Saturday, March 7, 2020

This Week in Reading - March 8

It's Sunday Post time!  This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and gives us all a chance to recap our week.

What I Got:


One Perfect Summer by Brenda Novak - I was going to be good and get no books but then I got an email about this one and couldn't resist.  It's about a woman who does a DNA test and it turns out she has siblings she didn't know about and mayhem and hijinks ensue.  This actually happened to a cousin of mine and I love anything involving family relationships and genealogy so how could I pass it up? (Publisher)

Currently:

Reading:  A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn, Lavender Blue Murder by Laura Childs, and The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie

Listening: The Storm Sister by by Lucinda Riley

Watching:  I'm catching up on Doctor Who and really enjoying it

Off the Blog:

I've been really loving The Read Aloud Family and it has really made me a convert (not that I had all that far to go).  We are homeschooling the Tornado (he's 10) and this is our first year.  So far it's going really well and one of my favorite things is the fun of reading aloud together.  With that in mind I'm trying to make a list of all the must read books that I want him to read before he graduates high school and I need your help! 

What classics did you read that you loved and think everyone should read?  What books did you read that taught you something about the world and really stuck with you?  What books did you read that are just flat out good reads?  It's amazing how varied literature education is and I'm trying to get the best of everything.

My one caveat is no animal cruelty.  We are both incredibly sensitive to that.  I don't enjoy human cruelty but there are some lessons to be learned there so I think that's worth pushing past.

On the Blog:

What Happened:

What's Coming Up:

Monday:  Death With a Dark Red Rose - Cozy Mystery Review
Tuesday:  Books Set in Ireland On My TBR
Wednesday:  A Murderous Relation - Historical Mystery Review
Thursday:  Books from the Backlog
Friday:  Friday Fives
Saturday:  Winter Non-Bookish Favorites

Have a great week and happy reading!

19 comments:

  1. We read aloud together as a family, and it is some of my best memories when I look back and my children's childhoods. Even more rewarding is that they do too.

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  2. I want to try that Raybourn series. And reading aloud as a family can be so rewarding. I have fond memories of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books, and the Little House as well.

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  3. One Perfect Summer sounds really good! I can see why you didn't want to pass it up!

    Lindy@ A Bookish Escape

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  4. I didn't take the offer up of the B Novak book so will enjoy it through you. That sure does happen but I am being really strict this year about review books! When I went to school we didn't really read any classics that I loved. I think when you read you really have to love what you read, classic or not. I had the privilege of sharing books with my class when I was teaching. One book I found helpful was a teacher book called The Book Whisperer (USA author) and there is a blog called the Nerdy Book Club which is a group of teachers who share the good reads. Love that you are enjoying reading together.

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  5. Roald Dahl was a favourite of mine as a kid, as was Enid Blyton-though her books may not be totally PC as they were written so long ago. CS Lewis, Walter Farley maybe as fun reads. For important life lessons, Judy Blume's 'Blubber' has a good look at bullying. I wasn't a fan of the classics at school and to be honest, being forced to read and study them actually put me off reading for years until I went to college. I preferred books that fired up my imagination on subjects I liked. I wish Harry Potter had been there for me as a schoolkid!

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  6. I work in a school and I love reading aloud to our class - We are currently reading them The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which they are all loving and they've all made their own mini-wardrobes and scenes inside. :-)

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  7. I can't wait to hear about the classics that you choose for Tornado in your weekly update. I am glad the homeschooling has been going great!

    Gayathri @ Elgee Writes

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  8. I like Charles Dickens like maybe Oliver Twist. When it comes to classics I like the romance so not sure he would want to read something like Jane Eyre or Little Women. :) I need to read more classics myself! I want to try Moby Dick but it intimidates me...lol. Oh, The Wizard of Oz is fun and a bit different from the movie so could be a good one to read then watch. The Wind in the Willow was fun as a kid. Maybe The Jungle Book?

    That hurt my brain trying to think of books...lol. :)

    Have a great week and happy reading!
    Stormi
    Week in Review

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  9. I love the Veronica Speedwell covers! 💜

    I've been meaning to do a blog post about Sebastian's favorite books growing up, or maybe a three part series: picture books, Middle Grade, and YA/Adult. Your question has spurred me into action. As you know I was very sad he didn't care for A Wrinkle in Time. Ha ha. I was so happy when he came home from school saying how much he loved Farmer Boy, when his teacher was reading it to the class, but then sad again when he didn't care for the other Little House books. Has the Tornado read Farmer Boy? 📚

    Have a wonderful new week! 🌞

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  10. When my class was Tornado's age, we read an abridged version of 'Treasure Island' together and studied the history of pirates around the Caribbean, looking at the life of Blackbeard, basically making a topic of it. They immersed themselves in all things piratical and absolutely loved it. The Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones is also an excellent read, and my grandson (same age) has just finished reading Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events. When he is a bit older - I have several other series to recommend:)) Have a great week, Katherine.

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  11. I'm definitely going to add The Read Aloud Family to my shelves soon even though we already are a read-aloud family! I loved E.B. White and Jean Craighead George as a kid. And Harry Potter, of course. For classics I recommend Treasure Island and The Swiss Family Robinson!
    Have a great week and happy reading! :)

    Stacy Renee @ LazyDayLit

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  12. I read Little Women several times as a child, but I also loved Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, books I checked out of the library when I was pretty young.

    Enjoy exploring!

    Here are my WEEKLY UPDATES

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  13. I like both your new book and the one you are reading. I am older than dirt so I will have some different choices and since I've been reading a long time I have LOTS of books I love. Here are my favorites: A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle, the Nancy Drew / Hardy Boy mysteries, the Black Stallion books, The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I'm a big Dickens fan - I'd say Great Expectations. To Kill a Mockingbird. I'd recommend the Harry Potter books now. Another older age book would be Black Like Me which was written by a white man who somehow dyed his skin and wrote about his experience and treatment as a colored person. When I was about his age, I read all the biographies of famous people at our school library. There were presidents, George Eastman, Willa Cather, Francis Marion, Susan B. Anthony, Nancy Todd Lincoln, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and many more. There were 92 of them. I read them all when I was 9 or 10. I think these non-fiction biographies of all these people were interesting and I haven't read much lately and probably should. Anyway, you could pick some and ones that might be more modern but I these left out questionable stuff as it was for elementary school children. I don't know if there is a series these days but you could probably find some books. What a fun project for you!

    Have a great week!

    Anne - Books of My Heart Here is my Sunday Post   

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  14. I love the idea of reading together as a family. I did try to read a few books at the same time my kids were reading them in school. A few times, I felt bad for the kids because I didn't enjoy the books anymore than they did. I don't really remember enough about the books that I read in school to know if they have animal cruelty or not. Have a great week!

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  15. I wasn't going to get anymore books either but I got an email about One Perfect Summer, too. Now I'm thinking about it. It looks so good. Have a great week!

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  16. I think my favorite read-aloud books when I was a kid were Roald Dahl. I have happy memories of listening to Christopher Paul Curtis books too. Those might be more educational than Roald Dahl. Have a great week!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  17. You might like How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul, too. It has lots of great suggestions for readalouds.

    One Perfect Summer sounds delightful.

    When we were in Paris, my niece was reading her kids Redwall. They loved it.

    Have a great week!

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  18. One Perfect Summer sounds so good that I just went and requested it. We'll see.

    I do believe in reading aloud and do it daily in my classroom. I remember my 5th grade English teacher reading The Hobbit to us when we'd finish our lessons early. SO, maybe try that one. Maybe when he's a few years older, try The Three Musketeers. What about My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara? Call of the Wild? A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, The Hardy Boys, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, are a few to start with.

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  19. I love the cover of One perfect Summer and the premise sounds good too.

    Wishing you a great reading week

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