Semicolon is hosting her usual Saturday Review of Books, only this week she gives special instructions to link a book list which details the books you read in 2007, your favorites from 2007, books you want to read in 2008, or some combination thereof. I had already planned to do this, but this challenge gave me the motivation I needed to get it done today! Here is my TBR list for 2008:
Classics
The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Catcher in the Rye
Cry, the Beloved Country
Les Miserables
A Tale of Two Cities
Newbery Award Winners and Honor Books
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson(finished January 2008)
Rules by Cynthia Lord(finished February 2008)Criss Cross by Lynne Ray Perkins
Whittington by Alan Armstrong
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Nonfiction
The Birth Order Book by Kevin Leman(finished 1/3/08)A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
The Right Choice–Homeschooling by Chris Klicka
Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp
The Well Adjusted Child by Rachel Gathercole
Christian Fiction
Zion Chronicles by Bodie and Brock Thonee
The Key to Zion(finished January 2008)Zion Legacy by Bodie and Brock Thoene
Jerusalem Vigil
Thunder from Jerusalem
Jerusalem’s Heart
Jerusalem Scrolls
Stones of Jerusalem
Jerusalem’s Hope
A.D. Chronicles by Bodie and Brock Thoene
First Light
Second Touch
Third Watch
Fourth Dawn
Fifth Seal
Sixth Covenant
A Garden to Keep by Jamie Langston Turner
Miscellaneous
The Kommandant’s Daughter by Pam Jenoff
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I tried to keep my list to a manageable length to allow for those extra “gotta read its” that I find at the library or read about on someone else’s blog (the Saturday Review of Books is a good place to find these). I used to read much more and much more quickly than I read now; having small children really decreases the time and energy I have for such pursuits. However, I like having a list to keep me on track and going forward.
The books I have listed under classics are books that I have never managed to read in all of my education. I am a little bit embarrased about this, but I am trying not to let myself get stuck in the embarrassment and guilt and simply rectify the situation.
The Newbery books are obviously the winners from the past few years. Because I was once an elementary schoool librarian, I kept up with children’s literature fairly well. However, once I became a stay-at-home mom, I got out of the loop. My goal is to recitfy this this year.
The nonfiction list is mainly comprised of books on parenting that I’ve wanted to read and have actually purchased but have simply not committed to reading. I enjoy reading fiction so much more than nonfiction, but I do want to glean what usefulness I can from these. I also have a few homsechooling titles thrown in because I am thinking about homeschooling. (Gasp! I can’t believe I
said that aloudwrote that on my blog!)The Christian fiction list is mostly made up of Bodie and Brock Thoene books I haven’t read. I love their books, but I often get bogged down in the historical detail. I am going to make a concerted effort to read these because I do feel that these series books are best read in quick succession.
The miscellaneous titles are books I’ve read about elsewhere I just want to read for myself.
There you have it–more books that I can probably read in a year. Now I need to finish up here and head off to the library to see what I can find. . .
Happy reading!
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Hope Is the Word 
Great list! I would like to read more classics. I generally just kind of read whatever my book club reads and a few others here and there.
The Kite Runner is an amazing, life changing book, by the way. Make sure you get to it.
Second Touch is one of my all time favorite books. It’s in my top 5. The whole time I was reading it, I kept seeing how I was a leper, outside the Israelite camp (symbolically speaking), until my “skin was washed” by the son of God…I hope you find it as thought provoking as I did.
Homeschool! You’ll love it. And the Kite Runner is a wonderful, but painful read. Brace yourself.
I’m not sure how to give you appropriate advice on TKR. I know what you mean about guarding your heart. I once read a book all my “Christian” girlfriends recommended and I swear, I’ve been traumatized for life by that book and I wish to God I had researched it better because I can never get those images out of my mind. TKR is about redemption and agape love, but has some very painful, realistic horrible scenes involving some very wicked people doing very wicked things to others. I don’t want to give it away. I can’t discourage anyone from reading it, just be mindful that it is very disturbing in places.
Hey,
I recently read The Catcher in the Rye and put some thoughts up about it here:
http://michaelkrahn.com/blog/2008/01/06/the-catcher-in-the-rye/
Take a look if you’re interested.
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