Has anyone read the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb? I'm about to start reading it after I finish my finals!

I read the first book a year or two back and loved it! I stalled out in the second book, but I think that was just where I was at the time as far as what I wanted to read. I really need to go back and finish it.

Can't help commenting on that list, fantasia.

The Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose = The Frog and Toad books by Lobel are my first choice for reading aloud. We had a record of "Frog and Toad All Year" growing up.

James Herriot's Treasury for Children = Heart-warming stories he tells. Have you read any of his stuff before? His vet stories are very funny, though not all of them are quite child-friendly.

Capyboppy = Anything by Bill Peet is amusing. A sadly neglected author these days.

Twenty and Ten = Didn't read this until just recently, and quite enjoyed it.

In Grandma's Attic = The whole series is great. We reworked some of these into VBS skits one year, when we didn't care for the material that was sent.

Winnie the Pooh = I agree with you, coracle. The originals are surprisingly different from what you might expect. And hilariously funny. At least, I found them so when I finally read them as an adult.

The Story of Dr. Dolittle = Ah! the pushmi-pullyu.

Richard Scarry's Please and Thank You Book = Anything by Richard Scarry is classic in my books (was that a pun that just slipped in?). "Busy, Busy World" and "What Do People Do All Day?" were childhood favourites, and "Best Word Book Ever" is indeed the most amusing dictionary I've ever seen.

My husband and I decided to jump on the homeschooling bandwagon, and so we will be teaching our son at home next year. I found the perfect curriculum (for me) in Sonlight as it includes a TON of books.

Way to go, fantasia! My family loves Abeka for most subjects, Apologia for science, and A Reason For Handwriting for handwriting. It's alway fun to see what works best for other homeschoolers, so cool that you like Sonlight.

Ditto what Jo said about blocks and coloring. My siblings liked wooden blocks as well as Duplos during storytime. Another favorite was Melissa and Doug puzzles, we had a million of those. Timberdoodle has some great brain toys that would also work during storytime and just cool educational paraphernalia.

My April reading has been less than March, barely just four books. I was trying to finish Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden and The Trial by Robert Whitlow before May, but I only read a few pages over the weekend so that's not happening now.

April 2018 reads:
*The Sea Before Us by Sarah Sundin - love it!
*12 Strong by Doug Stanton - excellent, hard to read because of the realism and also the Middle Eastern names/places
*A Refuge Assured by Jocelyn Green - didn't care for it, but still have to write a review for it
*A Borrowed Dream by Amanda Cabot - second book in the series and it felt like it, which is a good thing

SnowAngel

I'm rereading The Return of the King right now. I haven't read this volume in awhile, for some reason. I've read Fellowship so many times

@SnowAngel, looks like I might have to resurrect the long-dead homeschooling thread hehe.
Abeka (as far as I can tell) is the most popular program in the country. And while there were several books that I liked, it wasn't my favorite that I looked at. I'm still thinking of snagging a couple, but as I've probably already bitten off more than I can chew this year, I may wait.
Apologia I'm saving for later. I like this one, but they don't have Kindergarten level.
Timberdoodle was one I very seriously looked at. I'm such a Science/Math person.
What I ended up going with was Sonlight (as I mentioned before), Logic of English (highly recommended by a friend, and I really liked they way it looked), and Shiller Math (a Montessori based program with lots of sensory tools that I think will help my wild and crazy kiddo).

But back on topic, I READ A BOOK! First one this year I think. I mentioned it on the previous page, 'The Girl who Drank the Moon.' It's a teenage level fantasy book, and I liked it just fine, probably 6.5/10. If you all have read 'Serafina,' it's right in line with that style. I definitely prefer books that are more in-depth, both in character and plot development.

SA, I heard very little buzz for the new Wilson book before it came out. Have you read it yet?
I also heard N. D. Wilson just signed a new book contract, but no word yet on what it's for or when the book will come out.

I've enjoyed your thoughts on the homeschool curriculums and the book lists, fk. I've read remarkably few of the books on that list, though - just The Boxcar Children, Twenty and Ten, and possibly The Story of Dr. Dolittle. I have read a lot of Herriot and love Richard Scarry, though.
My parents used to read to us in bed/right before bed, and I don't remember us having anything to do then (besides try to fall asleep? ). However, I do remember some occasions of being read to where we would color or draw - or fold laundry, when we got a little older. We would also occasionally be read to during mealtimes.

Enjoy your reread of RotK, Valiant_Nymph!

March and April weren't great months for reading, so I kinda dropped off the thread.

I did finish The Trees of Pride by G. K. Chesterton eventually - it was okay, though I wasn't overly happy with the ending or some of the reveals. I did also read Chesterton's Four Faultless Felons, but I really only liked "The Honest Quack" of the four stories.
I've read a handful of other books semi-recently, but one of the most recent was True Grit by Charles Portis. I knew the title from the movie that came out a few years back (or more?) but haven't seen it, so I knew nothing beyond the very basic premise. The book didn't match up with my impression from the movie trailers, but oh well. Overall, I found it okay - probably most interesting elements to me were the travels through and history connected to Indian Territory.

I am currently reading Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie. I'm not far enough in to make judgments, besides a mild curiosity to find out "whodunnit" as it's been rather hinted that the obvious suspect isn't it.

Thanks Valiant Archer!

I have a friend who is a professor of English and Christian studies with whom I'm hoping to start a Narnia reading group with! I will post about how it goes.

It's interesting that your friends recommended The Emperor's Soul, because that was one of the stories I was told to skip when reading Arcanum Unbounded. But perhaps you've read the connected novel(s)?

...I was under the impression that the novel wasn't out yet?? Unlike the one where it was the text speculation that later became a graphic novel. (I...liked the text version of that more than the illustrated, though there are pros and cons to each style of narration.)

I don't know if anyone remembers, but I have an in-progress goal of reading every book on the Newbery Award and Honors list. I've not kept up with the new ones for the last couple of years, so last month I read several of the newer books.

One of the ones I enjoyed was The Girl Who Drank the Moon. It had a bit of a dreamy, other-worldly sort of feel, and that and the cutting between different perspectives might be off-putting to some readers. (I want to say it was like Gormenghaust lite but that's not an entirely fair comparison.)

I also liked Wolf Hollow and Turtle in Paradise which were about children growing up in the 1940s and 1930s but in vastly different settings and situations. Wolf Hollow is a take on the 'something happens in a rural farming community' genre and Turtle in Paradise is 'new kid on the block'.

I have fond memories of going through the book sections of homeschooling catalogs and making lists of books to find at the library. That said, I only remember reading about half of the ones on the fantasia's list.

Capyboppy = Anything by Bill Peet is amusing. A sadly neglected author these days.

This title sounds new to me, but with such a recommendation I'm going to have to look it up. *moments later* AH! No, I haven't read that one, but I did read Chester the Wordly Pig.

[True Grit] didn't match up with my impression from the movie trailers, but oh well.

I remember having the same experience when I read it awhile back.

@aileth, I missed your post! Glad Mel quoted you or I wouldn't have seen it at all.

I love Frog and Toad! In fact, I was just looking at those books as a birthday gift idea for my nephew. (Also thinking about Little Critter. )

Yes, I remember my mom reading several of the James Harriot collection when I was little, but for some reason the only story that stuck in my mind is the one about Moses the kitten. I'll be curious to see how many stories come back to me.

And yes coracle, it is the original Winnie the Pooh by Milne. I'm pretty sure I have The House at Pooh Corner SOMEWHERE in my library, but I haven't found it yet. But I didn't have this one so it's fun to add it to the collection.

Has anyone read Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain?

I found it a very fascinating book, and it helped me a lot to learn about my introversion and how to cope in day to day situations. If anyone else has read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

@SnowAngel, looks like I might have to resurrect the long-dead homeschooling thread hehe.
Abeka (as far as I can tell) is the most popular program in the country. And while there were several books that I liked, it wasn't my favorite that I looked at. I'm still thinking of snagging a couple, but as I've probably already bitten off more than I can chew this year, I may wait.
Apologia I'm saving for later. I like this one, but they don't have Kindergarten level.
Timberdoodle was one I very seriously looked at. I'm such a Science/Math person.
What I ended up going with was Sonlight (as I mentioned before), Logic of English (highly recommended by a friend, and I really liked they way it looked), and Shiller Math (a Montessori based program with lots of sensory tools that I think will help my wild and crazy kiddo). .

You definitely have to time to experiment with curriculum since you just getting started. Mom did that, we tried a couple of additional companies for math, the only one we enjoyed (besides Abeka) was Teaching Textbooks. I loved TT's geometry; however one of my sisters hated it, but loved their algebra. Funny how differently siblings can view the same curriculum/subjects.

I think the problem is never really the number of books, but the lack of time for the number of books.

I think Mom has sixth grade and up for Apologia.

Oh, if you like science/math then Timberdoodle is definitely for you. They have some of the coolest stuff. We really enjoy the games we have that Timberdoodle has had: TENZI, Gobblet!, Trans America, etc. (Not sure if they still sell them.)

Most of my cousins and many of my friends growing were homeschool, and everyone had a slight different group of curriculum. I could talk homeschooling for just about forever.

SA, I heard very little buzz for the new Wilson book before it came out. Have you read it yet?
I also heard N. D. Wilson just signed a new book contract, but no word yet on what it's for or when the book will come out.

Still waiting for the library to get The Last of the Lost Boys in, should be any day now.

I read True Grit a few years, I have seen both movies and it is very different. I like the John Wayne movie version of the story best.

I finished a couple of books I started in April; The Trial by Robert Whitlow and Grayfox by Michael Phillips.

I have started A Cry From The Dust by Carrie Stuart Parks, still reading Black Hawk Down. Oh, I am also reading The Golden Vial (Legends of the Realm #3) by Thomas Locke and even though I am only a few chapters I already hate it. I can't believe this is the third and probably final book in the series. It stinks! I loved Emissary, it was fun and a little different, but the following books did not even come close. Merchant of Alyss was okay, not terrible, but not great either. And then comes The Golden Vial and any hope of the series returning to where it started is so gone. The characters I enjoyed in the previous books haven't even made an appearance yet.

But I am enjoying A Cry From The Dust, I am reading it at Scarlet's recommendation.

SnowAngel

Has anyone read the Farseer Trilogy? I'm looking for a good, new fantasy series to read.

I wish Lewis and Tolkien were around to give recommendations

I am not much for fantasy other than Narnia, Valiant_Nymph, but I did enjoy Unblemished by Sara Ella. It's the only book in the series I have read, and that reminds me I should suggest my library get the series.

In the last few days I have finished three books and read a third of another. I just might make some good progress on my TBR pile this month. I finished The Golden Vial yesterday morning and wrote my review immediately. I will not be keep that one. I also finished A Cry From The Dust and The Bone Will Speak. And I am just past a third of the way through When Death Draws Near. I totally understand why Scarlet loves the Gwen Marcey series. Carrie Stuart Parks is an excellent writer.

SnowAngel

Thank you, SnowAngel! I will check it out