You know you’re life has entered a new stage when your husband says “Do you want to go somewhere for a few days or stain the banister?” and you choose to stain the banister. We’ve sanded it and added two coats of stain. We have one more coat of stain to go, and then the polyurethane and we’re done.  Of course, then there is the trim in the foyer that needs a new coat of white paint, and the walls need a new coat of paint, and …

Because I’m pretty busy right now (and I need to run get my son from Grandma’s house), here’s a very brief rundown of my weekly reading. I have a “notable reads” post in progress, as well as a 2010 reading plan for next week. I haven’t even been to the library to pick up books (I’m headed in a few hours). This week, it’s all about painting and staining.

At any rate, I hope you have a happy new year, whether you are working on your house or out partying!

Finished Books

I finished a few things this week, despite the busy schedule.

• A Shropshire Lad by A.E. Housman (105 pages; poetry).
• Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage (735 pages; nonfiction). My December priority. Finished with almost a week to spare!
• Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (350 pages; fiction). For my January book club.

Abandoned Books

I returned unread or partially read a few books this week.

• Raising a Reader: Make Your Child a Reader for Life by Paul Kropp. I skimmed parts of this. Not impressed with his recommendations for good reading to kids.
• School starts at Home by Cheri Fuller. I read parts of this book. Seems rather poorly written and doesn’t say anything new.
• How to Teach Reading by Edward Fry

Currently Reading

Each week, I list my progress so I can see how my reading compares week to week. I did make a little progress on some of these.

My Books

I’m going to add some other books of mine in the coming week.

• Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and Their Messages by Karen Lynn Davidson (100 read of 455 pages; nonfiction).
• The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon (85 read of 350 pages; fiction/really old classic).
• The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (on chapter 25 of 52, via Project Gutenberg; children’s fiction). I’m listening as I’m working.

Old Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

• The ABCs of Literacy by Cynthia Dollins (135 read of 350 pages; nonfiction).
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation trans. Simon Armitage. I haven’t begun yet.
• Ways of Telling: Conversations on the Art of the Picture Book Leonard S. Marcus
• Story Stretchers for infants, toddlers, and twos by Shirley Raines
• Children’s Book Corner by Judy Bradbury
• The Story Road to Literacy by Rita Roth
• Phonics from A to Z : a practical guide by Wiley Blevins
• Cotton candy on a rainy day : poems by Nikki Giovanni
• The collected poems of Langston Hughes
• Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Weatherford
• Jam! : the story of jazz music by Jeanne Lee
• Louis Armstrong : the offstage story of Satchmo by Michael Cogswell
• Jazz : a history of America’s music by Geoffrey Ward
• Cane by Jean Toomer
• Jazz by Toni Morrison
• Golden Slippers, an anthology of Negro poetry for young readers
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

I don’t have any new loot yet.