4 x 10 Challenge--January

The List so far:

Children's Fiction (6-10)
1.The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling


Children's Fiction (10-14)
1.Inkheart by Cornelia Funke I liked this and wanted to read before going to see the movie (Brendan Frasier--do I need to say more?)But it did bog down in a couple of places and I was glad to finish it. Reading the next two in the trilogy is unlikely.

Science/Nature

Parenting/Family

History

World Politics

Adult Fiction

Education
1.Wild Days by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe
(I wasn't sure if this should go here of Nature but as she writes a lot about using a nature journal in all areas of the curriculum I decided here.)

Fiction (classics)

Personal Improvement changed to Social Issues (I'm too old for personal improvement, I'm afraid...)
1.On the Shortness of Life by Seneca (Personal improvement works for this one.) I've had this on my shelf for over a year but once I started it I couldn't put it down. Great! Seneca is sort of a proto-monk. I looked him up on wikipedia and found out that the book of Golden Legends says that he was converted to Christianity by St. Paul.I believe it. Here is a sample,"By the toil of others we are led into the presence of things which have been brought from darkness into light. We are excluded from no age, but we have access to them all; and if we are prepared in loftiness of mind to pass beyond confines of human weakness, there is a long period of time through which we can roam. We can argue with Socrates, express doubt with Carneades, cultivate retirement with Epicurus, overcome human nature with the Stoics, and exceed its limits with the Cynics. Since nature allows us to enter into a partnership with every age, why not turn from this brief and transient spell of time and give ourselves over wholeheartedly to the past, which is limitless and eternal and can be shared with better men than we?" This book also included Consolations to Helvia and On Tranquility of Mind. I devoured them all!
2. Guilty by Ann Coulter. Miss Coulter is always controversial but I like her anyway. This one is how liberals play the victim and then use their victim hood to push their own agenda. An example--(from the dust jacket)"Brave" liberals: In addition to being beautiful, compassionate tribunes of the downtrodden, liberals are brave. I know that because they're always telling me how brave they are. Why, five nights a week, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann courageoulsy books guests who completely agree with him. It doesn't get any braver than that.

Adult Fiction