What We're Reading Wednesday

14 days, 300 pages – the only question is, can we do it with everything else that I want to do before Christmas? 

We’ll see.  The good news is that I’ve declared that anyone who hasn’t read the book will not see the movie.  Luckily, I’ve read it a few times already.  So, while I’m no longer an opening night kind of girl (really, people, it’s a movie.  It’s not going anywhere), I’m ready for this weekend.   

Anyway, what we’re reading this week.

All of us:

[This means that I’m reading it aloud, affecting accents and changing voices.  Basically I’ll be preforming a dramatic reading every night until we’re through.  It’s just how we roll.  And we all, even the Officer, enjoy it.]

To all my nerdy friends, happy Hobbit week! 

What We're Reading Wednesday

The sickie edition

So, we’ve been down with the flu this week (not the whole family; but enough of us to through me off the groove).  Hence the much-belated posts.  The good news is that because we’ve been holed up, quarantined from sharing our holiday “cheer” with the rest of the world, we are well into our Christmas movie stash.  I’m thinking this is the year I subject the minis to some true classics, not just Rudolph and Charlie Brown, but Bing Crosby (a la Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, with bonus exposure to Fred Astaire) and Cary Grant (The Bishop’s Wife, anyone?).  Sadly, we haven’t we started a Christmas book yet.  I was planning on Dicken’s The Cricket on the Hearth; and may still.  Perhaps by next Wednesday…

Here’s what we’re reading this week.

Kids:

[The youngest is still blissfully plugging away at Fable Haven; he’s loving it and I’m really proud of his efforts.  It’s a much longer book than he’s read before and I love that I have a hard time rousing him from it.  The Eldest is always three chapters into a book; and she returned to this one recently.  It is mostly poetry masquerading as prose; at first blush an easy read, but it took some discipline for her to plug through.  But, she’s a lyricist at heart, so she did.  I love my little bookworms!]

 Me:

[I’m still slowly digesting my treasure from last week; I have a feeling I could devote a solid two days to it and be completely immersed and entirely happy.  But, there’s just so much I want to do over the holidays, I have a hard time sitting down long enough.  So in the midst of sickness, doctor’s appointments, the regular day-to-day, and the Officer’s extra days off, I found myself lounging in a bubble bath.  In the middle of the day!  And pondering this delightful book.  I can’t get enough of it.  I’m thinking of making it a spiritual discipline challenge for 2013; not the way she did, but the way she points to.  Oh, the flowers were a surprise the Officer came home with when I sent him to fetch the eldest, run to the store, and do two more errands from me while I was tending the youngest.  Very holiday-y and a nice touch.]

Happy holiday prepping, all!  Don’t forget to take a few minutes for yourself during the next few weeks.  You’re worth it.  Even if it’s just a 20 minute bubble bath where you do nothing but soak (or soak and read).  It’s a gfit for you that none of us can do without.

What we're reading Wednesday

The interim between giving thanks and full-blown Christmas frenzy. 

 

We’re still working on decorating (more on that later); trying out every reciepe I can find to reduce the turkey stores in the fridge; and lamenting not heading into the madness on Black Friday (so, no, I am not done with my shopping yet.  And this was my year to be ahead of the game.  Oh, well.).

So, we’re not into our Christmas movie stash just yet.  Nor have we started a Christmas book.  Perhaps by next Wednesday…

Here’s what we’re reading this week.

Kids:

[The eldest loves this series and has hooked the younger on it, too.  Though he’s just a touch slower, being 2 years her junior and all.  It’s a little dark in parts, but so were the original fairytales, and the myths from which these characters originate.  We’ve dialogued about the “scary” parts; and about fiction v. non-fiction.]

 

Me:

[I was so excited to get this!  And as much as I want to plow through it in one sitting—“get your own dinner, kids!”—I am relishing taking little bits of it at a time.  Slowly pondering them and letting my spirit digest them.  Really, it’s not as liberal-feminist as one might think.  I encourage those who have a knee-jerk, anti-woman-movement reaction to this book to pick it up, and let her humor and diligence win you over.  Or at least give it a shot before roundly rejecting the tenents she is attempting to point out.]

 Happy holiday prepping, all!  Don’t let the crush of it all take away from being able to sit quietly, even just for a few stolen moments a week, and read.  It’s the lifetime investment that none of us can do without.

What we're reading Wednesdays

I taught my kids a word last week: bibliophile. 

I figure if they’re gonna live the life, they might as well have the label for it.  The Koala is having trouble pronouncing it; the Firefly keeps testing it out, getting a feel for it's heft.  Neither is having trouble living it out.  It’s in their DNA.  The Officer and I can hardly be found without our noses in a book each evening; and some of our best lazy days are spent as a family laying in our respective favorite spots quietly turning pages just enjoying closeness and words.  Fiction or non—each of us has our preference, but ultimately, we really don’t care.

So I’m devoting Wednesdays to our favorite indoor hobby: reading.  And here’s a peek at what we’re reading this week…    

Theirs

  

Mine

 

 

 Help us find our next read:  comment and let us know what you/your kids have read and loved (or liked) recently. And let’s spend a collective minute being thankful for libraries!