Way back in January I actually made a goal for the New Year
to read 12 books in 2018. I used to read
all the time. But once we had kids,
well, there are rarely uninterrupted blocks of time in which to read. Or I was completely sleep deprived and couldn’t
focus on anything. Or just plain
mentally too exhausted to want to wrestle with a decent book in the evening; it’s
much easier to crash on the couch and scroll through Facebook. I’m
also usually kind of picky about the books I want to read. I want to read good books. Books that are
challenging, enriching, well written, that make me think, that improve my mind
and encourage my heart. I don’t want to
read books that are poorly written drivel that will not stand the test of time,
don’t spur me on to greater things, or encourage the building of fantasies
about life and relationships (*cough* Christian romance). Not that I don’t enjoy a bit of fluff now and
then, but the books that stick with me are the ones that take a bit more
effort, the books with truth woven deep within them whether they are explicitly
“Christian” or not. Anyway. A philosopher I am not, and I’m not sure if I
can really quantify what I consider to be a good, worthwhile book.
Unlike my father, I do not have a list of every book that I
have read since High School. This is the
first time I’ve attempted to keep track. So this is what I’ve read so far this
year:
1. Uninvited:
Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely by Lysa Terkuerst
I don’t read a lot of non-fiction so I’m not sure why I
picked this one up. Probably because the
title was intriguing. Maybe because it
also seemed applicable to this stage in life- it’s easy to feel excluded because
of having to put kids’ needs and bedtimes before my own social wants. Or, if we are invited somewhere, we still
miss out on things sometimes due to family priorities. I enjoyed it, but I can’t really remember
anything that particularly stuck out… I have that problem with non-fiction
books (and sometimes fiction too); if it doesn’t have a plot I don’t remember
what I read. I’m not sure what that says
about me. Ha. Overall, worth my time but
not earthshattering or world changing.
2. The
Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck
3. The
Wedding Chapel by Rachel Hauck
Ha. Sap and
Drivel. The first one was a free kindle
download and the hint of the supernatural/miraculous in the description is the
only reason I read it. It was decent and
I liked the multi generation story.
There was a preview of the next book at the end of the first, so of
course I had to read that one too… it was also ok, but I didn’t like the story
quite as well. Overall, a cut above the
typical Christian Romance I guess. The
writing was better than most. Sort
of. I wouldn’t recommend you rush right
out to read these…
4. One Day
in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Now we get to the good stuff. I borrowed this from my dad. It’s a classic work of Russian literature, so
of course he would own it. I’m not sure
it was a good decision to read in the middle of winter- since it takes place in
a Siberian gulag and he spends the whole day trying to get warm/stay warm in
sub-zero weather. It’s based on
Solzhenitsyn’s own experiences in the gulag which makes it even more
compelling. I’m always amazed at the human
capacity to survive, and came away hoping I never have to experience anything
like it. I was also struck by his description
of “Baptists” in the gulag, because that would be me.
5. A
Passover Haggadah: as commented on by Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel is a holocaust survivor who has written several
books based on his experience. I read
(and own) Night in middle
school. He began life as a very devout Jewish boy- the
camps caused him to lose his faith in the goodness and mercy of God. A Haggadah is basically the “script” or
service that Jewish people use to conduct their Passover Seders, so the book
itself wasn’t written by Wiesel, he just added commentary. I really enjoyed reading it, not just for the
Haggadah (which is fascinating) but for his memories and stories of Passover celebrations
before the holocaust and how they have changed for him since then.
6. I Isaac,
Take Thee Rebekah by Ravi Zacharias
Wow, I guess I read two non-fiction books this year! I enjoy Ravi Zacharias. This was an encouraging read, although, I can’t
remember anything that particularly struck me.
He tells lots of stories, and he has a very conversational style so he
can ramble a bit. I also find his
non-western upbringing gives him a unique world view. You really can’t go wrong reading Ravi’s
observations of life and love.
7. The
Chalice and the Stirrup Cup by George Baber Atkisson
So this book was a little different. A blogger that I follow who is a published
author just happens to be neighbors with a 90-something year old gentleman who
wrote a novel. She helped him self-publish
and promoted his book on her blog. It
sounded interesting, so I read it. The
story is based on events in his childhood growing up in rural Virginia during
the depression, World War II, and beyond.
It was an interesting read, but overall it could have used a little more
condensing- it was long! It also had a
liberal dose of the author’s personal philosophy and theology sprinkled throughout
which I didn’t agree with. So, the story
itself was good, the rest of it was mediocre.
8. The
Complete Fairy Tales by George MacDonald
Ah, George MacDonald. You just can’t go wrong with him. At some point this year I decided that I
should try and read the books that I own and haven’t read, this was one of them. ‘The Light Princess’ might be my
favorite. Or maybe ‘the Giant’s Heart.’ Some of the stories can get really long and
preachy… but he was a Victorian minister so…. Good stuff.
9. The
Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
I’ve had this one on my shelf forever and I’ve started it at
least once. I really want to like Mark
Twain but he can get so wordy and drag out a plot for way too long. It’s a great story, but I honestly probably
prefer the “Great Illustrated Classics” condensed version. I got about 2/3 of the way through and the
poor king’s attempts to get back to London were thwarted yet again and I was
just ready for him to hurry up and finish the story already.
10. Mandie
Mysteries 1-40 plus 2 holiday stories by
Lois Gladys Leppard
Haha…. Ok, so my goal was 12 books and then I found books
1-16 of the Mandie mysteries on the Turkey Fest book sale. I got these from the library in middle school-
they were pretty good and they had a Christian basis. Mom always thought they were super cheesy and
annoying. So I had to reread them, plus
I found the rest of the series used online…. I read all of them. They’re
quick reads- maybe 1.5 hrs. each? The
stories themselves aren’t too bad. They could
however use a lot more editing. The pacing would go from chapters taking place
over an hour of time to suddenly a chapter covered a whole day. Or they would just ride their horses from one
town to another and then to another place in one afternoon even though real
life distance would make it impossible (they take place at real locations in
NC). I also got tired of the repetitiveness of Mandie explaining her whole
backstory in every book. Some of the
books cover her trip to Europe which was sort of interesting, but the mysteries
in those were super contrived. Also,
sometimes she’d “solve” a mystery and I would not really be sure what the
solution was, but Mandie said it was solved so I guess it was? Anyway, they’re great for middle school girls
and I now own all of them if anyone wants to take a trip down memory lane.
11. A Long Way
from Chicago by Richard Peck
12. A Year
Down Yonder by Richard Peck
I don’t know how I haven’t read these two books yet. They’re pretty much read aloud classics; one
is a Newbery Honor and the other is a Newbery award book. They’re also hilarious. I laughed out loud so many times. Light,
quick reads, but also delightful good clean fun.
13. Just Open
the Door by Jen Schmidt
Make that three non-fiction books- I’m on a roll! I saw a review of this book online and bought
a copy as soon as it was released. It is
all about hospitality and ways to be hospitable. I loved it.
It was convicting, but it also had lots of practical ways to overcome
barriers to hospitality (like introversion!).
I love books that aren’t just theory and have some actual examples of
application. Have I improved….. hm…. Not
really. Haha. I’ve got all kinds of reasons and excuses-
Bob works late, we often have family/church plans on the weekends, we have
little kids who need regular bedtimes, we’re both introverts, etc, etc. My only
consolation is that I have a blog, and that I have let more people see more
intimate details of my life and times through my blog than I could probably
ever manage to actually have over for supper.
But I’m trying to do better. And this was a great book.
14. All the
Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This book. Wow. It’s a Pulitzer Prize winner and I had heard
about it several different places, but when Andrew Peterson recommended it on Instagram,
I decided to read it. Of course, it was
checked out from the library for months.
When I finally read it I could hardly put it down. There are several story lines taking places
before and during WWII in France and Germany.
I think what struck me the most is the humanity of every single
character. The good guys and the bad
guys were all so completely human. I’m
sure you can find a more intelligent, eloquent review from someone else, but
this is one of the best books I have ever read.
15. The Magic
Garden by Gene Stratton-Porter
16. Michael
O'Halloran by Gene Stratton-Porter
So then I read a few more books that have been sitting on
the shelf, just waiting to be read. This
was a complete shift of gears, ha. I
love her books, though they can get a bit wordy and preachy at times. My two favorites of hers are still ‘The
Harvester’ and ‘The Keeper of the Bees,’ though I enjoyed these two very
much. She was an Indiana native, an early
environmentalist, a self-taught botanist/entomologist, an author, and a
filmmaker in the early 1900’s. She was
not however, a feminist. So her books
are full of nature and the importance of traditional family roles all wrapped
up in delightful stories. Basically,
nature and nature’s God (but mostly nature) can cure all social ills and we all
need to spend more time out in the fields and the swamps and work hard and it
will make us better husbands and wives and our children will grow up moral and
of good character. She also loves a good
unlikely love story, so there’s that. She
can be very anti-suffrage, which surprises me because I see a lot of woman-as-the-keeper-of-morality
philosophy; a precursor to modern feminism.
Anyway, these are great books, but I would suggest starting with ‘A Girl
of the Limberlost’ or ‘Freckles’ if you’ve never read any Gene Stratton-Porter
before.
Also she lived really close to my Indiana cousins and I don’t
know why I didn’t know that and why I haven’t been to her house/museum yet.
17. The Song
of the Lark by Willa Cather
My first experience with Willa Cather was ‘My Antonia,’ in my opinion, a
most depressing and unsatisfying book. It’s one of my father’s favorites. (I don’t understand!) I tried it again a few
years ago, and yep, still depressing. I’m
sorry, the bright, vivacious heroine endures family tragedy, ends up an unwed
mother, then marries a dull, plodding man and will spend the rest of her life barely
eking out a living on the unforgiving Nebraska prairie. Not my idea of a good time. But
everyone raves about Willa Cather’s books so I figured I should try another one
and I just happened to have gotten ‘Song of the Lark’ for Christmas a few years
ago. Now this book was good! The descriptions of the Colorado landscape
make it worth the read. And the story is
so much better! The main character is
based on Cather’s own childhood and adolescent experience growing up out west,
and then on a Swedish opera star’s adult life.
I did have to laugh a little when Thea expresses her disdain for
Oratorio, Messiah in particular, since I’m singing it again this year. I can’t fault her love for Wagnerian opera…. and,
at one point Thea spends a summer at an Anasazi ruin, which I love. Best part of all- this book has a happy
ending!
18. The Witch
of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
I grabbed this randomly off of my shelf when I needed
something to read while waiting for an hour at the doctor’s office. I haven’t read it for a while and it’s just
as good as I remember it. It’s a great
story- you’ve got the orphaned heroine used to tropical warmth and luxury who
ends up in Puritan New England, throw in a witch hunt, a little romance, and of
course a happy ending. It’s written for
young adults so it’s not as intense as, say, the Crucible, but it does have
similar themes which are always thought provoking.
I think I’ve successfully met my goal for the year. Now that we are in November and the holidays
are looming- our neighbor has an inflatable snowman on their front porch with a
‘Days until Christmas’ countdown… it was 50 something…yikes, the chance that I
will get to do a whole lot of reading are pretty slim. I did put a bunch of books on my Christmas
list though. And I’m always open to
suggestions.
Actually, I would be really interested to know if anyone has
a ‘most influential book they’ve ever read’. Or a ‘book that completely changed
their life’ (excluding the Bible since most of my blog readers have read it
their whole lives). I don’t know if I have any one particular book. I’ve been mulling it over though, maybe
something will come to me. Or maybe I
just haven’t read it yet!
Oh, and my all-time favorite, I could read it over and over
and over again book? The Count of Monte
Cristo. I have three different copies,
with three different levels of abridgment.
“Live, then, and be happy,
beloved children of my heart, and never forget that, until the day God deigns
to reveal the future to man, the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in
these two words: Wait and hope.”
Blessings, and happy reading.
