Books I've Read Lately: In No Particular Order (Still in Progress)

And it might be long since it's been about a year since the last time I did a big reading update post. This one will be in progress for a little bit, especially since I'd like to write up more detailed overviews. Starting for now with a quick run-through:

Please see separate posts for Conversion Stories and Memoirs that I've read recently. This post encompasses "everything else".

C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength

John and I and Ria all re-read the whole series last summer and enjoyed it very much - especially as a fun group project, so we could chat about it. Last time I read them, I was in eighth grade, and some of it definitely went over my head.

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson

This was a fascinating slice of history in a connected format. So many things were intertwining at this point: Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, the Model T, Prohibition, the Ponzi Scheme, and much more. I especially appreciated the remarks about eugenics. A fair amount of mature content.


Living Your Strengths: Discover Your God-Given Talents and Inspire Your Community by Albert L. Winseman, Donald O. Clifton, and Curt Liesveld 

This is a companion book, with a religious flavor, to the Gallup Clifton Strengths-Finder. A good read, but not as important as the Strengths-Finder itself, which is worth a look!

Praying Our Goodbyes by Joyce Rupp

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

Whose Body (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) by Dorothy Sayers

My husband and I went through an extensive Lord Peter Wimsey phase early in our marriage. There was a paperback book exchange near where we lived, and we got several of these and kept trading them in. Just decided to jump back in and finished Whose Body last night. It's a somewhat gruesome murder mystery, but engaging, thoughtful, and funny as well. Not for the faint of heart. At first,  Lord Peter struck me as a smart Bertie Wooster. In the end, he turned out to be more thoughtful and more human too. I really appreciated the discussion/theme on what we would call "confirmation bias" today. First published in 1923!

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

North and South was originally a serialized novel, published in 1854 and 1855 in an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens! It's an engaging novel, heavy on the quirks of human relationships and interactions and perspectives (with a pleasing romantic thread), with a strong social commentary undercurrent relating to the Industrial Revolution. I was left unsatisfied by the BBC Adaptation from 2004. Some of it didn't make sense to me as there too many jumps. So, I decided to go and read the original book and was not at all disappointed.

Books I'm Still Working On:

 The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker

Self-Esteem without Selfishness by Michel Esparza

Quiet: The Power of the Introvert in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal

The Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang

Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners by Zack Hample

Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis by Robert M. Edsel

What I've Been Reading...

I've been rather neglectful of Goodreads for awhile, so I thought I'd try to catch up a little here.

UPDATE: I keep remembering more books that I've read, so I've been adding to this list over the past few days.

Finished Books:

Deathbed Conversions by Karen Edmisten
Loved this - especially since I'm already a pretty big fan of the biography/memoir category.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This was just a lovely book in every way - interesting concepts, great characters, beautiful language, amazing perspective, etc. etc.. I bought a bunch of copies of this book (and Karen's book too!) to share with friends last Christmas.

We really enjoyed the movie as well. While movies typically fall short of the book (for pretty understandable reasons, though the liberties taken are at times egregious!), I particularly recommend this movie to those who enjoyed the book, because the quality of the unique characters shines through SO beautifully. Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush  are absolutely fabulous in their thoughtfully understated roles of Mama and Papa.

The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel
I picked up this book a couple of years ago because I had a music teacher in high school (at Kolbe Academy) who was involved in discovering one of the huge Nazi art depository caves outside of Paris. It was more fascinating and engaging than I expected, and appropriate and of interest to the kiddos too. We all went and saw the movie as well, which was good, but not quite great. I'm also looking forward to reading the sequel, Saving Italy.

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
I enjoyed this little book. I don't remember it as well as I'd like, except for the fact that I had wished that more of the book focused on the boy and his experiences than it did. I am hoping to see the movie too.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
This was a re-read for me for a high school literature class that I help out with. I think is the fourth time I've read this book, and I love it more each time I read it. The way she loves her characters (of all sorts) shows through everywhere, and with wonderful humor in addition to it. We had a particularly interesting discussion about how this book had a big impact on the culture of the time and who exactly it was written for. We decided that it was aimed at people like the maiden aunt from Vermont that came to help her brother's family in New Orleans (can't think of ANY of the names at the moment), which is an interesting and surprising comment, in my opinion.

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
The book is very gripping, as well as an important first-hand account of slavery in the U.S. Solomon Northup was a free slave (born free), happily married with three children, when he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the south. I have more mixed feelings about the movie because of an unnecessary and incongrous opening scene (of a sexual nature) that seems contradictory to the book. Other than that, the movie is really well-done, but extremely intense, which is understandable, given the nature of the material (and the reality of history!).

Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
This is a very engaging and thought-provoking story, in the same (or at least similar!) genre to the Hunger Games. While I didn't enjoy it as much as the Hunger Games (which I need to spend some time writing about sometime as it seems to come up in conversation frequently, and I liked it even more the second time around), there was really a lot to like, and some parts of the story really blew me away! (Recommending a maturity level here is tougher than with the Hunger Games because there's quite a bit more in the way of sensuality involved in the story line.) Terri and I also saw the movie.

Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, and Making Church Matter by Michael White
And in a totally different realm, I rather enjoyed this thought-provoking and somewhat audacious book about one priest and his pastoral associate's attempts to revamp a dying parish. I didn't necessarily agree with everything in the book (when do I ever?) but found it quite worthwhile and eye-opening on the whole. In particular, I appreciate the distinctions made about the attitudes we ought to have regarding our parishes and the church in general (such as trying to get away from a consumer mentality).

Books in Progress:

Momnipotent by Danielle Bean
Already blogged about this book here.

Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler
I'm eating this one up, but had to slow down as I decided to start reading it aloud to the kiddos. It's turning out kind of funny, actually, because I was switching back and forth today between this book and Harry Potter.

Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
I'm a fan. Really liked The Happiness Project too.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Family re-read-aloud in progress.

Abandonment to Divine Providence Jean-Pierre De Caussade
I've been working on this one for a long time, as I find the material so dense that I digest it best in small doses. I generally read a chapter (or section, or whatever) each week at adoration.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Slow, often-distracted read-through in progress, but I do love this book.

Terri's Summer Reading List

Terri (age 12) is a voracious reader and is particularly interested in reading about history and saint stories...

I also wanted to mention that when I make these sorts of lists, I do them alongside and with the input of that child. It definitely increases the interest level and opportunity for success!

Archimedes and the Door of Science
St. John Bosco and St. Dominic Savio
Mother Cabrini: Missionary to the World
Mara, Daughter of the Nile
Abigail and the Widow Mary
Saint Paul the Apostle
The Door in the Wall
Viking Adventure
The Hundred Penny Box
Silver for General Washington
A Proper Acadian
Shhh! We're Writing the Constitution
Across the Puddingstone Dam
These Happy Golden Years
The Wind Blows Free
The Wide Horizon
The Good Land
Escape from Warsaw
A Place to Hide
Magnificent Failure: The Story of Father Solanus Casey
Number the Stars
The Small War of Sergeant Donkey
The Weka-Feather Cloak
The Hobbit
The Shadow of the Bear

Summer Reading Lists (in progress)

Well, summer hasn't quite started here yet, but I'm already starting in on our own summer reading program lists (good for a Cold Stone Creamery treat upon completion). Here's Ria's (much of it picked by her):

Memory and Identity by Pope John Paul II
A Dickens of her choice (previously unread)
A Chesterton of her choice (previously unread)
A Map of Life by Frank Sheed
Dante's Inferno
The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin Wiker
Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII
What it Means to be a Christian by Pope Benedict
The Jeweller's Shop by Pope John Paul II
Stories by Leo Tolstoy: The Forged Coupon, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Walk in the Light

I need to work on Terri's list next. She is interested in reading a lot of history (which is good, because we didn't get to as much as I had hoped during the year).