Books I Read in August

Now that we've practically given up T.V., I'm reading two to three books per week. But since we've had a stressful year, I've read a lot more fluff than usual (free Christian novels). Here's a recap of August:

Guarded - Correll (superior Christian fiction for 99 cents)
The Recipe - Candice Culvert (a pleasant, short book which was free, but is now $2.50)
The Little Duke - Charlotte Yonge (YA vintage fiction, free for Kindle)
The Wedding Invitation - A. Wisler (okay Christian fiction, unappealing protagonists, but great sub-characters)
Wisdom and Wonder - Abraham Kuyper (a gentle introduction to "common grace", 99 cents)
Rasberry Jam - Wells (okay vintage mystery, free for Kindle)
The Story Girl by L.M. Mongomery (excellent vintage YA fiction, free for Kindle)
The Christian Book of Mystical Verse - Tozer (hymns and poems, some gems, $2)
The Golden Road - L.M. Montgomery (free for Kindle, sequel to Story Girl)
Humility - Andrew Murray (outstanding book on the beauty of a surrendered life, free for a limited time)
The Measure of Katie Calloway - Miller (far superior to most Christian fiction except for the unnecessary references to bodily functions, free for a limited time)

Titles in purple were (or will be) reviewed on this blog. All the others were reviewed by me at Goodreads.

Also, I post links almost daily on the Worthwhile Books Facebook page for free or reduced e-books.

Free for Kindle - Vintage Fiction

Last summer I wrote a post blasting poorly written romance novels. But I often enjoy light-hearted stories in between heavier ones, so where do I look? Below is a list  of authors of "light novels" who have stood the test of time and who write beautifully. ("Vintage" is a label I give to writers who are post-Victorian and pre-modern. Be forewarned. Some of their books are sappier than others.) I've listed the titles I've enjoyed below.

Authors available for free on Kindle:

Gene Stratton Porter (Girl of the Limberlost, and others)
French mystery writer Maurice LeBlanc (Arsene Lupin and others)
Kathleen Thompson Norris (The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne and others)
Joseph Crosby Lincoln (Cape Cod Stories, etc.)
Harold Bell Wright (The Calling of Dan Matthews,etc.)
James Oliver Curwood (The Courage of Marge O'Doone, etc.)
Grace Richmond (The Brown Study, etc.)
O. Douglas (Penny Plain, etc)
Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden, etc.)

Vintage authors with less flowery language (whose books cost money)

Elizabeth Goudge (The Dean's Watch is my favorite.)
D.E. Stevenson (Miss Buncle's Book is a good place to start.)
Miss Read (The Fairacre Series)

Do you have any suggestions? Any opinions on the authors listed? My friend, Carol, reads classic children's lit for her light reading, which is another great way to rest your mind, while still avoiding drivel.

Free E-book on C.S. Lewis

Coffee, Tea, Books and Me linked to a free title that sounds really good: Alive to Wonder: Celebrating the Influence of C. S. Lewis.

It is made available at DesiringGod.org and there are several other free titles (all by John Piper). Worth a look.

While I'm on the subject of Brenda's blog, I want to give a shout out to her excellent post on "Why Bother?" In it she makes a case for taking the extra time (and money and energy) to make something beautiful even when you know that beauty won't always last.

Here's one quote: We bother because every instance we have to choose between getting by and making Beauty, we choose that part of us which is in the image of God. We choose... life.

Thank you, Brenda, for always sharing your life with such grace.

The Value of Fairy Tales - Part One

I just finished reading The Sleeping Beauty, which was a poignant reminder of how much I love fairy tales. Why would a 50-something, no-nonsense mom/teacher/missionary who hates sappy books and gushy movies, have a yen for this kind of thing? Aren´t fairy tales unrealistic and unhealthy?

Both G. K Chesterton and C. S. Lewis believed in the power of story to transmit eternal truths. Some would argue that fairy tales are hogwash. (In my early years as a homeschooler I read many diatribes against them.) But I tend to agree with Victorian author Juliana Ewing who wrote:

Fairy tales have positive uses in education, which no cramming of facts, and no merely domestic fiction can serve. Like Proverbs and Parables, they deal with first principles under the simplest forms. They convey knowledge of the world, shrewd lessons of virtue and vice, of common sense and sense of humor, of the seemly and the absurd, of pleasure and pain, success and failure. . . . They treat not the corner of a nursery or a playground, but the world at large, of forces visible and invisible, of Life, Death, and Immortality.

If you read my post on On The Shoulders of Hobbits, you will remember the quote on how politically correct stories have taken the place of  fairy tales. Now instead of virtues such as courage, honesty, and self-sacrifice, we are starving our children´s moral imaginations by teaching them that the highest virtues are tolerance, multiculturalism and environmentalism. Ugh.

Obviously, not all fairy tales are created equal and discerning parents must choose carefully. Hans Christian Anderson is often too dark for my tastes (even though I know the deaths in his stories mirror the self-sacrificing love of Christ). Some versions of Rapunzel have her getting pregnant out of wedlock; other stories deal with problems such as injustice (Cinderella), abandonment (Hansel and Gretel), cruelty, greed and imprisonment (Rapunzel). But it is in the context of these stories that children learn that evil can be overcome. As Chesterton so famously said, Children know that "dragons" (evil) exist. Fairy stories tell them that dragons can be killed. (paraphrase from Tremendous Trifles)

My next post will go into more detail of the lush prose and spiritual imagery of Charles Evan´s version of Sleeping Beauty.

Thoughts on Audible.com

Audiobooks are expensive. Audible charges $14.95 per month/book and therefore, I wasn't even vaguely interested in joining. When I registered my new Kindle, I was given the option of two free Audible titles (normally it's just one) and the right to drop my membership at any time. Since I'd been wanting to buy a pricey audio Bible, the offer was too hard to resist. I decided to get my free books and hang around for a couple of months to buy a few more at the regular price.

As I cullled through the titles I discovered many favorites at rock-bottom prices. Without using either of my "expensive" credits, I bought two favorites: Jane Eyre and Persuasion. Through their summer kids' book sale I got Peter Pan. At their anniversary sale I got two Shakespeare plays for 99 cents each. Also, there are some deep discounts if you already own the book version on Kindle. Did I mention that most of these titles are done by outstanding British voices? Top that with their beyond excellent customer service, and I'm one happy camper.

The final results...

ESV Audio Bible - Free Credit (I would not recommend this version because of navigation difficulties.)
Classics of British Literature (24 lectures) - Free Credit ($250 on The Great Courses website)
Jane Eyre - $2.99
Jane Austen's Persuasion - 69 cents
Psalms (KJV) - $2.35
Peter Pan - $2.99
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar - 99 cents
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - 99 cents
Paid Credit #1 - With a Buy-One-Get-One-Free I purchased Part One of The Lord of the Rings (19 hours!) and Higher Call, a WWII title I've been wanting to read.
Paid Credit #2 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming
Wind in the Willows - $2.99
Richard Burton reading Poetry of John Donne - $4.95
Screwtape Letters - $1.95

Summing it all up: If you get your free title(s) and several deals along with a few regularly priced books, it's VERY reasonable. (For around $50 I got 13 books and 24 lectures.) Well-produced audiobooks at about $4 each are quite a bargain.

Free Kindle Titles - Christian Classics

I'm a voracious reader, but I have to remind myself to balance fiction with non-fiction. So I've intentionally scheduled six devotional books into my next 10 months of reading. Here's what I'm hoping to read: A Life of Obedience by Murray, Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan, Wisdom & Wonder by Kuyper, The Scarcity of Praying Men by Opoku, Simply Christian by N.T. Wright, and Death by Living by Wilson. Almost all of these were free at the time I downloaded them, but are now back to their original prices. Many Christian books, however, are always free for Kindle and I thought I'd highlight those this week:

Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
The Pursuit of God by Tozer
Lord, Teach Us To Pray  by Andrew Murray (ANYTHING by Murray is good.)
When the Holy Ghost is Come by Samuel Logan Brengle (founder of The Salvation Army)
Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan
The Confessions of St. Augustine
The Practice of the Presence by Brother Lawrence

Free titles by D.L. Moody, and R.C. Sproul are also available.

Since the newest NIV is not a reliable translation, I'm pleased that these two good Bibles are free - HCSB and the ESV.

Do you know of any titles I missed?
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The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne

Several writers who are remembered as children’s authors also wrote books for adults. (Dr. Seuss, Russell Hoban, Frances Hodgsen Burnett, and A.A. Milne, to name a few.) Since I’ve been in the mood for mysteries this summer, I was happy to see Milne’s The Red House Mystery was a free download for Kindle.

Mark Ablett is a rich, spoiled bachelor whose only friend is his cousin, Matthew Cayley. Cayley runs Ablett’s estate and caters to his whims. Suddenly one day Ablett’s estranged brother arrives from Australia, someone dies, and the reader is left to figure out who did it and why.

I guessed some of the answers very early on in the book, but that did not diminish my enjoyment of this British mystery. The charm of the book rests on the character of Antony Gillingham, another wealthy bachelor who arrives on the scene just as the murder has been committed. He is a man who likes to experience life and has enough money to dabble in any profession that he likes. He’s been a waiter, a journalist and a shop clerk. And after becoming involved in the investigation, he decides to play amateur detective. His friend Bill Beverly plays Watson to Gillingham’s Holmes and their banter is spot on.

There is some mild swearing.  The English use the word “ass” in a way that we Americans do not. It’s almost a term of endearment when Beverly calls Gillingham a “silly old ass.” It reminded me of the way that Christopher Robin affectionately addresses Pooh as “silly old bear.”

It’s the perfect “cozy mystery” with delightful characters, witty dialogue and a murder with no gratuitous details. A good option for summer reading.

Free Children's Lit Titles on Kindle

Marcy at Ben and Me has a great list of free Kindle titles for children. There are traditional classics as well as titles by Thornton Burgess and G.A. Henty. Worth a look.

Penny Plain by O. Douglas

This unassuming book with its unassuming title has been on my Kindle for two years.  The other day I opened it out of curiosity and was immediately pulled into the story.  

Parentless, twenty-three year old Jean Jardine lives in a little town in Scotland and is raising her three younger brothers.  They can barely make ends meet, but their home is filled with love and books.  Miss Pamela Reston is a rich, bored heiress who comes to Priorsford to escape the whirl of social activities that no longer hold any interest for her.  

Douglas quotes her as saying, “I am not going to face old age bolstered by bridge and cosmetics.  There must be other props, and I mean to find them.  I mean to possess my soul.  I’m not all froth, but, if I am, Priorsford will reveal it.” (p. 15)

This is a “happily ever after story” like most light fiction of the early 20th Century, but it's above average for several reasons. The writing is good. And the characters are extremely literate (even the children!) They are always quoting Shakespeare, the Bible or some other famous tome. Everybody worth liking has a library positively bursting with books.  

Wikipedia describes Douglas’ novels as “gentle domestic dramas,” yet this story is grounded in history too.  Written in 1920, it addresses some of the suffering caused by World War One.  

I have to agree with the reviewer over at Leaves and Pages who wrote that while the book is not earth shattering, "it is attractive in its simplicity." In the last chapter Jean tells her husband that the four nicest things in the world are “tea, a fire, a book, and a friend.”  If you agree with her, you’ll enjoy this little book.

(O. Douglas was the pen-name for Scottish author Anna Buchan, sister to novelist John Buchan.  Three of her novels are available for free on Kindle: The Setons, Penny Plain, and Olivia in India.)