What's in the Reading Basket? Summer 2010

At our house, we have a large basket we fill with library books and maybe a few purchased books with high priority. Since the days have gotten scarily hot recently (drought with heat indexes over 100 degrees), I though a listing of some of the reading material we are working through might be of interest.


Towards a better Education:

This is a must read for those who would like to better understand our Constitution and why the Founding Fathers worded it the way it is written. This book has huge listings of references that can be used as spin off reading to explore those ideas further on your own. I am interested in also looking at the materials listed that our Founding Fathers would have read, Cicero, Adam Smith, Montesquieu, John Locke, The Federalist Papers, etc. Before people can say our Constitution is obsolete, they really should read and understand what it says. History has proven that when we give up a freedom, it is nearly impossible to get it back.

Historical Fiction from the Revolutionary War Era. Karl finds it much more enjoyable than the rest of us, but then again more men than women have aways been more fascinated by the views of those in a war and how it is happening.

For the Soul and Spirit:

Karl has been reading this as the heavy theology has always sparked his interest. However, this is something to be taken in small doses so one can ponder their full meaning. He has also mixed in some C.S. Lewis books such as "Mere Christianity", "Miracles", and his older fiction series "The Space Trilogy" which includes "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength".

I am opting for something a little lighter and have this on my list along with finishing "The Domestic Church".

The children have "The Hobbit" on their wish list. Since it is a bit difficult for Isabella to read straight through, I did pick it up on CD from the library for us to listen to in the truck. One of my friends is a HUGE Tolkien fan and is shocked that I have not read the Lord of the Rings series when Anton has started reading it on his own when he saw the books on our shelf. He is half way through the first book and finished The Hobbit awhile ago. However, he wants to read/hear it again and Isabella is very eager to enter the world where Karl and Anton have their "boy time" watching the Lord Of the Rings movies together.

Towards being a better person and parent:

This might seem a bit "too much information" here, but I have a problem with saying "no" to things. There are so many wonderful things to do in our area, so many projects to be a part of, and so many places where people want me to help, I have a hard time fitting it all into our schedule. This does not even include the time it takes for the upkeep and transformation of the the house to home, land to farm. This mentality is what lead up to my collapse and reactivation of my mono last year. So in an effort to learn how to say "no" to things, this book was recommended for me to read and journal through. This is a book to take as a journey and requires thought and application, hence the reason for not diving into the heavy theology Karl is taking on for the summer. There is a spin off book to this for helping to teach children how to make sound boundaries of their time and person I am hoping to read. Along those same lines, I am looking to read following book so I do not pack too much into my children's day. Our society has convinced us that our children must be active in sports, music, art, in addition to their regular school days. Since we do home school, we do have the ability to do most of this during the time allocated for the traditional school day, but yet the temptation to also include those great courses offered by the local community college just for home schoolers is hard to ignore. This along with a large home school co-op group which offers a wide variety of courses for academia or fun makes weeding through the options and time allocations difficult because they all have their merits. Our society has forgotten how to let children be children. To have times of boredom in order to promote creativity and invention. Without those precious moments of free time, children will not be able to cultivate their delayed gratification or practice the art of deep thought. So, in a way, I think it a little sad to have to remind myself and others that blocks of time with nothing planned is a good thing! But, we are all learning by fire this job of being a good parent in an ever changing world.

For the journey to better health and sustainability:

I know most people do not read cook books, but this one is worth peeking through the pages. I borrowed it from the library, copied a few recipes in a frantic rush, because the library needed it back quickly due to large demands on the holds listing. I have since put it on my wish list for purchase. When I look through cook books and find I want more than 10 recipes, I think it is worth trying to get my own copy. With the hectic lives we have, finding time for good home cooked meals can be scarce with out the use of the slow cooker. I have been using mine at least once a week if not more. This cook book has been my favorite thus far for going beyond the standard fare of the slow cooker recipes handed down from mom. The author took a year of cooking with her slow cooker, blogging her progress, and then turned it into a book. My other favorite cook books for natural cooking are Laurel's Kitchen both the regular one and the bread one. Most of us 30-ish adults have grown up with using processed foods in our recipes and struggle a bit to find an alternative to opening a can of condensed soup as a starter. I have always looked to my bible of cooking, The Joy of Cooking, but even here this book uses many processed ingredients.

I also have a few books on small farming, the joy of chickens, and square foot gardening. These are all part of our process of turning the land into our homestead. We are now about a year late on farm animals, but hey it is a work in progress.

For the Mind to wander, also known as fiction:

While talking with one of my best friends here about my reading lists, she remarked a need for me to throw in some fluff or fun reads. In a moment of weakness, I said, "OK, I read Jane!" She retorted, "No! You have read them all! You need something new!" Then she handed this to me. The Regent Period has always fascinated my romantic side, with greats like Pride and Prejudice who wouldn't love to see the struggles of love through the barriers of social etiquette. But when you tell people you love Romance novels when you need a distraction from life, they immediately assume you mean trashy love/sexual content books. This is so far from the truth. A story can be entertaining without having steamy scenes thrown in to desensitise a person from the emotional part of love making. It is much more entertaining, and enduring, to see the application of sacrifice, love and respect of characters than to see them just follow through with their physical reactions.

I will also fill in with Amish novels which are like reading a Hallmark movie in their sweetness and challenges. The Love Comes... series is good too for those interested in the pioneer life.

Both of my children have loved this book. Anton is also giving Redwall another go around and Isabella is going to try her hand at an unabridged version of Little Women since she enjoyed the condensed version so much. Anton is also filling in with choose your own adventure books and various interest topics. Isabella is rereading the Magic Tree House books, her fluff reads of choice are the Rainbow Fairy books (this drives me crazy as she reads them in 5 minutes and asks to go back to the Library about an hour after we return home from the library!) and Disney Fairy books (Tinker Bell).


We do have more but I think this is a good summary of items. I just laugh about the look on the librarians face when she asked Isabella if she wanted to register for the library summer reading program in which she would be entered into a drawing for a bike if she completes the reading sheet (a whopping 5 1/2 hours to be completed over 3 months - Please! My kids finished their sheets in one week!). Isabella said, she did not really need a bike but she would like to read the books. I commented that her dream would be to be locked in the library to read all night. Isabella's eyes got big with excitement and asked if that was possible and changed to disappointment when I laughed saying I was just joking.