Lots to Read in the New Year

Both online and off.

I missed announcing the December Carnival of Children’s Literature, which was hosted by Kelly Herold at Big A little a. The theme was giving and favorite books, and it’s quite a collection of posts. If you haven’t visited yet, do drop by for some very good reading.

The 105th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at CoH founding blog Why Homeschool. This edition marks the second anniversary of the CoH.

I’m waaay behind in my reading of the delightful Charlotte Mason Carnival. The current issue can be found at Freedom Academy.

One of my favorite carnivals is Unschooling Voices. The new edition is here.

I was intrigued by Angela’s post at Mother Crone’s Homeschool about the 888 Reading Challenge—you come up with a list of 8 books in 8 categories you plan to read in 2008. You can overlap 8 titles in multiple categories so that your target to-be-read total is 56 books. I don’t think I’m up for this challenge myself, because I have learned that the minute I put a book title on a list of books I plan to read, I suddenly want to read everything but that book. So no lists for me, but I’m enjoying reading other people’s. It’s especially fun to see what categories people come up with. Maybe I’ll do the project in reverse and write a categorized retrospective list at the end of the year.

In the meantime, here’s a challenge I can rise to meet! Elizabeth M. at Charlottesville Words links to FOMA, who has proposed, with tongue firmly in cheek, the observance of NaJuReMoNoMo—that’s National Just Read More Novels Month. "All you have to do is read any novel from start to finish within the month of January."

I’m pretty sure I can handle that.

I did a bit of updating at GoodReads (note the new sidebar widget over on the right) and hope to stay more on top of that this year. My 2007 reading list is woefully incomplete. I did enter a few of the books I had the pleasure of enjoying during the holidays: a revisit of Edith Schaeffer’s The Hidden Art of Homemaking, two Barefoot Contessa cookbooks (mmm), and two utterly delicious needlecraft books I found under the tree: Aimee Ray’s Doodle Stitching (on embroidery) and Amy Karol’s Bend-the-Rules Sewing. (Amy’s blog, Angry Chicken, is one of my favorite crafty blogs. I want Amy to move next door to me.)

A TBR title I’m not afraid to commit to: Noel Perrin’s A Reader’s Delight. I have been wanting read this for months, and I was deeply moved to receive a copy as a birthday present from a beautiful blogging friend who picked up on my interest in it from one of my posts. That was one of the best surprises of my year. Thank you, darling Jennifer. (You should move next door, too.)