Tag Archives: Reading List

We have returned! I have tons of photos and stories to share but it will be awhile before everything gets written and the photos are edited.

Note – this was supposed to be published while we were in Portland but Blogger was not cooperating. I tried to publish it several times but wasn’t having any luck. So, I’m going to post it now! Better late than never.

I’ve read quite a lot this month, though a good portion of it is children’s classics. My husband and I are in Portland this entire week so I probably won’t get much more reading done this month!

COMPLETED (links are to my full reviews)

Children’s literature

• Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace – 4 stars. Very cute story.

• Betsy-Tacy and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace – 4 stars. Cute but not quite as good as the original. Would make a good read aloud for young girls.

• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry – 4 stars. Another excellent book that somehow escaped my reading list as a child.

• The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas: An Austin Family Story by Madeleine L’Engle – 3.5 stars. Great story. Put me in the mood for Christmas!

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – 2 stars. Loved it as a kid but now have reservations about some of the spiritual aspects of the book.

Classics

• Lady Susan by Jane Austen – 3 stars. Not as good as some of her other books.

• Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson – 3 stars. I would have hated this book as assigned high school reading.

Christian Fiction

• Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World by Tom Davis – 4 stars. Heart wrenching story. Highly recommend.

• The Yada Yada Prayer Group
  by Neta Jackson – 3 stars. Just ok. Won’t be continuing the series.

• The Choice (Lancaster County Secrets, #1) by Suzanne Woods Fisher – 3 stars.

• Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes – 4 stars. Not your typical Christian fiction. It hurt to read this book but it was touching!

Memoir

• The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister – 3 stars. Not as good as I had hoped. Great story but the formatting of the story/book made it extremely difficult to read.

Nonfiction

• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Decluttering by Regina Leeds – 3 stars. Motivational but a walking advertisement for The Container Store.

Secular Fiction

• Spinning Forward by Terri DuLong – 2 stars. Dropped it. Would have been an alright story but for the explicit love scene 2/3 of the way through. Ugh.

IN PROGRESS

• Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff – Just started.

Happy November reading!

I really dislike giving negative reviews of books, especially when it’s a book that has been “gifted” to me by a publisher. Unfortunately, I have to warn people away from The Whole Bible Story. An equally distressing fact is that I lost the note card I was using to write down places where the author presented information contradictory from the Bible.

The three biggest contradictions that I can recall:

1 – The author writes that “because the people had worn flashy jewelry and clothes while worshiping the golden calf, Moses said they were prohibited from ever dressing like that again” (pg 49). This instance is referring to Exodus 33:5 and 6 where God tells Moses to “‘say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.’ And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.”

Nowhere in this text does God or Moses say it is a permanent ban on jewelry and flashy clothing. As a matter of fact, God talks in Isaiah about dressing Israel in jewels as a sign of His favor.

2 – The author implies that the Bible itself commands a change of worship from Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday. Nowhere in the Bible does God or the early Christian church advocate such a change. The change to Sunday worship began several hundred years after Christ died (Council of Laodicea, Canon 29, 363–364 AD).

From the book: “In Troas, the church met on Sundays to honor the day that Jesus rose from the dead. They shared a meal together, which included the celebration of the Lord’s Table, also known as Communion” (pg 281).

This meal, and Paul’s sermon, was actually on the Sabbath and last until after midnight on Saturday evening/Sunday morning. The Bible does not state that Sunday is the Sabbath, nor does it state that worship should be on Sunday to honor the day Jesus rose from the dead. The Sabbath was instituted at Creation, as a memorial to the work God completed. It was established as an everlasting covenant with God’s people, not a day that could be changed at will by man.

3 – The author states that “David eventually married Saul’s oldest daughter, but he fell in love with Saul’s other daughter, Michal” (pg 94).

However, the Bible says: “but it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul’s daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife” (1 Samuel 18:19). The Bible never states that Merab and David were married, only that they were supposed to have been.

The premise of this book is interesting – “The purpose of this book is to tell the story of the Bible” (pg 11). It is not a paraphrase or a translation. It merely attempts to tell the story of the Bible while leaving out Old Testament laws, Psalms, Proverbs, the epistles, and the book of Revelation. The purpose of the book is to allow someone who is not familiar with the Bible stories to become acquainted with them while avoiding getting bogged down in some of the “more difficult” sections. That’s all well and good, but in stripping the Bible of the Psalms, the epistles, and other books, The Whole Bible Story lacks a soul. The reading was extremely dry, “just the facts, ma’am.”

Thank you, Bethany House, for allowing me to read and review this book. However, I cannot in good conscience recommend it.

I found an event I have to participate in, the Maud Hart Lovelace reading challenge. I have seen Lovelace’s books praised on a number of blogs but I have not yet read any of her books!

It looks like my library has at least the first three books, so I aim to read those three.

• Betsy-Tacy (1940)
• Betsy-Tacy and Tib (1941)
• Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill (1942)

I believe we are visiting the library on Tuesday evening so I will pick the books up that evening. I can’t wait!

I’ve read a lot this month and I finished the majority of what I aimed to finish in September. This month I took to heart some advice to grasp even the 5 minute periods available for reading instead of waiting until a chunk of time comes available. I’ve been amazed at how much more I’ve been able to read, even if some of it is in snippets!

COMPLETED (links are to my full reviews)

Biography

• Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff – 3 stars. Interesting book, but not much detail about Cleopatra herself.

Classics

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe – 3 stars. Vivid, but depressing. Not my cup of tea.

• The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo – 3 stars. Not my average read but I’m glad I took the plunge.

• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas – 3 1/2 stars – I couldn’t put it down. Did you know there are SIX books total in this series? And of course, the one I most want to read is also the last. I’ll be busy for awhile.

Christian Fiction

• Stray Affections by Charlene Ann Baumbich – 3 stars. A quick, fluffy read. A good counter to The Hunchback of Notre-Dame!

• The Noticer by Andy Andrews – 2 stars. An inspirational speech disguised as a short novel. Did not like, do not recommend.

• Kelly’s Chance by Wanda E. Brunstetter – 2 stars. Cheesy. Boring. I won’t be continuing the series.

• Snow Melts in Spring by Deborah Vogts – 3 stars. Quick and easy read.

Memoir

• Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson – 3 stars. I struggled through this one even though the story was fascinating. Not sure why.

Secular Fiction

• Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov – 3 stars. A quick read, very unique plot line!

• Everyone Is Beautiful by Katherine Center – 3 stars. A hilarious read.

• The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett – 3 stars. I’ve seen all the movies and decided to read the book. It’s not as good as the movies, unfortunately.

• Life Without Summer by Lynne Griffin – 2 stars. Depressing novel.

• When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt – 4.5 stars. Excellent novel by a first time author. I can’t wait to see what else she writes!

IN PROGRESS

• Becoming a Woman of Excellence by Cynthia Heald – I will get through this one eventually. (Bible study)
• Vermeer: A View of Delft by Anthony Bailey (Biography)
• Marriage: From Surviving to Thriving by Charles Swindoll (Christian Nonfiction)
• The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister (Memoir)
• Everyday Life in Traditional Japan by Charles J. Dunn (Nonfiction)

Upcoming
What I am particularly excited about:

• Lady Susan by Jane Austen
• Thicker than Blood by C. J. Darlington – I’ve heard such good things about this book!
• Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff – I’ve also heard great things about this memoir.
• John Adams by David Mccullough – Hopefully I can squeeze in this chunkster. I had no idea it was such a huge book until I grabbed it from the shelf. My father-in-law sent us the movie and, of course!, I have to read the book first.

Happy reading, everyone!

I was contacted about reviewing Eat Your Peas, Faithfully: Simple Truths and Happy Insights. It is a cute little book! It’s not exactly my style of book, as it is rather fluffy. However, hardcover and compact, it makes a great gift for someone who reads books like the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. The snippets of wisdom are easily digestible and the book’s illustrations and designs are gorgeous.

Thank you, Thomas Nelson, for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Let me preface this review by saying that I love Nancy Moser’s Ladies of History series, which is based on real women in history. However, I am not so fond of Moser’s original fiction. An Unlikely Suitor is just not on par with the Ladies of History series. Moser makes history come alive, as she’s excellent at making the reader feel as if they are experiencing the settings while reading. The original plots just aren’t on par with the historical details and settings. I’m afraid I’d have to rate this book in the same category as most other Christian fiction: a quick read but forgettable. Please, Ms. Moser, add to your Ladies of History series!

Thank you, Bethany House, for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I have to toss in one more review for a book that was NOT given to me in exchange for my honest opinion. This was a random selection from my library’s “new books” shelves. I was originally attracted to the spine of the book, showing spools of thread. Then I read the back cover and knew I had to read this novel.

From the publisher’s website: A moving, powerful, and evocative debut novel, When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt heralds the arrival of superb new voice in American fiction. A tale rich in color, character, and vivid historical detail, it chronicles the tumultuous life journey of a young immigrant seamstress, as she travels from her isolated Italian mountain village through the dark corners of late nineteenth century America.

All I can say is that it is an excellent book. It really is rich in color, character, and vivid historical detail. I laughed and I cried. The ending is a bit rushed but the novel was wonderful. I can’t wait to see what else this author writes. (Just a small warning – the novel does contain a very short but heart-wrenching rape scene.)

I have one more book review to write, for The Whole Bible Story. That review will take me a couple more days to finish writing…

It’s already time for the monthly Nightstand link up! August has flown by as my family came to visit again. My dad spent four days at our home and then my dad and I visited my brother’s family for four days.

I’ve spent August trying to clear off my nightstand so that I can start over with a clean slate. I’ve had a few books sitting there for months and way too many books checked out from the library. August saw a lot of these books completed but I still have a few books left. Hopefully I’ll be caught up by the end of September!

Completed

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne – 4 stars

Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner – 3 stars

Journal Of Sean Sullivan, A Transcontinental Railroad Worker (My Name Is America) by William Durbin – 3 stars

The People of Sparks (The Ember Series, #2) by Jeanne DuPrau – 4 stars

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – 4 stars

The Prophet of Yonwood (The Ember Series, #3) by Jeanne DuPrau – 3 stars

The Diamond of Darkhold (The Ember Series, #4) by Jeanne DuPrau – 3 stars

What’s left in my pile

Cleopatra, a Life by Stacy Schiff – I have to return this one to the library tomorrow! 102 pages left to go.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe – An impulse selection from the library.

Everyday Life in Traditional Japan by Charles J. Dunn – Hubby bought it for me to learn more about Japan.

1776 by David McCullough – I’ve seen this book highly recommended on a number of blogs. Can’t wait to dive into it!

Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs – I plan on blogging through Love & Respect so this book will take awhile.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson – A good book but one I just can’t seem to finish. It meanders too much to hold my interest for long.

Becoming a Woman of Excellence by Cynthia Heald – Slowly working my way through this one. So far it’s alright!

Now to link up and browse through other blogs to add even more books to my to-read list. Yay!

Would anyone be interested in reading Love & Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs, along with me? I read it last year and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the book was a library copy so I wasn’t able to take my time with it. This time, I want to read more slowly and try to implement some of the principles.

The book is based on Ephesians 5:33. From inside the book jacket: Psychological studies affirm it, and the Bible has been saying it for ages. Cracking the communication code between husband and wife involves understanding one thing: that unconditional respect is as powerful for him as unconditional love is for her. It’s the secret to marriage that every couple seeks, and yet few couples ever find.

If anyone is interested in reading along with me, just let me know. I was thinking a chapter a week and I want to discuss it in a blog post – what I learned, how I implemented it, what happened.

I really need to stay on top of my book reviews. Several of these were read earlier this spring but I’m just now getting the reviews written! Oops!

Books completed in May (links are to my reviews)

The Castle by Franz Kafka – 3 stars
A Heart Most Worthy by Siri Mitchell – 4 stars (read in April but posted the review in May)
The Walk by Shaun Alexander – 2.5 stars (read in March! but posted the review in May)
The Boy, A Holocaust Story by Dan Porat – 3 stars
Moon Over Tokyo by Siri Mitchell – 3 stars
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov – 4 stars

Currently reading

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy – I have read just over half this book so far and am gaining some great insights into WWII, Bonhoeffer himself, and how the church dealt with Hitler’s rise to power.

To-read in June

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, by Francis Chan – I meant to read this in May but have spent all of my time reading Bonhoeffer.

I have a pile of library books but I know Bonhoeffer will probably take another week to read. I’m leaving June very flexible for reading options. Usually I don’t like not having a list but today I’m feeling very relaxed about the whole thing! We’ll see how it turns out.