I read a lot, normally. But teaching eight classes this semester I have found myself falling behind. I’m busy, busy, busy. And when I have a moment to myself, I get on the internet instead of reading books. Now, I like the internet. I get my news from there. I learn things. But it isn’t a book.

I haven’t been doing much reading for fun because I have been doing other things. Perhaps, though, if I am purposeful about my reading, I will get the reading done.

So when A Peek at My Bookshelf, the most voracious reader I have ever read (and that’s saying a lot as those who know me know), suggested Spring Reading Thing, I thought I should join in. Here’s the main post on Spring Reading thing.

You have to write a post. (Ha ha! That’s this.) Then you have to link on Thursday. That’s where it will get sticky for me. I am not sure I will remember to link then. No, I didn’t remember.

Here’s my list:

Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard because it changed the way my husband looks at God.

Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin because my brother said it is great and funny and there are sequels. And because I bought it last month and it has been sitting on my bedside table ever since. I read it. My review is here.

Kris Longknife: Mutineer by Mike Shepherd. Also recommended by my brother and also sitting on my bedside table for a month.

Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs. I bought it sometime this semester because my brother recommended it. But I haven’t been doing much reading. I read it. My review.

Three Bedrooms, One Corpse because I love Charlaine Harris’ books and this is one of her mysteries. I read it. My review.

Make the Impossible Possible by and about Bill Strickland, despite the fact that I hate the title. Why? Because of the truth of the subtitle “One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary.” He did. He has. They have. Amazing. I have begun to read this and it is not a fast or easy read.

Schemers, Dreamers, and Medicine Men: Witchcraft and Magic among Primitive People by Gordon C. Baldwin. Because I have an interest there and I bought the book ages ago and haven’t read it.

The Discovery of the Germ: Twenty Years that Transformed the Way we Think about Disease by John Waller. I am a science reading hobbyist. That is, I read about science as one of my hobbies. And since I have been living with disease, I think this would be an interesting book. I bought it a year ago and put it on a bookshelf and haven’t read it.

Power Unseen: How Microbes Rule the World by Bernard Dixon. Same as above.

The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History by Jan Bondeson. I used to teach PTBarnum as part of a section on notetaking, so I have continued to be interested in his stuff. Also, natural history falls within science.

How To Read a Book which I started after my husband got it for Christmas but didn’t finish. An amazing book. I haven’t finished it yet, but it very clearly discusses my teaching system in a positive way. I should look at the notes before I go for my onsite interview.

Reading Like a Writer which was a Christmas gift to me that I started and did not finish.

Dead Men Do Tell Tales interested me after falling in love with the television series Psych. I don’t as much love Kathy Reichs’ books, which are the basis for the series, but I do read them.

I read this book. It turns out I read it last year! But I began again and enjoyed it immensely. It is a well written book. It is interesting. It gives specific details and information that keep it fascinating without giving so many that it drags. If you always wanted to know what happened to Anastasia, princess of Russia, this is the book for you. The author is one of the people who identified her. I am sorry she and her family were killed. I am sorry she wasn’t able to escape. But I am NOT sorry I read this book again.

I am sure I have other books, but I don’t know if I will have time to read them. So this is my list.

Note: I have another list on a different post of books I wanted to get to in 2006. I am going to add them here and see if I can challenge myself to get them all read.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Raven: a Biography of Sam Houston and other biographies by Marquis James

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (I don’t remember it.)

Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I don’t remember it.)

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Life of George Washington by Washington Irving

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (I don’t remember it.)

How I Found Livingstone by Sir Henry Morton Stanley

Erewhon by Samuel Butler

Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy

Life of David Crockett by Davey Crockett

Berenbaum, Michael
The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Epstein, Norrie
Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless Guide to the Best of the Bard.
Gain a perspective on Shakespeare’s works through these sidelights, interpretations, anecdotes, and historical insights.

Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage (I don’t remember it.)

Tocqueville, Alexis de
Democracy in America
This classic in political literature examines American society from the viewpoint of a leading French magistrate who visited the U.S. in 1831. (I’ve read some of it.)

Tuchman, Barbara
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
Tuchman uses the example of a single feudal lord to trace the history of the 14th century. (I just bought this.)

Yolen, Jane
Favorite Folktales From Around the World
Yolen frames these powerful tales with explanations of historical and literary significance.