What I'm Reading

I love to read.  When I was little, my mom taught me to read the summer before I repeated 1st grade.  (That's a story for another time.)  Ever since that summer, it's hard to find me without a book in progress.  I don't have a favorite type of literature or a favorite author.  It's hard to pick one out of so many great books and authors.  Right now, I'm in a kid-lit mood.  I'm reading through the Anne of Green Gables series.  I dove into the first book.  Anne of Green Gables was a story I always loved but have just read for the first time.  We had the movies Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea starring Megan Follows when we were younger.  We watched the movies all the time, much to my younger sister's dismay.  (Sorry, Darce!)  My sister-in-law gave me Anne of Green Gables for Christmas a few years ago and I finally read it for the first time last month.  It was fun to see how the movie and the book aligned.  For the most part, the movie stayed on track for the book.  Anne of Green Gables tells the story of Anne Shirley, an orphan, who has largely been unwanted and unloved until she is mistakenly brought to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, unmarried siblings who live together.  Matthew and Marilla decide to keep Anne and raise her together.  Anne is a very imaginative girl who constantly gets into various predicaments.  After finishing the first book, I decided I must read them all.  I searched Barnes & Noble and Amazon for them.  I purchased Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, books 2 and 3 in the series.  I just finished reading Anne of Avonlea.  Anne of Avonlea follows Anne as a teacher at Avonlea school.  I started Anne of the Island, the third book in the series.  I've really enjoyed this series.  Reading about Anne and her family and friends feels like I'm catching up with old friends.

As a family we are reading our way through The Chronicles of Narnia.  As mentioned in this blog post, we read a chapter aloud each night before bed.  We finished the fourth book Prince Caspian and will be starting The Voyage of the Dawn Treader..  I've really enjoyed this series.  It's very fun to finally read this piece of classic children's literature.  I enjoyed The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe immensely.  A Boy and His Horse has so far been my least favorite book of the series.  The other three books have involved someone discovering Narnia or traveling to Narnia from our world which is why I prefer these books over A Boy and His Horse.  I'm not sure what books we will read next as a family.  Maybe the Laura Ingalls Wilder books or some other classic.

I have a list on my computer of books I want to read.  Type-A?  Probably but there are so many good books recommended by friends or little blurbs in magazines that it's impossible for me to remember them all.  Want a peak at my list?  Here it is:

Within Arm’s Length by Dan Emmet

Mother Teresa: An Authorized Biography By Kathryn Spink

A Time to Kill by John Grisham

Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C.S. Lewis

The Silver Chair C.S. Lewis

The Last Battle C.S. Lewis

The Journey Peter Kreeft

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Room by Emma Donoghue

Fahrenheit451 by Ray Beadbury

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K LeGuin

 The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafron

Don Quijote de la Mancha

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olson

The World Without You by Joshua Henkin

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann

Tell The Wolves I’m Coming Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

The Beatles Anthology by The Beatles

The Beatles Every Little Thing by Maxwell Mackenzie

Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Anne of the Island by LM Montgomery

Anne of Windy Poplars (Anne of Windy Willows) by LM Montgomery

Rainbow Valley by LM Montgomery

Rilla of Ingleside by LM Montgomery

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Story of a Soul

The Help

Happier at Home  by Gretchen Rubin

The Magician’s Nephew C.S Lewis

Eat Pray Love Elizabeth Gilbert

The Thirteenth Tale Diane Setterfield

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe C.S. Lewis

The Horse and The Boy C.S. Lewis

Prince Caspian C.S. Lewis

Anne of Avonlea by LM Montgomery

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder