Booking It

Cal and Henry have started to "read" their favorite books. They really just tell about the pictures or repeat phrases (or the whole book) from memory. (This is where "murky depths" came from - Cal liked how it sounded when his Dad read it to him.)

Well, just now Henry was perusing his recent must-read, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" This is how he read it:

"Whatsu lookin' at, Teatso? Whatsu lookin' at, tsilwen?" (Instead of, "Teacher, teacher, what do you see?" and, "Children, Children, what do you see?"

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Here's a little update on my Fall Into Reading goals:

The Devil Wears Prada - an enjoyable read, but I think I really liked the movie better. Which is surprising. In the book Andrea doesn't toss her cell phone in a fountain in Paris at the end, but she does do something very clever with the designer clothes (rather than giving them to her mentor assistant in the office). I don't know - they both have their merits. It's a fun story.

My Antonia - If you have never read this book, do. It is beautiful and so much more my speed than the fashion runways of DWP. I cried for pretty much the whole last chapter of Antonia and her children. So much of it evokes my love for the American west and, interestingly enough, Ukraine and Eastern Europe. This book is just wholesome and touching and rich and I love it still.

The Long Winter - The story of the boys who kept their wheat in the wall - That's what I remembered it as. I read it two or three times before I was twelve, but not since, and so much more of the parenting and the surviving and the great simple values stood out to me this time. And I noticed that Laura Ingalls Wilder actually wrote quite poetically. The Little House books ruined me for modern life early on. After reading this one again, I want to start over with Little House in the Big Woods. It's America's childhood and mine, all in one...

I've started Washington's Crossing, and it is well-written and quite fascinating but a more demanding read than I am willing to sink into right at the moment, so I'll get back to it. Before the autumn is over, I promise.

I'm well into Jane Eyre right now, and I'm really enjoying it.

My mother-in-law sent a package today which included a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird. She recommends it as one of her favorite all-time books, as she has taught it for many years in high school English. I've never read it, so I'm adding it to my list.

What books do you love?