What's on My Nightstand? {November 2013}

The calendar says it's time to share What's on My Nightstand for the month of November already with 5 Minutes for Books.  Time is flying!!  Next someone will tell me it's time to prepare the Thanksgiving turkey and prepare for Christmas.  Ha!  (I have actually already been doing little things to prepare NOW to keep our Christmas stress-free...and posting about them.)

Scumble, by Ingrid Law.  This is the follow-up book to Saavy.  Both are fun middle-grade fiction books that I recommend for boys or girls.  My son (age 5) looked at the cover and asked if the boy made the machine fall apart and is running away.  Yep.  That pretty much summarizes the story, but it really is worth reading even if it doesn't sound like it!  Definitely recommend these ones!

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott.  This is one of my all time favorite books, and I am grateful to read it again and savor it as part of the Reading to Know Book Club.  This was originally published as TWO books, and I accidentally bought the original (not abridged) first book (titled Little Women) and the second book, called Good Wives.  It IS different to read and consider the story as two different books.  It also makes Little Women more friendly to younger children since no beloved character dies.  I haven't seen a LW movie in many, many years.  Which do you recommend?  Why?

Bonhoeffer on the Christian Life: From the Cross, for the World, by Stephen J. Nichols.  (Linked to complete review.)  This gives a somewhat brief look at Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life and theology.  If you like church history at all, this is worth reading!

Audio
Wednesday Morning Sisters, by Meg Waite Clayton.  I am pretty sure that someone from Nightstand recommended this book last month, and I am so glad!  (Sorry, I didn't note who!)  This was a well-written book about the relationships.  Friendship based on a common bond in the late 1960's.  Though it has a bit of language, overall this is a clean book that I thoroughly enjoyed...even if the women aren't sisters and don't meet on Wednesdays!

Will Not Finish (for various reasons):
The Journey (Guardians of Ga'hoole series)  This was an audio book and the second disc was scratched.  This is a great series, so I do want to continue.  It will be worth it to read the book!
The Seekers, by Erin Hunter.  Not a book that I felt that I wanted to finish.  I listened to it for a couple of hours but found it depressing and confusing.  After looking at reviews on Amazon, it looks like I made the right choice for this book.

Next Month:
I will read To Kill a Mockingbird with a good friend.  (If you know someone who loves this book,  that link is a lovely edition and so much better than the cheap paperback I read repeatedly.)  I look forward to discussing it with her!  I will also read The Tale of Two Cities.  I think I will learn if I like Dickens or not.  I have not-so-fond memories of Pip from Great Expectations, but really enjoyed A Christmas Carol (linked to thoughts) last year.  I will also continue Everyday Talk, a good parenting book (and currently $1.99 for Kindles).

~ Annette {This Simple Mom}
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10 comments

  1. Looks like you had a pretty good month! I am going to try and keep the stress down too by not putting any expectation on myself. I want to complete two books in December. Your December looks good too. TKAMB was great! as was A Christmas Carol! Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

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  2. Great books for young readers! Thanks so much for sharing these! I love book lists!

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  3. I loved reading Little Women, such a great book. I saw a movie on lifetime recently - one of those cheesy christmas stories, that was a sort of modern interpretation of Little Women - I think it might have been called like The March Sisters at Christmas or something like that - it was a fun take on Little Women, though it doesn't follow the story to the tee and obviously being a modern adaptation makes it different in it's own right, but I liked it.

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  4. Oh I found it, I was totally right about the title, too:

    http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/the-march-sisters-at-christmas

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  5. Looks like a great list! I'm planning on reading aloud A Christmas Carol over our break. The only other Dickens I've read is Oliver Twist so I'm looking forward to it.

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  6. I love the Little Women film with Winona Ryder as Jo. I've also seen the ones with Katherine Hepburn and June Allyson as Jo but don't remember much about them. As many times as I have read that book I didn't realize it was originally too, or else I had forgotten. That makes sense because there is one place where it says something like "whether there are any more stories depends on how well these are received," and I thought, "Huh?" Now I know why that is there, LOL!

    A Tale of Two Cities is one of my favorite Dickens' books - Great Expectations one of my least favorite.

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  7. I loved Savvy, but I don't think I ever followed up with Scumble. I need to rectify that! I, too, love the Winona Ryder version of Little Women--I used to watch it every Christmas or whenever I got a hankering to.

    What fun to read To Kill a Mockingbird with a friend! I love it so much!

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  8. I also have not read Scumble yet but am always curious when I see it.

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  9. I read Oliver Twist earlier this year and loved it. I'm now reading it aloud to my kids. I haven't been brave enough to try A Tales of Two Cities or Great Expectations.

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  10. By the way, I'm glad you are giving Tale of Two Cities a go. I will start that one next week (by the time I have hopefully completed Little Women)!

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