The Eleventh Carnival of Children’s Literature at MotherReader. If you like children’s books, it’s the place to be.

Kate on Typewriters as Talismans.
Eldest Daughter has love for old things, low-tech things, and she asked for a manual typewriter for Christmas. We found her present on eBay and had it sent here all the way from New York.

Leif Enger’s second novel, So Young, Brave and Handsome is set for publication in early 2008 according to Dave at Faith in Fiction. It’s a “tale of passion and adventure in early 20th century America, about an aging train robber, pursued again after years of obscurity, seeking to reconcile the claims of love and judgment on his life.”

I’m looking forward to it.

Doesn’t this book sound like a great idea for boys? And will it be challenged or censored in U.S. libraries —or just not selected? So far, it’s not even available in the U.S., but you can pre-order it at Amazon.

Sarah Vine reviews a book she’s never read, but it’s OK. The book is called Comment Parler des Livres que l’on n’a pas Lus (How to Talk About Books that You Haven’t Read) by M. Bayard, and it’s a best-seller in France. “Bayard himself confesses to never having finished Ulysses, by James Joyce. Personally, I have a theory that there is a very good chance that Joyce himself didn’t even finish writing the book, since I have never actually met anyone who has read the thing cover to cover.”

Justin on Marriage and Honeymoons and Sustained Committment: “We must find the balance between a comfortable taken for grantedness and a fiery passion…”

What better way to show love than to read to and with your family? Jennifer Snapshot is sponsoring the Read To Me 2007 Challenge. Click on the picture for more details.

Kelli shares some Valentine’s Day traditions, several of which would be suitable for anytime this month. SHe’s got a picture of my favorite Valentine’s Day book, All for Love by Tasha Tudor.

Happy Catholic Julie’s favorite romantic movies and books.

Absolutely nothing to do with love and marriage, but one of the Bees at the Beehive has found a new link to my favorite music video: The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. Think of it as a collaboration collision between Tolkien and Star Trek.

Ian’s found some error messages we can all understand and enjoy.

Barbara Curtis of Mommy Life has a great slide show of pictures she took at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Monday, January 22nd. I missed out on the whole anniversary of Roe vs. Wade commemoration this year, but I have not forgotten those who have died in the name of Choice and Reproductive Freedom.

At a Hen’s Pace on monastic communities and their integration with or relation to the everyday world. I’m always interested in posts and articles and books on this subject. How do we create, or allow God to create, community in the (post)modern world?

From the new-to-me blog Claw of the Conciliator: “At the very least, I think that the experience of being launched outside one’s quotidian, self-centered world, and the impulse to awe-struck wonder, are shared by science and religion. So it’s no wonder that a lot of people delight in both at the same time, and don’t want to have to choose just the one or the other. It’s not surprising that someone as brilliant as Isaac Newton spent more time doing theology and biblical studies than he did on science. Even a hard-headed skeptic like Martin Gardner can be a devoted fan of the laughing, joyous, poetic spirituality of G.K. Chesterton.”

At another new-to-me blog, Vivid Just Like You, Denise writes about Transformation: “I learned to cook, penciling notes in the margins, and bought my first bottle of wine. I began to look for the grace that creeps through the cracks of our lives, usually through the flukes and mistakes and the feeling that we don’t know what on earth we are doing. I embraced the mysteries my mind cannot touch. I didn’t give up on my teenage faith: I filled it, or left it open at last for God to fill to overflowing.

Jules at Everyday Mommy is hosting the Hidden Treasure Blog Awards recognizing writing excellence. Her goal is to recognize those under-read bloggers who have written excellent posts in various categories. Nominations opened on February 1st and end today, February 7. If you would like to nominate some of the posts I nominated, these are some of the best ones I found while roaming around last night. The posts with the most nominations in each category advance to the final voting.

Children & Family: The Autumn Rain on Time Out for Happiness

Faith: Amanda Witt of WIttingshire on Sunday Morning

Marriage: Neo-NeoCon on Amnesia: A Love Story

Motherhood: Blest With Sons on the Terrible, Horrible, God Made It Good, Bible Study Day

Homemaking: Debra at As I See it Now plans a Homemaking Retreat

Humor: Anne of Writing and Living on Appliance Group Dynamics

Current Events and Life: Headmistress at The Common Room on Mediocrity

Whether you second my nominations or nominate some of your own choosing, get your nominations in TODAY. Nominations close today.

Brenda of Coffee, Tea, Books, and Me: On the rereading of books.

“However, the reread can be pure joy. For one thing, I only reread books (unless for information) that I loved in the first reading. It is the nonfiction book by the author whose advice I took to heart. It is the work of fiction whose world I want to enter into again. Even though I know how it will end, I want to walk the path once more. There is nothing like seeing old friends on shelves, always available with “just what I need” for that moment in time. “

I reread lots of books. As I said I’m rereading Madeleine L’Engle’s books this year. When I need pure comfort reading, I reread Agatha Christie, of all things. I don’t care that I already know how it ends; I like watching how it all works out again.

Brenda’s Living Life on Purpose Journey:

“I wanted to create a place in this world that is truly a sactuary for us and I’ve spent a lot of time and given attention to doing so. Because this brings me great joy, I have never considered it work. (Although the process of keeping it all clean and clutter free involves work.)”

I’m really enjoying Brenda’s blog, Coffee, Tea, Books and Me. She has a lot of practical ideas about living a full and simple life to the glory of God.

Mental Multivitamin on the professionalization of motherhood.

“Yet here we are, we women of this generation, being driven mad by the awesome responsibility of micromanaging our children’s lives, including ensuring that the next generation has all manner of wonderful and educational experiences and excitements in their lives. We seem to have far more concerns than our mothers had to jerk us out of technicolor dreams, don’t we?”

I do think that Engineer Husband and I worry a lot more about whether we are “good parents” and whether we’re “doing it right” than my parents or his did. It’s difficult to remember that how the kids turn out is NOT my sole responsibility; in fact, I believe it’s mostly the responsibility of the children themselves. But if they listen to our society, they’ll probably blame me if anything goes wrong, and if I’m not careful, I’ll believe that it’s my job to make them into good adults instead of theirs.

What did you read this past year? What were your favorites? What did you try to read but couldn’t quite get into? Which books made a real impression on you? What was overrated? What did you waste time reading? What do you recommend?

What do you plan to read in 2007? Why?

Post a link in the comments to your own reading list for 2006–-or your reading plan for 2007—, and I’ll link to it here. I did this last year, and it was lots of fun. I like reading lists and lists of books almost as much as I like the books themselves. Maybe it’s the anticipation— all those possibilities out there waiting to be enjoyed.

Last year’s List of Lists had thirty-three entries; I wonder if we can collect over fifty this year. Bloggers of the world, list your books and tell us about your reading adventures!

UPDATE, December 31, 2006: 51 Reading Lists so far. I’ll add yours if you leave a comment.

UPDATE, January 7, 2007: 75 reading lists so far. If it gets to 100 or I get tired of adding lists, I’ll quit. I’m moving this post to the top of the page one last time. (“We will eat one very last cookie,” said Toad.)

Susan at pages turned wins the Length and Diligence Award; her list of books read goes all the way back to 2000. Susan’s Janus post: favorites for 2006 and planned reading for 2007.

Lazy Cow, an ex-librarian from Australia, writes about the books her reading group read and discussed in 2006. A couple of the books she lists are books I read in 2006: Never Let Me Go and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I wish I could have attended the book group discussion in Melbourne. Ms. Lazy Cow is also planning to read more Australian books this next year. She has a good list of books set in Victoria with which to start. And here’s her Reading Round-up 2006.

Seasonal Soundings has a Reading Plan for 2007, and it includes listening to Moby Dick on CD. What an idea! Maybe I could get all the way through it that way!

Libromancy: Best Books That I Remember Reading in 2006. This list is heavy on the post-modern novels and graphic novels. And she did/didn’t like Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. Should I read Cloud Atlas?

Danielle Torres at A Work in Progress is going to keep working the Modern Library List of 100 Best Novels that she started work on last year. She’s read eight of the 100 in 2006, not a bad start. And here’s her list of Top Ten Books Read in 2006. I think I’m going to have to read Sophie’s Choice.

Ellen at Wormbook is working on the same long term project, the Modern Library List. She’s read over 100 books this year, but not all or even mostly off the list.

The Little Professor posted on December 8th: My Year in Books (with a special appendix on Victorian anti-Catholic sermons). The appendix has some great quotations from Victorian sermons, and the list itself is heavily weighted toward things Victorian and historical fiction in general.

Author Jenny Davidson writes about “The books I loved in 2006.” I don’t think I’ve read a single book on her list although several of them sound interesting. We do share one “book read” in common: The Book Thief, and we have about the same opinion on it . I didn’t see what all the fuss what was about, and Ms. Davidson says it was her “Most disliked novel #1.”

Lotus, like several others in bookblogworld, is planning to structure her 2007 reading around several book challenges: The TBR Challenge by Miz Books, The Classics Challenge sponsored by booklogged, and The Chunkster Challenge initiated by bookfool. I’d say Lotus has her work cut out for her, and she’s planning a trip around the world, too! Well, sort of.

Maggie in Mississippi writes about her year and her favorite books read in 2006. She actually liked Capote’s In Cold Blood! To each her own.

Dorothy at Of Books and Bicycles writes about her year in books here, and here. And there may be more to come. 2006, it was a very good year. At least one of her favorites for the year, The Places in Between by Rory Stewart, sounds like something I would enjoy.

Scott Freeman: Top Ten Fiction Books Read in 2006. I’m with him on The Kite Runner, but Mr. Freeman’s number one book of 2006 is not on my favorites list at all. I repeat, to each his own.

Fay, at Historical/Present, is issuing to herself The Jane Smiley Fiction Challenge, a plan to read books by modern women authors that Jane Smiley names as most influential in the past twenty-five years. Of the authors Smiley praises, I have read books by Ursula LeGuin, Marilynne Robinson, and Amy Tan. The rest are strangers to me. Do you see any that you think I would particularly enjoy? I know MM-V has a thing for Joyce Carol Oates.

Chris at Another World Is Possible lists twenty Best Books of 2006. The list leans heavily towards post-modern emergent Christianity: Scot McKnight, Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, etc. I should probably read one of these authors to at least see what all the fuss is about, but I fear that I’m one of those Baby Boomer generation modernists who never will understand the post-modern mind.

Greg at Everything That’s on my Mind also has a list full of Christian nonfiction: Phillip Yancy, Greg Bell, and Rob Boyd. He also read Night by Elie Wiesel. I’ve not read that book, and I think maybe it’s time I did.

Sarah’s list of books read in 2006. She liked that woman-married-to-a-time-traveller, too.

Stephanie’s planning to read 26 fiction books from her TBR list by the end of 2007 for the Fiction Lovers Challenge. I’m thinking she’ll really enjoy The Thirteenth Tale and No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, but she’s got two books on her list that I wouldn’t recommend: Lonesome Dove and The Time Traveller’s Wife. Maybe she’ll enjoy them more than I did.

Pilton, Soldier of Fortune in Toronto, Canada, is planning to read lots of good books in 2007, including C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters and Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. If it’s his first reading of either book, I envy him the pleasure.

Kevin Holtsberry at Collected Miscellany posted his Books to Read in 2007 Preview. He got Mark Steyn’s book America Alone as an early Christmas present. I want to read that book!

Dave, an aquisitions editor at Bethany House who blogs at Faith in Fiction picks his top books for 2006. It’s an eclectic list including Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (I’ve gotta read Inkheart), Flotsam by David Wiesner, and The Book Thief by Zusak. He also lists a couple of disappointments for the year.

Sarah of Reading the Past shares her Top 10 Historical Novels of 2006. I have a lot of reading to do since I’ve not touched a one of these.

Carrie, aka Mommy Brain posted a link to her Year in Books at last Saturday’s Review of books, but I thought it should be included here, too. She gave 5-star rating to books by Diane Setterfield, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Jan Karon. I think we have similar tastes. oh. I went back through the list, and Carrie also give 5 stars to a book called Homestead by Rosanna Lippi. It’s set in Austria? I think I’ll have to add it to my list.

Exxie read 52 books in 52 weeks of 2006, including Gilead by Marilynne Robinson and her first Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves!. She writes that this is his her second successful year of 52 books/52 weeks, and she’s planning to do it again next year.

Sarah Faragher owns a used-and-rare bookshop in Maine, and in this post she lists her favorite books read this past year.

Kimbofo (Reading Matters) has posted her list of Top Ten Books Read in 2006. Her favorite was in tune with the Nobel Prize committee: Snow by Pamuk. I read it, too, but can’t say I liked it as well as they did.

Girl in a Book lists the books she read in 2006. Among the many fantasy series, she read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I’m interested to know what she thought of it since Computer Guru Son loves this book. But he won’t/can’t tell me why.

Carrie of Reading to Know posted her Master List of Books Read in 2006 at a separate blog set up just for booklists. What a nice idea! I see she read a lot of my favorites: Dorothy Sayers, George Macdonald, C.S. Lewis, Elisabeth Elliott, Dostoyevsky, Jan Karon, Victor Hugo, Dumas. We must have similar tastes.

Palm Tree Pundit: What I’ve Read in 2006. Her favorite book of the year was When People Are Big and God Is Small by Edward T. Welch.

Lady Laura’s Book List for 2006.

Another Stephanie at So Many Books posts her 2006 in Review post. Again, should I read Cloud Atlas? What is it about, anyway?

Allison who blogs at The Autumn Rain has lots of delightful books on her 2006 Reading List, including two that I recommended and she enjoyed. I see she also read Mrs. Miniver. We just watched the movie a couple of nights ago, and I found it interesting, not a movie that could be made in the same way nowadays, too much patriotism. I didn’t know it was a book.

Magistramater has a Master Reading List for 2007. It’s much more organized and disciplined than my TBR List. After looking at her list all neatly sorted into categories, so balanced, I feel as if mine is a Wild Thing that escaped all bounds and reason long ago. Even worse, I see books on her list that I’d like to add to mine. (Mornings on Horseback? I’ve been wanting to read about TR.)

Mama Hen who moves At a Hen’s Pace shares her list of Books Read ’06. And the first book she’s planning to read for 2007 is Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale. I think she’ll enjoy it; I did.

The Rap Sheet has a top-10 List of Crime Fiction Picks for 2006. He also lists a few extra that were good but wouldn’t fit inot the top 10. I haven’t read any of these, but I may go back and check some of them out.

Mental Multivitamin’s “Best of” post for 2006.

Southern Girl has a year-end book report, a list of the books she’s read in 2006. She liked The Kite Runner and Peace Like a River and several others that are favorites of mine, too.

Karen Krakovianka posts The Lure of the List from Krakow, Poland, a review of her reading for the last ten months of 2006.

Kinuk, another blogger from Poland, has her list of ten best books of 2006. Rose Tremain? Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers?

Heather Madame Rubies read a lot of books in 2006, too. Some of her frequently mentioned authors were C.S. Lewis, Jody Piccoult, Chaim Potok, and Neta Jackson.

Fairfax at Perhaps Joy read 70 books in 2006, including Walking From East to West by Ravi Zacharias (on my TBR list) and Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, one of my favorites.

Lauren lists the 12 best or most influential books that she read in 2006. One of the books on her best list is A Small Rain by Madeleine L’Engle, a book that is up for a re-read here at Semicolon sometime this next month. I love Madeleine L’Engle, and I’m planning to re-read a number of her books in 2007.

Ruth who lives in Tecwil and blogs at There Is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town (great name) lists some of the books she read in 2006.

Jason who is Spoiled for the Ordinary posts his Top Six of Oh Six. One of his six is Hood by Stephen Lawhead. I read that book, too, and liked it although I didn’t think it was Lawhead’s best. Byzantium was his best book, imho.

Elaine at Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover lists some of her favorite books of 2006, and it turns out that some of her favorites are mine, too: Dorothy Sayers’ Gaudy Night, Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, and George Eliot’s Adam Bede —all wonderful books.

Joy at Thoughts of Joy lists her favorites for 2006. Water for Elephants and Hell at the Breech both sound like books I would like to read.

Little Willow, a fellow lover of children’s literature, has a list of favorite books of 2006 that ranges from picture books to adult fiction and nonfiction. I you like children’s fiction or YA fiction, you’ll enjoy her list.

Literary Feline lists all of her books read in 2006 in the post prior to this one and then her favorites in this post, including The Thirteenth Tale and one I’ve never heard of, her number one book of the year, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

Tanabata has her Best and Worst Books of 2006.

Ex Libris has a long post mulling over the thoughts produced by an exceptional reading year. Two of her favorites were TO Kill a Mockingbird (great book) and Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, a book I”ll be adding to my TBR list.

Lisa at Breaking the Fourth Wall has a partial list of books read in 2006 and some personal picks for best and worst. She liked Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, too. Why have I not heard of it?

Monica Brand has a choice for the Most Importatn Book of 2006. I think I’ll have to re-read that book someday and see if I get it better the second time around.

Denise has her 2006 Reading List posted at Books in Bed.

Zandria has a list of 110 books read in 2006, mostly nonfiction.

Mindy Withrow has a nice list of books read, including her husband’s dissertation on Jonathan Edwards. And she also has a plan for 2007, subject ot changes. And the TBR list includes Kristin Lavransdattir!

Mary writes about the best books she read in 2006. Her top pick? Abide With Me by Elizabeth Strout.

Miss Erin has some fine favorites for 2006 —children’s, young adult and adult fiction. She’s a Jane Austen lover and a lover of fine books in general, so if you are, too, then you might enjoy her choices.

Kevin Stilley has a list of five favorites from 2006. And his favorite was a children’s book; he’s my kind of guy.

Carl V. at Stainless Steel Droppings has a list of what he read in 2006, lots of fantasy/horror/scifi, including Tolkien (!). He includes links to his reviews of many of the books he read.

Claire of gingerpixel.com has a list of favorites and not-so-favorites for 2006. Her best read of 2006 was The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I didn’t know it was a Dracula book?

Lesley reviews her literary year at A Life in Books. One of her favorites was Atonement by McEwen, a book that Eldest Daughter is reading right now and liking very much. I may follow behind her and Lesley.

Imani gives her list here with favorites highlighted, and here she says she’s never read a bad book (this year).

Here’s Cam’s Year in Review, complete with graphs. It sounds as if she had a wonderful year discovering blogging, and litblogs, and reading lots of books.

LitLove says it’s been a fantastic year for fiction. She lists ten favorites.

Les (Lesley’s Book Nook) had a very good year of reading, and her blog includes revews of all the books she read in 2006. The Book Thief was her favorite.

Cinnamon at Nose in a Book read novels, lots of short stories, nonfiction, and drama—quite a variety, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and several of Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories.

Liz B. made a list of the Best Books of 2006. These are Liz’s picks for the best in children’s literature published in 2006.

Here’s 3M’s Book List blog. She has books read in 2006 as well as books to be read in 2007. She’s planning to read some great books: RIver Rising, Kristin Lavransdatter, Peace Like a River and Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. What a great year of reading!

Eileen (Books and Hooks) read 62 books in 2006, almost equally divided between fiction and nonfiction. She reads a lot of “Christian fiction” and has some things to recommend that I’ve never read.

Jen Robinson, one of my favorite bloggers, read a lot great children’s books in 2006. She also read some adult fiction and nonfiction, and she has links to reviews of many of the books she read.

Mindy at propernoun.net posts My Reading Year, a list of favorites in several categories with an emphasis on YA fiction.

Laura has a beautiful list of books to read in 2007. She’s interested in homemaking and women’s history, diaries and journals and biography, som fiction, many of the same things I’m interested in reading.

Bybee, who’s Naked Without Books, read 66 books in 2006. She liked a lot of them, including one of my favorite authors James Herriot.

Here’s Miz B’s list of books read in 2006, and here are her favorites and her goals for 2007.

Bookfool read 128 books in 2006, and they’re listed in categories: Biggest smile-inducers, tear-jerkers, most surprising, biggest wastes of time, etc. She also wishes she could have met Corrie Ten Boom and P.G. Wodehouse, among others. Me, too.

be_zen8: A Year in Books. There’s that Book Thief again. Maybe if I had discovered it instead of being told how wonderful it was by everyone in the blogging planet. . . .

Isabella Magnificent Octopus recaps her year in books. Her three favorites were Middlemarch (yes!), Snow by Pamuk (yuck, but what do I know?), and The Dodecahedron.

Linda intentionally read some great books in 2006, and she’s planning to read more in 2007. One of her planned books for 2007 is The Lord of the Rings; I hope she enjoys it half as much as I have over the years.

Here are Kate’s favorite books from 2006, and here are her reading resolutions for 2007. She’s planning a Virginia Woolf project and a Small Press Spotlight on her blog, among other goals.

Kathleen Marie’s Stranded in the Mountains 2007 Reading List. She says she’ll start with these and update from time to time. So stay tuned.

Mom at We Six in the City posted her reading list for 2006. She raed Kristin Lavransdatter, and some C.S. Lewis, and a couple of books by E.M. Forster. I’m curious as to how she liked the Forster books.

Author Debbi Michiko Florence read these books in 2006, lots of good YA fiction and fantasty here.

Author Cynthia Leitich Smith listed these Cynsational Books of 2006. She has a long list of picture book titles, middle grade fiction, and YA fiction, all published in 2006.

Tulip Girl is planning her reading for 2007. She’s going to read Gilead, among others. Enjoy, Tulip Girl.

Ariel’s Top Ten Books of 2006 include a few of my favorites, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, The Pilgrim’s Regress by C.S. Lewis, and A Certain Justice by P.D. James. Since he has such good taste, I might just take his suggestion and read the other books on his list this year.

Joseph Bottum’s (First Things) possible reading plans for 2007 include Ronald Knox and Nevil Shute, or maybe others. He also recommends James Hilton’s Random Harvest.

Cindy has some great advice for addled moms. I like her idea about New Year’s resolutions and winter cleaning and organizing. Throw it all out!

Mental Multivitamin also has some resolutions to avoid, those involving a Nordic track or counting calories, and some to enjoy, the read, think, learn kind.

On a more serious note, I copied this list from Ian’s Messy Desk into a document so that we can use the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards for writing practice and for discussion. I may or may not agree with all his resolutions, but I think they might instigate some fruitful discussions with the urchins.