A pretty good month, bookwise, here. I definitely started more than I finished, though. I think I need to make a shelf on Goodreads for all my "did not finishes". Usually, I try to forget them as quickly as possible.
But, for those that I did finish this month....
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 4 - J.K. Rowling - read aloud with my older boys. At the rate we are going, my oldest anticipates we will get to watch the 8th movie sometime around NEXT Christmas. We read the books, then watch the movie. Since we read at bedtime, we only do about twenty minutes a night. The boys are thoroughly enjoying them. I read them all when they first came out, and am enjoying a "ten years later" read again/
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection (#1 Ladies Detective Agency) - 4 - Alexander McCall Smith - much, much better than the last few installations. They are light, pleasant reading.
The Mouse and The Motorcycle - 3 - Beverly Cleary - I had never read this book, but my oldest son did years ago, so I recommended it for a bedtime read aloud for my younger boys. It was okay. They enjoyed it, but no where near as much as Stuart Little, or even the Winnie the Pooh classics.
Hard Times In Paradise - 5 - David and Micki Colfax - I heard about them as soon as we started homeschooling. In the 70s they ditched "civilization" and carved out a homestead in the California Redwoods, with their three (later four) young sons. No election, no hot water, no phone...three of their sons attended Harvard, and later Harvard Medical and Harvard Law and Yale Law. Makes me wonder what I spend all this money on curriculum for! I started it before, and didn't want to read it because they are very liberal - but the more I read of them, the more I began to see the things we had in common (besides homeschooling four boys) than those we differed on. I found it to be a great encouragement.
Homeschooling for Excellence - 4- David and Micki Colfax - when their first son got into Harvard they suddenly became "experts" on home education, so they wrote this book in response to all the questions they were getting. It is very dated in some aspects (written in late 80s I think, maybe early 90s) but their basic philosophy shines through. I recommend it as a companion to Hard Times, though I would read Hard Times first.
Six Horse Hitch - 1 - Janice Holt Giles - I can't believe I am giving Janice a 1. I love most of the other books, but this one.....you have to really, really, really care about the operations of the Great Overland Stagecoach Line in the early 1860s to enjoy this book. I completely skimmed the last 1/4, just to see how it ended, even though I already KNEW all the plot twists. It borrowed VERY heavily from Land Beyond the Mountains for the romance portion. Actually, the situations were almost identical. It was also cruder than the other books. I noticed than some of the later books lean a little more in the direction of a Western/historical fiction/romance, where the earlier books reminded me more of pioneer stories. Anyway, a disappointing read, on several levels.
And that is it for this month! Check the Goodreads gadget on the right there, to see what I currently have a bookmark moving through!
Interesting commentary on Janice Holt Giles. I wonder the publishing dates on the pioneer type stories and then the western type stories. It smells of the 1960s/1970s - the change to the cheesey western. Just a guess though. I must get up my courage to read Harry Potter. We have them all sitting here but we just haven't. I read those Colfax books when I was still homeschooling. I was always very impressed by them despite our political differences. I read about 4 of the #1 Ladies books and now I don't know where to pick up. I wish I would have stuck with that series. Anyway, thanks for sharing! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteIt was written later, your instincts are true. I love Harry Potter, but beware, you will get sucked in and have to read all of them.
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