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. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Since last time I finished:

In the Company of Others, a new Father Tim (of the Mitford series) novel by Jan Karon, reviewed here.

After the Funeral, a Hercule Poirot novel, A Murder Is Announced, featuring Miss Marple, both by Agatha Christie, reviewed together here. Very good for that genre, though that genre isn’t my favorite. But I am glad to have finally read Christie.

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, several essays on various aspects of Christmas from Martin Luther, Spurgeon, Martin Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, and others, compiled by Nancy Guthrie.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Daily Family Devotions for Advent by Nancy Guthrie.

Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace by James Calvin Schaap.

Treasure of Christmas, a collection of three stories by Melody Carlson.

Christmas at Harrington’s by Melody Carlson.

The Christmas reads are all summarized with a little more detail here.

I am currently reading 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe and A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction but both of those are books I want to read a bit from at a time rather than reading straight through.

Waiting in the queue are: A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin, second in the Wings of Glory WWI series; Snow Day by Billey Coffey; Faithful by Kim Cash Tate. I also have a couple of books about women’s ministry on hand.

Plus Carrie at Reading to Know is holding a Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge in January. Last year I read Anne of Green Gables again; this year I’ll read the next Anne books and go through as many as I can during the month. Eventually I’d like to get to some of LMM’s other books as well.

Happy Reading!

Autumn is officially over, and that means it is time to wrap up Katrina‘s Fall Into Reading Challenge. I am happy to say I completed all but one of my books and added a few extras. I could have finished the one but decided I would get more out of it by taking it more slowly — more on that later.

These are the books I completed:

Non-fiction:

Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper, reviewed here. Very good.

Start Somewhere: Losing What’s Weighing You Down from the Inside Out by Calvin Nowell and Gayla Zoz, not reviewed. It was okay, more inspirational and testimonial than instructional. The best advice is in the title.

I’m Outnumbered!: One Mom’s Lessons in the Lively Art of Raising Boys by Laura Lee Groves, reviewed here. Very good.

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent, reviewed here. Excellent.

Fiction:

Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers, the sequel to Her Mother’s Hope, reviewed here. Excellent.

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs reviewed here. Good.

The Thorn by Beverly Lewis, reviewed here. Very good.

In the Company of Others, a new Father Tim (of the Mitford series) novel by Jan Karon, reviewed here. Very good.

After the Funeral, a Hercule Poirot novel, A Murder Is Announced, featuring Miss Marple, both by Agatha Christie, reviewed together here. Very good for that genre, though that genre isn’t my favorite. But I am glad to have finally read Christie.

The one on my list that I did not finish is 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe. I had been dipping into it here and there and then decided I was going to plow through it to finish it by the end of this challenge. But then I was getting people jumbled up and feeling more like it was a chore, though I am enjoying the book. So I decided to go back to reading of one or two of the people here or there at a time and soak their stories in rather than just reading the book just to read it. I have several places marked already that I want to share when I do finish it!

There were a few I picked up which were not on my original list: A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction compiled by several authors. I have been dipping into this here and there and really enjoy it. And then I have only been purposely reading Christmas books during December the last few years and wanted to do so again this year. I am part way into Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, several essays on various aspects of Christmas from Martin Luther, Spurgeon, Martin Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, and others, compiled by Nancy Guthrie (a reread, excellent); Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Daily Family Devotions for Advent by Nancy Guthrie (excellent); 25 Ways, 26 Days to Make This Your Best Christmas Ever by Ace Collins (mmm…okay); Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace by James Calvin Schaap (good);  Treasure of Christmas, a collection of three stories by Melody Carlson (great). I should finish all of those by the end of the month, some by Christmas. I also have The Best of Christmas in My Heart, a collection of short stories, by Joe Wheeler, but haven’t started it yet.

Katrina asks a few wrap up questions: My favorite book of this challenge would be Her Daughter’s Dream. Least favorite? That’s hard to say. I didn’t dislike any of them and none were “bad.” But as you can tell in my one-word assessments of each book, there were some I enjoyed more than others. The least favorite that I am currently reading is the Ace Collins one. It’s ok — just not grabbing me.  Learn something new through the challenge? I learned that murder mysteries aren’t my favorite though I enjoy trying to figure out “whodunit.” I’ve shared quotes that have spoken to me either in my reviews of each book or in my Week In Words weekly meme (would love to have you join us for that!) Favorite part of the Fall Into Reading Challenge? Being a bit more purposeful in my reading, incorporating some books I’ve been meaning to get to but haven’t worked in yet, and seeing what others are reading and adding to my too-long TBR list. And the possibility of winning a gift certificate to Amazon.com is a fun incentive as well. 🙂

Thanks again, Katrina, for hosting! It’s been fun!

I’ve been saying for months now that I wanted to read an Agatha Christie novel or two just because I never had and I wanted to see what kind of writer she was and why people liked her so much. I finally did read two of her books this month.

At first I thought of reading one of the books portrayed by the PBS Masterpiece Mystery program, but I decided I would probably better get the full impact of Christie’s writing by reading one of her books which I knew nothing about. So I chose After the Funeral, a Hercule Poirot novel, and A Murder Is Announced, featuring Miss Marple.

In After the Funeral, an extended family is gathered for a funeral of the family patriarch, Richard Abernethie, who apparently died of natural causes, when the sister of the deceased, Cora, shocks everyone by referring to his murder. Quickly retracting her statement, and having been thought of as generally ditzy, as we would say today, she’s thought odd but not really taken seriously…until she turns up murdered in her own bed. The questions, then, are whether Richard actually was murdered, and if so, who killed him, and who murdered Cora, and is anyone else in danger? The family solicitor turns to his old friend, Hercule Poirot, for help.

In A Murder Is Announced, a group of neighbors gathers at Letitia Blacklock’s house for a “murder game” which turns deadly when an actual murder occurs. Miss Marple is in town visiting a niece and assists the inspectors in finding the murderer.

I did see very quickly why Agatha Christie is considered a master. Much was revealed casually in the first few paragraphs of  After the Funeral in the musings of the doddering old butler as he readies the house for the family gathering after the funeral. And both novels kept me guessing until the end.

I smiled at the gentle fun Christie poked at Poirot in a couple of places. Poirot was well known, but not by this particular group of people, so they did not take him seriously and were amused at him. When he gathered everyone together, she wrote, “It looked as though Hercule Poirot would have to work hard to make his proper  effect” (p. 230). Later while Poirot talked with one of the local inspectors, they had this conversation:

“The piece of evidence I have imagined may not in fact exist. I have only deduced its existence from various scraps of conversation. I may,” said Poirot in a completely unconvinced tone, “be wrong.”

Morton smiled. “But that doesn’t often happen to you?”

“No. Though I will admit — yes, I am forced to admit — that it has happened to me.”

“I must say I’m glad to hear it! To be always right must be sometimes monotonous.”

“I do not find it so,” Poirot assured him.

I didn’t see these kinds of things in Miss Marple’s books. Perhaps they were a way of deflating Poirot’s tendency towards pompousness, or maybe Christie saw Miss Marple more as an alter ego. One thing that has always bothered me a bit about Miss Marple is how in the world police, detectives, and inspectors not only listen to her but actually seek her counsel. Perhaps that’s explained in one of her earlier books. In this one. she is known by one policeman as having a knack for solving mysteries, but the main inspector on the case doesn’t want to listen to the opinions of a visiting grandmotherly woman — until he starts to see that her perceptions are right.

Though I very much enjoyed playing the armchair detective and guessing “whodunnit,” I found that murder mysteries aren’t my favorite genre, so I don’t know that I will read any more of Christie. I like figuring out the puzzle, but I don’t like the murder, even though Christie doesn’t play up the grisly details like modern TV and films do. The constant talk of motives and methods just disturbed me a little. Oddly, that didn’t bother me in the TV productions: you’d think the visual representation would be more disturbing. Maybe it has to do with spending more time with a book — a few days rather than an hour or two of a TV mystery. I was also surprised to find a smattering of bad language, particularly in the second book. I guess I thought that didn’t happen so much in books of that time.

But I can definitely acknowledge with her fans that Agatha Christie is the queen of the murder mystery!

This post will be linked to 5 Minutes For Books Classic Bookclub, which encouraged us read a classic novel once a quarter and then “meet” to discuss it. Sadly, though, this is the last meeting and the Classics Bookclub will be disbanded. I will really miss it as it did help me purpose to incorporate some of the classics into my reading, and discussing them with others enhanced the enjoyment.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday review of books and the next 5 Minutes For Books I Read It column.)

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. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Thankfully I remembered that this meme occurs the fourth Tuesday rather than the last Tuesday of the month.

Here is what I read since last time:

Start Somewhere: Losing What’s Weighing You Down from the Inside Out by Calvin Nowell and Gayla Zoz, not reviewed. I wasn’t familiar with Nowell or his music before this book, but I got it because I saw it on someone’s blog and the title attracted me. It is his testimonial of losing 215 lbs — not so much the how to’s, though he includes some sample menu plans and workout schedules, but the inspiration that guided him along the way.

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs, reviewed here, drawn somewhat from the storyline of Naomi and Ruth, set in 18th century Scotland.

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie, a Hercule Poirot mystery, not reviewed yet: I want to review it with the other Christie novel I am currently reading.

Wow, that’s not very many! Probably because I have more than my usual couple of works in progress. I am currently reading:

A Murder Is Announced, a Miss Marple mystery, by Agatha Christie.

In the Company of Others, a Father Tim novel by Jan Karon.

50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe.

A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction.

If I finish all of those except A Novel Idea, I will have completed by fall reading goals — I think maybe the first time ever I have read everything I planned to. I usually jostle the stack of books before it’s over and add or subtract what I original planned for. A Novel Idea was one not originally on my list, and it is one I might just dip into here and there rather than reading straight through.

Finishing the above will be a priority, but waiting in the wings is  A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin, second in the Wings of Glory WWI series. Plus I so enjoyed reading Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, several essays on various aspects of Christmas from Martin Luther, Spurgeon, Martin Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, and others, compiled by Nancy Guthrie, that I am thinking of reading it again. But in looking through the Christmas books I separated out when setting up my bookshelves when we moved here, I came across a few other Christmas books: 25 Ways, 26 Days to Make This Your Best Christmas Ever by Ace Collins, Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace by James Calvin Schaap, and The Best of Christmas in My Heart by Joe Wheeler. So I will probably decide between one or more of those before the end of this month.

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs is set in Scotland in 1745 and drawn somewhat from the Biblical book of Ruth. What does Ruth have to do with 18th century Scotland, you ask? I’ll get to that in a moment.

Lady Marjory Kerr lives very happily with her two Lowland sons and Highland daughters-in-law in fine style, her only sorrow buried in Greyfriars Churchyard. But life is just on the verge of major changes. Bonnie Prince Charlie is heading their way, seeking to build up his army and coffers to take the city and eventually the crown. She would never dream that her loyal sons might some day follow the Prince, that the sordid rumors swirling about son Donald are true, or that daughter-in-law Elisabeth has secrets of her own. As one by one everything she trusts in is taken away, and her own faults and failures become all too clear, she senses a call from a voice she had long ago stopped listening to.

Elisabeth, meanwhile, keeps the auld ways of worship of the moon that her mother taught her, yet her soul is not satisfied and her prayers are not answered. Grieved and disillusioned in her faith, the words of the Buik begin to open her eyes and her heart to the unseen Holy One.

Marjory and Elisabeth, you may recognize, are based on Naomi, the mother in a pagan land who loses her husband and sons, and Ruth, the daughter-in-law who loses her husband and leaves her home and her god for her mother-in-law’s. I’ve mentioned before in other reviews that I am a bit wary of Biblical fiction because so often it takes the story too far afield from the Biblical narrative. I don’t think this story is meant to be an exact retelling or parallel, but rather, the characters and basic plot arc are just drawn from the Biblical story. If this kind of a parallel bothers you, you could probably enjoy the book on its own. I can see the value, though, in exercising the imagination this way to explore a little more what the characters were going through (sort of like if a pastor or Sunday School teacher were telling a Biblical story and then, trying to make it more understandable to hearers, said, “Now that would be like…” and relating it to something the readers might more readily identify with). Knowing that the story was based on Ruth helped to hold my interest in some points, anticipating what was to come and feeling with them what they might have felt in the face of their losses, wondering how Ruth came to be dissatisfied with her own rites and what brought her to faith even when she did not have the best of examples before her, experiencing and understanding Naomi’s bitterness and wondering how and when the Lord first began to call her not only back home to her country, but to Himself.

It took me a good third of the book to really get into it, however. I am not sure why: I enjoy historical fiction, and the details were pertinent to the plot. Liz Curtis Higgs’ actually having been in Scotland was evidenced in the rich details, and I found myself inclined to speak with a wee bit of brogue myself. But, as I said, knowing what was going to happen and wanting to see how it played out kept me reading, and after a while I was riveted and sorrowing along with Marjory and Elisabeth in their losses.

Some readers may be especially miffed at Donald’s character, especially as there is no hint of his particular besetting sin in his Biblical parallel, but Higgs explains in her notes at the end that both his and his brother’s characters were drawn from the meaning of their Biblical names.

Here Burns My Candle is drawn from Ruth 1:1-18. The rest of the story will be told in Mine Is the Night, due out next spring.

Here is a trailer for Here Burns My Candle:

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday review of books and the next 5 Minutes For Books I Read It column.)