A Net in Time

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Monthly Reads

Summertime Reading

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You’ve already seen the books I read in July, and I thought today I’d continue telling you about my summertime reading!  Not quite as many books this month since I’ve been spending some time building a shed!   Anyways, I will be linking to reviews or to amazon links to make it easy in case you want to get them yourself!  🙂  Hurts you none, is MUCH appreciated if you do buy, and it helps me out! 

summertime reading

Books read for Reviews

The Science of Babies.  Gives you the language needed to talk with your children, and you can add your own social context/faith to the conversation. 

Listen to the language of the trees.  I love informative picture books, and this one does a good job. 

Future Worlds.  A hugely fun book that you can use to develop critical thinking skills in your children, or a love of “can I be a part of that future possibility”.  

Don’t Worry, Be Ha-Pea.  Food + puns = a fun book.  

The Button Pusher.  I thought this a well-done book about ADHD and how hard it is to cope with it at times, but good helps and parental support make it easier. 

Books read for fun

The Scrivener’s Bones.  Hubsters LOVED Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians so promptly ordered the next in the series.   So as he finished it (and then ordered the next one) I get to read the one he finished!  I may get through more of this series by the end of the month.  FUN books.  Get them for your middle-schoolers!  🙂   I find it immensely humourous how much he likes them and insists on getting the next as soon as he’s done the last!  🙂 

Lola is Missing.  A mystery, where they are trying to find a missing child.  Started it last month!  Reading it on Kindle.   I’m finding the characters interesting and I’m hoping they find the child.  I’ll be updating when I’ve finished! 

Gentle and Lowly.  What a fantastic journey into the heart of Christ.  I so STRONGLY recommend that you get this book and delve deeply in his heart.  See Christ more clearly, love God more dearly. 

Time of the Twins.  I admittedly didn’t care for this book and will most likely return it (on audible). Hubsters was surprised that I didn’t care for it as he knows the series and expected that I would. 

How about you?

What books have kept you engaged with your summertime reading?   Anything that you would recommend?   If so, why? 

Books Read During the Month of July

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Did you know that one of my favourite things to do while on vacation is to read books?  I know.. totally shocking eh?  (not).  🙂

Anyways, we had a week camping up at Grundy Lake, only a week so I brought nine books with me and got 8.5 read.   

books fiction patterson roberts

Timestoppers: quest for golden arrow is the second in a series that I am thoroughly enjoying. I won’t tell you a whole lot about it as a review is coming up.  Suffice it to say though… GOOD BOOK.  Hubby is waiting in line to read it after the lad gets finished (though that might take a spell).

 

The Help.  Wow.. fascinating book.  A look into the lives of negro house servants after emancipation and what not.  How friendships were formed, how hatred and bigotry were shown just so casually, how black people had to be so careful to walk the right thin line.   It was eye-opening and a very interesting read.

 

Alex Cross’s Trial.  Other black’s in the south motif for this book.  This one with a darker theme when the KKK was active, people taking a stand.  I do not understand the level of hatred and vitirol displayed.   It makes no sense to me the betrayal, the whites only and the depth people would go to protect their own and attack another race.  I know things like this go on today in other forms and stuff, but it’s just plain nastiness.   Hard read, but glad I took a look into that world.

 

Vision in White.   What can I say.. a romance with a touch of mystery to it.  It’s a light easy read and much needed after the two previous books.  Discovering strength within, overcoming ones’ past.  Themes were good.

A train of thought.  I love trains and thought I just might enjoy this story.  I DID!  I want the lad to read it when he’s older.  The wisdom in the stories, and old railroader speaking to how things were.  It’s a review coming up so won’t say much more.

NYPD RED 2.  Another Patterson book but quite different. The mob, vigilante justice, the power of a evil minded leader and a docile follower.   Disaster neatly avoided.  I was intrigued throughout the whole book AND surprised a time or two.   Good read if you like a suspense-filled mystery.

Fatal Illusions.  OH.. oh …oh.. how I wanted this bad guy caught!   He was just a nasty minded fellow out of a nasty minded woman.  Oh.. but a positive note.  A family was drawn closer together.  Faith was made evident.   Repentance seen where needed AND…. (spoiler alert) bad guy was stopped!  Makes for a good read that!  🙂

 

Alexandria.  Honestly started this one, but didn’t finish it.  Not sure I will.  The style of writing and the time period is just totally loosing me.   A mystery in Egypt when Britain was “helping” rule her.

The Villa.  Another Nora Roberts book.  Needed a light easy read after going through NYPD RED and Fatal Illusions.    I haven’t finished this one yet, but so far, it’s a decent read.

OH!   I almost forgot.  The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.  WOW…this book was fascinating and very sad and lost and drew me in like a moth to the flame.  Captivated by the joy, the sorrow.  The fact that a hidden secret about ruined a family and then drew them back in again.  Fascinating book.  

Books read as reviews: 
The Benevolent Bee: I liked this book.  A bit more technical than the other bee book I read, but a good book with stories, crafts, recipes.  

TimeStoppers book one!   Loved this first book, begged for the second.  🙂   Good sci-fi book for younger readers as well as older ones.  🙂

My Jesus Bible.  Hardcover bible story book for preschoolers. 

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies.  A fascinating book about how art and science intermingled, creating new information for the science community while producing good works of art. 

Junk Drawer Engineering.  A rather neat STEM book for upper elementary through highschool, with hints and options for various ages AND the science behind it. 

Miniscapes: Create your own terrarium.   My son is in LOVE with this book currently.  Making different terrariums, gaining new insights into the world of miniature plants. 

50 Natural Wonders to Blow your Mind. Neat little book about different natural wonders from around the world.   Pictures and facts. 

Goats of Anarchy.  A neat picture book about a goat rescue. 

The Beginner’s Bible for Little Ones.   Hardcover bible for young children.

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Books read in the Month of May

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 May…the time for spring flowers and rolling back on the schooling expectations, business in the outdoors planting gardens, going to for walks, and cleaning out rabbitries.   Not a time for a whole lot of reading, but still.. I DID!  YES!  I read some books!!!

Wow. Guilty Wives by James Patterson…
Wow… I have to admit, that the beginning of the book had me NOT wanting to read the book, so I read part of the ending which… was just enough to intrigue me to want to know how the bad guy did it.

Wow.. this was good read.  I was so glad I stuck it out.  The horror of French prisons though… NASTY.  Are they like that in real-life?   I don’t know, but I do know I don’t want to go to France and break the law and get stuck in jail there. 

The determination of Abbie, the main character, was impressive.  Her ability to focus and work on proving her innocence amazes me despite all the hardship she was put through.   Perseverance and commitment, being the type of person she needed to be for her children’s long term care.   It was such an interesting read…definitely a book for ADULTS!

Urban Wildlife Habitats was a neat read about how different animals have adapted to living with people in urban areas.

Everything from storks to monkeys, to sheep and lizards, to snails and kangeroos.   So many animals have learned to co-exist with people.  Throughout the book are a copious amount of pictures, and tons of information to help us co-exist with them and even help them.  

So tell me….would you want to see a moose in your take-out window?

We’ve learned about muskoxen and ostriches recently.

Fascinating critters.
Did you know that male ostrich lay on the eggs at night because their black feathers are the perfect camoflage. 

 Rip and Red and the Tournament of Champions.

Two boys learning and growing together… finding it’s hard … Red with his autism (high-functioning) and Rip with his Dad returning… hard things for boys to deal with.  But they manage to pull it together around the world of a basketball championship.

 Secrets and Sequences of the Secret Coders series.

You’ll find my review here.   

Using a graphic novel to teach some of the basics of coding. 

 Mission to Pluto is a book my son thoroughly enjoyed.  He used it to further his learning with his apologia studies.  

It’s part of the scientist series. And it is a really well done series.  if you have a chance to read some with your children (or even just for yourself do so.)  Elephants and Dolphins are the next on my hit list!

Books I am working through.

My mom-in-law asked me what I thought of this book and I said “this man writes my hubby preaches!”

I am so far loving this book and looking forward to digging into it all the more.  It’s not a quick fiction read, but a let’s grow a discipling people read.

Good book … My review is coming!

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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Books read in April

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This month has seemed very busy, so I’m trying to recall what all we read this month.   Not as much as some months.  🙂

Oh.. before I begin I have to tell you this funny story.

I told my mom-in-law how much we enjoyed the book Irish Chain… and suggested she read it.  She’s about 78 years old and she liked this book so much she stayed up all night.  Oh my…she looked so tired and frail but wow.. she was full of her enjoyment of it.  🙂   Gave her and the lad much to talk about. 

It took her four days to recover from her reading adventure.  🙂

So what else did we read this month?
We’re continuing our natural world adventures with Natural world.   We’re in the midst of learning about a variety of birds. It was rather interesting today, we had recently learned about swallows, and today we saw some swallows in real life.  My lad was fascinated!

The lad is continuing to read through Shepherd, Potter, Spy and Star-Namer.  Tells me he likes it.   His bed-time reading is all about the Warrior Cat series by Erin Hunter.

At breakfast we are reading the Golden Goblet.
So far this book has us very intrigued.  Has the lad asking lots of questions about why the boy’s brother has to be so mean.  

I’m glad my lad doesn’t really understand such cruelty.. he hasn’t experienced it.  I’m also pleased that it bothers him as much as it does me.

We are also reading a book about animals in urban life (very interesting), a book about Canada (a bit young but the lad asks questions so good), and a book about muskoxen (more fascinating than you might think).  OH… And we are also reading a second book in the Rip and Red series (review coming soon).   I don’t have pics as the books are upstairs in my sleeping sons room.


I have just started a new book: A Train in Winter. I picked it up at the hospital’s rummage sale.  I was hoping it would be written as a novel, but it wasn’t.   Still interesting, but won’t be as fun a read.  Well..I phrased that poorly.. as reading about women in the French resistance who were shipped to a death camp from the Nazi’s wouldn’t ever be a “FUN” read, but more clinical I guess this will be.

So far it’s been a good explanation as to why the French started to resist so much against German occupation.

Oh Remember Fledgling from last month?   I have the boys hooked, so we’re listening to it on MP3’s in the car!   They like it so much we’re into book two!  AND they are mad that I want to listen ahead to book three so my listening fun has been curtailed a bit.  🙁

Avian is not a book for young listeners though as there is a fairly NASTY fellow in the book who likes hurting people.   But Javed holds true to who he is learning he really is, even if others warn him not to be.   A compelling story that the lad says “NO drive around the block, drive longer!!  PLEASE!!!!”

I also read a Valdemar compendium.. thoroughly enjoyed it.  🙂
Tempest.  It’s fun to read fan fiction.. to see what people come up with that’s in the light of the whole series.

Some of the stories are really well done, others just leave you wondering “what were they thinking!!!” cause it seems so off.

This one was quite well done.

And that’s all I have in my brain for now.   NOTE!  A linky is up at the end of the post so… join in!

Books read for reviews:

Curious Constructions.  Engineering marvels from around the world.
Fish Girl.  A well done graphic novel.
Quick tips for busy families.  Parenting hacks
Your Next 24 Hours.   A book to teach us how to be kind.
John Deere, that’s Who.   I liked this meaty picture book.
Once Upon a Time Storybook.   I had mixed feelings about this bible story book
God’s Easter Miracles.  Picture book for Easter for children.

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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Books Read in March

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The
Homeschool Review Crew does word prompts for Instagram fun, I think
it’s great to have these words prompts for doing quick posts.  🙂   I
find them fun as sometimes it surprises me where my brain goes.  🙂   The word for today is Books. 

Since I haven’t done my books read for the month I thought I’d do that up today.    I know I know, hardly innovative eh?  You’ll cope I think?

Books that I read just for me.

 Fledgling

I loved this book so much I went out and got the second book in the series before I even finished the first one.  

A great series about a lad who crosses two cultures and is not accepted in either one.  He meets a dragon and his life is forever changed.

The second book Avian is just as good.  🙂  Now to read Traitor and then Immortal…  I have to know how it all ends  .. I just have to know!!!!

Hubby and I just finished listening to  Balanced on the Blade’s Edge. 

I love the story aspect…it’s actually quite fascinating.  I’d rather not have the romance aspect to it as I find that I dislike that aspect in books now, but the story behind the romance has me hooked.  I want to know how the crisis will be worked through.    

Her second book I am liking more as the romance part isn’t quite as in my face.  “Deathmaker” It is called.   Definitely a fantasy type series of books, with powers of magic, dragons of old, and fear of magic rampant.

Books Reading with my Lad (in progress or finished)

We have been working through story of the world for quite a while.   I expect we’ll be done this book by the end of the month as we are in the last 1/5th of it.

We’ve learned a whole lot reading through this series.

The Natural World.

We’ve learned about all sorts of animals and natural phenomena.   
Trees, rainforests, critters of all sorts.

Currently we are in the midst of learning all sorts of fascinating facts about birds.

It will be a spell before we are done this book though.

A Wind in the Door
I loved this book as a child and it stuck with me forever.  

I could hardly wait for my lad to get old enough to share it with him.

He LOVED it.  And often begged me to keep reading through it.  

He was as sad as I was at the end when Progo died. “BUT MOM!!!  HE can’t die!!!”   What love will do eh?

Canada’s Natives Long Ago.

This book contains stories from early Canadians…both natives and early explorers.   We’re learning lots and being amazed often.   

We just finished reading a section about a young explorer trying to cross a river where the current was so strong it bent a tree FOUR FEET in diameter in half!   Can you imagine it?   They gave up trying to cross the river.

We continue to read through “Getting to Know Nature’s Children”.  This month we are learning about the grouse, last month we learned about otters and the red fox.   There are two animals in each book.

The lad continues to enjoy this series and as long as he does, we’ll keep reading through them.   

 

Irish Chain

I can’t say what a great book this is that we are reading.  I would call this a living book about a disaster in Canadian history.. devastated the town and harbor.  Killed 1000’s of people.   The lad and I are captivated by the story of Rose and her strength that she didn’t even know she had.   She lost so much…and yet..her family and her memories remained strong.

If you can…read this book.  It’s a good one.

Books Read for the Purpose of Reviewing Them.

Amazing Animal Adventure.   This was a GREAT seek and find book on biomes located throughout the world.

War Plan Red.    This was simply a fun review to do and I learned so much about the history between Canada and the United States. 

Found – Psalm 23.   A book for young children, a simple, gentle look at Psalm 23 and how the good shepherd cares for us. 

Let’s Explore…Mountain.   Want to learn about different mountains throughout the world?   Text plus activities to educate and entertain.  

 

The Kid from Diamond Street.   A story of women’s baseball, which focuses on Edith Houghton.   A very interesting book.   A meaty picture book that I enjoyed. 

A Dog in a Cave.   This was a somewhat different book that I enjoyed none the less.  Less about evolution and more about how two species can influence the development of the other. 

Really Woolly Easter Blessings.  A board board for the youngest children, to teach about Easter with Verse and prayer.

Three Middle School Books: I love you Michael Collins (Learning about the forgotten astronaut through the eyes of a young girl struggling with growing up and family issues), Ten: A soccer Story (a young soccer fan who works to make her dreams come true) and The Journey to Dragon Island (a light fantasy).  

 

 Books in process.

My son continues to read through the Erin Hunter “warrior cats” series, last I heard he was on the fourth series.   He has also started Shepherd, Potter, Spy…and Star Namer. 

I am currently reading: “Voyage to the Magical North” and “Head First”.   Also will be finishing book two, and hopefully book three of the Dragonrider Chronicles.  🙂

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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/