A Mother’s Education – The Books I Want to Read in 2018
Homeschooling is great for parents who want to be lifelong learners. I enjoy picking certain topics to teach my kids that I can learn along with them.
Though I don’t think my education should solely be tied to theirs. I want to be learning on my own time as well.
I thought I would share a list of books I want to read in 2018. Back in 2016 I read over 100 books, this year I think I’m around 40. How much I read can really vary from year to year. I definitely didn’t want to pick out every single book I was going to read this year because I am bound to come across some great books throughout the year that I will want to add in but the titles on this list I would like to make sure I get to.
I read Teaching from Rest a few weeks ago and near the end of the book Sarah Mackenzie talks about the idea of choosing a literary mentor for the year and reading a selection of their works throughout the year. As a bit of a bookworm that idea completely appealed to me.
I decided to choose C. S. Lewis for my literary mentor for 2018 because I embarrassingly have not read many of his books. Now that I think of it, Chronicles of Narnia might be the only thing of his that I’ve actually finished. So instead of being appalled by myself this year I am going to change that!
If you’ve read anything on this site before or followed me on Instagram you’ll know we are big fans of the library (we’ve taken out over $20,000 in books from the library this year!) but for the books that I am have on this list I’ve decided I would like to own each of them. I enjoy highlighting passages and since these are all pretty much classic books I know there will be a lot of highlighting going on! I do own a number of these books already and I’ll be keeping my eye out for the others throughout the year.
After you’ve read the list leave a comment below and let me know if there is a book you think I should add to my list for the year!
NON-FICTION
Mere Christianity
This is such a classic, how have I not read it???
The Screwtape Letters
I’ve had this book for years and haven’t even read it.🤦 This is the year!
The Great Divorce
Till We Have Faces
A Grief Observed
Surprised by Joy
The Abolition of Man
George Müller of Bristol
I read the Christian Heroes Then & Now George Muller biography to the kids this year, I’m looking forward to digging into his story deeper.
Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a close second for my literary mentor for this year, maybe next year, in the meantime I still want to read this book.
Parenting: The 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family
I’ve heard great things about this book and can’t wait to read it!
Reading Magic
We are reading this book for the Intentional Homeschooling Mamas Instagram book club in January (come join us!), this is a re-read for me and truth be told, I’m almost done it already. It’s a good one!
FICTION
Chronicles of Narnia
I’m going to re-read the whole series! (I am actually not even sure if I’ve read the entire series before . . . though I have read a few of them multiple times.)
The Space Trilogy
I started this trilogy a few years ago but didn’t get very far. Time to start over and go through all three books!
Sherlock Holmes
I love Sherlock Holmes. I’ve read most of them before but it’s time to read all the stories!
Little Women
This one is another re-read but it’s such a great book! I am reading it for my local book club for January and it’s seriously the best time of year to read it.
Jane Eyre
I’ve started this classic twice but never gotten very far. I’m going to finish it this year!
Great Expectations
I read Oliver Twist in November (my first time reading Dickens) and really enjoyed it and now I’m looking forward to reading more Dickens. Because I speed read I find his lengthy passages don’t annoy me as much as I assume they do slower readers.
Okay I think that’s the list, what else should I add?
(P.S. I may update this list if I get some great suggestions!)
I’ll be checking out Reading Magic for sure! This is a great list!
I hope you love it, June! It’s a quick read, I’m purposefully trying to take it slow this time through. It really helps confirm a lot of what we are already doing but also has some really great ideas.
I’m going to do this with you! Slightly different list, same mentor. I’m looking forward to it!
Fun! I hope you have a great reading year!