Winter Reading

With the colder weather and ever growing baby belly my productivity is way down.  Even my Christmas "wish to make" list has been slashed down dramatically.  Instead of bustling around (like I usually do this time of year) I've simply slowed down and taken the most comfortable seat near the wood burning stove.  

This book, Little Heathens sent from some friends has been the perfect companion to my lazy holiday sitting.  It is amusing in its honest and matter of fact tone, and the chapters on laundry day and toilets left me full of gratitude. 

Flipping the pages of a real book fills me far more than any screen reading.  To be honest I've stepped away for the moment from facebook, pinterest and several blogs as I'm finding them to be more and more depleting.  Maybe because I've used them too often to "check out".  I'll be back there once I'm ready to use them to my enrichment but right now I'm simply craving stillness.

Besides the above mentioned book I've been working through two piles next to my bed, each with its own illustrated scrap paper book mark from the kids.  Most of the books fall into two categories, one to help prepare me for the labor of labor and the other to help prepare me for the labor ahead of us on this farm.  I look forward to both with a clear knowledge of both the pains and satisfaction.  In the meantime I'll enjoy this short season of rest and allow it to fill me for what lies ahead.

               

A Box of Old Books

When my sister's neighbor offered up a box of old books from his childhood, she knew just the boy who would devour them.  

These books feel old and fragile, they smell a bit dusty, but we've found their content to be fresh and exciting.  James just finished My Great-grandfather and I and I could hear him laughing out loud.  I picked up The Maplin Bird just for fun and enjoyed a little escape into Essex's mid nineteenth century seacoast.  Now we are both eyeing what to grab next.

Unfortunately, my leisure reading time is limited so James is sure to blow me away and finish all of these before I get through even a few.  And if there are a few duds in the bunch?  Look what my friend Amanda does with cool old books.  

So here's to happy reading and here's the list below, has anyone else ever read or heard of any of these?  Would love to hear your reviews. 

My Great-grandfather and I, James Kruss

Visitor from the Sea, Dorothy Simpson

The Sea Wall, Eilis Dillon

Honor Sands, Mildred Lee

The and the River, Henri Bosco

Young Man from the Piedmont, Leonard Wibberley

Herbert Again, Hazel Wilson

Cook Inlet Decision, Elsa Pedersen

The Stubborn One, Rutherford Montgomery

The Minnow Leads to Treasure, A. Philippa Pearce

Copper-Toed Boots, Marguerite de Angeli

Amos Fortune Free Man, Elizabeth Yates

The Keepers of the Trail, Joseph A. Altsheler

The Town Across the Water, Madeleine Polland

The Shining Trail, Iola Fuller

Summer's Turning, Ruth Harnden

Deception at St.-Nazaire, Michel-Aime Baudouy

Sam, Barbara Corcoran

The Eyes of the Woods, Joseph A. Altsheler

The Boundary Riders, Joan Phipson

The Defender, Nicholas Kalashnikoff

Lady of Roanoke, Jean Bothwell

The Maplin Bird, K.M. Peyton

Recent Amazon Order

At the bottom of my stocking I found a coinstar receipt that totaled $30 in Amazon credit.  I put my order in last week and here's what I've been enjoying:

A Midsummer Night's Dream was added just for fun and because my niece Natalie is playing the part of Titania in a school performance. I haven't read any Shakespeare since high school and I never enjoyed it because in the back of my mind was the dreaded essay, exam, and class lecture on the assigned reading.  Back then I had to analyze every word and metaphor but this time around I'm reading it without a care of any deeper meaning, I'm just enjoying the way the words lead me along and with it tell a great story.  This edition is from the Folger Shakespeare Library and provides extensive notes and definitions just opposite the text page and keeps me from getting entirely lost.    

The Dugar's book was added because having grown up in a family with 17 children I was curious.  It was a quick read and I was quite impressed with how they live and raise their children.  I'm still curious though, I want more stories and more details.  My mom always talks of writing her own book about our family and I hope she does.  I don't think we could paint ourselves as perfect and organized as the Duggar family but a book about our family would be full of stories of adventure, chaos and love, certainly enough to keep one laughing even after all the words have been read.  I hope I can raise my own children somewhere between the Duggar family and my own family - my mom would call that "controlled chaos".

 

This last book was just eye candy, I don't think I've even read one page.  Amazon readers gave it 4 1/2 stars but I would maybe give it 3.  I was hoping for more innovative embroidery designs - you know like doodling.  The embroidery featured on the cover is  by far the most interesting piece.  But maybe when I stop looking at and actually read it I will change my  mind.  It just may give me a few new tips that my traditional embroidery books are lacking.

Either way this box of new books really brightened my day and filled both my mind and my soul.  Now I'm thinking of going on a change hunt around the house then taking a little trip to the coinstar so I can make another order.