Friday, February 20, 2009

Another shelf of books

Well, I have to apologize. Yesterday when Candy was talking about the books on the top of her bookshelf she meant the very top of the bookshelf. I mistakenly posted the list of the top shelf of one of my bookshelves. On the very top I have some baskets. One woven by my Grandfather, but otherwise unexceptional.

So since I posted my top shelf yesterday, today I'll fill in by posting the list from the shelf closest to my desk here. That way I'll be on-track for tomorrow.
  • My pricebook*
  • Campaigns of the Civil War by Walter Geer
  • The Well Trained Mind by Jesse Wise & Susan Bauer
  • Literature Pickering & Hopper, Ed.
  • The American Tradition in Literature, 6th ed
  • Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fisher
  • The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
  • Passionate Hearts & Intimate Kisses 2 poetry collection, Wendy Maltz, Ed.
  • The London Ritz Book of Afternoon Tea
  • Oh look, another KJV.
  • Living a Beautiful Life by Alexandria Stoddard
  • A Room With a View by E. M. Forrester
  • One Skein Wonders, Judith Durrant, Ed.
  • The Book of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan
  • The Tightwad Gazette, volume 1, Amy Daczyczyn, Ed.
As you can see, this is a collection of books for future homeschooling, and some of my favorites.

Why am I doing this? To prove that to be considered well-read, at least in any kind of limited fashion, you have to read something other than 1) children's books, 2) only theology that supports your worldview, 3) homekeeping books that are no longer relevant, 4) comic books, and 5) the bible, over and over and over again. A truly well-read home has a large selection of books on a wide variety of topics. I have barely scratched the surface so far.

My biggest concern is that so far all her books of advice on homekeeping and family management are 100 years old. Which means they would not address mover surfaces, cleaners or fabrics. They wouldn't cover current practices in food safety or nutrition. The very concept of child psychology and development wouldn't have been included. And they wouldn't have anything from the vast modern body of knowledge concerning health. Reccomending these as a serious referrence is rather disturbing.

So, more tomorrow. Wait until you see what I have on the next shelf.


* I'll adress the pricebook idea in a future post.