Rebeccahttp://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b593/rebecca_hill24/hammock-385600__180_zpsyudreyo6.jpg
I love summer.. ANYTHING to do with summer! Being able to be outside, and enjoy time with my boys is always exciting, although sometimes the fighting gets on my nerves. As we move to the longer days and delights of summer fun, there is always one thing that seems to be forgotten.. READING! Every year about mid-April, I begin planning my summer reading lists. This includes the books that my boys and I are going to read together, as well as the ones that I want to get through.
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There is nothing better than sitting outside, either in a lounge chair or stretched out on a blanket on the lawn with a book in hand. I can sit there and relax with a favorite read while the boys play. Awesome right!? Some people can just grab a book and read their time away. I envy these people! I like to look through reviews and find the books that are slightly forgotten. I have never read with the trends, but try and find things that others are not going to be lining up for. Best place to start for this!? Your LIBRARY! If you check out the library sections they usually have one that the librarians pull their favorite reads. You can see what they are recommending and even find other books by the same author. As I was searching through one of these one year, I found the book “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier, (if you have been reading along with us, you will recognize this as the FIRST book from our Book Club!!), and then fell into other books that were written by the same author.
This summer, I decided to try something different. Instead of finding the mysterious or predictable reads, I have fallen back to the classics. I was discussing with a student in my history course about finding history in some of the oldest works, such as the Iliad or the Odyssey. There was a moment where I thought the phone had disconnected and I had lost them, when the voice finally came back with “I have never heard of those, what are they?” At this point ya’ll, I about fell off my chair. Who has NOT heard of these books!? So this summer, I have decided to hit up the classics and brush up on the books that seem to be getting forgotten in the shuffle of new books appearing on the shelves. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love some of the newer works that are coming out, but the classics are just that.. classics! I love the writing styles of eras that have passed. There is something about them that we just don’t seem to be able to capture anymore.
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So, off to the library I went, and started listing books that I felt needed to be read! The list is steadily growing, and the challenge will be to see if there is anyway to get through 20 books for myself, and five with the boys over the summer. Here is a list of classics that are begging to be re-read:
- Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
- Tales from the Arabian Nights – Richard Francis Burton
- The Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
- Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
- Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- King Solomons Mines – Henry Rider Haggard
- The Odyssey – Homer
- The Call of the Wild – Jack London
- White Fang – Jack London
- Moby Dick – Herman Melville
- Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
- Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
- Dracula – Bram Stroker
For the kids, these are some great adventures that will keep those minds busy!
- Black Ships before Troy – Rosemary Sutcliff
- The Mark of the Horse Lord – Rosemary Sutcliff
- The Shining Company – Rosemary Sutcliff
- Sing Down the Moon – Scott O’Dell
- The Hardy Boys – Franklin W. Dixon (series)
- Nancy Drew – Carolyn Keene (series)
- The Great Brain series – John Fitzgerald
- Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stephenson
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These are just a few of the ones that I have added to my list. I am sure that I will add more as the time goes on! Have you started planning your summer reading lists yet!? If you are not sure of what you are wanting to read, ask a librarian! They are more than willing to help you find some great reads, no matter what it is you enjoy reading!
Happy Reading!!
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