seriously. If you've come within shouting distance of me {or my internet self - wait, that sounds really creepy and schizophrenic} you know that I love books. LOVE them. a lot.
My sidebar lists what I've read in the past few years {although it's far from comprehensive because we all know I do a lackluster job of updating things around here}. And I really should start a list of our favorite children's books. I've done a review or two here before, and on more than one occasion expressed my love for
Caldecott books.
Books reveal a lot about a person, don't you think? What interests them. What fascinates them. What inspires them. What they want to know more about. What phase of life they are in {i.e. mother to preschoolers}. Or what simply entertains them.
My magic bedside table is host to an astounding amount of books. Books on loan from the library, on loan from friends, on loan from my mother, or from our own collection. Some I've already read {and haven't put away}. Some I'm reading. Some I've yet to read. But they are all teetering next to me.
So because I haven't started my own Goodreads account, I'll list them here. Mainly for posterity. But perhaps this may pique your interest and put something else on your to-read list. Or perhaps this is simply fodder for book-hoarding mockery...
* The Pastures of Heaven - John Steinbeck
* The Farm - Wendell Berry
* Lord of the Flies - William Golding
* The Age of Miracles - Ellen Gilchrist
* Ahab's Wife - Sena Jeter Naslund
* Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence - Sarah Young
* Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir - Cornel West
* Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids- Kim John Payne
* Books Children Love: A Guide to the Best Children's Literature - Elizabeth Wilson
* The Educated Child: A Parents Guide From Preschool Through Eighth Grade - William J. Bennett
* The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading - Jessie Wise
* Honey For a Child's Heart - Gladys Hunt
* Your Three-Year-Old: Friend or Enemy - Louise Bates Ames
* A Child's Garden of Verses: A Classic Illustrated Edition - Robert Louis Stevenson
What's on your nightstand? Anything I should add to mine?
11 comments:
what a great list!
i'm going to check out Your 3 Year Old and Simplicity Parenting. I certainly NEED them both!
i'm in the midst of The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise, Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris, and Grace Based Parenting by Dr. TIm Kimmel.
Sunday i read Why i Stayed by Gayle Haggard on a whim.
i'm looking forward to the kids getting a little bit older so i can read a bit more... gone are the days of reading all night! (for the most part)
thanks for sharing your list:O)
you've got a big nightstand!!! hey, jerram barrs teaches a class on childrens literature. do you want me to get you his recommended reading?
will you do a review of simplicity parenting? sounds intriguing!!!!
I agree on Simplicity Parenting - that's on my list too! Love the Sarah Young book. Please join GoodReads so you can be my friend! :) It's so much easier to keep track of things on there...
thanks, Elise! And I'm impressed by the amount you are reading - I was not reading NEAR as much when my kids were yours' ages!
Sharon - YES!!! I WANT THE LIST!!! and I'm excited to read Simplicity Parenting. I will totally do a review. Yay! A little assignment (which means I need to actually finish it before it's due back at the library).
Christine - I actually saw S.P. on YOUR GoodReads link! I love what an intentional mother you are - and the babe is still inside you! You'll be one of my first friends on GoodReads :)
Hannah Coulter and Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry, though you've probably already read them. Oh, and Lit by Mary Karr.
P.S. -- Please ask your kind husband to reply to my book e-mail. I know he's super busy, but we talked books when he was in Houston ... :)
The Book of God and Physics, Godric by F. Buechner, The Monster and the Critics by Tolkien, Mansfield Park, The Allure of Hope by Meyers, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, A Jane Austen Biography, the Chronological Study Bible, The Book of Lost Tales vol 1 by Tolkien, and 2 more that I cannot remember right now. I wish these were on my bedstand, I wind up sleeping with them because my bedstands are full of already read books.
I have heard about Ellen Gilchrist, how is her book?
Jenni - I LOVE Hannah Coulter and Jayber Crow, and it made me so very happy to see you were reading them (I followed your progress on Twitter)
And here's my crazy confession - I cannot remember if I read Lit or not. Isn't that nutso? I remember seeing the buzz about her (didn't you hear her speak?) and thinking I either checked it out or requested it. Or maybe I read something else of hers because I wanted to go in chronological order. Either way, it's silly that I can't remember. It's my biggest sadness as a book-lover. I don't retain well at all :(
First question--how big is your bedside table? Seriously! :)
Do you like the parenting book on your sidebar here? Looks interesting...
I do have a Goodreads account but I'm bad at keeping up with it, since I always read at least 4 books at once. You have some GREAT ones on your table. I need to get the 3 yr old one (loved 1 and 2 but always read them too late. Now we're 2 months into threeness and I need some help.) SP sounds good.
My bedside table now extends along the back of our bed since we got my uncle's old queen. Too many to list here, but the ones on top are:
Last Child in the Woods
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Surprised by Hope by NT Wright
Little Lamb, Who Made Thee? by Walter Wangerin
Sidetracked Home Executives
Paul for Everyone -- The Prison Letters
Emily of New Moon by LM Montgomery
"Pemberly" - oooo, I love your list! Are you devouring "Peace Like a River" ??? Also, I wanted to tell you I read "The Children's Book" and really liked it!
The Ellen Gilchrist book is of short stories - I'm not in love with it. Don't know if I'd recommend it.
Kate - I've only read the first couple of chapters of Simplicity Parenting, but I'm really liking it. Shows the absolute need for slowing down and not inundating our kids' lives with stressors.
Allison - I had to return "Last Child in the Woods" before finishing it. I loved what I read, though. Seems in the same vein of "Simplicity Parenting"
Also, seeing "Emily of New Moon" on your list makes me want to pull my copy out and read it again! And welcome to the THREE (mine is 3 & 6 mo)
you need to join goodreads, and i need to actually *use* my account...LOL. fun to see how many of my friends are picking up "simplicity parenting" (kim john payne is a waldorf educator/advocate)! i read it awhile back, and have been leading a study/discussion group around it at B&N for several weeks, for my job at ella's school. so thought-provoking and practical, no? i've highlighted half the book!! and the next discussion group i'm leading? "last child in the woods!" LOL. right now on my nightstand sit: "little bee" by chris cleave, "sin boldly" by cathleen falsani, "women who run with the wolves" by clarissa pinkola estes and "devotion" by dani shapiro. thanks for starting this conversation, alison. now, um....GET THEE TO GOODREADS!!
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