Tag Archives: Reading List

With everything that’s happened in the month of December (my husband being gone a weekend, a two day trip to Phoenix, Christmas, couch shopping, etc), I’m surprised that I finished so much. Most of the reading was fairly light because I was trying desperately to finish The Brothers Karamazov by the end of the year. Success!

As always, links are to my full reviews on Goodreads.

Bible Reading

• Hosea

• 1-3 John

Christian Fiction

• A Time to Heal (Quilts of Lancaster County, #2) by Barbara Cameron – 3 stars. An easy weekend read.

• Ten Thousand Charms (Crossroads of Grace #1) by Allison K. Pittman – 3.5 stars. Similar to Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, though not as well written.

• The Missionary by William Carmichael, David Lambert – 2 stars. Maybe a guy would like it better? Tons of action and no character development.

• She Walks In Beauty
  by Siri Mitchell – 3.5 stars. Another solid read by Mitchell. So far, all of Mitchell’s books have been good.

• Courting Cate by Leslie Gould – 3.5 stars. An Amish setting of a modern retelling of The Taming of the Shrew.

• Before the Season Ends by Linore Rose Burkard – 3.5 stars. A Jane Austen style read, though not as good. Very clean period romance.

Classics

• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Unrated for now. I finished this classic last weekend and am still putting together my thoughts. I didn’t really enjoy the story but I thought the author included some timeless observations about morality, society, and everyday life.

General Nonfiction

• Think Like a Cat: How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat–Not a Sour Puss by Pam Johnson-Bennett – 4 stars. A great cat care book.

• The Older Cat: Recognizing Decline & Extending Life by Dan Poynter – 1 star. A horribly written and poorly organized book on caring for an older cat.

Memoir

• I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High by Tony Danza – 2.5 stars. Ok special topics memoir but boring at times.

Secular Fiction

• The Giving Quilt: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini – 4 stars. Finally! I was wondering if Chiaverini had written too many books in this series but this was a fun read, way better than the last two.

• The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen
  by Syrie James – 2 stars. I was so excited to start reading this book but it fell very flat.

Currently Reading

• Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Treasury
  by Louisa May Alcott

I hope to finish the Christmas collection and possibly one more book before the end of the year. I have fun plans for my 2013 reading and can’t wait to start!

Happy January reading!

I’m so excited! Carrie at Reading to Know asked if I wanted to lead the discussions on one of the 2013 books! I had the opportunity to choose between adult classics and children’s classics. My immediate thought was that I wanted to revisit Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. We’re reading it next November!

Want to join the bookclub? You can pick and choose which months you want to read and there are some really awesome options. Here is the schedule!

January – Any title of your choosing by L.M. Montgomery
February – The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
March – Any title of your choosing by Maud Hart Lovelace
April – No Name, by Wilkie Collins
May – Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell
June – Through Gates of Splendor, by Elizabeth Elliot
July – The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
August – Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot
September – The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling
October – The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
November – Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
December – A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

I have grandiose plans of reading them all but we’ll see how they fit into the schedule next year.

I hope you’ll join us!

For the last several months, I’ve been trying to challenge myself when it comes to my reading choices. Too often I default to fluffy Christian novels and miss out on some really good deeper reads. When the opportunity arose to read and review A Big Life by Peter Hone, I jumped at the chance.

From the back of the book:
A Big Life: Ordinary People Led by an Extraordinary God tells the story of how thousands of believers, from suburban America to the jungles of the subcontinent of India, Pakistan, and beyond, were brought together in a phenomenal work of God.

No Christian was more ordinary than John Heerema, but he was obedient. God took him on an extraordinary, emotional, and often painful journey, shaping him to be a new kind of missionary on a new kind of mission. It was a simple strategy, a strategy not new after all, but ancient, because He had first shown it to us two thousand years ago.

The book shows how God can use ordinary people to reach other ordinary people with the gospel message. How? By sharing one on one, by training other ordinary people to share, and by spreading the message. These believers are using the model in Acts to reach thousands of people in India. This strategy enables the gospel to spread exponentially and is based on 2 Timothy 2:2.

“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

To be quite honest, I’ve been trying to review this book for a week. I keep sitting down to write the review but don’t have the words to describe it. The power of the book is not in the writing style or the organization. I actually found some of it hard to follow because it was written from the perspective of three believers and changes every few pages.

In spite of its flaws, this book touched me in a deep way. I keep thinking about missionary work, about the book’s description of one person dying every second without hearing about Christ. Every second! While I sit watching a 90 minute movie, 5,400 people die without ever hearing about my Lord. It’s a staggering thought, extremely sobering.

What does that mean for me? How does that change my life? With the knowledge that so many people are dying without the opportunity to hear about Jesus, what am I doing with my life?

My husband does not feel the call to missionary work. Not everyone is called to be a missionary in another country. But that doesn’t mean that we have no responsibility to spread the good news. If we’re not called to be missionaries, what is our part to play? What can I do to make a difference, to look outside of myself and help spread hope?

I don’t have the answers. I just know that A Big Life opened my eyes to something beyond myself, my local church, my community. Americans seem to know about God, to have the opportunity to choose or reject Him. But what about those who have not yet heard?

A. Larry Ross Communications sent this book for me to read and review. I give it a positive recommendation not because it was free but because it truly made me think, pray, and have some very long discussions with my husband.

Most of November was spent finishing up the Bible in 90 Days. I finished, in chronological order:

• John

• Matthew

• Mark

• Luke

• Galatians

• 1-2 Thessalonians

• 1-2 Corinthians

• Romans

• Acts

• Ephesians

• Colossians

• Philemon

• Philippians

• James

• 1 Timothy

• Titus

• 2 Timothy

• Hebrews

• 2 Peter

• 1-3 John

• Jude

• Revelation

All month long, I kept thinking I wasn’t reading much outside of the Bible. But now, browsing through my Goodreads reviews, I realize that I finished way more than I thought. Links are to my full reviews.

Christian Fiction

• The Lady of Bolton Hill
  by Elizabeth Camden – 4 stars. A highly enjoyable read.

• The Rose of Winslow Street
  by Elizabeth Camden – 4 stars. Another great read by Camden. If she continues to publish great books, she’ll make my short list of favorite authors.

• The Perfect Blend by Trish Perry – 2 stars. A Christian soap opera. Not fun.

• The Healing Quilt by Lauraine Snelling – 3 stars. A light weekend read.

Christian Nonfiction

• Midnight in Aisle Seven: Sometimes God introduces Himself outside of church by Jay Lowder – 2 stars. I haven’t finished the review yet but will this week.

• A Big Life: Ordinary People Led by an Extraordinary God by Peter Hone – 4 stars. I am still working on the review for this book as well but I highly recommend it.

Classics

• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell – 4 stars. A thorougly satisfying classic with great themes.

General Nonfiction

• Twisted Whiskers: Solving Your Cat’s Behavior Problems by Pam Johnson – 3.5 stars.

• Psycho Kitty? by Pam Johnson-Bennett – 4 stars. A fantastic cat book that helped us curb several behavioral issues in our four year old male.

Secular Fiction

• The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs – 2 stars. One word – boring.

Currently reading

• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I was sure this was going to be a difficult book to read. It’s taking me a long time to read but doesn’t require nearly as much effort as I had expected.

• Think Like a Cat: How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat–Not a Sour Puss by Pam Johnson-Bennett

Overall, it was a pretty good month. I can’t wait to see what December brings!

I finished the first title of my Fall Into Reading challenge!

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell – 4 stars

Goodreads description – When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.

One analysis I read said that North and South is an industrial Pride and Prejudice. Looking back on the story and the character development, I can definitely see that the comparison is valid. Margaret seems perfect but struggles with pride, believing that her way of life (the south) is better than that of Mr. Thornton’s (the north). People look at Margaret’s outward appearance and assume she is prideful and cold, not bothering to look beneath the surface.

I love that religion was an integrated part of Margaret’s life, not something she was converted to or something that she only practiced on Sundays. She has to learn to lean on God instead of her own strength, especially as her life is turned upside down and she begins losing things and people dear to her.

Themes

• To do the right thing no matter how hard.

• To learn to walk in others’ shoes.

• To lean on God because your own strength is not enough.

Overall, I thought this was a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to tackle a thoroughly satisfying classic.

Next up – The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I’m still working through the Bible in 90 Days Chronological Reading Plan so my “other” reading has gone down a bit this month.

Bible

• Jonah

• Amos

• Isaiah

• Michah

• Proverbs

• Psalms

• Nahum

• Habakkuk

• Zephaniah

• Lamentations

• Obadiah

• Ezekiel

• 2 Kings

• Jeremiah

• 2 Chronicles

• Daniel

• Haggai

As always, links are to my full reviews.

Christian Fiction

• With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin – 4 stars. Fantastic book, a breath of fresh air.

• The Quilt by T. Davis Bunn, Davis Bunn – 4 stars. A heart warming story!

• A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman – 1 star. For a book titled A Passion Most Pure, there is a lot of passion. Way too much for my taste. I cannot recommend it.

• Her Restless Heart by Barbara Cameron – 3 stars. A pleasant weekend read.

Christian Nonfiction

• Blessing Your Husband by Debra Evans – 2 stars. It had potential, but wasn’t for me. Not deep enough.

General Nonfiction

• That Dorky Homemade Look by Lisa Boyer – 3 stars. A quick, cute read.

• Practical Cat Management by G. N. Officer – 3 stars. A good deal of useful information.

Secular Fiction

• Time and Again by Jack Finney – 4 stars. Fantastic time travel story with NYC as the main character. I wish they’d turned it into a movie!

Currently Reading

• Bible in 90 Days Chronological Reading Plan

• North and South
  by Elizabeth Gaskell

Last month I added three books to my list due to the Nightstand posts. I read two off my to-read list. Not bad! Of course, we’ll see how many get added this month…

Happy reading!!

I’ve seen this reading challenge come and go over the past several years but have never participated. Katrina wrote that the point of the challenge is to “read some books I might not otherwise read.” I have a few books that I intend to read but procrastinate because they are too intimidating. It’s time to tackle several of them!

Fiction

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell – I have yet to start reading this book even though I’ve borrowed it from the library several times.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – I asked my husband if he had any suggestions for this reading challenge. This was his immediate response. He’s only been suggesting it for the past three years; it’s probably time I accept his challenge.

Nonfiction

My Life by Bill Clinton – Another recommendation from my husband as he had heard that it was really good.

I’m a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to get through all three of these books! Each one is really long – 452, 735, and 957 pages respectively. Oh, well. That’s why it’s called a challenge, right?