Sunday, January 6, 2013


Borrowed this from Staci at Writing and Living
Status Report for January, 2013
Sitting… at the kitchen table.
Drinking…nothing.  Should probably have a glass of water.  Will most likely have milk before I go to bed.
Waiting…for the kitchen timer to go off, so I know to go check my blood glucose.
Recovering…from way too many holiday treats, late mornings, and lack of exercise.
Slowly…getting everyone moving off to bed.
Thankful…that I got most of the school stuff ready for next week, and all my science lab reports and tests graded.
Chagrined…I have fallen back into check FB way too often.
Reading…a Molly Murphy mystery by Rhys Bowen.  Not the most intellectual of pursuits, but I enjoy a good clean mystery.
Also reading…The Silver Chair by CS Lewis to the littles and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to the bigs.
Hearing…too much chatter, not enough getting ready for bed.  I guess I'd better get off the computer and go supervise!

Friday, January 4, 2013

December 2012 Book Log, and 2012 Superlatives


With Christmas break, I ended up getting a few mysteries under my belt, and finished up with 65 books read this year.

December:
Death in the Floating City - Tasha Alexander - 4 - next in the Lady Emily mystery series.  Much better than the last few.  Not my favorite series, but I enjoy them.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - JK Rowling - 4 - finished on New Years' Eve, so we could watch the movie New Years' Day.
An Impartial Witness: A Bess Crawford Mystery - Charles Todd - 4 - I really like this series.  Bess is a normal person, and I noticed it never mentions anything about her appearance.  I like that!  I have never read much about WWI, so I am enjoying this.
A Beautiful Blue Death - 4 - Charles Finch - a new series, with gentleman Charles Lennox solving mysteries in Victorian London.
The Mayflower Adventure - Colleen L. Reece - 3 - Christian American historical fiction, written for kids.  Covers the Mayflower to the end of WWII.  Read this aloud with the younger boys.
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness - Susannah Cahalan - 4 - excellent book, reconstruction of events by a young woman whose body began attacking her brain, and the month she lost.

And now, for the year-end wrap up....a few years back I started doing a Superlatives list on a homeschooling forum.  You remember superlatives, right?  Best Smile, Most Gullible, Super Senior, etc.  Well, these are for the yearbook of the past years' reading.  So, without further ado....

2012 Year in Reading Superlatives


What was the best new (to you) author you discovered this year?
A tough decision, as I found so many new authors this year! I am going to go with Janice Holt Giles

What was your favorite new (to you) series?
Bess Crawford Mysteries, by Charles Todd

Best parenting book?
Only read one, an Ebook "True Christian Motherhood" by June Fuentes. It was ok.  Mainly just a series of blog posts, at least that is how it read.

Book that made you cry?
None of them did

Book that made you laugh out loud?
I am sure something must have, but I can't recall it now. Must not have been all that funny.

Book that totally changed your perspective on something?
Maybe Hard Times in Paradise, by David and Micki Colfax.  They were VERY politically liberal, and I am.....not.  Reminded me that we don't have to agree on everything to agree on some very important things.

Best homeschool(ing) book?
Hard Times In Paradise, by David and Micki Colfax.  By the way, one of the best homeschooling books EVER.  Back to the basics, before homeschooling was such a trendy thing to do.

Worst book that you managed to finish?
I had two with only 1 star - Fairy Tail Interrupted: What JFK Jr. Taught Me About Life, Love and Loss by RoseMarie Terenzio (just never liked the author at all), and Six Horse Hitch by Janice Holt Giles. Loved most of her books, but this one was just too melodramatic.

Book with the best surprise plot twist?
The Hidden Flower, by Pearl S. Buck. I always think I know how her stories are going to go, and they never go that way.

Best book-that-was-better-than-the-movie?
The Hunger Games

Most over-hyped book of the year?
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. Very disappointed. Lame, lame, lame.

Best online-reader recommendation of the year?
I don't think I got any I really enjoyed from individuals this year, most of them came from goodreads, or even better, www.fantasticfiction.com

Book you have recommended to the most people this year?
The American Diabetes Association Complete Guide to Diabetes

Best feel-good book of the year?
Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen by Joe Draper

Best childrens/young adult book of the year?
A tie:  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A re-read, read aloud with my younger boys; and Hittite Warrior, by Joanne Williamson.  I read it with the older boys for school.

Book you’ve been meaning to read for years and finally got to?
Evidence Not Seen: A Woman's Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of WWII by Darlene Deibler Rose

Read aloud that the family enjoyed the most?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Best cookbook/knitting/gardening/or other household how-to?
Complete Guide to Carb Counting by Hope S. Warshaw

Best non-fiction?
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susanah Cahalan, or Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen by Joe Draper

Best religion/theology/doctrine/philosophy?
Practical Theology for Women by Wendy Horger Alsup.  Her blog is in my blogroll, over to the right.


Best political book?
Didn't read one.  Sick of it.

All-around best story of the year?
The Believers by Janice Holt Giles

Book that you feel is SO INTEGRAL to your library……you’d even pay full price for it?
I paid full price for a couple - most notably, Practical Theology for Women

And the Award for Best All-Around Book of the Year is Presented To……………
Hannah Fowler, by Janice Holt Giles

5 Star Books 
I rate my books 1-5, and so does Goodreads.  I had a whole bunch of 4 Stars, but only a handful are worthy of that 5th star.  These were the books this year that earned my coveted 5 Star rating:
Hannah Fowler, by Janice Holt Giles
The Believers, by Janice Holt Giles
Hard Times in Paradise, by David and Mickey Colfax
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson
The American Diabetes Association Complete Guide to Diabetes


__________________

Fiov