Out With the Old and In With the New!

Well, hello there! Since I haven't posted since LAST year I thought I'd post something. Ha ha! I know....old joke! But I love it...and it's my blog so I can make whatever kind of jokes I want.

I really want to keep track of what books I have read and want to read this year so I decided to make a list of books I finished reading in 2009, books I started reading in 2009 and books I hope to read in 2010!

2009: Finished
('*' means read for the 2nd time or more)

*Little Women by L.M. Alcott
*Sense and Sensibility by J. Austen
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
Mansfield Park by J. Austen
The Deerslayer by J.F. Cooper
The Mojave Crossing by L. L'Amour
Lando by L. L'Amour
Riders of the Purple Sage by Z. Grey
*The Fisherman's Lady by G. MacDonald
*The Marquis' Secret by G. MacDonald
The Highlanders Last Song by G. MacDonald
The Musicians Quest by G. MacDonald
Freddy and the Poppin Jay by W.R. Brooks
James and the Giant Peach by R. Dahl
The Min Pins by R. Dahl
Esio Trot by R. Dahl
Part of the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery
*Anne of Avonlea
*Anne of the Island
*Anne of Windy Poplars
*Anne's House of Dreams
*Anne of Ingleside
Northanger Abbey by J. Austen
To Kill a Mocking Bird by H. Lee
The Old Man and The Sea by E. Hemmingway
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester
The Series of Unfortunate Events books #1-#13 by L. Snickett
The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village
The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
The Slippery Slope
The Grim Grotto
The Penultimate Peril
The End
Pygmalion by G.B. Shaw
Bleak House by C. Dickens


2009: Started
*The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
*Emma by J. Austen
*Little Women by L.M. Alcott
The Cat Who Went Banana's by L.J. Braun- Not sure if I like this or not..we'll see.
Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
My Fair Lady by A.J. Lerner- I'm not going to finish this one. I read Pygmalion (which is the book that My Fair Lady is based on) and liked it and then started My Fair Lady but did not enjoy it and decided that I wouldn't waste time reading something that was not enjoyable.



2010: Want to read

Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
*The Fellowship of the Ring
*Two Towers
*The Return of the King
I Capture the Castle by D. Smith
Martin Chuzzlewit by C. Dickens
Daniel Deronda by G. Eliot
The Princess Bride by W. Goldman
Shirley by C. Bronte
Agnes Grey by A. Bronte
The Pickwick Papers by C. Dickens
*An Old Fashioned Girl by L.M. Alcott
*A Rose in Bloom by L.M. Alcott
Cranford and Other Stories by E. Gaskell (thanks Lizzie!)
Master and Commander by P. O'Brian
The Ne'er Do Well by R. Beach
The Girl of the Limberlost by G. Stratton-Porter
The rest of the Anne books by L.M. Montgomery
*Rainbow Valley
*Rilla of Ingleside
Little Dorrit by C. Dickens
The Swiss Family Robinson by J.D. Wyss (thanks Beck!)
*The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis

What books did you all read last year? What books would you like to read in the coming year?

Happy 2010 my friends!
Love,
Jane

Speaking of Books

If anyone wants to buy me a Christmas present...



I want this

and this

and this

and this

Oh and especially this!!

Aren't these absolutely gorgeous? They are from Anthropologie.
I am so in love with these.
*swoon*

~Jane

***EDIT: They also sell these at Amazon.com!! Gasp! For cheaper! And free shipping!

Reading is a hobby!

Some of you have been admitting that you are slow at reading books and that you think it's a sad or bad thing. I disagree. I think of reading as a hobby and as you can see, a hobby is...

Hob-by

1. An activity or interest pursued
for pleasure or relaxation and not
as a main occupation.

It should never be a drudgery! I know that sometimes we have to read books that aren't quite to our taste like some books for school but most of the reading we do is for the pure pleasure of reading and getting transported to another time or place. The important thing is not how long or short of a time it took you to read but whether you enjoyed it or not. You should read what you want and enjoy it at whatever pace you read!

Some people read 30 books a year, some only read 3 or even 1. Me, I'm a voracious reader. If I'm not reading a book I feel....well, I'm always reading so I don't know how I feel when I'm not reading! But, I just love to read and I will stay up all hours and read, read, read to the detriment of my sleep and health! Now, my sister Marg doesn't read near as many books as I but that does not mean that she doesn't enjoy books or reading as much. She enjoys reading every bit as much as I do!

The lovely thing about books is that they will always be there for you to read. They wont expire, die or fade away over time. So, when you get to them, whether it's tomorrow or years from now, they will be there waiting for you to pick them up and get lost in their pages.

Reading is not a chore or a test with a time limit, it's a hobby! It's a joy!

Happy reading!
Love, Jane

'Tis the season...

...to read Little Women again! As most of you readers know, it's my tradition to read Little Women every year. I always read the first chapter "Playing Pilgrims" on Thanksgiving night.

So, any of you that what to join me, please do! And I would love to know how you are coming along, what your favorite parts are and everything else. Leave comments! ;) My sister Aimee is going to read it at the same time. Yay!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving day!

Love,

Jane

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Every once in awhile I love to wander through the children's section in the library and randomly pick up some books I've never heard of that sound interesting and take them home and be surprised.
My most recent find was 'The Mysterious Benedict Society' by Trenton Lee Stewart.
It was a fun read, kept you curious until the end and you came to love all the quirky characters and I was quite sad to leave them by the end. But I wont give too much away as to keep it a mystery. ;)

Currently I'm reading through the Lemony Snicket books, Little Dorrit, Mansfield Park, and a lovely book of Keat's poetry.

What are you reading?

A Bad Beginning

Just to let you know, I just finished the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It is called The Bad Beginning. The Bad Beginning is a great beginning! :) Cannot wait to read more. I love the movie with Jim Carey in it.

On to The Reptile Room!

I also started Bleak House! Yay! I love it already. This is actually my first Charles Dickens novel. I have read The Christmas Carol and it is lovely but Bleak House is the first long novel of his I have ever read. So excited! I love the way he writes. He describes things so well with so much detail without the story getting bogged down and lost. The story moves along quite nicely. In my opionion anyway. :) I must say though, that I have always loved long descriptive books.

I will let you know how I get on.
What you are you all reading at the moment?
Have a lovely day.
Jane

Past, Present and Future

Books I got to read this Summer:

Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery
Freddy and the Popinjay by Walter R. Brooks
The Sackett Brand by Louis L'Amour
The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper
The Tutors First Love by George MacDonald


What I'm reading right now:

Wulf the Saxon by G.A. Henty
The Musician's Quest by George MacDonald

Next on the reading list:

Bleak House by Charles Dickens (Thank you Lizzie for the birthday gift!!!!)
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (also from Lizzie.. :))
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (I want to read these again. I haven't read them since the movies came out. My sister is reading The Hobbit to me and my sister Aimee. So good!)

What's on your list of "To Read"'? Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Summer!
Love,
Jane
P.S. Don't you want a library like one of the ones above??