Jennifer (hostess of today’s simply smashing The Loveliness of Gardens fair, for which, drat it, I forgot to write something) commented on my previous post:

I must laugh because your children are adorable, but I found myself
peering intently at the bookshelves behind them to see what gems you
have stashed there.

I too must laugh, because I almost cropped the bookcases out of that photo and then I thought, wait, I LOVE to peek at what books are on other people’s shelves, I should leave them there.

If you REALLY want to browse our shelves, Jane and I have been working on entering all our books at Library Thing. She reads off the titles and I type them in. This is a slow process. She may well be in college by the time I finish, and it’ll be Rilla calling out the books.

I’m tempted to buy one of those scanner doohickeys you can hook up to your computer. LibraryThing sells them for $15, I believe. Then again, it’s sort of fun talking over all the books with Jane.

Margaret Mary tagged me for a book meme the other day: "What books are you reading right now?" I’m almost embarrassed to answer…my books-in-progress pile is ridiculously large right now. Out of control.  I won’t even try to explain it; it just is what it is.

Fiction:

To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield. Someone, and I heartily wish I could remember who, added this book to that list of 100 Books to Read Before You Die that was making the rounds a month or two ago. I’d never heard of it before and that this blogger thought so highly of it that she had to append it to the meme list piqued my interest and I tracked down a copy. It’s the story of a post-WWI young Englishman who takes a job teaching at a rural boys’ school. I am loving it. It’s like if James Herriot had been a teacher instead of a country vet.

Strangers and Sojourners by Michael D. O’Brien. I don’t know why I picked this one up now, when I’m in the middle of the meaty tome above. One night last week, I was just in the mood to revisit this lovely, thoughtful, deeply affecting epic. Now I find myself in agonies of indecision when a sliver of reading time comes my way. Which novel to pick up?

Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright, at Jane’s request. This is one of those books much beloved by her which I somehow missed reading.

Non-fiction:

Living Language: A Language Arts Curriculum by Donna Simmons. I’m reviewing this for my ongoing Waldorf series over at Lilting House.

Homemaking as a Social Art by  Veronika van Duin. Another little rabbit trail sparked by the Waldorf series. I have several books related to this theme—some old favorites like Holiness for Housewives and The Hidden Art of Housekeeping—and a few new ones that came my way. I’ll probably post on this theme later so nuff said for now.

Whoops—I hear a boy waking up from his nap, so I’m not going to get to finish this list now. I’m posting it anyway. Maybe I’ll update later. I should do another version, too, with the books I’m reading to the younguns.

Oh, wait, I forgot to tag people! Let’s see. How about Linda Fay, Christine, the other Christine, Faith, and  Gregory K.