Do you ever find reading about books to be as enticing as watching the Food Channel? You haven’t got the book or the dish in front of you to enjoy but, oh, the tantalization…
I thought I’d share some of the lists I have been salivating over.
I so enjoy reading the Book Lust series. What a feat to be able to entice readers with one-sentence summaries!
Evolution books – a great list from Charlie’s Playhouse. Finally they’re writing these. Where were they 8 years ago when Sandra started trying to figure out the story of humans?
Oodles of fun for me these past few days – the Top 100 Children’s Novels poll at the blog of School Library Journal. So many good titles. Such a list. Click on a title and you’re linked to an intoxicating mix of reader reviews from the poll, synopses, and pictures of the various cover designs each title has had. I’m finding reading them to be as sensuously spine-tingling as a plate of appetizers.
Lately I have been yearning to begin all sorts of obsessions – reading biographies of famous couples (Henry VIII and then Anne Boleyn, Napoleon and then Josephine); I haven’t done my nearly yearly re-read of all 8 Anne of Green Gables books in a while (I only managed it until the kids were both preschoolers) and I haven’t read the New Moon books in a long time and so an L.M. Montgomery binge seems overdue; I want to read all of the “Dear Canada” books of historical fiction in chronological order; there’s an urge to read various novelizations of fairy tales and compare them; and now I also want to read all the 100 books on the SJL list. After all, I’ve been enjoying YA books like The Sherwood Ring (thanks to Here in the Bonny Glen) and Sorcery and Cecilia (Jane Austen meets Harry Potter! What a delight. What a charmer.).
In keeping with my campaign of compassion towards myself, I’ve resisted committing to any of these goals. I have been acknowledging the urges, treasuring the delightful possibility each entails, and then reminding myself I can follow an urge without making rules.
Handmade Homeschool 
Nancy Pearl [Book Lust] is our “celebrity” librarian! She has her own action figure! Interesting lists.
Yes, following an urge without making rules. SUCH a great quote, Sarah! For us goal-setter, self-improvement types, thoughts like this are needed more often! Thank you. 🙂
I love reading book reviews. I used to work at a library, and I loved to look through the professional journals just so I could read all of the reviews.
I absolutely love the New Moon books and have always felt they were under appreciated.
Ooh, love this post! I sit here with my treasured collection of 24 L.M. Montgomery novels behind me… it’s been a decade since I’ve read any of them — what a shame! Last night I pored through “Honey for a Woman’s Heart” making a long list of books I want to read — and now I get to add more from your links! 🙂
Sarah, Thank you again for this great post and pointing me to the SLJ site’s book poll, how wonderful! The SLJ site was re-arranged, here’s the new link to the Top 100 Novels Poll: http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2010/04/13/the-top-100-childrens-novels-poll-1-100/
Tammy