Book meme

Hello, poor neglected blog. I've been cheating on you with Twitter and Facebook, it's true.

How about a meme, to get re-aquainted.

So apparently, the BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X +
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X +
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible - parts
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - I'm not sure
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - I'm not sure, maybe as a teenager?
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (Though I've read the trilogy in whole)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - started but didn't finish
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens *
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - currently reading
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia X
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (Isn't this sort of a repeat of 33?)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins *
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X +
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan X
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding X
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson *
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray X
80 Possession - AS Byatt X
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery *
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo *

I've read 19 give or take a couple - not too bad. This list was kinda dry, imho.Pin It

Homeschooling helps, beginner Spanish and healthy food

I found a cute idea for encouraging kids to try different, healthy foods. The Tasty Tasty Club (via Flip Flops and Applesauce with the original idea from Through a Mother's Eye). I'm happy that tonight my boys ate a plate full of mango and also had quinoa chili for supper.

I love book lists. Here are 100 books every child should read (hear?) before kindergarten. I would add that these are just one person's opinion and many on this list are better suited to 5 or 6 year olds than under 5s.

One website that I would like to recommend for homeschoolers is Apples 4 the Teacher. I especially appreciate the book lists for the various holidays.

My friend Colette told me about about this website - Sheppard Software. Lots of free educational games.

I'm loving these books for teaching my boys about the many winter holidays. Rookie Read About Books. They also have a huge list of science picture books. Our library has many titles. Note: I have linked to a Canadian site but these books are available in the US, as well.

While reading the many blogs I follow, I saw this game recommended.
I bought it for our family and it is a big hit. Very fast and fun. My 5 year old can play it without any problem. My 3 1/2 year old can play it with help. Reading is not required.

I've started incorporating Spanish into our homeschooling. Just beginner for now. We are borrowing this book and CD

from the library and my son has really taken to it. I found a couple good websites for beginner stuff.
- Learn for Good
- 123 Teach Me
If you know of any resources for teaching Spanish at home, I would love to hear about them. I know absolutely no Spanish since I grew up in Canada in a very white city. :)

Would you like to make your own flash cards? Memory cards? This is a really cool site that helps you do that.Pin It

Oops, he did it again!

Yes, C cut his own hair again. I thought he learned his lesson
last time (in October), but apparently not.

Sigh. This time, he cut all the way to the scalp. He may have to have a buzz cut. Stay tuned.Pin It

Valentine's Day crafts, books and printables

Valentine's Day is one of my favourite holidays. I think because pink is my favourite colour. :)

First, books. I prefer non-fiction holiday books for my boys. I like them to know the history and meaning of the holidays. Rookie Read About Holiday books are great. Lots of pictures and good content. I also like The Story of ..... books.



There are so many fantastic Valentine's Day craft ideas out in the blogosphere that is hard to pick just a few.

* Stained Glass valentines from Smart-Bottom Enterprises (what a funny name for a blog!)

* I get a fantastic newletter by e mail - Kid Craft Weekly. It is full of great ideas for kids under 6. My boys loved the sponge heart idea.

* A simple and easy garland from Delightful Home.

* Salt dough conversation hearts from Kiddio.

* Make animals from heart shapes. Ordinary Life Magic.

* A simple heart bookmark using a popsicle stick, from Free Preschool Crafts.

* A beautiful and cute conversation heart garland from Skip to My Lou.

I found a great craft book at the library - 175 Easy to do Valentine crafts.

Finally, a whole bunch of printable valetines of various styles - which can really save money if you have a lot to send.Pin It