My Reads for This School Year

Cat Reading

Way back in January, I made a list of my reading goals for the year. I am ashamed to say that I've only read about a quarter of them and I'm already over halfway through the year.

I am hoping that after spending hours teaching the kids, I still have time to sit down and read a bit to myself. I have a growing list of books that I want to read this school year. Some of them pertain to what we are studying this year (Middle Ages and Renaissance) but others are just books that I've been meaning to read and haven't gotten around to it yet (some from my list in January!)

Here is my list:

1. Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. How could I never have read this before? That's what I thought! I'm halfway through it now and am enjoying it immensely. I should be finished with it before the week is out :)

2. Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens. I really enjoyed the recent BBC production of this movie. They always do a wonderful job and this one was no exception. It was 4 DVDs long!! (If you haven't seen it yet, rent it!) Of course, I bought it because I like to watch them over and over. I'm a multi-tasker and like to have something going on in the background while I work on other things (this drives my husband to distraction). I digress. This happens to be one of the few Dickens' novels that I've never read. I'm interested in seeing how different it is from the movie. I'm hoping that it's better (they always are!)

3. Le Morte D'Arthur, by Thomas Malory. We have a big, beautiful version of this on our bookshelf downstairs. We picked it up while browsing an antique shop in Texas a zillion years ago. It has done nothing but gather dust. I am determined to crack it open and read it this year!

4. The Travels of Marco Polo, by Marco Polo. This one sounds adventurous and exciting to me.

5. Utopia, by Thomas More. Not quite as excited about this one. I will try it though!

6. The Prince, by Machiavelli. This doesn't sound like a pageturner to me either. I'm trying to broaden my horizons a bit....

7. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman.

8. The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton

9. Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada. This one looked really interesting to me. It's about a Berlin couple during WWII.

10. The Praise of Folly, by Erasmus. Another that I expect to be pretty dry. We are studying this time period though and I will attempt it at least.

11. The Inheritance, by Louisa May Alcott. This was Alcott's first book - which she wrote when when she was 17 and never published. It was found in 1988. It is apparently a bit sappy and predictable, but I like sappy and predictable :)

12. Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell. This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Shame on me for never reading it. Apparently, the author died before finishing the book, but they were able to piece together an ending for it.

13. North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell. Another wonderful BBC movie. :)

14. The Dead Secret, by Wilkie Collins. I loved The Moonstone, The Woman in White, and Armandale, so I'm hoping that this one turns out to be pretty good also.

15. Lady Audley's Secret, by Elizabeth Braddon.

16. Miss Marjoribanks, by Margaret Oliphant

17. Belinda, by Maria Edgeworth

18. Cecelia, or Memoirs of an Heiress, by Fanny Burney

19. The Last Apocalypse: Europe at the Year 1000 A.D., by James Reston, Jr. This one is sitting on the shelf. I know that Andy has read it, but I haven't yet and this year would be a good time to do it :)

20. Europe in the High Middle Ages, by Jordan. Same as above!

21. After a trip to Barnes and Noble, I couldn't help but add Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot to the list. Another great BBC movie that I need to read the book to. :)