Books are a gift-giving theme around here. My husband and I give them to each other. We give them to the children. Other family members give them to our children, especially our oldest son, who is himself an avid reader {I think it is genetic}. My husband and I are currently trying to figure out our library issues as far as shelving is concerned because we add so many books each year, especially at Christmas time and again for lessons.
I do try and weed books out via PaperBackSwap. I list any book I don’t think we’ll read again…unless of course we think it is worth lending out. Some one-time reads are still very much worth keeping for this purpose.
See? This is my problem. I am a book-a-holic bibliophile.
Alright, so here are all the incoming books {I think…a few may have wandered off already}. I love staring at book cases when I visit someone’s home, so this is me letting you look at my new shelf, so to speak.
Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl:
Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World
The Importance of Being Earnest:
A Trivial Novel for Serious People
The Penderwicks:
A Summer Tale of Four Sisters,
Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
The Divine Comedy
{my pride and joy}
Postmillennialism:
An Eschatology of Hope
National Wildlife Federation
Field Guide to Trees of North America
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction
The Princess Adelina:
An Ancient Christian Tale of Beauty and Bravery
The Big Snow
{a new favorite already…}
Some of these books are duplicate copies. We love duplicate copies. I have read stories of home educating mothers looking on with horror as their grown children pillage the family library by claiming ownership of certain books. In anticipation of this problem, I {1} make sure that each book belonging to a child has their name in it {all other books are mine, mine, mine!} and {2} thoroughly enjoy when a child receives a copy of a classic to own themselves. This is the easiest way to decrease the chance of them attempting to take my copy. There is also a third way: {3} keep all favorite copies in a locking cabinet.
Ahem.
We had extra blessings this Christmas, completely on accident. I always have an ongoing wishlist on PBS, but if we reach Thanksgiving and I haven’t gotten any matches, I go ahead and order one book per child. Well, this year we hit Thanksgiving, and…no good matches. So, I went ahead and ordered. About a week later, I began getting match after match until I ended up being able to add another book for each child {well, all but the baby, but he likes boxes best anyhow}. This never happens, and it was so fun to surprise the children with two books each.
The Dante is mine. I think I will keep it by my bedside so I can stare at it while falling asleep. I first read this when I was 16 and I didn’t even understand it, but I loved it. Good memories of this one, and the embossed leather binding was perfect for my display case {what a good husband}.
Did you receive a special book for Christmas?
7 Comments
Rahime,
What age do you think that anatomy book is fit for? I’d like to tackle that sometime, some year.
KM, If Elsa Beskow has your endorsement as well, I am most definitely putting her on the list! In fact, we have a February birthday coming up for someone who has a particular affection for beautiful pictures and stories…Hmmm…
Rachel, If you ever “review” the Geneva Bible, I’d love to read it. I know that sounds strange, but I am very curious about it, and have never read that particular translation. I wonder, for instance, how it reads (the KJV seems “Shakespearean” to me), and whether the Psalms come across as beautiful. Some translations do a better job than others when it comes to capturing the genres…Anyhow, like I said, let me know if you ever comment on it!
I got a copy of the Geneva Bible. 🙂 Hubby says he saw it and immediately thought, “Rachel would want this.” (Then he ordered it and started to worry that maybe Rachel already had it. lol But I didn’t.)
Oh, Brandy, you’ll love Elsa Beskow. It’s sad that so many of her books are out of print, but luckily our library has copies.
I love perusing your new books! I think I got any reading books myself this year, but I did get a fabulous-looking Mennonite cookbook and a few sewing books. My sister got Francis Chan’s Crazy Love on audio which I plan to borrow when she’s done.
David Macaulay has an anatomy book that I can’t wait to get for my niece and nephew in a couple years.
Love the peek at your new shelf, Brandy! So many treats to gaze at, fondle, sigh over, and eventually read. 🙂 Can you tell I’m a bibliomaniac as well? We love The Big Snow! Just reading it fills me with calm. I think I’ll go and pull it out now to look through while we’re having our own big snow in NH.
Mrs. H,
Would you believe I had never heard of Elsa Beskow before your comment? I just googled her…I am definitely putting her on my list! Her work looks delightful!
My son is working on knot tying as his handicraft this coming term. So much fun! Next year we can let them tie elaborate knots on the Christmas packages, no? 🙂
No books for me, but the kids got 3 Elsa Beskow picture books, The Coral Island, a Calvin and Hobbes book, and a knot tying book.
Mrs. H