We finally finished The Hobbit last night. It was an hour and a half of reading aloud for me and I sounded a bit like a smoker at the end of it but it was definitely worth it. Catherine gave a big sigh after I set the book down and asked, "Why do books like that have to have an ending?"
But of course it doesn't have an ending. Next up is The Fellowship of the Ring which we actually started a couple of months back but dropped in favour of rereading The Hobbit. It's going to take ages but I'll enjoy it. I love reading aloud anyway and the book I'm reading from happens to be a beautiful Folio edition with gorgeous illustrations, bright white pages and crisp black text. It was also part of a $200 set and one of the stupidest purchases a poor young couple could make way back when we bought it. But still, it's purdy. And a joy to read.
We're also readng a little biography of C.S. Lewis and as soon as we're finished with that we're on to Bill Bryson's A Short History of Everything. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait. I keep sneaking peeks at that one and it looks like one we'll all enjoy.
Now, since the best way to wrap up a post you don't have a good ending for is to ask a question, I'll ask a question. Do any of you have any read-alouds on the go right now?
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The kids and I are getting ready to start George's Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy & Stephen Hawking. I am actually starting a book group for this with some local HSers. The kids and I are also in the middle of Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. (We started this awhile back, but put it on hold.) But we are listening to the audio Cd's for Harry Potter, Jim Dale is awesome! Plus we are reading The Story of Science Aristotle Leads the Way for science. And at some point we need to read the Cartoon Guide to Chemistry by Larry Gonick. That should keep us busy a bit. hehe
Oh geez! Guess what book I just googled and is on another tab on my browser just this minute? :D George's Secret Key to the Universe! Catherine absolutely LOVED the first chapter of A Short History of Nearly Everything and I was looking for other, related resources when the email notifying me of your comment came in.
Please let me know if you like it! Might be next on our reading list!
Catherine gave a big sigh after I set the book down and asked, "Why do books like that have to have an ending?"
Tell her that they don't - the story doesn't have to end if she wants it to continue...the characters all have a home in her mind now and they'll live on if she asks that of them...
If she looks at you with that classic preteen "My mum is nuts" look on her face, hand her a pen and a notebook...she'll catch on. ;-)
I'm afraid the only read alouds going on here at the moment are our devotions book and stuff about Alberta that we dig up online/in library books/etc... once we get settled out west, we'll choose a good novel to start up again... :-)
John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series. Book #8 just came out in his native Australia, but the States are only up to book 5 or maybe 5 isn't even out yet (These books are available in Canada editions too, not sure which book number you'd be up to by now.).
So after the first four bought locally, we order online from a bookshop in Sydney, and Book 8 should be here any day for our read-aloud pleasure! Young Son loves this series so much that for his birthday (13th) last summer, he wanted a Ranger's cloak. We found a theatre costumer to make one for him and I can hardly get it off him. :)
p.s. Yes, Jim Dale is AWESOME! Did you know he's the narrator for the new tv series Pushing Daisies btw?
My 12yo and I are reading Phantom Tollbooth and the Great Number Rumble now. I think we will do Redwall next. We usually have a math book going as well but I'm not sure which one we will read next.
To ruth in NC -- my 13-year-old just read "The Number Devil" in an afternoon (not aloud) and enjoyed it.
Author, Hans Magnus Enzenberger
We loved the Hobbit! But I think mine are a little too young for Lord of the Rings just yet.
Our current read-aloud is Nim's Island and our CD-book is The Three Musketeers (loving this!).
Lots of great read alouds - the funny thing is that I have a good many on my bookshelf but hadn't thought of reading them - like The Three Musketeers.
We're reading The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley. We've recently enjoyed A Wrinkle in Time. Grace greatly enjoys the original Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum. You can download the audiobooks of those on librivox.org too!
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