List of Books Read

I'm not finding the time for book reviews these days, but I don't want to lose the memory of those I've read, so I'm just going to make a list for now and hopefully get back to it later:

June 2012 - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (after Seth was born)
July 2012 - Little House in the Big Woods (read to kids while watching new chickens)
Oct 2012 - The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Oct 2012 - The Courage of Sarah Noble
Nov 2012 - Calico Bush
In China
Jan 2013 - A Grain of Rice
Feb 2013 - Li Lun, Lad of Courage
Mar 2013 - I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade
May 2013 - Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
Back in Virginia
Sept 2013 - Little Britches
Oct 2013 - Shades of Gray/Rifles for Watie
Nove 2013 - The Good Master
Dec 2013 - A Year Down Yonder
Jan 2013 - The Endless Steppe/The House of Sixty Fathers
Feb 2013 - The Giver/ Number the Stars/The Boy in the Striped Pajamas/I Am David
Mar 2013 - The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
Apr 2013 - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
May 2013 - The Chocolate Touch

The Burning Time

I thought this book would be about the Salem witch trials, but it was about witch burnings in England instead. Still a grim time period in history and this book really brought out the fear and the reality of what it was like for just a simple country girl. Awful, really awful, but the book was written well and kept my interest, or was it being 9 months pregnant and just wanting to lie down that kept me reading it?

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire

This is such a fun how to book for teaching children. It is a non-fiction book about a teacher in Los Angeles. I recommend it to any teacher, public school or homeschool, as long as they realize that this is one of those take from it what you can and leave the rest or you will be overwhelmed. It really seems humanly impossible to do what this man has done in one lifetime, but he has, just not while raising 5 kids, serving in young women's and running a household all at the same time.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

I started reading this book, another one on the BBC "classic" list that I got from the library. I don't remember exactly what happened but I know I stopped reading it, gave it a one star and got rid of it immediately, so I'm assuming it has some illicit content and that as soon as I came across it, I closed the book and was done.

Knife of Never Letting Go

The librarian recommended this book after I told him that I liked The City of Ember, he said it was another dystopian society book that a lot of the teens like. I started it and really liked the story, but I really didn't like the language, so I stopped reading it after a while. I actually got fairly far into the book, because I liked it, but I just didn't like bad language, so it just didn't work for me.

Sarah's Key

I thought that this book was typical of most contemporary literature. It takes a subject that should be interesting in and of itself, assumes that the reader will not be interested in the subject, and then proceeds to fill the book full of attention seeking drama to pull in the interest of the reader. A subject like the holocaust does not need the added topics of divorce, threatened miscarriage, affairs and such to make it interesting. I liked the idea that the story was told by the point of view of a journalist investigating the events of the Vel d' Hiv roundup in France. I enjoyed learning more about these events and I even enjoyed some of the characters, like the daughter of the journalist, but overall, I thought that the author could have left out all the modern drama.

The Hiding Place

I have wanted to read this book ever since college and finally got around to it. It was very good, very inspirational. I knew it was about Corrie Ten Boom surviving life in a concentration camp, but I had no idea how spiritual of a message it contained. I love to read books that I feel change my life and make me a better person and I feel like this is that kind of book. It has been helpful as I have been struggling with the uncomfortable pains of pregnancy to be reminded that no trial I ever face will compare with that of those who survived the holocaust. This reminder makes me grateful for all my comforts in life and especially for a God who loves me and watches over my family daily.