The Year in Review – Books

We received a lovely Christmas letter from our friends John and Wendy. Since I gave up Christmas cards a few years ago (after the last batch got misplaced until the following summer) I thought it might be fun to post a similar type “letter” here on the blog over the next few days.

So here’s the first installment of our Year in Review: Books.

As we sat down to discuss this category, we had trouble remembering all the books we had read, and then limiting our choices so that the post wouldn’t take hours to read. We have already started a catalog of our personal library at LibraryThing, but it occurred to me that is might also be interesting to keep track of exactly what we read next year, which means having to log our library books somehow. I’m debating between just writing things down on a piece of paper or starting an account at Goodreads. But enough analyzing.

The LittlestPage loves to read. She has six readers who all volunteer their time enthusiastically, so she is never without entertainment. Her top winner right now is Gossie and Gertie and others in the series by Olivier Dunrea. Others that she loves to pull off the shelf include Big Sarah’s Little Boots and George and the Dragon (oh my, what power little mice wield!).

LittlePage4 adored Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon, especially the audio version. He also loved Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars, the common theme being adventure and silliness all rolled into one!

LittlePage3 also has a fondness for Miss Pickerell. His favorite was Miss Pickerell Goes Undersea. The creator of Miss Pickerell, Ellen MacGregor, worked hard to create scientifically accurate books that do not sacrifice adventure and fun. You will likely have to take a trip to the library to find these treasures.

LittlePage2, a long time Little Women fan, read Little Men and Jo’s Boys this year and fell in love with them. She couldn’t articulate exactly why she loved them so much but said, with a sparkle in her eye, “I want to run a boarding school, just like Jo’s.” I may be biased, but I can’t think of any higher calling than raising children to live and love.

NotsoLittlePage1 finally received permission to read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. She ploughed through all three in about three weeks. (She took a few days off, when the stories were getting intense, choose not to read them before bed, to stop bad dreams, and still managed to carry the last little bit of her school work for the term.) When asked what she felt about the books, she said she was still processing them; that Sam is the real hero, although everyone wants to be a Frodo or an Aragorn. She most appreciates the work of the author, who didn’t just create a story, but created an entire world with a beginning and end and all that happens in between.

MrPages reads a steady supply of classic science-fiction e-books on his little Pocket PC including a large Jules Verne and Vernor Vinge binge.,

I have to admit that I read so many books, they sometimes get lost in my memory. The ones I can most recall include I Heard the Owl Call My Name, a fictional account of a young priest who goes to live and minister in a remote BC village of Fist Nations people. Brilliantly written in a fashion that captures the Native culture and the difficulty of religious evangelism. Similarly, God’s Galloping Girl: The Peace River Diaries of Monica Storrs, 1929-1931 will continue to haunt my mind. An account of a simple woman trying to help a poor people in a remote, harsh part of Canada in the 1930′s. Simple, mundane, and personally convicting.

Tune in next time for The Year in Review: Film, Movies and other DVDs

Related posts:

1. The Year in Review: Best Finds
2. The Year in Review: Work and School
3. The Year in Review: Holidays and Events
4. The Year in Review: Film, Movies and other DVDs