On Our Bookshelf – October 2018
A list of books I and my family are reading. For posterity, future reference, and general interest. (Links to the books on Amazon are affiliate links!)
Currently Reading
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
One that has been on my shelf for what feels like one hundred thousand years! After I finished my book club book, I realized that I actually really like reading novels slowly: one chapter a day. So I scanned my shelves and this jumped out at me as one I’ve been meaning to read.
I bought this book after listening to Wives and Daughters on audio, and watching the BBC adaptation of North and South. My feeling is that reading Mrs Gaskell is kind of reading Jane Austen, except people die. Cranford more or less affirms my feeling. It is funny, and sad, and incredibly amusing to read about all these ladies going about their business!
Finished Reading
School Education by Charlotte Mason
I’m done, I’m done, I’m done! I’m officially halfway through reading Charlotte Mason’s volumes, which is good, because it keeps me just on track for finishing all six before my oldest turns six.
I really enjoyed School Education. It started out with some great dicussion on authority, and then moved on to discuss several topics in education, most of all using books, especially living books, as the primary means of educating children (and ourselves, in fact). Each of CM’s volumes feels so full, I often find myself reeling a bit when I put them down, like I’ve taken too much in and can’t process it all. I should probably be narrating!
Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
Another book that has taken me several months to get through, although this time my excuse isn’t length. I just really, really wanted to do it justice!
I think I’ve managed to do that – this book has lead to a blog post for each chapter (linked on my hub page) AND a study guide! I’m really pleased with the guide. I really aimed to honor the Charlotte Mason philosophy, as well as bring in a lot of what I’ve learned recently about learning and memory (and how to help those happen). It was a joy to have a little project to work on, and I think the goal helped me go that bit deeper into my second reading of this book.
Reading Next
Ourselves by Charlotte Mason
Onward into Charlotte Mason’s works! I’m looking forward to Ourselves, because I think it takes a turn from the previous volumes. It’s actually on the Ambleside Online reading list somewhere along the way, so I guess I’m prereading! Hopefully it doesn’t take me quite as long as School Education, because I really do want to finish all six volumes before December next year.
