite kind of day when I was young was a reading day. I would like nothing better than to read in bed all day. I also liked to eat and read at the same time and often had peanut butter and crackers on a plate on the bed beside me. I guess the crumbs didn't bother me!

I remember when I was in 4th grade I spent a lot of time at my Aunt Margie's house in Ohio. She had built in book shelves in her living room and they were filled with Dr. Seuss books and other kid books. (She is also the aunt that started me on a Dr. Seuss book of the month club.) One night I decided that I wanted to read every book on the shelves. I stayed up until 4:00am reading Dr. Seuss, all alone.

I went through a horrid period of time in high school where all I would read was Sweet Valley High and Wildfire romances, but I redeemed myself the summer before my senior year by checking out every Edgar Allen Poe short story, George Orwell book and every Chaim Potok book available. I also borrowed many, many lds fiction and non-fiction youth books from my friend Kristen.

I remember when I was a young adult I wanted to read more classics and bought an unabridged paperback copy of Les Miserable. I still haven't finished it, but I think this might be the year!
As a mom with young kids it was very hard for me to read books for myself. Its hard for me to read in short spurts and I really lose myself in books for hours, or stay up all night reading. Not possible with toddlers around!

The last couple of years I have really been trying to read more for myself. I read to the kids all the time, but I wanted my own reading time, too. I found that I would hardly ever finish a book and I would have a whole pile of books that I had "started" but didn't finish. I decided to keep a tote bag with books that I was reading and bring it everywhere. I wait in the car often when I pick kids up from music lessons, so that became my reading time. Last year when L-15 started early morning seminary, that also became my reading time. I started to get too many books in my book bag and it was taking me months to finish one book because I kept rotating my reading, so I think this year I will keep it down to three books at a time.

In the year 2010 I read 42 books. A few of those were to the kids (only chapter books, I'm not counting picture books or other school books like poetry, art or history.) I hope to read 52 books in 2011. I am working on note taking and "capturing" and have now started to underline things I like or things that make me think in my books. I *never* used to do that.

The books I read in 2010 were an interesting mix:
Popular Junior/Young Adult Fiction
*I started with the Harry Potter series. Loved it. Love Harry. Love Snape.
*P-11 begged me to read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I really liked it a lot.
*The Hunger Games Trilogy~ Liked the first, thought the second was o.k. really disappointed in the third.
YA Fiction (Not in a series)
Mockingbird~ by Kathryn Erskine I really liked a lot. It's told through the eyes of a young girl with Asperger's Syndrome that is going through the death of her big brother. A really good read.
Schooled~ by Gordon Korman was *not* a good read for me at all. I really didn't like the writing. It sounded interesting because the main character is a boy that has grown up homeschooled by his grandmother on a commune but needs to attend school while his grandma recovers from a fall. Full of trendy and trite words and phrases. Drove me crazy.
Classic Books I Read with the Kids
Anne of Green Gables~ Loved, of course.
The Phantom Tollbooth~ Loved, of course.
The Trumpet of the Swan~ Love the beginning, like the end. I hear the audio book read by E.B. White with trumpet music is fantastic.
The Princess and the Goblin~ Loved. Our most recent Mother and Daughter Book Club selection and had a wonderful discussion on it.
Education Books
Teach With Your Heart~
and
The Freedom Writer's Diary~ both by Erin Gruwell are so inspiring and good reads. Some language, especially with The Freedom Writer's Diary. I started with the movie, bought all her books and gave a talk on writing based on what I learned. Really good.
Montessori in the Classroom- A Teachers Account of How Children Really Learn~ I enjoyed it and it made me start looking for things I don't need to buy from online Montessori resources.
How Children Fail by John Holt was a bit hard to read. He jumps back and forth from a journal to reflecting on his journal. After reading a page and a half about how great one method was for math and then jumping right in to why he thought that method was wrong was very confusing. He is a classic in the homeschooling world though, and I am now reading How Children Learn. I'm already mad at him, though, because of his "dislike" for right brain, left brain dominance. Oh well. A funny side note- When P-11 saw I was reading How Children Fail, he asked with a look of concern, "Is that book about us??)
Awakening the Child Within by Carla Hannaford~ I took a Brain Gym class with Carla a couple of years ago and I still say she is my new best friend. I love her. A kinder and more gentle human is hard to find. The book is good. Lots of New Age stuff that I'm not in to, but that's o.k.
The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison is a memoir of the author of one of my favorite books, Mitten Strings For God. Here is a great video of her reading a excerpt with her son's piano music in the background. I really connect with her feelings about family and home.
Wild Days by Karen Rackliffe~ Great for nature study and nature notebooking. It inspires me and is a quick read with practical ideas.
Dystopian Kick with a little Sci Fi and Horror
Animal Farm and 1984 By George Orwell~ Found them more disturbing than I did when I was 16 years old. A little too close to home, I guess.
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (Mel's son) was for my husband.
Fahrenheit 451 was so good but also so disturbing as it predicted the future I live in! Yikes!
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly~ For some reason I always wanted to read this! I remember seeing the old movie with Boris Karloff when I was a little girl and I felt so sorry for the monster! The book kind of bugged me! Dr. Frankenstein was a big whiney flake and the monster at first had my sympathy, but then he went ballistic. If he had sense enough to teach himself to read classic books, he should have known not to go around killing people, in my opinion.
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells~ This was one of the books that took me forever to read and would have been better if I just sat down and read it in a couple of hours. It was interesting and I saw some themes I wanted to think about some more, but the truth is, I am on the last chapter.
The "Making Me Smarter" Genre
Deconstructing Penguins~ Great book on how to lead a child's book club. Since I do that, I thought it would be good to read. It was. Some interesting suggestions on books I haven't heard of before.
How To Read Literature Like a Professor is such an informative book! It is really making me think about what I am reading.
The Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer isn't quite what I thought it was going to be, but I do like it. It has lists of classics and basically how to read them, what questions to ask yourself, how to take notes and write summaries on what you read, etc. It's a book that makes you work hard. More of a How To book than an inspiring book.
Other Books
The Swiss Family Robinson~ I must have a really bad translation because this book's language style drove me nuts. Too flowery. I know it was written in the 1600's but this was way too much. L-15 on the other hand loved it and didn't understand why I didn't.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok~ One of my all time favorites. Makes me go on all sorts of learning rabbit trails on Judaism and Hassidic Jews.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks~ This book really captivated me and I don't really know why. It wasn't particularly well written, but the subject was so interesting. It was one of those books you keep thinking about, even though it doesn't necessarily inspire you in any way. I find it hard to explain. It was sad and not very uplifting....I guess I need to have a friend read it so we can talk about it and I can sort through my feeling on this one. Any takers? (all 5 of my friends and family that read my blog! Haha)
Three Cups of Tea~ I think this might be the most inspiring book I have ever read. Loved it. Loved it.
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis~ How could anyone not love Clive. What a dear, dear man.
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I guess that's it! What were some of your favorite books of the year? Happy Reading 2011!