Reading Update

It is now the third month of 2015. Time for an update on my reading challenges.

I self-declared this to be the Year of the Re-Read.
So far I have re-read the following:

J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit (finished January 3)
The Fellowship of the Ring (finished February 6)
The Two Towers (finished February 23)
The Return of the King (finished March 5)

I first read these Tolkien books in 2002 and then again in 2006. It was definitely time to re-read them. Wow, are they good books and I need to not let so many years pass in between re-reads. My daughter Hannah, lover of all things Tolkien, is lobbying hard for me to read The Silmarillion. I told her I'll add it to my list. Maybe, just maybe I can get to it this year. For now, I will continue my re-read list with C.S. Lewis's Narnia books.

For Jane's challenge I listed 10 books and 5 alternates. I have completed one:
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (finished January 11)

Oh, and as part of the Year of the Re-Read, I decided to re-read aloud to my younger three The Series of Unfortunate Events. We have finished book one.
The Bad Beginning (finished February 9)

Isn't that sad that I've only finished one of those? It is difficult to find time for read alouds anymore. We struggle to find time when we are all home and ready to listen and mom is ready to read. Something to work on in the coming days and weeks and months.

I did join the book club which some of my friends, also home-school moms, started. They began in January with Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Wow, do I enjoy this book. It has been interesting, intriguing, fun, and full of characters I want to hug or hit. We only read a certain number of pages each week and then discuss those together via chat. We will finish the book at the end of March. I'm not sure what will be next for book club.

I've also been reading with Nathan and Abby Mallory's Le Morte D'Arthur. That is quite interesting as well. But reading it and Tolkien and Tolstoy all at the same time was quite hard. None of the books are hard by themselves, but together it made for a challenging time. That is why I'm picking Narnia for my next re-read. It won't require near the thinking cells I've used the last month. I'm debating on if I should tackle Dante's Inferno with Nathan and Abby next or simply move into Shakespeare and delve into his plays.

March is here and I've read so far six books plus two that I'm still reading. I really don't know if that is good or bad. But it is what I've accomplished. At this point I admit I'm a teeny bit concerned about meeting my reading challenges. Only a teeny bit for now though. It is only the third month of the year. I have time. Now back to my scheduled reading.