Read ALL the Books!

So, I'm constantly seeing lists of books to read to your children. "10 books to read to your 4 -5 year old!" "50 Books to Read to Your 10 Year Old!" And my reaction is kind of like, "... Why on earth do you need a LIST of books to read? Don't you know enough books yourself?"

I mean ... geez. It's a book, right? YOU READ IT.

Of course, in a culture where a radio personality says, "Buying books is the worst investment. You read it once, and toss it out." I guess I shouldn't really be surprised.

I have thrown away one book in my life.

It had inappropriate content.

I read books over, and over, and over. I don't buy a book unless I really like it!

And I like a lot of books.

I don't know if you've seen Hoarders or Clean House ... But I would never part with my books. Ever. Books would be the things that it's like, "Nope, figure out how to organize 'em, because the books STAY."

Never re-reading books. Tch. That's SILLY. Admittedly, some of my books I haven't read in 3 years or so, but a lot of them are in 3 month-rotation.

Oh! And ANOTHER thing. These people who are like, "Gosh, it takes me months to finish a book!" and their excuse is being a parent, I say "Tcha!"

I realize that's probably kind of offensive coming from a single, non-parent. But I know of a few sets of parents who make reading a priority. And books get read.

I am going to be a mommy that reads books!

It will help that I can finish most books in about 2 hours. :3

Really, really, big thick books like Les Miserable take me around 5 - 6 hours.

I read REALLY fast!

Oh! Anecdote! English class, a student hands me their paper (a short 1 pager), I read it, say, "That was great! A!" And there's this pause. One of the kids cautiously asks me, "Did you actually read that?"

Yes. Yes I did.

Anyway! Since everybody else makes lists of Good Books To Read, I will too!

And my list is BETTER.

Because it is.

Don't question the list.

• The Little House On The Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• I got these books for Christmas when I was around 6 -8. (I don't remember clearly, but I was reading before I was 4, so ... I read these books to SHREDS, over and over, right through my twenties. I could read them again.
• Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery
• I didn't get these books until my teens. I re-read them recently. They're good!
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• I think I started reading these when I was 5. We had a book shelf in the upstairs, and I would sit at it, and pick out books. We only had 4 at the time, and there are not WORDS to express my gratefulness at finally getting to read all 7 sometime later. I read these to shreds too. (I was careful with them. But when you read a book hundreds of times, it does start to wear and tear, no matter how careful you are.)
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
• As a child, I liked the Hobbit. I didn't manage to make it all the way through LOTR until I was about 13. I would get stuck in Two Towers every time. But the Hobbit was awesome! (I was also exposed to the TERRIFYING Rankin-Bass animation of it, and those stupid animated Goblins haunted my dreams for YEARS.)
• The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Okay, I might not have made it through these on my own, but my brother read them to shreds. He also read them aloud to our younger brother. When I was around 20-something, I read them aloud to my 8 year old sister, and she loved them. It took around a year to get through all 3 (or 6, depending on how you count them) books, but she was always eager for me to read. 
• C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength)
• I didn't read these until college, when my younger brother was doing a research paper on them. Loved them! With great love! Perelandra was my favorite.
• The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne by Kathleene Norris
• This turned up through a Logos yard sale. It has an inscription written on the inside cover, "Christmas 1914, Love Mother." I love this book. It makes me happy. Definitately has an agenda, but I LIKE the agenda. So. :3
• Hercule Poirot books by Agatha Christie
• Okay, you all know Dame Christie is the Queen of Crime, right? Well, she is my favorite. I  am slowly collecting ALL of her books. Slowly. She wrote a lot. I like the paperbacks, because they're small, and are just the right size for traveling, or waiting for an appointment. (They take about an hour for me to read). My favorites are
• Dumb Witness
• Murder in Mesopotamia
• Hallowe'en Party
• Cat Among the Pigeons
• Murder On the Orient Express
• Read them. They're good.
• Miss Marple Books by Agatha Christie
• I've watched the BBC productions of more of these than I've read, but they're still good.
• Basically, anything Agatha Christie. :3 She wrote lots of books. They're good. Read them.
• The Back of the North Wind by George Macdonald
• C. S. Lewis' inspiration, Macdonald is awesome, imo. I was introduced to him through a collection of his various fairy tales, and loved every minute. Some of them are creepy, and some are sweet, but they're all great.
• FAIRY TALES. 
• We had a big Reader's Digest collection of fairy tales, and I read it over and over to shreds. I recommend fairy tales. They are awesome. Read them to your kids. There are thousands of fairy tales, and they come in much more variaties than Cinderella! Frankly, after reading fairy tales, the Disney versions seem ... rather bland. Some of my favorite fairy tales are:
• East of the Sun and West of the Moon
• Snow White and Rose Red
• The Soldier and the Devil (also known as Bearskin)
• The Soldier and the Snuff box (there's 3 dogs, with eyes as big as saucers, dinner plates, and windmills, respectively. My imagination still can't figure out how exactly that works!)
• All Kinds of Fur/Cat Skin (a princess who makes a coat out of many different kinds of furs)
• King Thrushbeard
• I do not like Hans Christian Anderson. Bleh.
• BlueBeard (spine-tingling!)
• The Chrestomancie Chronicles by Diana Wynne Jones
• Okay, not a lot of people KNOW about her, because she's a British author. The only thing you can find by her in bookstores is basically Howl's Moving Castle (yep, the Miyazaki film was inspired by her book!) The Chrestomancie books are the most famous, but she has written SOOOOO much, for EXAMPLE:
• Howl's Moving Castle
• Castle in the Air
• House of Many Ways
• Archer's Goon
• Dogsbody
• Dark Lord of Derholm
• Fire and Hemlock
• The Merlin Conspiracy
• The DaleMark Trilogy (or possibly quartet)
• The Homeward Bounders
• The Time of the Ghost
• Eight Days of Luke
• Aunt Maria
• The Game
• ALL OF HER STUFF IS AMAZING. READ IT. LOVE IT.
• The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett
• JUST READ TERRY PRATCHETT, OKAY? HE'S AWESOME.
• The Redwall Series by Brian Jaques
• Dad read these aloud to us. From the time I was 12 to the time I moved out at 23. Those are pretty special memories. Can I just take a moment and recommend reading aloud to your kids? No matter how old they are. Mom read aloud to me from BEFORE I was born. Dad read aloud to us kids all through high school. It's way better than watching TV together. Just sayin'.
• Fairy Stories by Gail Carson Levine
• I'll be honest - I don't like a lot of modern books. They tend to embody the current values of society that I don't really hold with. The Hunger Games, for example. I'm know the authoress was trying to convey how horrible war is and the sacrifices it entails. But I'm bothered that what the kids come away with is how "cool" it is to be violent and kill others. I don't like distopias, and thrillers, and horror books. I like books that teach about self-sacrifice, honor, loyalty, integrity, honesty, and loving others first. Not values you see in a lot of books coming out. Soapbox aside, I do like the stories by Gail Carson Levine. They're good. Y'all should read them. ^_^ ALL OF THEM.
• Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, and the rest of the series.
• ZOMC, THIS IS SO AWESOME! My twin introduced me to these, and EVERYBODY SHOULD READ THEM. GO DO IT NOW.
• Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
• This is a really sweet story. Read it. It's awesome. Shani read it aloud to me when I was sick and tired. 

Okay! List is not at ALL finished, but it is time for me to go! ta!