For the Record: December 2015

I thought I'd give this month a proper wrap-up before I start diving into the huge (and hugely fun) end-of-year stats. This December was more of a blur than usual, since the whole family had a terrible cold/flu for a couple weeks, as well as cramming in the final construction for our house before our epic housewarming party on the 12th. Boy am I glad that is behind me! Looking back through my month I realized I hadn't written down anything I read (highly unusual for me!) but I think I pieced it all together.

4 Books Read in December [83 books year-to-date]

2 for Home School:
  - The Landmark History of the American People Volume I, Daniel Boorstin (5) I didn't much like the older version of this book, but the new edition with its beautiful illustrations has been a wonderful resource to use with my 6th grader. One really gets a sense of how life was, why things developed as they did, and the sense of speed with which progress was made.
  - The Lewis and Clark Expedition, Richard L. Neuberger (3) Much more boring than it needed to be (it literally put multiple people to sleep). If I'd known, we would have watched the Ken Burns documentary instead.

1 for Book Club:
  - Lila, Marilynne Robinson (4) I liked this better than Gilead, though that may be partly because I had some history with the story. Touching and thoughtful, and masterfully crafted.

1 Other:
  - The Night Watch, Sarah Waters (3.5) Enjoyable, but not as much depth as I was hoping for. A little too much relied on the relationships rather than the characters themselves.

      


Current Reads:
  - Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett. I'm still enjoying my current audiobook, even though I'm not much for the explicit scenes. I like the time period and the story.
  - The Old West, Stephen G. Hyslop. The one book I got for Christmas. It's more of a coffee table book, with lots of illustrations and text divided into tidbits, but I'm enjoying it.
  - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Jean Lee Latham. Current read-aloud to my 11yo daughter to go along with our history studies.