Fall Into Reading 2008

It's time to kick off Fall Into Reading 2008 with Katrina at Callapidder Days. I have what looks like a rather ambitious goal when you put it all down on paper, or a blog post as the case may be, but I read a lot in my spare time, and I usually have a fiction book in my hands as I'm falling asleep at night. The school books I read as I'm homeschooling my kids are not really optional and I have to whip through them pretty quickly, and I usually have the most trouble with the non-fiction. It's primarily getting started with them. When it's time to start a new book, I'll usually pick up a fiction book instead of a non-fiction book. That's where one of my biggest problems with procrastination occurs...I'll put off picking up the non-fiction thinking I'll get that one next time, and so on, and so on. But once I start a non-fiction, I will tend to get on a roll and read several back-to-back. Here are my lists for this fall:

FICTION

1. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. I saw this book recommended by multiple people on 5 Minutes for Books: What's On Your Nightstand last month. It was read by moms and kids alike, and it looked like something my 14-year-old twin girls might like. It's hard to find something "exciting" that is still modest enough for them to read. They read the book and now it's my turn.
2. The Cat Who Played Post Office by Lilian Jackson Braun. This is the next book in the series for me to read, and since I have to read them in order, obviously this is the next one I will read. I mix them up by reading other books by other authors in between.
3. Murder, She Wrote: A Palette for Murder by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain. This is also the next book in the series for me to read in order. I also alternate these and just read one every once in a while. It makes me enjoy them more.
4. The Beginning by Catherine Coulter. This includes The Cove and The Maze, the first two books in her FBI series. I found this at Sam's Club super cheap, and I'm all about cheap books. I like mysteries, and I can't tell for sure if this qualifies as mystery or just thriller from the back cover, but it sounded pretty good, especially for the price. I checked it out on Amazon when I got home, and there are now 12 books in the series, so they must be good to somebody.
5. Double Jeopardy by Catherine Coulter. This includes The Target and The Edge, the third and fourth books in the FBI series. Same reasoning as behind the last one. I figured if I liked The Beginning I'd want this, and if I didn't I was out less than ten bucks.
6. Yukon Quest by Tracie Peterson. This includes Treasures of the North, Ashes and Ice, and Rivers of Gold. It's a 3-in-1 book I got from CBD (Christian Book Distributors) over a year ago on clearance for under ten dollars. I love good bargains, and my mom recommended this particular series of Tracie Peterson's to me, as well as a few others.
7. The O'Malley Chronicles Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Dee Henderson. These two 3-in-1 books include all six of the O'Malley books written, except for the prequel, which I just finished a couple of weeks ago. They were recommended to me by my cousin, and I found them on clearance also at CBD for under ten dollars each.
8. The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright. I found this at Sam's Club when I bought the Coulter books. It looks good, and doesn't appear to be something that would make me uncomfortable to read (I don't like to read about you-know-what or a lot of bad words), plus to harp on the same thing, it was inexpensive. To top it off, it got me out of my box. I can sure get in a rut with my reading, and I can be happy there, but I'm trying to stretch my wings. This is my right wing. My left one is #9.
9. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Same basic concept as #8.

NON-FICTION

1. The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. I've had this book for a year or so. I think I started it on a trip and then didn't ever pick it up when I got home. I really want to read this book and finish it. I've only heard good things about it.
2. Five Little Questions That Reveal the Life God Designed for You by Dannah Gresh. I've enjoyed some of Dannah's other books and I'm looking forward to reading this book. It may serve double duty as an extra devotional.
3. Living Simply by Joanne Heim. I've seen this recommended somewhere, but I don't remember where. Heim says that finding simplicity is a means to finding a better quality of life.
4. The Consolation of Imperfection: Learning to Appreciate Life's Limitations by Donald McCullough. I saw this book reviewed by someone on What's On Your Nightstand and I was interested. I found it on CBD highly discounted. The excerpt from the back cover reads: "Sometimes we hate to admit it, but there are limitations in life...Despite our greatest efforts, there are things we cannot change. Instead of resenting life's limits, Donald McCullough suggests that we view them as personalized details of a unique, divinely created portrait. While not making light of painful situations, he offers affirming reflections on the hidden gifts of embracing life's limits."
5. Have a New Kid by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman. I love what he writes, and right now I could use this book.
6. Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jery Bridges. One of the foreign missionaries our church supports was visiting a couple of weeks ago, and when he was speaking to our class he mentioned this book. I was interested enough to check it out when I got home. I think this is going to be an excellent book, and probably very convicting too.

DEVOTIONALS

1. Mocha on the Mount by Sandra Glahn. I got this from Hubby for Mother's Day and didn't start it until this last month. I need to finish it up.
2. The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson. This was recommended by Lora and I think this is going to be a valuable devotional for me. From the back cover: "No calling is greater, nobler, or more fulfilling than that of motherhood. Every day, as we nurture our children, mothers influence eternal destiny as no one else can. Tragically, today's culture minimizes the vital importance of a mother's role. By catching a vision of God's original design and allowing it to shape your life, you can rediscover the joy and fulfillment that can be found in the strategic role to which God in all his wisdom has called you, for a purpose far greater than you can ever imagine."

HOMESCHOOL READING (BECAUSE I READ WHAT MY KIDS READ)

1. Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights retold by N.J. Dawood.
2. Stories of Beowulf by H. E. Marshall.
3. The Story of Europe by H. E. Marshall.
4. Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall.
5. Robin Hood compiled by Neil Philip.
6. Canterbury Tales translated by Barbara Cohen.
7. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli.
8. Men of Iron by Ernie Howard Pyle.
8. Various 'You Wouldn't Want to be a....." books dealing primarily in the medieval time frame.

There are other books that we read for history selections in conjunction with these that are a chapter at a time for overview or are small books for some specific topic. I didn't list everything; just some of the longer books, literature readings for the oldest three kids, and then the bigger non-fiction history books that I will sit down and read straight through to get a good overview of what we'll be covering, even though the kids might read it over nine to eighteen weeks (some of those books have about 500 pages in them).

No pictures of my stack; it would be too big because of those hefty 3-in-1 books, and honestly I'm just a little too lazy to go to the trouble. I was not too lazy though to put a link for each book so you could take a look if one of them sounded like something you might like. Be sure to check out everyone else's list too at the link at the top of my post. I know it will help me try and get out of my "reading box," and it might help you too. At the very least it can give you some ideas on books you might like to read later.

Happy Reading!