Reading is an all-consuming pastime for our family. We devour books individually, but travel-schooling has allowed us the chance to read together as well. WE LOVE THIS. When we read together, we find so many instances to relate literature to our daily lives. Our dinner-time discussions are rich with literary reference and empathy towards characters in real-life. Current events are compared to our knowledge of world history – conjoining books we have read in genres of non-fiction, poetry, historical fiction and biographies. Modern-day (yes, sometimes political) personalities remind us of characters in books that we have admired or pitied.
“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” ~ C.S. Lewis
Reading adds value and understanding to a complicated world. Psychologists suggest that those “who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and view the world from their perspective.” Reading, combined with extensive travel is a magical combination for adults and children alike. So many books, so little time!
“Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.” – Anne Lamott
Research shows that deep reading – slow, immersive, rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity – is a distinctive experience, a kind of reading that differs in kind and quality from the mere decoding of words that constitutes a good deal of what passes for reading today, shares writer Karen Swallow Prior.
Over the past three years I have kept a log of the kids’ reading, as their free-time reading is by choice. I thought it might be interesting to anyone with like-aged children to know what other kids are reading and enjoying, so these lists are published by school year on Sophia and Oliver’s respective blog post pages. Their reading choices fascinate me as they show an enduring thirst for knowledge and emerging understanding of the world around them. On their own, they choose a balance of fiction, history, poetry, biography, mystery and classic literature.*
Author Jamie Leigh writes, “Literature, along with (arguably) all forms of art, is a distinctly human legacy. It is by definition an exploration of our own humanity, one of our most important tools of communication, and a force that both creates and reflects our culture.” I love the reminder that literature serves as an authentic basis for learning about our geographic, religious, political and environmental past. In summary, an ardent reader lives an enriched life.
(Sophia and Oliver looking up vocabulary words in hard-cover dictionaries; Soon, if not already, an extinct act of erudites!)
I have never before posted titles of my own reading, but I thought it might be an interesting list to share. One’s reading list is a direct window into the values, slant and intellect of a person, which is why “what are you reading now?” is a wonderful and curious ice-breaking question. Tell me about yourself! With heart-sleeves rolled way up, here is what I think about the world and the wonderful humans within:
Lynne’s Reading List: Ten Years of Great Books
2016
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast – Hemingway | The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Voyaging with Kids by Behan Gifford, Sara Dawn Johnson, Michael Robertson
Out of Africa – Isak Dinesen | Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion by Philip Greene
The Historian’s Daughter by Rashida Murphy
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse *(read w/ kids)
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White *(read w/ kids)
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
•
2015
All the Light we Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee (again) | The Mockingbird Next Door – Marja Mills
Go Set A Watchman – Harper Lee | The Danish Girl – David Ebershoff
Just Mercy – Bryan Stevenson | The Secret Chord – Geraldine Brooks
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel | The Luncheon of the Boating Party – Susan Vreeland
Don Quixote (again) by Miguel Cervantes/abridged *(read w/ kids)
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame *(read w/ kids)
•
2014
Brave Companions, by David McCullough | Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter
The Hare with Amber Eyes” by Edmund De Waal
“The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld” by Justin Hocking | Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
The Golem and the Ginni – Helene Wicker | Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Middlemarch by George Elliot | My Life in Middlemarch – Rebecca Mead
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (abridged)*(read w/kids) | Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse *(read w/kids)
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (abridged) *(read w/kids) | Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle *(read w/kids)
•
2013
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson | Life after Life by Kate Atkinson
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey | Alice Munro’s “Runaway”
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World, by Sabina Berman | Tell the Wolves I’m Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloane
The Sound and the Fury, by Wm Faulkner
Glitter and Gold by Consuela Vanderbuilt Balsan | Strapless by Deborah Davis
Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire | Breathe, by Kelly Kittel
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer
•
2012
Priceless by Robert Whittman | Day for Night by Frederick Keiken
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker | Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga | The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert | Consuelo and Alva by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart
A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway
The Education of a Lifetime by Robert Khayat
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
Old Filth by Jane Gardam | The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
Provenance by Laney Salisbury | Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Wait til Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
•
2011
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese | Don Quixote by Cervantes
The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht | State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch
Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides | Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larsen, | The Greater Journey by David McCullough
Rape of Europa by Lynn Nicholas | The Tipping Point Malcom Gladwell
•
2010
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann | The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout | The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Lost City of Z by David Grann | The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy | History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Checkhov Short Stories | People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
March by Geraldine Brooks, | Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
1776 by David McCullough | The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
Loving Frank, Nancy Horan | Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett | The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel
•
2009
Don’t Let’s go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller | Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindburgh
Life of Pi, Yann Martel | Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
The Passion of Artemesia by Susan Vreeland
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, and Annie Barrows
Song yet Sung by James McBride | The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
City of Thieves by David Benioff | Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
•
2006 – 2008 (incomplete list, but titles of note)
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri | On Green Dolphin Street, Sebastian Faulks | Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland | Peace Like a River, Leif Enger | The Blue Virgin, Tracy Chevalier | Balzac & the Little Chinese Seasmstress, Dai Sijie | The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama | Dreams from my Father, Barack Obama, | The Color of Water, James McBride | The Red Tent, Anita Diamant | Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert | Ghost Heart by Cecelia Samartin | Middleplace by Kelly Corrigan | Five Quarters of an Orange by Joanne Harris | The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd | The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd | Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott | Kite Runner by Khaled Husseini | The Help by Kathryn Stockett | Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt | ‘Tis Frank McCourt | The Unfortunates Laurie Graham | The Future Housewives of America by Laurie Graham | The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho | Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver | Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver | Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver | Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver | High Tide in Tuscon by Barbara Kingsolver | A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel | She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel | Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
•
References: *“How Reading Makes us More Human” by Karen Swallow Prior.
Ref. Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University. Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto. Anne Lamott, author.
Jamie Leigh, http://www.punchnels.com/2016/02/25/10-reasons-you-should-be-reading-the-classics. C.S. Lewis quote from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/importance-of-literature.html
*Note: Some books on the kids’ reading lists are books I have chosen for specific reasons – to read in class together – or to boost their understanding of a particular culture relative to our studies.
Also, I would be remiss to not thank my GLAM book group, who for the last seven years, have encouraged and cajoled me in reading many works I would never have otherwise. I love and cherish you all! xxx
Always like to read what is going on in your life and the kiddos!
_____
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thanks for including To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion in your list of Great Books! Happy you enjoyed it.
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I did enjoy it very much. I have read a lot of Hem over the years and it was a great fun read; well-researched and well-written. A friend who knows my love of Hemingway, lent it to me. Though she insisted it was only a “loan” because it was a treasure in her library! I have already returned it, so will have to get my own copy now. Thank you for writing it!
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Thank you for sharing this incredible list and your amazingly generous spirit. It’s a privilege to know you and your family
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