What I'm Reading (No. 13): reading with kids and a Civil War reading list
As the newborn has grown into a 6-week-old, she's stopped sleeping basically all day, and my reading has taken a slight hit. To be expected of course! I'm still chugging away though. In the near future you will likely see more 1-book weeks than 2-book weeks. I'll have some other fun things to share though, including possibly diving into books for kids, and perhaps some Mother's Day and Father's Day guides.
Anyways, let's get into what I finished this week:
The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie
The Read-Aloud Family (288 pgs, 2018) was research for an article I'm working on about the importance of reading to and with your kids. It was a super speedy read, and although a number of the anecdotes felt like filler material, the practical tips and research-backed benefits of reading out loud to your kids could not be argued with. And her ideas about creating a book club culture in the home were rather inspiring.
Mackenzie is the founder and host of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast, which spurred the book deal. She's approaching episode #100, and while I haven't had time to listen to it, it appears she covers a variety of topics from author interviews, to specific book recs, to reading with various sub-groups of kids.
Sarah compellingly points out that the benefits of reading aloud to kids extends well beyond the ages you think it would — from basically birth (and even in utero), all the way through the teenage years. Fostering a love of books and reading is one of the surest ways, as noted by several researchers, of not only preparing your kids for success, but also instilling empathy, adventure, and life-long learning habits. (And those benefits are found in reading to your kids for just 30-40 minutes per week.)
There are also really handy book lists at the end with recommendations broken down by age.
This is a great book for any parent with kids at home, grandparent, parent-to-be, uncle or aunt, or really anyone who has any connection to kids whatsoever. It doesn't have to just be parents reading aloud to kids; anyone can do it! Here's to raising up a book-loving generation!
March Recap
I didn't do a March recap last week, so here we go! It was a great reading month, and it was really hard to pick just a couple favorites.
Books Read: 11
Longest Book: El Paso by Winston Groom — 477 pages
Shortest Book: The Great Divorce by CS Lewis — 146 pages
Favorites (in no particular order):
Educated by Tara Westover (I like this book more and more as time goes on — it has really stuck with me)
The Man Who Caught the Storm by Brantley Hargrove
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
A Couple Bookish Tidbits
1. My article about Stoicism was published on Monday, and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Read it here. Those philosophy books I mentioned a couple weeks back were put to good use!
2. My Western novels reading project is nearing its end (though I do still have a few left), so I'm thinking about my next reading "project" — I always like to have some sort of list I'm working through, or general theme. I'm thinking about taking on the Civil War. It seems I know embarrassingly little about the nation-defining conflict. So far on my shelf, sitting unread as of yet, I have:
Lincoln by David Herbert Donald
Grant by Ron Chernow
The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (Annotated Edition)
Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson (which won the Pulitzer)
Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara
What are you favorite Civil War reads? I'd love to hear your recommendations.
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you've been enjoying this week!
-Jeremy