So what are your HS kids reading?

[Susan Wise Bauer]

And are they struggling, or enjoying?

I'll start:

16 yos: Hunchback of Notre Dame. He's a strong reader and he likes it, but he's currently hung up on a "twenty page description of Paris."

14 yos: Dante's Inferno, the Robert Pinsky translation. He's NOT a strong reader, but he asked to read it because he saw references to it in a computer game. :rolleyes: He's doing pretty well with it in fairly small chunks--about 4 pages per day.


I, meanwhile, am reading Shopaholic and Baby. :)

[Kelli in TN]

My 17 year old is reading Mark Twain's Humorous Stories and Sketches. I think she has also started reading The Nazi Officer's Wife since I just finished it and I was telling her about it.

I think she is enjoying it. She took it off of her school shelf where it was waiting patiently for its turn to show up on an assignment sheet. I guess I won't need to assign it to her. She is really bad about getting into her literature before I assign it. What a bad girl!

[Happy]

My 17 year old non reader son has discovered reading--finally. :D For pleasure he is reading 'I Am Legend.' For school, 'The Autobiography of Ben Franklin' starts on Monday.

[Jane in NC]

is reading The Inferno, as is my husband. (Ciardi's translation because we own two copies of it!) Additionally, the same son recently ran away with Bryson's latest on Shakespeare from the library bag, which was fine because I am busy with two books: Deep Economy (Bill McKibben) and The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, a truly interesting fantasy/mystery.

Oh, I do like the ability to easily underline and use italics--nice feature of the new board!

Jane

[OH Lori]

I'm embarrassed to say that I'm yammering on my 9th grader to read The Diary of Anne Frank. She hasn't yet because she doesn't like "stories that end badly". She's about to start The Iliad, as soon as it comes from the library. She is reading The Well-Educated Mind again. No brown-nosing, Susan, it totally bewilders me because she's already read it once this school year.

Having already read Shopaholic and Baby (very cute) I am reading Straight Man by Richard Russo and Key Lime Pie Murder (Joanne Fluke).

Lori

[Karenciavo]

My ds14 is also reading Dante's Inferno, he's doing O.K. with the reading, but he has to analyze it with TOG using a book by Leland Ryken called "Words of Delight." That bit of it is making him a little loopy.

For fun he is reading "I Am America (And So Can You!)" It's not entirely appropriate, but it's so funny. I love Colbert's idea of building a big front porch along our borders and manning it with cranky old men who like to yell, "Get off my lawn!", but in this case they would say, "Get off my country!" I guess I'm easily amused. :o

[Susan Wise Bauer]

Oh, golly. Words of Delight? That strikes me as a challenge for a 14-yo boy.

Tell him I feel his pain.

SWB

[Begonia]

My 13 year old is finishing Stanley Lombardo's translation of The Odyssey. It's not my favorite translation (it brings the text down to ordinary speech), but she seems to be enjoying it.

Begonia in VA

[Liz CA]

16 yo ds started to read selections of "Divine Meditations" by Donne and then with a tremendous sigh of relief fell on his bed during his lunch hour and grabbed a Star Wars book.
Have I failed completely?

[Jane in NC]

It has been extraordinarily beneficial to listen to The Teaching Company's lectures on Dante. This is what has kept us company on the way to and from hockey games during the last few weeks. (Trust me, the dear lad's reading assignments are, um, unique! But from what he tells me, the locker room represents some circle of Hell, based on smell alone!)

[percytruffle]

My ds, 17, is reading The Scarlett Letter (American Lit), Jane Eyre (his choice), and The Practice of the Presence of God (my choice). He is doing just fine. He actually just finished The Scarlett Letter and has written a character analysis of Dimsdale.

[Jean in Wisc]

My 17yo is reading The Great Gatsby. He'd like to know if there is any explanation for why the author (or anyone else) would write (or read) such a book...

My 14yo is reading Orestia. He loves to read--but thinks this lacks, um, momentum?

I'm not batting a thousand here.

I'm still enjoying the depths of Simple Stargazing (http://shadesofwhite.typepad.com/shades_of_white/2008/01/simple-starga-1.html) and The Travels of Marco Polo. Now if we could only have a few nights without clouds...

Jean

[Laura in VA]

I Am America (and So Can You) is hilarious! We did skip chapters, though!

[Kelli in TN]

I am busy with two books: Deep Economy (Bill McKibben) and The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, a truly interesting fantasy/mystery.

Um, the above is supposed to be in quotations as I was quoting Jane. Obviously I need some practice with the new forum.
Jane,
I am reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union as well! I picked it up on a whim at the library. I am not very deep into it yet, though.

[Karenciavo]

I Am America (and So Can You) is hilarious! We did skip chapters, though!

Yes, we asked him to skip two chapters.

[RebeccaC]

Both my boys 14 and 15 are just starting The Coral Island and if we remain brave will follow with Lord of the Flies and then will compare and contrast the two books.

Rebecca

[Rebecca in TN]

My 18 yo dd is reading poetry for school right now and loving it. In her spare time, the books she is reading are In the Hall of the Dragon King by Stephen Lawhead and The Golden Cross by Angela Hunt.

[Crissy]

My teen is reading Dracula and Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower. He is enjoying the former, not so much the latter.

I am working on two books at the moment. Age of Innocence and What is the What.
Post-football season is the time of year when I can read more than usual and I am enjoying every minute of it.

[ChristyB in AL]

My 16 yo ds is reading 2 biographies:one on Theodore Roosevelt, one on Shaun Alexander.

15 year old son is reading a biography on Johann Sebastian Bach.

(can you tell I assigned them to read a bio?):)

[Kareni]

For a writing class at the community college:

finishing up The Souvenir by Steinman (a memoir written by a woman who finds a Japanese flag among her WWII veteran father's possessions after his death)

soon to begin The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (linked short stories regarding the Vietnam War era)

and for pleasure, as many manga and fantasy books as she can squeeze in with other obligations.

Regards,
Kareni

[BritAnnia]

My dd17 is reading through Jane Austen's novels this year. I think she's currently on Mansfield Park.
For fun she just finished Cold Comfort Farm.
My ds15 (not homeschooled) is just starting Robinson Crusoe if I don't steal it from him. Neither of us have ever read it.
I'm reading The Confederacy of Dunces, selection of short mystery stories called Murder Most British, and reading along with The Fellowship of the Ring audio along with Dh.

This is my first post here so... here goes nothin'!

[StaceyinLA]

not enough to make me happy!

[Cedarmom]

!6yr ds : Just beginning Sir Gawain translated by Tolkein (school reading)
The Treasure of Isengard also by Tolkein (his pleasure reading, I think this is his third time he has read it-he is a total Tolkein fan)

myself: Sir Gawain
The Kite Runner
The Bondage of The Will by Martin Luther


I am computer illiterate however, so hopefully I did this post correctly.

Cedarmom

[Needleroozer]

My ds, 15, started the Pinsky translation, and didn't like it- stating it was too modern, and not "flowy" enough for his liking. He just finished the Longellow translation and loved it. Is that weird or what?!

He is now reading Coghill's translation of Chaucer's Cantebury Tales. Next in line are several Shakespeare plays.

[Needleroozer]

!6yr ds : Just beginning Sir Gawain translated by Tolkein (school reading)

I am sure he will enjoy it, being a Tolkein fan- my ds read this one in 2 days- loved it.

[Antonia]

My soon-to-be 15yo dd is reading "The Historian." I let her have a 'fun' read after every classic (last one was "Siddhartha").

[Karen in CO]

My 17yo is reading Hamlet and Shakespeare and Co. for me. He is reading The Naked Roommate and 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into in College for himself. We are going to start Paradise Lost in two weeks. He is a very strong reader and isn't struggling with these. He struggled with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - the Tolkien translation, but once we moved up to Shakespeare it has been easier for him. He never thought of Shakespearean English as easy until he started reading Old and Middle English.

[coloradostef]

My 18 year old is reading Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand (his current passion is Tibetan Buddhism) and my 14 year old is reading Huckleberry Finn (and enjoying it).

I am am reading Your Inner Economist (for my college class) and Shadow Music (I admit -- I love good romance novels!).

It will be interesting to see how this post turns out -- I love the new format!

[WTMindy]

My brother played hockey, and I will be a voucher for the fact that there is no worse smell on earth (or below) than a hockey bag (or locker room, I would guesss)!!

[Raders Fan]

Ninth grade ds is laboring through the Old Testament and Herodotus, and reading The Times That Try Men's Souls (historical fiction series covering the Revolutionary War period) for fun.

I'm also working on the OT and Herodotus, as well as SWB's History of the Ancient World and The Forgotten Man.

[DollyM]

DD-17 (avid reader) used a PaperBackBookSwap credit to get a reading copy of CS Lewis' Till We have Faces

DS-14 (prefers video games) used his Christmas Barnes & Noble card to get MYTHOLOGY - The Illustrated Anthology of World Myths and Storytelling which he is reading like a pleasure book (go figure but I'm thinking there must be a WoW angle in there somewhere) and The Daring Book for Boys which I incorrectly thought might be too young for him.

I'm only mildly ashamed to admit that I'm currently reading Ann Coulter's latest. (Not putting the actual title here due to respect for the board rules LOL).:p

[JennW in SoCal]

I have to admit that I'm a bit intimidated by everything your teens are reading! Because I'm simply thrilled that my 16yo ds, who seems allergic literature, is reading, and thoroughly enjoying, a graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor's Tale. It won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize, so it isn't fluff, but it is a graphic novel. It is the autobiographical story about the author, his father's experience in Auschwitz, and how it shaped their lives together. The Jews are mice, the Germans are cats, and the drawings provide a bit of a buffer from the horrors, though it is a brutally honest story.

My ds is discussing it, analyzing it --- he is totally engaged. And I'm thrilled!

I'm looking forward to enjoying more of the classics with my younger son, who loves literature. He is a huge fan of mythology and fantasy, though he also loves Sherlock Holmes and James Herriot!

[cin]

My 6 yr old dd is reading Herriott's Treasury for children (?), a collection of his short stories, and one of the Betsy Tacy books. I'm working on several books: Pride and Prejudice, Possessing Genius, The Journey of Einstein's Brain, Fox's Book of Martyrs and a frivolous Mrs. Polifax mystery. It all depends on When & Where :D

[GraciebytheBay]

My 17 yo just finished a Patrick O'Brian novel and is now reading Edith Wharton's House of Mirth. My ds 15 is reading a book about Bill Belichick (the coach of the Patriots).

[Chris in VA]

Ds18 (junior this year, CC next year, hopefully) is going thru Sonlight's 300 curriculum for history, but we aren't sticking to it too closely.
He just finished The Hiding Place, and is now watching several movies about the Holocaust (just finished Schindler's List and Life is Beautiful--up next is Night and Fog). I'm debating what to assign next--probably just Old Man and the Sea for a quickie.
See my new thread to leave me some ideas for 1950's related fiction!
Thanks

[Anne in Hawaii]

Both my 15-year-old and my 13-year-old are reading Song of Roland. (Omnibus II) They are not enjoying it! We start Winning His Spurs on Tuesday.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

The newly non-homeschooled 15 y/o is reading Julius Ceasar. She's starting a new four-year history rotation, which is very cool to have had with mom and now to have with enthusiastic history teachers and mostly interested peers.

Here's her teacher's history music website: http://www.atlasfret.com/

That is, if the link posts.

[Paz]

just finished Amazing Grace: The Life of William Wilberforce. Before that she read Cry the Beloved Country. She read them easily but didn't really enjoy them that much. She is reading the Hobbit for enjoyment now and is beginning either I Kissed Dating Good-Bye or When God Writes Your Love Story for Health class.

[ereks mom]

read Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein. He liked both of those and has commented that The Deadliest Monster is really good. He is reading it as part of his apologetics course. He is reading Don't Check Your Brains at the Door on his own.

[Kendra]

My 15yo son is reading the selections from Veritas Press Omnibus III, but he is on a C.S Lewis kick right now and has been reading anything and everything by Lewis that he can get his hands on. I love it!

[Kendra]

John Piper's The Dangerous Duty of Delight.

[DKinTX]

My 14yods is reading 1776. He's not enjoying it, but he's a fairly strong reader and I think he'll learn from it. I also got him Hilter's Canary (he's semi obsessed with WW2).

[DKinTX]

Hmm...this sounds like something my son would enjoy. I'm off to search for it at my library. Thanks, Jennifer!

[hsmamainva]

My oldest dd is taking College Composition II at the local community college this semester and John Steinbeck is the primary literary focus -- so she's reading "Of Mice and Men" (which she read several years ago when she was homeschooling full-time) and "Cannery Row".

[Blue Hen]

Both my 15-year-old and my 13-year-old are reading Song of Roland. (Omnibus II) They are not enjoying it! We start Winning His Spurs on Tuesday.

My 15yo DS just finished reading this and really enjoyed it. I'm about 70 pgs into it also and enjoying it, and finding it an easy read. Most books are difficult for me to read.

(used to be Carole in DE)

[Brenda in MA]

My 16 yo ds is reading "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust" by Immaculee Ilibagiza. This title, along with Kite Runner, which he just finished, are part of his history/lit school reading for the 20th Century period.

I just finished a titled called "Boys Adrift" by Leonard Sax which is about the growing epidemic of unmovitated boys. I think someone at the WTM forum recommended this title, and I found it eye opening. If you have boys, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

Brenda

[Donnado]

12 yrs. ds is reading "The Troll King"

9 yrs. ds is reading the "Sugar Creek Gang"

I am reading "The Negotiator"

[Donnado]

Great book! I love Piper!

[OC Mom]

My 14yo dd just finished North and South (Gaskell). She'll start on an Austen novel next week...probably P&P.

[Pamela H in Texas]

My 15yo is reading Oliver Twist. I think she's enjoying it :)

[Sandra in NC]

Here are the books he's read recently. He is an avid reader, reading 2 books outside school assignments, each week. He prefers nonfiction - mostly from the 300's of the Dewey decimal system.

The prince / by Machiavelli, Niccolo
Life's a Campaign by Matthews, Chris (good book-- I read it too!)
What WE Say Goes by Chomsky, Noam
Freedom from Oil by Sandalow, David
Violent Politics by Polk, William Roe (dense book...I tried to read it but it put me to sleep.)

For school, he's reading Julius Caesar by Shakespeare. (Part of the Stanford EPGY English series).

[Sharon in MD]

He's not a really great reader and would much rather do just about anything else, but, he does like Twain. For pleasure he was reading the Golden Compass series, but got bogged down with too much other work and hasn't picked it back up lately.

Me....who has time to read? I barely keep up with the darned texts books. But when there is time and I don't fall asleep the second I get in bed.....Francis Schaefer's How should we then live?

[Laurel-in-CA]

15yo dd is in World Lit this year...just finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) and is going to start an anthology of poetry called This Same Sky. For pleasure: Inkheart - but most of her extra time is spent on guitar or art.

13yo ds is "reading science" this year because he was bored with his general science textbook. He's read The Living Planet and now In His Image and wants something from marine biology next. (Ideas, anyone?) He dashed through Christmas Carol over the holidays and is about to start on The Hobbit (LL8), which I have a feeling will lead him far afield.

11yo dd, a slower reader, is enjoying the Sammy Keyes series of kids' mysteries, as well as working on Theras and His Town for history.

4yo dd is demanding Phonics Pathways every day, topped off by a math start reader for bedtime.

Myself...too much escapist space opera, I think. I had great goals of adding in a few books as we whiz through world history this year, but they're falling by the wayside. Because of the charter we're in, we're doing a one year survey but oh, it's soooo fast! I have settled for weekly current events reviews, which does help the dinnertime conversation!

[Jill W.]

17 yod is reading Huckleberry Finn and Leading Lives that Matter for school, and the Stephenie Meyer "Twilight" series for fun.

13 yos is reading Call of the Wild for school, and Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics for fun.

[Lorna]

Our daughter (12) is reading 'Sophie's World'. I haven't seen her all day so she must be enjoying it.
Our son is reading 'Doctor Doolittle's Zoo' by Hugh Lofting on his sister's recommendation.
I am reading Amy Tan's 'The Hundred Secret Senses' and deciding if it is a suitable read for our daughter. I am still not sure. I shall just have to enjoy it some more and forget the housework. ;)
My husband is reading a Biztalk computer manual (he really knows how to have fun!).:eek:

[Mrs. Readsalot]

My ds just finished Potomac Captive, and he loved it. This is not an exceptionally difficult book. This story is fantastic though and he and I both really enjoyed it. It is a true story of Henry Fleete who was taken captive in Virginia in about 1623 by a Native American tribe.
My ds is more of a science kid than a reader. He loves to build complex electronic projects and gadgets. When it comes to reading, I look for books that he will enjoy, and they hopefully will encourage him to be more of a reader.

[Sharon H in IL]

My 11 yo son is reading [I]The Witch of Blackbird Pond[I], he's reading avidly, but is too proud to admit he likes an assigned book. He's a fairly strong reader, but my 8yo son isn't, so he's enjoying The American Girls series, the first ones about colonial life.

Can you tell we're studying colonial America at the moment?

I'm reading this thread carefully. I always take notes to see what literature other WTM moms suggest. Thanks for starting the discussion.

BTW, I'm going to enjoy this new, private format. Thank you so much.

[MaryM]

Ds, 13, just finished Dante's Divine Comedy, Dorothy Sayers' translation, and absolutely LOVED it! Says it is his all-time favorite pice of Literature. It pulled together all of the previous learning, readings in Greek and Roman history/lit/theology for him which generated some excellent discussions and papers!

Mary

[Amy in Orlando]

My 15 yo ds is reading Dante's Inferno - he's enjoying it. For fun reading he's reading Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth.

One of my 14 yo sons is reading Sarum by Edward Rutherford and, for his fun book, he's reading Life of Pi.

My other 14 yo, who despises reading, is dragging through Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield. For his fun reading he's actually found a series he likes and is working through Maximum Ride by James Patterson. Literature, not quite, but it's nice to see him interested in an actual book.

Last week we worked through the Song of Roland - we were all ready to gouge out our eyes by Friday afternoon. The next couple of weeks will be spent on Canterbury Tales which should be a lot more fun.

My neighbor just lent me a copy of World Without End by Ken Follet so I'll be reading that as soon as I can. I just finished rereading The Grapes of Wrath. Boy! It's amazing how much of that book was lost on me in high school.

[carolinagirl710]

My 14yo is reading The Aeneid which she is enjoying ...well, she says compared to Homer, the Aeneid is an improvement. She will be thrilled when her year in the Ancients is over! For fun she is reading Moby Dick and Stepping Heavenward.

[Jean in Wisc]

Which translation is she reading? I'd love to find an easier translation for my 14yo.

Thanks.

[Tina]

My boys are just not that ambitious!
My 16yos is not a strong reader, but he's working his way through Ben Franklin's autobiography (LL). He's also working his way through the Old Testament and reading Run Baby Run on the side.

13yo ds is reading Treasure Island (LL8), but wanting to move onto The Hobbit.

Both are listening to Henty's In the Reign of Terror.

Dd7 and I just finished The Hundred Dresses.

Think I'm too busy with dh's bookwork to read lately. Can't even recall what's sitting next to my chair...

[Katia]

15yo dd is currently reading John Steinbeck short stories for American Lit. She just finished The Open Boat and Red Badge of Courage, and is now reading The Pearl.

She reads tons of books for pleasure and usually has at least 5 going at once, and she also re-reads her favorites over and over. Her current re-reads are Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish by Dorothy Gillman along three other Dorothy Gillman Mrs. Pollifax books; and Undercover Cat by the Gordons.

18yo dd is reading Fountain and Tomb by Naguib Mahfouz, and Wild Swans by Jung Chang.

She doesn't have a lot of time for pleasure reading, but just finished C.S. Lewis' Til We Have Faces (for the second time!) and A Week in Winter by Marcia Willet.

[readwithem]

16 dd is reading Canterbury Tales for school and a Robin McKinley library book for fun (Dragon Haven).

[Maxine in WA]

We are studying Transcendentalism so she is reading excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir. We'll spend next week on this and then she is on to "The Scarlet Letter". By the way, we are using Lightning Literature for my 14yodd. Lightning Literature skips Transcendentalism, but considering Thoreau is one of my favorite authors, I decided to make time to include some of these writings in our curriculum.

[MelodyInTx]

My 15 yo DS and DD are reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. We are only reading the parts of Uncle Toms that pertain to his life.

We are using American LL. They seem to enjoy it for the most part, but I supplement often.

[Brigid in NC]

My 17 yo ds is reading The Screwtape Letters. Just finished Great Expectations (a HUGE hit!). :D

My 14 yo ds is reading the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and is about to start Red Badge of Courage. I thought he would love TS -- a fun, easy read. He did like it -- but it wasn't the sheer fun that I imagined it would be for him. I can only guess that he is too far removed from the kinds of activities and antics kids used to enjoy before video games and other electronics. :(

~Brigid

[Deidre in GA]

ds 14 is finishing up The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (LL). he's not enjoying the writing style but is enjoying the story; Franklin has long been one of his historical heroes. for pleasure he is hip-hopping around The Onion's Our Dumb Planet (a Christmas gift from me) and some book on collectible cars.

i get my reading in with audiobooks while on the treadmill. just finished up My Antonia - a recommendation from my son, actually, who read it over our holiday break.

[MicheleinMN]

Ds 16 and dd 14 are re-reading the Aeneid and reading Dorothy Mills' History of the Ancient Romans.

They both have done very well with the classics so far. Ds does not read for entertainment very often. Dd reads most everything she can get her hands on.

Michele

[Holly S/NC]

My 13 yo has just finished Pride and Prejudice and is currently reading Glass Menagerie for school. She reads a lot and is currently working her way through all the Naruto books (shudder!).

I just finished Eat, Pray, Love and am now reading Middlesex for my book club.

Enjoy,
Holly

[transientChris]

My 14yo DD was reading Bulfinch's Mythology for school but she is now continuing for pleasure. She also is talking a AP government text by Wilson and somebody. She will be starting this week on the novel from which Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is based.

I have been reading some books for book clubs: The Kite runners, Waiting, and lots of mysteries for pleasure.

[Virginia Dawn]

17yo ds is reading Cannibals in Cars, a short story collection by Mark Twain.
14yo ds is reading The Mysterious Benedict Society.

[Susan M in WA]

They just finished Uncle Tom's Cabin and neither enjoyed it. Next is Huckleberry Finn which we missed earlier but want to read after Uncle Tom.

My 17 yo is reading a book of short stories for her CC Creative Writing class and some random books she picked up at a library book sale.

My 15 yo is also reading Kicked, Bitten and Scratched which is a nonfiction book about an animal training college.

[MOCA]

C.S. Lewis---lesser known fiction and all non-fiction

[txbloobonnet]

My 18 year old son is reading Emma and is not liking it one bit. He says it is too detailed and nothing ever happens! :eek:

My 15 year old daughter is reading Moby Dick and she is actually enjoying it and loving the symbolism.

I am reading Atonement, and it is a slow paced book with lots of details. It has not been a fast or easy read, but I am anxious to find out how it ends.

[pianoplayer]

My almost 14-year-old son is a voracious reader. He is currently two-thirds of the way through Adler's How to Read a Book. After that I expect him to read Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death and Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences. I'm hoping that Adler's ideas will help him get the most out of these important books.

[Zoraida]

My 13 year old son is reading Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped (required reading) and for pleasure he is reading The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.

My 14 year old son is reading The Hound of Baskerville by Arthur Conan Doyle (required reading). He noticed that in our area that Tom Cruise's War of the World will be on ABC Saturday night so I am requiring that he reads the original novel before he watches the movie. He's reading it and loving it. For pleasure he is reading Airman by Eoin Colfer.

My 16 year old daughter is reading The Portable Dante (required reading). My daughter is the most avid reader out of my 7 children. She constantly has a book in her hand. She wants to go to collage and major in English or library science. She has a stack of books in her pleasure reading pile. The last time I looked at her pile the books were: To Kill a Mocking Bird, A. S. Byatt's Possession, The Thirteenth Tale, The Time Traveler's Wife and Water for Elephants.

My 18 year old son who has been accepted to Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX and who says he might be considering the priesthood is reading Ivanhoe (required reading) and for pleasure: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly and My Losing Season by Pat Conroy. We were watching Oprah this afternoon and she had her book club show. After watching this my son thought that Ken Follet's Pillar of the Earth sounded like a good read. So he's supposed to be at Barnes and Noble about now (hopefully) purchasing the book for another pleasure read.

Blessings

Zoraida

[Nan in Mass]

Well, I'm impressed by Maus! It is highly thought of in my extended family. And it is too good for me to read.
-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

We're not always sure exactly what is going on in both of them, but that leads to some interesting discussions. Generally, we're enjoying them. The youngest is reading The Hobbit for fun and the older one some sort of male escape literature. The younger one is reading Number the Stars for history. The older one is also reading a non-fiction book about the historical basis for Dracula, which he read this summer and enjoyed (except when it dragged) and doing his junior research paper on. And I'm reading the last Harry Potter in French (taking me a bit of time), a book on transcripts and portfolios, Et si c'etait ca, le bonheur?, Making Watercolour Sing, one of my beloved Patricia McKillips, and as a before sleep book, Pride and Prejudice (for the umpteenth time).

[Nan in Mass]

Which computer game? We're reading The Inferno, too, among other things.

[mcconnellboys]

Nine year old, fourth grade boy: Hitler's Daughter, which he says is really good; a bio of Hitler by Usborne for younger children; a version of Anne Frank's story, I think by Hurwitz - and I think that's all - can you tell we're studying WWII right now?

Oh, and I think he's going through the third Harry Potter book at about a chapter a day on his own..... and he just brought home one of Schwarz' books of scary stories for the second or third time.....

Regena

[Nan in Mass]

Ooh! My boys all love Coral Island.

[Jan P.]

Hi Susan,

My 15 year old is reading Tolkein's Fellowship of the Ring,

My 12 year old is reading Watership Down and The Once and Future King.

I'm reading Mr. Knightley's Diary. Not exactly a Great Book, but it's a fun read!

[Pam H]

My 15yo just finished The Crucible . He enjoyed it very much. He has started A Raisin in the Sun. With the help of an online co-op, he is enjoying the classics from TOG Y4 this year! Yay!! He is reading The Two Towers on his own.

My 13yo is about to start reading The Cross and the Swithblade Still waiting for the joy to hit this one. :rolleyes:

[Catherine]

assigned he is working on To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm re-reading my childhood faves, the Little House series, as I read them to my youngers.

[Eliana]

14.5 yr old dd: Deerslayer by Cooper; The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers; Whitman's poetry; Buried Alive by Bennett (recreational reading)

She's not thrilled with the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, but she appreciates seeing 'the real thing' rather than just the digests other people might give her. She asked for Deerslayer (her younger sister read Last of the Mohicans for fun last year, and got her to read it too... and she wanted something more relaxing than Scarlet Letter and more engaging than Irving's Sketchbook). She loves Bennett - I have to go reread some of his other works to see if they'd be okay.

13 yr old dd: Jane Eyre (1st time studying it rather than rereading it for pleasure - she's excited about it!), assorted short stories (she hates Poe, and Jackson's 'The Lottery', but has loved the others), Twain's Life on the Mississippi and whichever Austen she's up to on her latest re-read are her recreational reading

11 yr old ds: Three Musketeers (he's going through a swashbuckling stage, and wants to do the whole Dumas series...) for fun he's reading economics texts (!), books about the Constitution, and The Time Thief. This kid - highschool level math, science, and reading, age level grammar, and well, not quite age level writing - has gone from eager learner to devoted researcher... He isn't just reading a non-fiction book, he pulls out reference books, college level textbooks, everything we have in our home library on the subject and everything I can get for him from the library...


I just finished beta reading the third book in a friend's fabulous fantasy series (Inda, Fox, King's Shield, and the as-yet-unnamed final volume by SHerwood Smith - these are amazing books, but contain some adult topics, she has other books for the younger crowd which are also first rate.), and devouring Ha'Penny, the unsettling sequel to last year's amazing 'Farthing' by Jo Walton - I haven't given these to my kids yet, but Walton's books could be a springboard to a powerful discussion of fascism, governmental power, and golden-era mysteries... for my non-fiction reading, I'm on 'Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire'.


Eliana

[mama25angels]

A Christmas Carol and trying hard not to read it.:o:o

[strider]

Dd is toggling between the Redwall series and Oliver Twist. She is 11yo.

I am reading ds some of the Old Mother West Wind stories (which he loves). He is also really, really proud of the Bible he got for Christmas and is laboriously working his way through one sentence at a time. He's still on the first page of Genesis, but is very proud to tell people he's reading the *real* Bible all by himself. He is 6yo.

[LisaNY]

is reading The Inferno, as is my husband. (Ciardi's translation because we own two copies of it!)

Jane

I really like the Ciardi translation. I leafed through Pinsky, but didn't like it as much. We only read a little bit of it last year, but my (then) 12yo. dd. found it interesting. :)

[Valerie(TX)]

Dyslexia runs in my family, ds 18 and ds 13 both diagnosed and dd 15 has a couple of the traits.

So, our reading:

Ds18 - struggling, since abstract thinking is not his forte, through a Brit Lit textbook this semester (sonnets at the moment) after having read Sir Gawain in Old English, Beowulf in Old English, Piers the Plowman, and selected Canterbury tales in a side-by-side translation. he had asked for "whole books" but now is happy to revert to a textbook and get "just the facts ma'am".

Dd15 - reading To Kill a Mockingbird and just began Sayers' Gaudy Night for her Inklings class. Trying to make the leap to Brit culture is a stretch, as there is so much with which she is unfamiliar, but she's enjoying the relative "lightness" of the book, as compared to the other Inklings they've read. We were LOL at various aspects of "Talboys", a Lord Peter Wimsey story. I'll have to find more. Sheis also enthralled reading her new study bible notes for pleasure.

Ds 13 - reading The Hobbit. This is a major undertaking for him, and was of his own volition. He is *very* dyslexic, so this is a big deal. We have just been issued a new tape player, so reading along with books on tape will resume shortly.

I wanted to share, because for some of us, the educational path is not so stellar, not so superlative, but we keep on plodding, glad of the small triumphs.

Val

[Linda in NM]

My 13 yos is reading Valley of the Broken Cherry Trees (for "school") and one of the Warriors books (for fun--cat warriors)...we're reading Robinson Crusoe together, and I'm reading all the Fairacre books I can find!

[Rebecca in VA]

For years he was my unmotivated, stubborn, and asocial child. Last year he got a taste of leadership (patrol leader for Scouts) and he loved it! He serves this year as the Senior Patrol Leader for his troop of 60 Scouts. He works very, very hard at this -- he's constantly sending out helpful e-mails and agonizing over better ideas for campouts and trips. He has also joined moot court, and he's working hard and successfully there also.

We'd been fearful that this boy would take after his extremely hard-to-deal-with paternal grandfather. Suddenly (with the help of Proxac) he has done a U-turn and turned on the charm. He's now just like his very successful business executive *other* grandfather.

Don't give up hope, ladies! If this child could straighten out, there's hope for anyone!

[Grace is Sufficient]

Currently, he's reading Pilgrim's Progress and The Hobbit. Earlier reading for the year has included A Christmas Carol, Julius Caesar, Treasure Island, and Mere Christianity.

He's very much a math/science kid so even this has been a stretch.

[Martha in NM]

...it's part of his training as a future husband.:D For school we're reading Merchant of Venice.