There’s a crispness in the air that I despise. Yes, I said despise. Sorry, Fall and Football lovers. I love summer and I cannot lie. I do not like cold days. I do not like the mess of leaves all over the back yard, and all the raking…raking…raking. I don’t like watching the summer flowers die. I don’t like heavy clothing and jeans every day. But really, the biggest problem of all is that my family is not taking our one and only beach vacation until mid-September. Summer, please stay until then!
However! I am trying to conjure up happy memories of hot chocolate and books by a warm fire. Maybe if I start a Fall reading list, I’ll let go of my morbidity towards Autumn. If I can keep finding as many good books in the Autumn months as I’ve found in August, the coming season will be pretty swell.
Here are the books I finished this month.:
1. Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier
The sequel to Wildwood Dancing, but not nearly as great. Still, a pretty good read, especially if you’re a fan of the genre. Marillier is one of my new favorite YA authors.
2. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Read my reviews (yes, there are two of them) here and here
3. The Artist’s Daughter
I really liked this memoir. Read my review here
4. Slash Your Grocery Budget & Eat a Whole Foods Diet With Aldi by Carrie Willard
I read a slew of nonfiction this month. I consider it a slew, anyway. The main reason was that Ella came down with a stomach bug on Sunday afternoon and I couldn’t leave her side without her getting upset. So while she dozed, I read all the free e-books I’ve been downloading to the Kindle app on my phone. I find these free books on moneysavingmom.com, but I usually download them and then forget about them. I was grateful to have them this weekend, though.
Slash Your Grocery Budget was a great book for people who shop at Aldi or are considering shopping at Aldi. It includes menus and recipes—features that equal awesomeness in any nonfiction book. I haven’t actually tried any of the recipes yet, but I plan to. Look for this book to show up in my next Saturday Cooking feature.
5. A Simpler Season by Jessica Fisher
With the chill in the air and the impending hours watching football, I’m feeling like now is a good time to start planning some projects for Christmas. Last Christmas I had all kinds of ideas and hardly any of them got done. I’m okay with that; my kids were 3 and 1, we had a nice holiday season that was not as stressful as usual, we celebrated what mattered. Still, I’d like to be a little more involved in the details this year. A Simpler Season was a good starting point for me to think through those some of those details. Will you still find me in Target two days before Christmas? Probably. But hope springs eternal.
6. How to Eat A Cupcake by Meg Donahue
A departure from the norm for me, but in a fun, not-too-terrible, romantic comedy kind of way. Read my review here.
Now I’m working on East of the Sun by Julia Gregson. For school with Ella, we’re reading In Grandma’s Attic. I can’t tell you how much I am loving re-reading my favorite children’s chapter books with Ella. We tried The Bobbsey Twins, but it was a little wordy for now. Maybe in a year or two. I actually never liked those books much, but they seem cute to me now.
Tell me what should go on my Fall reading list! I need a long, cheering list to console me over being robbed (robbed!) of summer.
Ginger says:
When my girls were smaller, I had a hard time finding books that were both engaging and gentle. I remember writing to you to ask for “girl book recommendations” at the time. _Grandma’s Attic_ was a hit with our crowd, too. Some other favorites were the _Little House_ books, _The Boxcar Children_ (Rosemary read bunches of them once she learned how to read on her own, but after the first one, they were pretty formulaic for read-alouds), _Pollyanna_ (the version we own may be abridged), _The Big Picture Story Bible_ by David Helm (we seriously read some of it every day for years), _The Lightlings_ by R.C. Sproul, _Winnie-the-Pooh_ and _The House at Pooh Corner_ by A.A. Milne (some of my very, very favorites; the girls are tired of them by now, but I keep pulling them out for the boys–but really for me), and _The Secret Garden_ (they may have been a little older for this one).
MiaTheReader says:
Thank you so much for the ideas for children’s books that Ella might like. And maybe even Isaac! He actually listened to most of the Boxcar Children, and really identified with Benny. =) I need to look up that Facebook conversation we had about girls books. I’m always open for more ideas if you have any.