Ambleside Online Year 10
Winston Churchill, The Great Democracies. This is volume 4 of the series History of the English Speaking Peoples, but each volume is actually three books. I read Book 11 this month. Churchill writes from a British perspective and focuses mainly on British history. When he talks about the United States and the Revolutionary War, he tells the story from the point of view of Great Britain. This book, however, told the story of the Civil War in the United States. I always get confused with all the battles and such of the civil war, but after listening to the audio of this, I sorted it out a bit more. Many of the places we drove through or stayed at last spring were mentioned, bringing further meaning to that trip.
Paul Johnson, A History of the American People. I also read only part of this, but the part I did read also covered the Civil War. I love Johnson’s work. I am plodding through it slowly but should finish it sometime next year. He focuses more on the politics and draws threads I never noticed before. It was a great second perspective on the Civil War read next to Churchill’s recounting of the events.
L. Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier. Short and sweet, this is the journal of a soldier. It reminds you of how mundane the war actually was. They were tired and hungry, and most of their time was not spent fighting.
Mrs. Thomas Barge, A Woman’s Wartime Journal. Another gem with a firsthand account of the war. Mrs. Thomas Barge lived in Georgia as Sherman’s army came through on their way to the sea. You read first-hand of the fear of what the soldiers would do and then see what really happened. Very short – less than an hour to read – and very worthwhile.
Solomon Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave. Northrup was a free black living in New York when he was tricked into joining a circus and subsequently drugged, robbed of his papers saying he was a free black, and sold into slavery. He was educated and gives a well-written firsthand account of his years of slavery and how he finally regained his freedom.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Cloudspotter’s Guide. This was my own selection as a possible science supplement for the upper years. The first half was rather tedious as it gave technical descriptions of various types of clouds and then rambled on about how they are used in Greek myths, art and literature. The second half finally covered the things I specifically wanted to learn more about, such as the order of appearance of various clouds as a front moves through and how to read the sky to predict weather. The final chapters include an interesting discussion of cloud-seeding and contrails.
Biography/Memoir
Annie Dillard, An American Childhood. This is the Well Read Mom selection to be discussed in October. I’ve read other books by Dillard and have loved them. Her writing is very rich with lots of description and little plot. At first, it can seem like sensory overload. I advised everyone in our book group to take this slowly and not try to cram it all in a day or two before we discuss it. I loved her descriptions of 1950’s Pittsburgh and her childhood as a future author. She did lots of reading and drawing and observing yet surprisingly little writing for what I would expect of a future author.
Nina Riggs, The Bright Hour. This is a cancer memoir written by a lady who had a MFA in poetry. Hence it is very poetic with lush descriptions on the meaning of life. She does tell of how her cancer progressed which helped me understand more of what my friend is going through. If you love poetry, this is a great book. Personally, I prefer When Breath Becomes Air, but both are good.
Classics
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey. I love Jane Austen. I’d heard that this book is different from the rest of her work and her own spin on the gothic novel (which I love). That description turned out to be right on. At the end, I wasn’t sure she’d be able to wrap it up in typical Jane Austen fashion with only a few minutes of audio remaining, but she did it quite splendidly.
Modern Classics
Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety. Close Reads just finished a series on this so I re-read it along with that. Last time I devoured a Kindle copy from the library. This time I slowly read a hard copy, savoring every word and every well-crafted sentence. This one of my favorite books, and a second reading only made me love it more. That man can write!
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian. I read this because the Bookening podcast selected it for October. I complained about their podcast in last month’s reading wrap-up. I came back to listen to what they thought of this book, and they didn’t finish it! They got to the first battle and decided the book was too gruesome and not worth reading. They have the right to their opinions, but others whom I respect speak very highly of this book. McCarthy bases his story on events on the Texas-Mexican border during the 1850’s. There is no denying it is gruesome, but at the same time, he is very matter-of-fact in his descriptions, not preaching or making judgments. You feel like you are there, watching events unfold. If you look closely, the story follows that of a kid from Tennessee, but it isn’t really about him per se – it’s just limited to what he would have seen and known about, giving the story a linear quality without being a first-hand account. I both listened to this and read it, and while I wouldn’t recommend it for everybody, I do think it is a worthwhile read.
Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night. This was the Modern Mrs. Darcy book club main selection for September. While I didn’t finish it in time for the discussion, it wasn’t my first Sayers mystery and it won’t be my last. I love books about early 20th century England, and Sayers only intensifies that love. She also writes a mystery that doesn’t feel like a mystery, yet keeps you thinking about who committed the crime. You follow along with Harriet Vane and Peter Wimsy as the story unfolds and they look for clues, but Sayers doesn’t give you all the clues and expect you to figure it out before they do (which I really like – I can enjoy it without feeling dumb for not figuring it out before they do).
Contemporary Fiction
Will Hobbs, Crossing the Wire. This was the Waverly Community Library youth book club selection for September. It’s the story of a young teen living in Mexico who crosses the border into the United States when corn prices plummet and his family no longer has a way to support themselves in Mexico. The story follows as he travels north and makes various attempts to cross. The book is very even-handed and lends good perspective on the whole border issue without inserting bias. We had a lively discussion of this book, and no, we did not all share the same viewpoints on the issue.
Cece Bell, El Deafo. This is a graphic novel about a kid who gets sick as a preschooler and suffers hearing loss as a result. She goes to school and uses various hearing aids all while living a typical childhood with friends and new neighbors. It is semi-autobiographical and very well done. I cannot speak highly enough of this book.
Nonfiction
Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of Maladies. This is a Pulitzer Prize winning history of cancer. A hefty 571 pages, it goes through the science of cancer without overwhelming the non-scientist. I’ve heard different things over the years of how cancer is treated, and I’ve also wondered why it doesn’t appear in literature really until the 20th century. This book answered all of those questions and more. I read it – devoured it – in less than a week, and Steve read it right after me almost as quickly.
Robert D. Kaplan, Earning the Rockies. This was the PBS/New York Times Now Read This book club selection for September. Part travelogue, part essay on foreign policy, Kaplan makes a case for how our geography gives the United States a unique roll in the world. I’ve traveled through or lived in many of the places he visits on his cross-country tour. He comes across as an East coast elite, looking down on Midwesterns who have no interest in foreign policy while it is common dinner table conversation in his neck of the woods. My response to that would be that he doesn’t worry about how his crops are growing this season but just goes down to the grocery store and buys whatever food he needs, all thanks to the Midwestern farmers who’ve done all that worrying for him. But I digress. He makes many interesting observations and wrote what I found to be a very thought-provoking book.
Anne Bogel, I’d Rather Be Reading. This is a short book of essays by the author of Modern Mrs. Darcy, whose book club I speak of so often. It’s a lighthearted book about the joys and challenges of reading. This is one of those blogger-turned-author books – I have a whole separate opinion on those types of books. I’ll just say this is one of the better ones. If you know a book lover and want to buy them a gift without having to figure out what types of books they like, this is the solution to your problem.
Dorthea Brande, Becoming a Writer. I blazed through this book in a couple of sittings earlier this year. This time through, I slowed down and read no more than a chapter a day, giving myself time to really absorb her ideas. Once again, a second reading did not disappoint.
Books with the Kids
Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies. I read this aloud at the beginning of our school day for several weeks. Jonathan Auxier wrote Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes which Caroline and I listened to in June and she so loved. His newest book Sweep is loosely inspired by The Water Babies so I read Kingsley’s classic in anticipation of that. It’s a book of its time – the writing is thick and the plot does not move quickly, but overall, it is a good story with lots of adventure. It fits right in with magical books like Alice in Wonderland and others of that era. It is also a free-read for Ambleside Online.
Mary Norton, The Borrowers Afield. This is the second in a series and a free-read for Ambleside Online. We listened to the audio version in the car on short trips. It took us a while, but only because I tend to run errands without children during the summer so there wasn’t as much time spent on it. We enjoyed it as much as the first one. At some point we will get around to the others as well. They are cheerful little books about tiny people living inside the walls who are guilty of borrowing those little things that mysteriously go missing all the time.
E. Nesbit, The Treasure Seekers. Another classic listed as a free-read on Ambleside Online. Again, it is a book of its time and tends to be slow, but it’s not bad in short doses. We started it last spring on our weekly trips to town and finally finished it once school resumed this fall. I love classic children’s tales and this did not disappoint. A family has fallen on hard times and the children try various and sundry means to find treasure to help the family out of its financial woes.
Louisa May Alcott, Little Men. We’d listened to this one before (and enjoyed it) but I got it out again when we drove to Michigan for a short weekend trip. Alcott is very anti-corporal punishment for her time and this book is all about Jo managing a household of tough orphan boys with gentle parenting. A bit preachy at times, at least to a parent’s ears, but it’s still a great story. I never read her books as a kid, and I am so glad Ambleside Online lists them as free reads so I would make the point to read them.
Janet Stevens, Tops and Bottoms. Last but not least, a picture book. This was the Read Aloud Revival selection for September. If you ever need to give a picture book as a gift, this is a great one. A lazy bear doesn’t want to work, and some enterprising rabbits get him to agree to let them garden his land if they give him the bottoms and he gets the tops. They raise root vegetables, so, of course, the next year he switches the deal. This time they raise things like cabbage that once again leave him with nothing. Their next offer is to give him both tops and bottoms, so they raise corn and take the “middles” [the ears] for themselves. After that, the bear gets smart and learns to do his own work. What a fun book!