Friday, January 1, 2010

10-10-(10?) Challenge

After reading several blogs, I've decided to jump on the reading challenge bandwagon.  Originally, I was planning on doing 10 books in each category (with some overlap), but after reading some other bloggers, I'll settle for the 10 categories and leave it open how many I read in each category.  Perhaps a minimum of three per category - I'll be pretty busy in my life for the next 8 months with work, a Bat Mitzvah and returning home for my 30th high school reunion. 

I also found a medieval challenge yesterday which can easily overlap the 1010 challenge.  I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Maggie Anton's Rashi's Daughter's series, and want to reread that this year.  I've also found two other books about medieval Jewish women: Dona Gracia Nasi, and Shira of Ashkenaz that I want to read, so after I read some history of the period, I'll go back and reread.

So, here are my 10 categories and a partial list of planned reading.



I.  Biography

1.  Abigail Adams by Woody Holton.  (I've always admired Abigail Adams since performing in the orchestra for the musical 1776.  Even named my first cat after her)
2.  Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
3.  Eleanor of Aquitaine by Allison Weir (Part of the medieval challenge)
4.  The Woman Who Defied Kings: The Life and Times of Dona Gracia Nasi by Andrree Aelion Brooks (Also part of the medieval challenge)
5.  Queen Isabella by Allison Weir (medieval challenge)

II Books that Rachel reads for school (Rachel is reading through a nice survey of Western literature in her seventh grade class.  Although she is reading "age-appropriate" versions of some of these tales, I thought that it would be fun to read the originals.)

1. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
2. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
4. The Golem
5. Animal Farm by George Orwell (When she reads this one, we're also going to ask her to read Anthem by Ayn Rand.  She already enjoys the dystopian genre, and Rand's book should make a nice companion to Orwell's)
6.  Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (medieval challenge)


III. Children's/Young Adult Literature (These may turn into nighttime read-alouds for Rebecca.  Although she is perfectly capable of reading these on her own - she's been reading Harry Potter 7! - she still likes the cozy aspect of being read to.  And so does Rachel!)

1.  Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

IV Classics (of the more adult variety, as opposed to category III)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

V.  Education/Homeschooling (I've been reading some homeschooling blogs recently and find that their reasons for homeschooling are similar to the reasons that my girls go to school where they do.  I've also been interested to discover what happened in the two decades that elapsed between when I graduated high school and then returned to the public schools as a teacher.  Many things had changed.)

1.  Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf
2. Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom by Victor Davis Hason and & John Heath
3.  Left Back - A Century of Failed School Reforms by Diane Ravitch
4.  Democracy in Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey
5.  Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto
6.  Forgotten Heros of American Education by Diane Ravitch

VI. Historical Fiction

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
2. The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz by Michelle Cameron (medieval challenge)
3. Rashi's Daughters I: Joheved by Maggie Anton (medieval challenge)

4. Rashi's Daughters II: Miriam by Maggie Anton (medieval challenge)

5. Rashi's Daughters III: Rachel by Maggie Anton (medieval challenge)
6. Red Tent by Anita Diamant
7. The Ghost of Hannah Mendes Naomi Ragen (medieval challenge)

VII.  History

1.  1776 by David McCullough
2.  The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History: 1300-1850 by Brian Fagen (medieval challenge?)
3.  A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 by Edward J. Larson
4.  A Study of History by Arnold Toynbee (this may be a little ambitious!)
5.  The First Crusade by Thomas Asbridge


VIII.  Misc. Fiction

1.  1984 by George Orwell
2.  Animal Farm by George Orwell
3.  Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4.  Beauty by Shari Tepper
5.  The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood


IX Non Fiction (general)

1.  The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
2.  The Search for Longitude by Dava Sobel
3.  A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism by Rabbi Mike Comins
4.  5000 Year Leap: The Miracle That Changed the World by Cleon Skousen
5.  How To Run a Traditional Jewish Household by Blu Greenberg
6.  Writings (don't have an exact title yet) by Thomas Jefferson
7.  America Alone by Mark Steyn
8.  Radicals for Capitalism by Brian Doherty
9.  Eats Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation  by Lynne Truss


X.   Poetry (nothing in this category yet --- I may change the category)

Should be a fun reading year!

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