My 888 reading list

No pictures this time - just a reading list. There is a reading challenge posted on a homeschool website I like to visit (www.welltrainedmind.com - a great site for classical homeschooling!) that I will be trying this year. The concept is simple: pick 8 categories of books, with 8 books in each category that you will read in 2008. To help a little, you can have 8 books overlap categories. I really like this idea, because I have been a bit neglectful of my own studies the past few years. I have been putting a lot of thought into my kids' studies, but I've just been reading whatever looks good at the library for me. I deserve a little thought, too! So, in case anyone's interested, I thought I'd post my reading list for 2008. Call it my New Year's resolution!

1. Biographies
a. Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution, by Natalie S. Bober
b. Shakespeare, by Michael Wood
c. Thomas Alva Edison: an American Myth, by Wyn Wachhorst
d. Joan of Arc, by Sir Winston Churchill
e. The Last Lion, Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940, by William Manchester
f. Without Precedent: The Life and Career of Eleanor Roosevelt, by Joan Huff-Wilson and Marjorie Lightman
g. Thomas Jefferson: Stateman of Science, by Silvio A. Bedini
h. Lightning in His Hand: the Life Story of Nikola Tesla, by Inez Hunt and Wanetta W. Droper

2. Christian Non-Fiction
a. The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
b. Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? By Philip Yancey
c. Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, by Joanne Weaver
d. The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis
e. The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis
f. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe
g. For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men, by Shaunti Feldhahn
h. Cure for the Common Life, by Max Lucado

3. Parenting/Homeschooling
a. Drawing with Children, by Brookes
b. Raising Life-Long Learners: a Parent’s Guide, by Lucy Calkins
c. The Organized Homeschooler, by Vicki Caruana
d. Character Matters: How to Help Out Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity, and Other Essential Values, by Thomas Lickona
e. Dumbing Down Our Kids, by Charles Sykes
f. Raising Strong Daughters, by Jeanette Gadeberg
g. The Assault on Parenthood: How Our Culture Undermines the Family, by Dana Mack
h. 7 Things Kids Never Forget, and How to Make the Most of Them, by Ron Rose

4. Shakespeare I’ve Never Read
a. Love’s Labor's Lost
b. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
c. Richard III
d. Henry VIII
e. Titus Andronicus
f. The Merry Wives of Windsor
g. Much Ado About Nothing
h. King John

5. NC Authors
a. The Cat Who Ate Modern Danish, by Lilian Jackson Braun
b. Magic Street, by Orson Scott Card
c. Postmortem, by Patricia Cornwell
d. The Best Short Stories of O. Henry
e. On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith
f. Look Homeward, Angel, by Thomas Wolfe
g. Walking Across Egypt, by Clyde Edgerton
h. A Virtuous Woman, by Kaye Gibbons

6. War and Conflict
a. 1776, by David McCullough
b. The American Civil War, by Sir Winston Churchill
c. The Red Badge of Courage, by Steven Crane
d. Poetry of the World Wars, ed. By Michael Foss
e. Joan of Arc, by Sir Winston Churchill
f. The Black Arrow: a Tale of the Two Roses, by Robert Louis Stevenson
g. The Last Lion, Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940, by William Manchester
h. In Search of the Trojan War, by Michael Wood

7. Poetry
a. Lady of the Lake, by Sir Walter Scott
b. Collected Poems, 1922-1938, by e.e. cummings
c. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
d. Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
e. Poetry of the World Wars, ed. By Michael Foss
f. In the Clearing, by Robert Frost
g. Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown
h. Awake My Soul and Sing: Poems Inspired by Favorite Hymns, by Helen Steiner Rice

8. Books I Own and Have Never Read
a. Lady of the Lake, by Sir Walter Scott
b. The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis
c. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
d. The Red Badge of Courage, by Steven Crane
e. Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
f. An Autobiography of God, by Lloyd John Ogilvie
g. The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold
h. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo

Mom has already said she wants to make her own list, which is great! If anyone else wants to try this, let me know -- we can compare lists!