Where We Read [March 2023]

Well, here we are, already at the end of March. March began in Winter, with snow storms and lots of reading on the couch under multiple blankets.

A favorite series this month was Happy Hollisters. I think they checked out every book we could find in the library system.

One evening while the littlest was at gymnastics, the oldest picked up a Happy Hollister book, Hubs sat next to me to read Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone and I flew through The Writing Retreat.

I started making my way through L.M. Montgomery’s Emily series, with the dog nestled snugly on my legs.

My lap became his favorite place to be this month. Sometimes he’d fight the book for the favored spot.

Other times he settled for the pillow on the other end of the couch.

He really loved reading Flamer with the girls one Saturday morning.

They continued reading Happy Hollisters, as well as The Meanest Doll in the World, over afternoon brownies.

She discovered the pup made a really great pillow while she read The Impossible Quest: Battle of the Heroes.

I brought back read aloud time before bed a few nights a week with We Dream of Space. Although I didn’t plan it, it coincides nicely with the Astronomy unit we were using for Science.

By the middle of the month, I was tired of Winter, but Mother Nature disagreed, so I stayed on the couch reading this month’s book club selection, March.

We finished our journey through Find the Constellations written by the one and only H.A. Rey, best known for Curious George. They made a Solar System model out of air dry clay, using the book as their guide.

On the first day of Spring, I kicked the kids outside and laid on the sunroom couch to read Independence. I was done in a day. I simply couldn’t put it down.

One day I took the girls to the library so I could do some research on graphic novels for The Woebegone Literary Society. They were tasked with finding nonfiction books about any science topic they wanted to learn about. I brought this stack of graphic novels home.

They chose books on gravity, metals, birds, and marsupials. The weather finally decided to take a turn for the better, so they took their library books outside for a picnic lunch.

The next morning, before breakfast, they decided to see if Anya’s Ghost or Passport were any good.

I decided it was time for Spring Cleaning and changed up the curtains and blankets in the living room. Then made myself a cup of tea and sat down to begin Weyward, while she continued her graphic novel journey with Be Prepared.

We hosted our niece-by-choice for a sleepover one Saturday night and they made me read Twenty Yawns to get us all ready for bed.

And this is how the last week of March began. Sunshine streaming through the windows, quilt on our lap, books in hand.

By the time March ended, Spring had sprung! The sun was glorious, so we took Seabird and The Children’s Homer outside to complete our lessons for the day.

As soon as we finished our lessons, I claimed the blanket for myself and read the last half of Weyward. Another book I just absolutely could not put down.

Technically March isn’t over yet, but we are heading out of town later this week so I wanted to go ahead and get this out. Where (and what) are you reading this month?

We do buy a lot of books, but we also check 25-50 out of the library in any given week. If I could include links to these books that went directly to your library holds list, I would, but I can’t. So, I include affiliate links instead. If you choose to buy a book, I get a very small percentage of your purchase. You can think of it as a very small finder’s fee. But seriously, use the library. It can be your very best friend.

Where We Read: February 2023

Well February just flew by. Here we are in March already. It felt like I didn’t do much reading last month, but looking back on these photos made me realize I did a ton of reading; I just didn’t finish many books. I love that our homeschool schedule allows us to carve out a few minutes a day to snuggle on the couch and read. We finished up the first half of The Children’s Homer and are looking forward to beginning the second half later this week.

It was haircut month for the girls. If you walked the streets and peeked in the window on the right day, you could spy her reading Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom while she waited for her turn in the stylist’s chair.

She finished Meet George Washington and I slowly made my way through a bit more of Chernow’s Washington: A Life. It may take me all year to finish this book.

And she sat across the living room reading whatever book was left on the chair that day.

Prince Harry joined me for a pasta lunch.

One evening after yoga, I had cheese and crackers for dinner while reading an essay from My Body by Emily Ratajkowski and a chapter or two of Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Broks before picking the youngest up at gymnastics.

I carved out one glorious Saturday for reading and writing at my favorite library in all of Massachusetts.

A few days later, it felt like Spring, so I took Spare and The Dead Romantics outside with a nice hot cup of tea.

When I had to take a last minute weekend trip to Georgia, I read every word of For the Love of the Bard for my book club. It made for the perfect travel companion. And when I got home, the author came to our book club gathering, which made it extra fun!

While I was gone, they read books and ate lunch together, turning pages in sync.

When I got back, David left the next day for a work trip and Leo was way sad. He loves to snuggle when he’s sad, especially when she’s reading her history book.

That afternoon, he snuggled on mine when I read another essay from My Body. He likes me to know he misses me when I’m gone.

She took America Grows Up to the kitchen counter and read over a cup of hot tea.

February’s weather was bipolar. When the snow finally showed up , I took Washington: A Life and Remarkably Bright Creatures to the couch with a couple of blankets and stayed there for an hour or two.

The next day brought frigid air, so I read by the fireplace instead.

Later that night, she snuggled next to me on the bed and read The Happy Hollisters on her Kindle while I read Remarkably Bright Creatures. This doesn’t happen often anymore because her evening schedule is so hectic, so I cherish the moments when it does.

The snow just kept falling in Februarry, so I used it as a good excuse to cuddle with the dog on the couch and read The Last Days of Dogtown.

Where’s the coziest place you read this month?

Where We Read This Month: January 2023

I know there are other months with 31 days, but for some reason January always feels like the longest month of the year. We filled it with tons of books in a variety of places. I finished 8 books this month, started a handful of others, abandoned a few, and made my way through the first third Ron Chernow’s Washington (which should count as 4 books in my opinion!) Here’s a glimpse at January through our reading life.

We started off the new year reading at the beach. Going to the beach on New Year’s Day has become an annual tradition. Some years it’s icy cold and we’re so bundled up you can barely see our eyes. This year, it was almost 60, so we brought our books and stayed a while.

Of course, even almost 60 at the beach in January feels cold, so it means lots of layers and her favorite owl hat. She’s on her fiftieth read through of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

I started The Great Belonging, which I highly recommend. Bitty Baby agrees.

The next day, Leo and I resumed our normal reading position on the couch and I started A Year of Writing Dangerously.

I finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow in the car while waiting on my daughter’s dance lesson.

I started Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life over dinner at the YMCA, while waiting on the other daughter to finish gymnastics.

I read The Red Pony while on a solo retreat.

Then David went to NYC for work and the puppy was sad. So I let him snuggle me in the wee hours of the morning while I read Good Apple.

while she read Princess Academy by the fire. Now I understand why they call it Child’s Pose.

They shared The Meanest Doll in the World while eating breakfast (gosh, isn’t this the sweetest thing ever?)

And later that day, I read Seabird out loud while they did some stretching.

David caught me reading The Cloisters on the floor of our church while the kids were in Sunday School.

The next day we got a ton of snow, so we curled up on the couch and read. Me, The Cloisters; Her, Princess Academy.

We started reading Romeo & Juliet together. They prefer the original Shakespeare text rather than the modern; we all agree the cadence is much more fun.

On the next snow day, I devoured The Lions of Fifth Avenue in less than 36 hours. It was a perfect snowy day escape, especially because we were heading to NYC just a few days later.

When David had a second trip to New York City, we all tagged along and turned it into a school field trip. We tried to read Shakespeare on the train, but it didn’t work. out very well. We gave up after just a few lines.

It didn’t take us long to settle into our hotel and dive into the many books we loaded onto our Kindles. Little Women, The Menagerie, and The Masterpiece made great traveling companions.

Our first day in the city, we spent the entire day at the New York Public Library. We saw Shakespeare’s First Folio, Charles Dickens’ Writing Desk, a Gutenberg Bible, the Declaration of Independence, and the original handwritten manuscript draft of The Secret Garden, just to name a few. After seeing all the Treasures, we went back to the hotel for a lunch of leftover Chinese and books.

An afternoon at the children’s library was pretty much their idea of a perfect afternoon. (My kids are dreams to travel with, I’m telling you…)

The second day, we took the subway to The Strand. I made a mistake on the way back and went the wrong direction, but we saw it as a pleasant detour. We saw a few extra sights (World Trade Center, Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty), and she finished the second book in The Menagerie series.

The end of our trip came too soon. We said farewell to Grand Central station and took the Commuter rail halfway home. One continued her journey through Little Women and the other finished the final book of the Menagerie series.

And I cracked up at Katherine Center’s newest book, Hello Stranger (coming in July). Preorder it friends. It’s going to be the perfect beach read.

The final leg of our trip was a 2 1/2 hour car ride from Connecticut home. She was quite happy to spend the time with the March girls.

Now that we’re home and book club is in two days, it’s time for me to finish reading Romeo & Juliet. I’ve found listening to the audio while reading along is the very best way for me to maximize comprehension.

Whew - what a month! What stories does your reading life tell??

You can see a complete list of the books mentioned in this post here. All links are affiliate links.