Book Meme

I love those bloggers who say so much in so few words. Too bad I'm not one of them. As I prepare to share with you what I've been currently reading, it is with trepidation. How am I going to do this briefly? Gulp. Deep breath. Here goes...

Yesterday, Esther of A Catholic Mom in Hawaii "tagged me for a meme" (I think that's the proper way to say that). I get the joy of sharing with you the books I'm reading.

Writing from Personal Experience, by Nancy Davidoff Kelton, is my current read that I picked up at the library the other day. I love that I can read it in snippets, picking any chapter. She even gives permission for the reader to do this. I love that she has sentences that I ooh and ahh over. Like this, "One does not notice the words. They are there to create a world and evoke the reader's response." Or this, "...not only reveal something to the readers about who you are and what you think and feel, but who they are as well."

Note regarding the above book: (Added later on.) As I have now read more of this book since posting this, I must add that I don't recommend this for your young people. Please remember that it's a library book that I hadn't finished reading yet. I have more to say about it in my subsequent post.

Another book I've been grazing recently is an old one that my husband's great aunt gave us many years ago when she found out that I'm distantly related to Abraham Lincoln. It's called The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln, Six Months at the White House, by F. B. Carpenter. The copyright is 1866! (But it's not worth anything in a monetary way, which is good, so I won't be tempted to sell.) Mr. Carpenter lived at the White House while painting a portrait of the cabinet gathered to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. It's neat to see what someone has to way who was living right there, right then. And I'm re-inspired by his admiration of the president.

Besides the Bible, my book companion recently has been The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White. If you are interested, you can read my review of this book here. This book is a gem full of gems. I am hoping that if I read a little here and a little there, it will rub off on me, especially White's ability to be concise. Keep your fingers crossed.

Speaking of companions, the other book I keep by my bed and keep re-visiting is The Catholic Homeschool Companion, edited by Maureen Wittmann and Rachel Mackson. It's a compendium of inspiring viewpoints and experiences, as well as a great resource. And I just discovered while writing this that Maureen is offering the book at a discounted price right now as part of a 4-H fund-raising effort! You can read my reviews here and here.
Catholic Homeschool Companion is Now Being Sold for $5 Off
To buy the book at the current discount price, you can go here.

I was happy to see the other day, at someone else's blog, that I'm not the only one who reads as many as four books at a time. I don't know if I have A.D.D. or if it's just a symptom of being a writer.

Now I'm supposed to tag some other people. Although I didn't see any number regarding books (I'll bet some people are focused and read ONE book at a time!), somewhere I saw the number five for people, so I guess that's how many I'm supposed to "tag". There are people whose blogs I recommend whom I won't tag because I think they're already just about in over their heads with stuff to do...book deadlines, house-hunting, fund-raising, you name it. Or in one case, what she mostly DOES is review books, so this seems superfluous. So...that made it easier to narrow it down to five. Here are my picks:

Holly of A Woman Seeking Grace
Lissa of Here in the Bonny Glen
Alice of Cottage Blessings
Alexandra of Happy Hearts at Home
Maria of Tater Tots and Ladybug Love