What I Read and Watched in March

I continue to be amazed at the deep pleasure I am experiencing through books this year. After last year's slump, this is such a relief. I read/finished nine books this month and am listing them in the order of how much I enjoyed them.

1) Most fun was Dorothy Sayer's Unnatural Death (Book #3 in Lord Peter Wimsey novels) because of the the great writing and intricate plot.

2) Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch was surprisingly theological. Instead of giving points on how to limit technology, he writes winsomely of what it means to be a family and how technology can help or hinder that. (review next week)

3) Silas Marner by George Eliot is a beautiful story of redemption, which I read with the Literary Life podcast group.

4) Down to Bedrock by Eric Cordingly - P.O.W. memoir (review here)

5) Clouds of Witness by Sayers (Book #2 Lord Peter)

6) The Changi Cross - a short book following the history of a hand-made cross during WWII

7) Your God is too Small by J.B. Phillips. Somehow this classic did not resonate with me. I loved the concluding thoughts. 

8) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Covey was good but not as amazing as expected.

9) Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw was a well-written coming of age story, but with too much teenage angst for me. (To be fair, teens are the intended audience so I should not have been surprised.)

We haven't had much time for TV lately, but have been able to squeeze in an episode of the new PBS version of All Creatures Great and Small once a week. The recordings were sometimes too garbled to watch so we missed a few episodes, but the final episode was so delightful that I watched it twice.

What about you? Did you read or watch anything great in March?

Blessings,

Reading Year in Review 2020

I usually look back over my list of completed books and find my heart singing over certain titles that I read during the year. But, as I've stated many times, the multi-layered stresses of 2020 made it a very difficult year for engaging fully with the books I read. Almost every one of them was a slog. 

Stumbling upon the fourth Tommy and Tuppence novel at the end of September, was a turning point because suddenly I had a book to look forward to. Instead of barely getting through one book, I was back to reading three or four at a time. My reading slump was over!

So here are my favorites from the year. 

Most effortless fun: Two new-to-me D.E. Stevenson titles: Five Windows and The Empty World

Most enjoyable classics (both re-reads): Persuasion by Austen and (an annotated) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Hardest-to-put-down: all the audiobooks in the Tommy and Tuppence series (I listened for free on YouTube).

Most inspiring: The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Best children's lit: Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (first in a trilogy)

The most work, but worth it: John Wesley's 52 Sermons which I read for a few minutes a day all year.

To be honest, the book that really got me through the year was the Bible. My husband and I have always had our own personal devotions, but this year we started reading a scripture passage out loud together after breakfast. Hearing the words was life-giving in the midst of so much uncertainty.

Goodreads says I read 92 books, but five were DNFs. 

What were your five star reads for the year?

Blessings,

Two "Beautiful" Movies (Worthwhile Movies #19 and #20)

I saw my two favorite movies of 2019 back to back. Two weeks before Christmas my husband and I went to see "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" with Tom Hanks. We usually enjoy anything Hanks does, but I was nervous about how Mr. Rogers might be portrayed. Would they make him look like a total goofball? Would they try so hard to show that he had feet of clay that we would lose our respect for him?

Thankfully, none of those fears were realized. The story is just as much about the hard-nosed reporter sent to interview Rogers as it is about Rogers. The juxtaposition of their two lives gave a wonderful texture to the film. Never too harsh. Never too sweet. The filming was beautiful. Roger's faith was not ignored. Frankly, it's been years since I've felt that good coming out of a movie.

Then a week later, I watched This Beautiful Fantastic. (Amazon Prime). It's quirky beginning requires you to suspend disbelief from the get-go, and the result is a magical ride through the life of recluse Bella Brown (played wonderfully by Jessica Brown Findlay of Downton Abbey). Bella has anxiety issues and only leaves home to work in the library. But through a series of encounters with other unconventional people, she learns to live life more fully. It's a wonderful tale of the messiness of life and of relationships, and yet it celebrates it all. The music, the filming, and the dialogue are top-notch, and I can't wait to watch it again. (Beware of some swearing.)

What was your favorite film in 2019?

Blessings,

The Five Most Influential Books in My Life

While preparing for my latest move, I came across a letter I wrote to my mom a few years ago about the five books (apart from the Bible) that have had the biggest impact on my life. These are not necessarily the books I have loved the most, but they all had a profound effect on my behavior.

1) Jane Eyre influenced me as a teen to stay true to my convictions no matter what.
2) My Utmost for His Highest showed me that Christianity is not for wimps.
3) Edith Schaeffer's books reinforced what my mother taught me about the value of making a home where people are loved and nurtured into the Kingdom.
4) How to Really Love Your Child by Ross Campbell radically changed my parenting style.
5) British author Anthony Trollope transformed my reading tastes from "I will read almost anything" to "Don't insult me with your fluff." (!)

What about you? What books have most influenced your life?

Blessings,

Take and Read by Eugene Peterson

Author, pastor and theologian Eugene Peterson (1932-2018), has written a very dangerous book for Christian bibliophiles. If you love the Bible, the Church, Church history, deep thinking and beautiful writing, Take and Read offers a veritable sinkhole of books to add to your TBR list. (I added 135 titles to mine.)

Subtitled "an annotated list of spiritual reading," the book cites several hundred classics that strengthened Peterson's heart and influenced his thinking throughout his many years of ministry. Although I don't always agree with every point of  his theology, I appreciate his love for the Church and his gift for expressing spiritual truths in clear language.

Spiritual reading does not mean reading on spiritual or religious subjects, but reading any book that comes to hand in a spiritual way, which is to say, listening to the Spirit, alert to intimations of God. Reading today is largely a consumer activity. People devour books, magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers for information that will fuel their ambition or careers or competence. The faster the better, the more the better. It is either analytical, figuring things out; or it is frivolous, killing time. Spiritual reading is mostly a lover's activity - a dalliance with words, reading as much between the lines as in the lines themselves. It is leisurely, as ready to reread an old book as to open a new one. What follows is a list of books that require the lost art of SLOW reading.

In the chapter on Classics, he gives this tantalizing description of The Collected Works of John of the Cross: Virtually everyone who pursues the spiritual life expects to be rewarded with ecstasy. John has no patience with what he calls our "spiritual sweet tooth." He is a ruthless realist, stripping away the illusions, the fantasies, and the delusions, training us to discern the realities of faith.

In the chapter on prayer, he describes John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer: I find a cadenced and austere beauty in these morning and evening prayers. And a searing honesty. There is always a temptation in written prayer toward rhetorical flourish, grandstanding before the Almighty. These prayers guide us in a way of prayer that is simple, direct, and immediate.

I gobbled up the chapter on poetry since I am always on the lookout for meaty, theologically sound poems. And I hadn't read a single one of the books he mentions in his chapter on mystery novels so that sent me scurrying to Amazon. But even though I devoured this book, I don't expect to love all the titles mentioned (some writers lean toward liberal theology). I expect, however, to be nourished by a great number of them. I'm especially happy we'll be spending the next eight months in the U.S. where I'll have access to several wonderful libraries where I can search for many of these gems. Another happy note is that Take and Read is on sale for 99 cents till May 31st.

Blessings,

Reading Year in Review - 2017

By November of this year I had read over 100 books and still hadn't found "the book of the year" that I love to rave about in my year-end blog post. Happily, that changed when I read four amazing books in one month! (The first four titles listed below) Here's a recap of the "best of" 2017.

Book that brought the most unalloyed pleasure: Beauty - a Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

Best Classic: Dombey and Son (narrated by the amazing Mil Nicholson at Librivox, worth every minute of the 40 hours!)

Best devotional classic: The True Vine by Andrew Murray. PLEASE buy this beautiful, humbling explanation of each verse in John 15 for yourself for Christmas. The e-version is less than a dollar.

Best new authors: Poet Alexander Pope (He lived from 1688 to 1744 so he was new to me, but apparently not to the rest of the world. Wikipedia says he is the most quoted man in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations next to Shakespeare. Gorgeous language !) I also enjoyed CF Newbie Amanda G. Stevens.

Best audiobooks: Watership Down, Classics of British Literature (48 lectures by Professor John Sutherland)

Biggest Duds: Pax by Pennypacker (my review), Charity's Cross by Tyndall (my review, this is why I rarely read Christian fiction)

I chipped away at my classics challenge (only 8). Maybe that's why my year was only so-so as far as quality. For my Christian Books Challenge I read 20 titles, which was my goal. Sadly, only a handful of those were worth my time.

I also completed a two-year Bible reading plan that followed the liturgical year and included Old and New Testament readings each day. LOVED IT. It required me to read the New Testament 6 times, which helped me to become more familiar with many beloved passages.

Blessings,

Reading Year in Review - 2016

I read over 90 books this year, but can't gloat over that accomplishment since 28 of them were Christian fiction (i.e. inconsequential fluff)  that I read during times of stress. They caused me to add a new category to my Goodreads bookshelves ("dud"), but the year was not a total failure. Here are the gems:

Classics that I loved: To Kill a Mockingbird, North and South

Classics that I expected to dislike, but enjoyed: The Great Gatsby, Age of Innocence

Best new (to me) author: Jamie Langston Turner for Winter Birds. One of the few Christian authors I can recommend.

Favorite non-fiction: Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies

Favorite Children's Lit: Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace

Books with the most long-term influence (that I keep quoting or using): Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller, Technopoly by Postman, and An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture by Davis

It was my slowest year yet for the Classics Club Challenge, but I managed to check off five titles from my list: Gaskell's Cranford and North and South, The Great Gatsby, Pilgrim's Progress and To Kill a Mockingbird.

I managed to get in my 8 mysteries from the Cozy Mystery Challenge.

Goodreads has a fun app that shows all the covers of  the books I read in 2016.

Looking forward to more good reading in 2017!

Children's Books for Adults

RealSimple.com has a list of seven children's books every adult should read. I heartily agree with their choice of Charlotte's Web which I reviewed here. We all know the famous C.S. Lewis quote about the best books being for all ages; so, obviously, a lot more than seven books should be on the list.

Three of my very favorite books are children's lit titles that I discovered as an adult: Wind in the Willows, Tuck Everlasting, and Peter Pan. The Narnia and Little House on the Prairie books are age-range friendly as well.

What about you? What are some of the children's titles that have touched you as an adult?

(Sidenote: I find it annoying/amusing that a web site and magazine called "Real Simple" should be so cluttered with advertisements that it's hard to find their content.)

More Recommended Librivox Recordings

Several of you left comments on an earlier post, recommending above average readers at Librivox. I'm already hooked on Adrian Praetzellis, and Mil Nicholson (photo). When I googled Nicholson, I discovered another treasure: Ruth Golding (an excellent reader herself) has compiled a list of the best British voices over at Librivox.

Andy Minter is an excellent reader who lists his recordings on his website. Mark Smith does a great job too.

I look forward to reviewing many of these.

Happy Summer listening!

Reading Year in Review - 2014

Considering my crazy schedule, I'm surprised at the number of books I read this year (64). It must have been due to my daily subway ride to and from school because most days I came home too tired to read anything. Here are the dozen I enjoyed the most. (Clicking on the title will take you to my review - if I wrote one).

Books that were the most demanding but worth the effort: David Copperfield by Dickens and Our Culture, What's Left of It by Dalrymple.

The books that brought the most pleasure for the least amount of work: The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne, and Sleeping Beauty by C. S. Evans.

Favorite Children's Classics Re-reads: Charlotte's Web and Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang.

Best Audiobook: Treasure Island (Narrator Adrian Pretzellis is amazing.)

Best World War II: Monuments Men

Best Christian Books: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (the best antidote to fluffy Christianity that I know.), Preparing for Jesus (advent book by Walter Wangerin), and A Life of Obedience by Murray.

BEST OF THE YEAR: Shauna Niequist's Bread and Wine because it echoed the longing of my heart to slow down enough to be available to God and His people.

Most important podcast: Edie Wadsworth's "The Life You Love Manifesto" (same reason as above)

Most important internet article: "The Girl with the Gadget" by Arthur W. Hunt III

Also, I'm making progress on my Classics Club Challenge list. Only fifteen more titles to go! And I read two (of the intended four) Shakespeare plays, Midsummer Night's Dream and Two Gentleman of Verona.

More Summer Reading Plans

I usually don't have time for magazines, but whenever the summer "Books Issue" of WORLD arrives, I drop everything and read it from cover to cover. It's luxurious to read about so many wonderful books in one spot. To be frank, most of the recommendations are for non-fiction, and I come away with only half a dozen "must reads," but I enjoy just knowing what books are available since I live in Brazil and can't keep up with the gazillions of books that keep coming out in the U.S.

I had heard some buzz about the book Mission at Nuremberg, which WORLD voted as "2014 Book of the Year," so now it's definitely on my list. It's the story of the U.S. chaplain assigned to the spiritual care of the Nazi officials who were condemned to death after the war trials. Sounds amazing.

Some of the 140 book recommendations were brand new, but many were of books written in the last few years. Here are the ones that grabbed my interest:

The Great War by Peter Hart - "a 522 page blow-by-blow history of World War One"
The Reason for God by Tim Keller (World's 2008 Book of the Year)
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Butterfield
Booked by Karen Prior (She wrote this to show "how reading Great Books drew her back to God.")

Faith and Reason by Swinburne (a solid, thorough introduction to philosophy)

The Great Books Reader by Reynolds
(These last two were surprisingly pricey, even for Kindle.)

Finally, author Larry Woiwode highly recommends Peavear & Volokhonsky's translation of War and Peace as the best version of "the best fiction novel."

Oh yes, and one more perk. My brother's book, Coming to Grips with Genesis, was mentioned on page 50!

Have you read any of these books? Any thoughts?

Recommended Librivox Recordings

     

          Librivox is an online source for free audiobooks that I've used and enjoyed in the past few years. Their goal (which is commendable) is to make all public domain books available in audio versions. The way they hope to accomplish this is to let anyone volunteer to read a book. Of course, this leaves their vast selection in the hands of a mixed bag of excellent, mediocre and awful readers. Instead of complaining about the books that aren't worth listening to, I thought I'd post a list of the exceptional titles. The most satisfying listening experience comes when there is a single narrator, but occasionally I make an exception to this. Clicking on the titles will take you straight to Librivox.


Conscience Pudding - a Christmas short story
The Claverings by Anthony Trollope (multiple readers, my review here)
Confessions of Arsene Lupin by Leblanc (mystery, my review here)
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (my review here)
El Dorado (Sequel to Scarlet Pimpernel, my review here)
Emma by Jane Austen (Version 3 is by one of the best readers, Elizabeth Klett, my review here)
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin by Leblanc (my review here)
Lady Audley's Secret by Braddon (narrated by Klett, my review here)
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (Version 2 is narrated by Klett, my review here)
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (Version 2 by Klett, my review here)
Turn of the Screw by Henry James (Version 2 by Klett, my review here)
The Virginian by Owen Wister (western, my review here)
The Warden by Trollope (some of the narrators are poor, but Minter makes it all worth it, review here)
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (Version 2 by Klett, my review here)
Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (mystery, various readers, review here)

Have you listened to an especially good classic at Librivox? If so, please leave a note in the comment section.

(Part two of this post is here.)

Postscript: I recently stumbled upon Julie's (at Forgotten Classics) list of favorite Librivox readers here. I don't agree with all of her choices, but I look forward to checking out a few names that are new to me.

Reading Year in Review 2013

This was a fun year. I reached my book-a-week goal in spite of a crazy schedule (thanks to my daily subway ride.) For lack of a good library close by I read 41 books (of the 60 I read) on my Kindle. I also listened to 5 audiobooks.

Favorite new authors: Josephine Tey (The Franchise Affair) and Carroll W. Rankin (Dandelion Cottage)

Favorite "new" novel by a known and loved author: Island Magic by Elizabeth Goudge

Most Charming - The Linnet's Tale by D. C. Willard and Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson

Most  pleasant surprises (classics that I began with low expectations): Moby Dick, Emma, Master of Ballantrae

Most disappointing: Victorian author, Margaret Oliphant. (In fact, several of the authors I read for my personal Victorian challenge were a disappointment. This is probably why these obscure authors have fallen off everybody's radar.)

Hands down the most amazingbook of the year: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

It looks like I did mostly light reading, but I managed to read twelve books from my Classics Club Challenge list too.

Reading Year in Review 2012

Sixty-seven books. (12 audiobooks, 20 Kindle)

Best non-fiction: Unbroken by Hillenbrand tied with Helmet for My Pillow by Leckie (both about WWII)

Most enjoyable new authors: Connie Willis in her WWII time travel series and Scottish novelist, O. Douglas

Most powerful classics: Paradise Lost and Moby Dick (These don't really count because I'm still reading them, but I wanted to counterbalance the depressing list of books that follows.)

Least exciting classics: Don Quixote, and three others

My two favorite books of the year were re-reads:  Wind in the Willows and The Dean's Watch

Thanks to the Classics Club Challenge (and to the fact that most of the books were free on my Kindle), I read 14 of the 50 books on my list.  In spite of the challenge to read meatier stuff, I succumbed to reading some fluffy vintage fiction that was also free on Kindle so it was an up-and-down (but good) year.

Reading Year in Review 2011

I managed to read 69 books this year, which is a bit over my “book-a-week” goal.  However, as I look over the list, I notice that I read fewer books in 2010, but many of last year’s books had more of a “Wow!” factor.  Each year is a reading adventure and I look forward to what’s ahead.   Summary of 2011:

Biggest disappointment: Watch For the Light - Readings for Advent

Best YA fiction: War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

Favorite biography:  Hitler by Albert Marrin

Favorite new author:  Jon Hassler (I fell in love with protagonist, Agatha McGee, and quickly breezed through four books in which she played a central role - Green Journey, Dear James, Staggerford Flood, The New Woman.) 

Favorite “old-time” authors discovered through Kindle: Maurice Le Blanc and Joseph Crosby Lincoln

Favorite re-read: Jane Eyre (almost a yearly tradition)

Favorite WWII book:  South to Bataan, North to Mukden (P.O.W. diary)

Most demanding, yet most satisfying: Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers by Tolkien

Reading Year in Review 2010

 I did not meet all of my goals for the year, but I’m happy with the variety and quality of the books I read – sixty-five in all.

Over half of my favorite books this year were written for young audiences. The Wednesday Wars, The Mouse and His Child, Magic by the Lake and the Narnia Chronicles were all lovely. Beowulf, retold for children by Serraillier, was an unexpected delight.

Biggest surprise: Canticle for Leibowitz. I certainly didn’t expect to find so much theology in a sci-fi novel.

Loveliest writing: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Most influential: Jesus Calling by Sarah Young – Next to the Bible, this was the most comforting and convicting book of the year. It’s a daily devotional book for people who are going through especially hard times.

Best non-fiction: London, 1945 by Maureen Waller

Most interesting new author: D. E. Stevenson

I want to say “Thank you!” and “Merry Christmas” to my blog friends. I love it when you share your thoughts on books I’m reading. It adds a whole new dimension to an already wonderful experience!

Reading Year In Review 2009

I read 56 books this year, but I have to admit that when my schedule got heavy, I read lighter fare to enable my “book-a-week” goal. I hope to get back to more literature in the new year. As I look over my list I see that the books that demanded more of me (Need I say they were mostly classics?) were the most rewarding. I apologize to my readers for reading fluff to make my weekly deadlines when one good book read over two or three weeks would have served us both better. I learned my lesson.

Best audio book: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, read by Elizabeth Klett

Favorite revisits: The Warden (reviewed here), Persuasion (reviewed here), and Peter Pan (reviewed here)

Classics that I enjoyed for the first time: Return of the Native, Frankenstein and Count of Monte Cristo

Best non-fiction: Elements of Style by Strunk and White, An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis

The WWII challenge was great, but only one of those books made my favorites list: We Band of Angels (reviewed here and here.)

Hands-down favorite book of 2009:That Distant Land (reviewed here.) Thank you, Carol, for the recommendation!

Worthwhile Movies (My Favorites in 2009)

I don’t watch much T.V. but enjoy old movies and Monk re-runs. Sadly, I watched an inordinate amount of silly movies this year – tripe that passes as “family friendly”. Ugh! I usually stick to older movies because they are less offensive, but I surprised myself by enjoying several movies made within the last year or two. Here is my alphabetical list of faves:

The Blind Side (2009)

Fireproof (2008)

Last Chance Harvey (2008)

The Tale of Despereaux (2008) - Finally, a true family film. Lovely!

Three Godfathers (1948) I’m not a big fan of John Wayne, nor of Westerns, but director John Ford‘s cinematography was amazing and Wayne was appealing as the compassionate outlaw. Call it hokey, but I loved the redemption-through-a-baby theme that ran throughout the film. Christmas played a part of the movie, but I watched it in May and was still able to appreciate it.

To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946) – both with Bogart and Bacall. Unquestionable classics with their dazzling cinematography, snappy dialogue and good acting.

With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) Doris Day’s last film. If you can overlook the 60’s flavor of this film, you’ll like this sweet love story of two families trying to blend together.

Movies I watched in 2008

Last year was the first year I kept track of the movies I watched. I was astounded to tally it up and see that I’d watched 49 movies in 2008. But when I considered that we don’t watch TV and that Friday is pizza and movie night at our house, it didn’t seem so bad.

I like my movies clean so I put up with a lot more “fluff” in films than I do in books. Yet I like a good story on screen as well as on paper. I don’t enjoy most modern films and sat through some of these just to please my teenaged boys. Here are the films I watched (in order of their release date). I've italicized the ones that I would consider "worthwhile".

The Whole Town’s Talking – Jean Arthur (1935)
Young and Innocent – early Hitchcock (1937)
Mr. Wong, Detective (1938)
Rhythm on the River – Bing Crosby (1940)
My Favorite Wife – Grant/Dunn (1940)
Lucky Partners – Ginger Rogers (1940) – dumb
The Saint Takes Over – George Sanders (1940)
British Intelligence – WWII (1940) - pretty good for a "B" movie
Flying Blind – “Spies in the Skies” (1941)
Dangerous Blondes (1943) – detective story
The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943) – AWFUL
This Happy Breed - very British WII flick (1944)
I Know Where I’m Going – Wendy Hiller (1945)
The Clock – Romance with Judy Garland (1945) – no singing!
Road to Rio – Crosby/Hope (1947) – a family favorite
Romance on the High Seas – Doris Day (1948) – watched twice
In the Good Old Summertime – Judy Garland (1949)
Dream Wife – Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr (1953) – DUMB!
Teacher’s Pet – Doris Day/Clark Gable (1958)
Tunes of Glory – Alec Guinness (1960) – tense and disturbing
Charade – Grant/Hepburn (1963) – one of my favorites, probably too tense for younger kids
Dear Heart (1964) – This I watch yearly.
Best of Friends – Masterpiece Theatre (1982)
Moonlighting – Pilot movie (1985)
One Against the Wind – WWII (1991) – Hallmark Film (sadly, only available in VHS)
A Foreign Field – Alec Guinness (1993)
Mrs. Brown – Judi Dench (1997)
A Vow to Cherish - Billy Graham film (1999)
Road to Redemption (2001) – Most of my family walked out on this one.
Saints & Soldiers (2003) – a bit grueling, but a good story
Something the Lord Made (2004)
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005)
Pride & Prejudice (2005) – watched twice
Bella (2006)
The Nativity Story (2006) – annual favorite
Lake House (2006) – watched twice
Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Meet the Robinsons (2007)
Martian Child (2007) - a very unusual story, well done
National Treasure 2 (2007)
Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (2007) – gruesome and pointless
Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Monk, Seasons 1-4 (We thought Season Four was the best. Less swearing, more poignancy.)

Reading Year in Review 2008

I don’t like book challenges because my reading tastes are too eclectic to stick to one genre, but I had hoped that by joining the 100 Books Challenge (no specific requirements outside of the number of books) I would increase my reading in 2008. It didn’t happen. I actually read 54 books this year which fits the goal I set for myself 20 years ago of one-book-per-week.

I had hoped to increase my book intake this year, especially with audiobooks. (I raved about them in my “Best of 2007” blog), but several things happened to change that goal. First, I found that audiobooks are good, but never quite as satisfying as reading an actual book. Second, we moved and all the transitions to the new city TOOK TIME and made fitting in extra reading time a real challenge. And third, I discovered that I don’t like speeding through books to meet a goal or deadline. I want my “reading life” to be challenging, but not a chore. And rushing through a book is like watching scenery race by through a car window. I prefer to savor the view. Here are my thoughts on the books I read this year:

Book that required the most effort but gave the most pleasure: Middemarch by George Eliot.

Book that gave the most pleasure with the least amount of effort: Mrs ‘Arris Goes to Paris

Best audiobooks: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (through Librivox) and China Court read by Julie at Forgotten Classics

Most inspirational: Renew my Heart by John Wesley and Imitation of Christ by á Kempis

Biggest surprises (books I did not expect to like so much) Much Ado about Nothing by Shakespeare, Hard Times by Dickens, and Elijah of Buxton

Most comforting (excluding the Bible): Jane Eyre