What we’re reading: Bookshelf rotation edition

This edition of “What we’re reading” could more accurately be called “What we’re finished reading and what our options might be for The Next Thing,” but that’s rather clumsy as a post title.

Since I shared about our biography addiction, we’ve finished several books as a family.

I also finished two books I was reading on my own – Buzz Aldrin’s autobiography, “Magnificent Desolation,” and the autobiography of hacker Kevin Mitnick, “Ghost in the Wires.”

As a side note, while Life of Fred is described as a Christian series, we are a secular homeschooling family and haven’t had any problems using the fairly few spiritual references we’ve found as talking points about what different people believe, which we like to do anyway.

 

We tend to do this fairly often – finish a bunch of things at once. The thing is, unless we’re midway through a series, it often takes a little while before we start something new!

So what’s next?

My tried-and-true trick to help us find something interesting usually goes like this:

  • Attend used-book sale. Buy stuff.
  • Bring home finds from used book sale. Pile them in stacks around various rooms. Wince when you knock them over while vacuuming.
  • Look at all available family bookshelves. Wince again when stuff starts falling off as you browse.
  • Try to motivate family members to part with no-longer-loved books (or at least store them away) using phrases like, “Hey! Do you guys want to go play Sort the Books?”
  • Eventually get family members to take pity on you. Sort books using a multi-hour process that is as much family reading time as anything.
  • End up with new book possibilities on everyone’s bedside shelves!

Just did that over the weekend, to great results. We parted ways with many books, packed away a few boxes of Ashar’s still-loved-but-not-currently-being-read collection, and now have some solid leads on possible next books (in addition to Life of Fred: Goldfish, which we started two nights ago!)

What’s your family reading?

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8 thoughts on “What we’re reading: Bookshelf rotation edition

  1. Love the books you listed and giggled at the “Tried and True” tricks. Me too friend, me too. I would have never believed that I could have so many bookcases and still have books on the floor in piles. Ahhhh homeschooling. 🙂

  2. I am at the same point you are. When we were expecting power outages I went through out current stacks to see what would be interesting to read by headlamp! I read Confessions of a Closet Catholic about an 11 year old Jewish girl who finds her self worth and her faith. I enjoyed it but it only took a few hours…….now I am at my sister’s house looting her shelves……

  3. Sounds like fun to find what’s next to read in your house 🙂 We have LOADS of books EVERYWHERE too. I always say that we could go for months and months (at least) with no need for the library to find new materials. The problem is that I work in a library, so there is constant temptation to bring new books home. Sigh…such problems… 😉

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