Book Stack

Here's what I'm reading or have recently finished (can't seem to keep up with the list in the sidebar or with blogging in detail about each book).

On Thursday I finished Danielle Bean's My Cup of Tea - which I REALLY enjoyed! In each short reflection (three or four pages if I remember right), which relate to mothering and family life, she tells a true story (plenty of humor sprinkled in) and reflects on what her life and children mean to her, even when things are frustating and crazy. Even though it's a lot about the foibles and challenges of life, she very thoughtfully leads you to a sense of peace over these things as normal challenges that can lead us to God.

I've made a lot more progress in The Everlasting Man lately, but haven't had a lot of time to blog in detail. I'm in the midst of Chesterton's reflections on the Passion. I'm inclined to catch up on blogging the in-between chapters both because I loved them and because my niece told me that she's now working her way through the same book and has enjoyed the posts.

10 Dates Every Catholic Should Know (Sophia Institute Press) looks like another winner (I'm about half way through - I'm planning on a thorough review for the Winter edition of Heart and Mind). This struck me as a particularly good book for homeschool parents to read to brush up on their history.

I re-read a lot of The Phantom Tollbooth on Thursday night in preparation for last night's teen discussion. We had a wonderful time and I think it was a terrific ice-breaker to get the teens comfortable with the process of discussion. Two hours flew by (and everyone was at the edge of their seat by the end) and we barely skimmed the surface of the book - that's not to say that the discussion was superficial, but the book is so meaty, in a delightful way. It was interesting how each time we discussed a portion of the book in detail, it seemed to naturally take us to the next point on Milo's journey.

This is also our big weekend each year for rummage saling (there's a great one at a local private school that's in its 49th year I think) and I'm completely beat. Lots more great books for future enjoyment (I'm especially looking forward to re-visiting my old friends Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side) as well as warm necessities like winter coats and fun not-quite-necessities like a real Mexican sombrero (still had the price tag in Pesos, though it was a little worse for the wear) and additional Chinese tea cups for our set (we were a bit short on authentic cups during our teen discussion last night).