Over at MFS she posed a challenge to list your top ten books. I thought it would be fun to write about my list here.

Okay, so this is supposed to be a list of books that are "me", not just my favorites, right? I am not that interesting, it turns out, and as I have tried to make a list I have had a hard time remembering favorite books that have shaped me and made me who I am. This is not new. As I read other blogs and articles I find that I am not much of a thinker. I like to read, but I just don't take the time to think about things very much. I am going to put that on my to-do list: Start Thinking. But here's what I could come up with, from my childhood to now:

Harry and the Terrible Whatzit, by Dick Glackenbach - I remember Mom reading this to us and I loved it. Luckily we did not have a basement. I have mom's copy of this, and though it is yellow and falling apart, Emily enjoyed it just the other day. I also loved this one book about a mom and son who decide to open an Inn, but a witch lives upstairs in their new (old) house. The witch ends up baking blueberry pancakes? Do you remember the name of that book? Anyone?

Miss Nelson is Missing - I have mom's copy of this one, too. Sorry guys.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe - I read this series over and over from about 3rd grade until 6th grade. Laurie had the boxed set on her bookshelf, but The Magician's Nephew was missing, so I had read the other books a couple of times before I finally read it. I reread the books with Hannah our first homeschooling year. We would check out one a week from the library in Pensacola and then steal them out of each other's rooms. We read the Magician's Nephew last as well, and I highly recommend reading the series in that order, even though the Magician's Nephew is #1 in the new boxed sets. Sydney and I have read 2 of the books....

Anne of Green Gables (and the rest of the series esp. Rilla of Ingleside) 7th grade. Brenda Rasmussen. Love em. One of my favorite things about Nathan is that he knows who Gilbert Blythe is.

The Promise, by Chaim Potok - Some time in Jr High I read this book and any other book written by him. Around the same time I was invited to a friend, Elise Rosenberg’s Bat Mitzvah? Cindy Ross and I went together. That is the only time I have ever been to a Synagogue. We attended an evening service, a very fancy reception the next day, then another service and a dance that night. I remember her grandparents and older aunts and uncles dancing and singing. Elise wore a taffeta skirt. A teacher that I hadn't seen since Sonoma Elementary School was there and stood when those who were mourning (I think) were asked to stand, and I wondered if it was her husband or son or parent who had died.

Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card - Laurie gave this book to Mom for Christmas, I think the first year she was away at BYU. I borrowed it from mom on Christmas day, and I'm not sure that she ever had a chance to read it. I leant it to our cousin Brandon and never got it back.

The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas - This was one of the first "real" "classic" books that I read for an English class. And I loved it. Great book.

Mother Goose Rhymes - when Hannah was a baby I spent most of my time on the ground reading to her. She would bring me the Mother Goose book to read when she was just crawling. I have two favorites that I read to John, now. The rhythm of those poems are my strongest memory of being a young mom, and learning how to take care of a baby. Just typing that takes me back to that little one bedroom apartment with the brown textured carpet, and Dana Brinton, and the red brick chapel, and the Audi.

The Midwife's Apprentice, Karen Cushman. Laurie gave this book to Hannah, and we read it when Nathan's cousin was staying with us and getting ready to have her baby at our house. "she learned that midwifery was as much about hard work and good sense and comfrey tonic as spells and magic."

Citizen Soldiers, Ambrose - read this last year, loved it, have read as many books by Ambrose as our library holds, and have continued reading about WWII. I am currently reading Frauen - German Women Recall the Third Reich, by Alison Owings. very interesting interviews with regular wives and mothers. There is so much written about the war. I wonder how we could have let it happen, and did we really learn from it, why didn't regular people put a stop to it, and are we letting it happen today.


hey wait, I think I found 11, and I can think of a few more..... The Good Earth, Frog and Toad, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Anna karenina, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.....