Some of What I'm Reading

I've been busy at the library the last couple weeks! Here are a few of the books I'm currently reading. I stash books all over the house, in my purse and in the car so that wherever I find myself with a free moment I can read. Now that L nurses less frequently, I don't have as much opportunity to read.

Help for the Harried Homeschooler: A Practical Guide to Balancing Your Child's Education with the Rest of Your Life by Christine Field. I've picked up a few good tips from this book, and I'm sure I'll pick up a few more. The book is easy to skim and read bits and pieces from.

Raising Puppies and Kids Together: A Guide for Parents by Pia Silvani and Lynn Eckhart. I actually got a number of puppy books from the library, but this one has been most useful for me. I've raised a puppy before, and actually remember quite a bit more than I thought I might. I didn't have any kids the last time I raised a puppy, however! This book has lots of great tips for raising puppies alongside children and wonderful ideas of how to get them to play together well. I highly recommend this to any family adding a puppy to their family with children.

Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell. I'm trying to gather information from many sources about pursuing a freelance writing career. I am also trying to balance learning about the process with actually DOING it. This is a good book, and I wish the library had their query book . . . but maybe I should plan a bookstore visit in the next week or so.

Redwall by Brian Jacques. I'm reading this book aloud to the boys as our evening read. I had heard good things about it for a couple years now, but was sick of reading about mice after the Ralph Mouse series and Tale of Desperaux. The boys are really enjoying this book. I think there's a lot of violence in it, but the lines of good and evil are pretty well drawn. The hero and his companions are likable, while the villains are definitely not. There are plenty of moral lessons woven throughout. I'm glad I didn't read it a couple of years ago when I first heard of it, because I don't think the boys would have been ready. As it is now, I still question some chapters and am glad I can edit while reading aloud. While I know the boys will want me to start the 2nd book in the series, we're going to read The Borrowers next.

Everything is non-fiction at the moment, except for the read aloud for the boys. I usually have one or two novels in the mix, but I guess nothing caught my eye recently. Well, that and L believes that all the books in the library are there for her to unshelve. That makes it hard to browse!

What are you reading right now? Any recommendations to give me? Any good novels in your pile?