The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read.
It’s been a great reading month. A couple of road trips provided more time for reading as did summer nights with not much on TV. 🙂
Here is what I’ve finished since last time:
It Is Not Death to Die: A New Biography of Hudson Taylor by Jim Cromarty, reviewed here. Good.
When Christ Was Here: a Woman’s Bible Study by Claudia Barba. I’ve immensely enjoyed and been blessed and convicted by hearing Claudia speak several times and enjoyed this Bible study, reviewed here. Excellent.
Infinitely More by Alex Krutov, true story about an abandoned orphan in Russia whom God brought to Himself, reviewed here. Wonderful book.
Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching, and Appreciating Boys by Hal and Melanie Young, reviewed here. Excellent resource.
Feminine Appeal by Carlyn Mahaney, reviewed here. Excellent.
Mentalpause…and Other Midlife Laughs by Laura Jensen Walker. Not reviewed. Meh.
Chasing Mona Lisa by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey, about Swiss OSS agents trying to keep the famous painting from German hands, reviewed here. Great story though a little too descriptive for me when someone was killed.
Wives and Daughters (audiobook) by Elizabeth Gaskell, reviewed here. Loved this!
When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin. reviewed here. Wonderful writing but a couple of troubling elements.
Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter (audiobook), reviewed here.
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter (audiobook and book): just finished and will review in the next day or two.
Currently:
I am bouncing around between a few, trying to decide which one to pursue next. I have Freckles Comes Home by Jeannette Stratton-Porter (Gene’s daughter) from the library, but I am a little tired of the Limberlost just now and popular opinion seems to indicate this isn’t as good as the others.
I started Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns, but it’s not grabbing me yet. It came highly recommended, but I can’t remember by whom. But I’ll keep with it for a while at least.
I’m also reading Walking on Broken Glass by Christa Allan, about an alcoholic woman checking herself into rehab and trying to salvage her life. I love the writing, but there is a particular area of concern that I’ll reserve judgement on til I read more.
Next up:
Coming Home by Karen Kinsbury
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. I’m sorry to have listed this here. The story ended up being very sordid with some use of vulgar language and I cannot recommend this book or author.
Beyond the Shadows by Robin Lee Hatcher (audiobook)
The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy for Carrie‘s The Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge in July. I will probably be tempted to finish the last two as well — we’ll see.
I’m thinking about Not By Chance: Learning to Trust a Soveriegn God by Layton Talbert. I’ve had it on my shelf for years and really enjoyed his book Beyond Suffering about Job.
I had also seen at Joyful Reader a button for a Louisa May Alcott reading challenge over the summer — I may try to participate in that, too. I do like to revisit her books every few years.
That should keep me busy for a while. 🙂
What’s on your nightstand?
Stray Thoughts 
I love Cold Sassy Tree. It has been years since I read it, though.
I’m interested to see what you think of Kate Morton. She’s on my radar, but I couldn’t get her at the library I went to last week. I have enough to keep me busy in the foreseeable future, anyway!
I actually just read Walking on Broken Glass and thought it was much better writing than the other book of hers which I have read. Still not a huge fan of hers but she does make you think, which is a good thing.
Trish @ 5MFB
“Chasing Mona Lisa” sounds good! I’ve got to finish Girl of Limberlost and WANT to read/listen to “Wives and Daughters” since I LOVED “North and South”
If you DO read Freckles Comes Home, I’ll be *very* interested to hear your take on it. But I can imagine you are sort of tired of the Limberlost at the moment, yes!
I had forgotten Nightstand (again!) but scrambled. 🙂 Couldn’t miss out on this!
I’m thinking I’m going to be reading The Silver Chair this year for sure. And I’m not sure which other. Glad you are “in” on Narnia!
One more comment–get the movie “Cold Sassy Tree”–I loved both, but the movie was little better.
I agree, I think the long summer evenings and no tv contributes to my current reading condition. You have several on your list that I NEED to check into… Raising real men and Mentalpause!
I think those definitely will keep you busy for awhile. I chuckled at the flip-flop of boy books/girl books, i.e. “Raising Real Men” next to “Feminine Appeal.” Very balanced. 🙂
Oooh, such good books on here-The Hudson Taylor one sounds interesting. I read “Spiritual Secret” a while ago before I went to China. I will be reading “Feminine Appeal” soon.
We have been meaning to Read “A Girl of the Limberlost” and others by Porter. As always, looks like great choices. The “Feminine Appeal” looks esp goof.
Have a great month,
Amy @ Missional Mama
I love Cold Sassy Tree. I have read it and listened to it on audio, which I highly recommend. The Louisa May Alcott challenge looks like something I need to join, but my summer is quickly disappearing! I’ll be back to check out your reviews about Freckles and The Girl of the Limberlost.
I saw “Walking on Broken Glass” on another Nightstand list, it sounds interesting. Great books this month!
Oh dear–I forgot to include Chasing Mona Lisa on my own list. It’s hard to keep track of those Kindle books since I don’t have a hard copy sitting around on a “to-be-logged” stack. My thoughts were very similar to yours.
Walking on Broken Glass sounds intriguing–I’ll be looking forward to reading your review of it. Not By Chance also sounds interesting.
I really liked Cold Sassy Tree, but I am from Georgia, so I am a little biased. 😉 Hope you finally get into it.
Several of those look really interesting! I’m looking forward to your thoughts on Kate Morton’s book. I have one of hers on my shelf, but haven’t picked it up yet.
Thanks for the LMA heads up! I am currently reading Little Men and have a bio to read!
I ended up editing my post to better reflect my agreement with you about A Girl of the Limberlost…and replied in the comments, too, since I couldn’t email you back.
Love how you find time to read all of those!