Life Books Challenge

(This is a sticky post. Please scroll down for exciting new SmallWorld Reads posts!!)

Who doesn't have a list of favorite books? Chances are, those books are favorites because they tell a universal truth, and, most likely, because they say something about you. This challenge is in three parts.

Part I: Choose Your Life Books
What are the books that, in some aspect, define you? Think about who you are in terms of spirituality, love, economics, values, worldview--the list could go on and on. These might be nonfiction, self-help, fiction, picture books, children's books, etc. These don't have to be the best books ever written; concentrate on pinpointing books that are significant to you. Give us your life in books. To see my example, click here. After you've picked your life books, write a post and leave the link on Mr. Linky. Be sure to copy and paste the icon above on your blog somewhere!

Part II: Discover Something New
Check out the blogs of other participants and find at least two titles to add to your TBR list. (If you are near the top of the participants' list, be sure to come back in a few days and check out the new postings.) Let us know what books you are adding by linking a second time to Mr. Linky with (Something New) by your name. That'll let readers know to go back and read your new post.

Part III: Read the Books
When you've read the new books, write a review and leave a link to your post in the comments. I'll create a new post with all the reviews listed.

Timeline: I've decided to make this without a time-line. Anytime you want to join in and read the books, just sign up and finish when you can!

Spread the Word: Let your blog readers know about the Life Books Challenge so they can ponder their existence, too! Just grab the button and use it on your post and/or your sidebar and link back here.

And so the challenge in short (this is the part you copy on your blog!):

Part I: Choose Your Life Books
What are the books that, in some aspect, define you? Think about who you are in terms of spirituality, love, economics, values, worldview--the list could go on and on. These might be nonfiction, self-help, fiction, picture books, children's books, etc. Give us your life in books. To see my example, click here. After you've picked your life books, write a post and leave the link on Mr. Linky. Be sure to copy and paste the button above on your blog somewhere!

Part II: Discover Something New
Check out the blogs of other participants and find at least two titles to add to your TBR list. Let us know what books you are adding by linking a second time to Mr. Linky with (Something New) by your name.

Part III: Read the Books
When you've read the new books, write a review and leave a link to your post in the comments here.

So do some pondering, mull it over, and make your lists. Let's find out more about each other!

The Sunday Salon: Life Books Challenge

There are a lot of things I could be doing on this rainy summer day. I could be napping or reading or peeling off wallpaper in the kitchen. Instead, I've finished something I've had in mind for some time now: I've created a Reading Challenge. I figure now that everyone is done with the 24-Hour Read-a-thon over at The Hidden Side of the Leaf, it's time for something new.


And so I've created the Life Books Challenge. It's something I've been mulling over for awhile—how certain books capture an element of our lives that somehow add definition. Serendipitous books. Books that hold memories that are part of who we are. I hope some of you will join my challenge. It's the first one I've created, and it may be a colossal failure; but I'd venture to guess other voracious readers can relate. Intrigued? Click on the link above to read more about the challenge and to join and send me some Sunday Salon love. Here's my own list for the challenge.

In other reading news, I finished and reviewed two books this week: the astounding I Have Lived a Thousand Years and the disappointing A Beginning, a Muddle, and an End. I am over halfway through Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, and I am absolutely blown away. Lahiri is a master of short story. I love every single thing about this collection except that I want each story to be a novel. More on this next week.

Until then, happy weekend! And come join my challenge!

My Life Books (Challenge Part I)

Here's what my own Life Books Challenge requests:

Part I: Choose Your Life Books
What are the books that, in some aspect, define you? Think about who you are in terms of spirituality, love, economics, values, worldview--the list could go on and on. These might be nonfiction, self-help, fiction, picture books, children's books, etc. Give us your life in books. To see my example, click here. After you've picked your life books, write a post and leave the link on Mr. Linky. Be sure to copy and paste the button above on your blog somewhere!

Part II: Discover Something New
Check out the blogs of other participants and find at least two titles to add to your TBR list. Let us know what books you are adding by linking a second time to Mr. Linky with (Something New) by your name.

Part III: Read the Books
When you've read the new books, write a review and leave a link to your post in the comments here.

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My Life Books

The Bible: (Everything) Patrick Henry is quoted as saying, "The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed." Daniel Webster wrote, "If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures."
I can't say it any better than that.

To Kill a Mockingbird: (How to Live) For all the reasons why I love Harper Lee's one and only novel, click here.

One and Sonnets from the Portuguese: (Love and Marriage) More than any others, these two books represent Dr. H. to me. We've always quoted to each other from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese. Not just her most well-known, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," but the lesser known ones, as well. Richard Bach's One is probably not a well-known book, but for Dr. H and I, it spoke to the fear of our "what if" and to the relief of how it really all turned out. (You can read about our "Happy Ending" here.) Bach presents in this book the stories of what could have happened if the characters had made other choices; it's a book of parallel lives. What if, for example, I'd not stayed for summer school that last year? What if you'd chosen to go to a different restaurant that night? What if?

Crunchy Cons: (Politics, socioeconomics, the culture debate) This book by Rod Dreher was an “a ha” book throughout for me. In nearly every chapter I had those moments of thinking (or saying outloud and then reading passages to Dr. H.), “Yes! Exactly!” and “So THIS is what I am—and there are tons of people like me!” You can read the rest of my review here.

The Total Money Makeover: (Finances) Dave Ramsey's "proven plan for financial fitness" has changed the direction of our life. From a post on my home-life blog in 2006: " Dave's favorite word is FREEEEEDOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM, and we are tasting it. People have said to us, 'How can you stand to be strapped down to a budget?' As parents, we know that kids to better with a structured life. They have freedom in knowing what is expected of them. It's the same way with finances: we feel a sense of relief knowing that this is what we have to spend--and no more." Two years later, we are still digging ourselves out of debt, but we are closer every month. Freedom.

Good-night Moon: (Parenthood) We've read hundreds of books to our children in the past 15 years, but this is the one that started it all. Margaret Wise Brown's classic bedtime book will always, for me, represent all the good things of being a mama.

Dumbing Us Down: (Education) Because homeschooling is a huge part of my life, this treatise on public education by John Taylor Gatto, a recipient of the NY State Teacher of the Year Award, speaks powerfully to me.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves: (Grammar freakiness) This is another one of those "a-ha!" books. It is a relief to find out that author Lynn Truss is also horrified by dangling modifiers. For my review, go here.

Apples: (Inheritance) Let me explain. My family is filled with generations of apple growers. Frank Browning's Apples traces the apple from the mountains of Kazahkstan to Cornell University to huge commercial growers and the little guys, too. I will always remember reading this, reading Browning's description of my father, and thinking, "Oh! That's my inheritance!" It's not money or books. My father's legacy is wrapped in the sweetest smelling fruit and handed down, seed by seed.

Phew! So that's my list. What are your life books?