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.

I forgot this occurred on the fourth Tuesday! I thought it was coming next week, so I am scrambling here.

I finished this past month:

How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser about the relationship between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, reviewed here. It took a while for it to grab me, but when it did, it was hard to put down.

Fatal Illusion by Adam Blumer, reviewed here. Grabbed me from the first chapter!

Things Left Unspoken by Eva Marie Everson, reviewed here. Enjoyed it very much.

I have also been getting caught up on a few magazines.

I am currently rereading Becoming God’s True Woman edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

I just posted my Fall Into Reading goals, but the first two in the queue are A Surrendered Heart by Tracy Peterson and Judith Miller and The Missing by Beverly Lewis.

Now if ony the laundry would do itself and dust-covered end tables became fashionably acceptable…

Happy First Day of Autumn!

With the first day of fall comes the start the Fall Into Reading Challenge sponsored by Katrina of Callapidder Days. More information is here, but the basic idea is to post a list of books you’d like to read this fall and share that via the links on Callapidder Days Fall Into Reading post. It is just a list of goals — there is no need to feel pressured, to feel like you’ve failed if you don’t read everything on your list. Sometimes something unexpected comes up, sometimes we read something other than what we listed. But it is fun to share our reading goals with others — my TBR list has expanded greatly by seeing what others are reading. Plus it is a way make time for books I had been wanting to read but just hadn’t picked up yet. Plus there are prizes! Posting guidelines are here. And even though it starts September 22, I think you can join in any time during the fall season. Then on the last day of fall, December 20, we write a wrap-up post about what we did actually read, and Katrina usually has discussion questions we can answer if we want to.

So, here is the list of books I would like to read this fall:

Christian Fiction:

A Surrendered Heart by Tracy Peterson and Judith Miller, third in the Broadmoor Legacy series.

The Missing, second in the Seasons of Grace series by Beverly Lewis.

American Haven by Elisabeth Yates.

Plain Perfect by Beth Wiseman.

The Heirloom by Colleen L. Reece and Julie Reece-DeMarco, given to me by my friend, Carol.

My Heart Remembers by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

The Hidden Flame by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn. second in the Acts of Faith series. This doesn’t come out til Dec. 1, but I think I can get it in.

Nonfiction:

How To Read Slowly by James W. Sire. I keep saying I am going to read that and keep not getting to it. But I plan to.

Becoming God’s True Woman edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I had read it earlier this year but am going through it again.

Dr. Frau: A Woman Doctor Among the Amish by Grace H. Kaiser.

My Heart Restored, a Bible study by June Kimmel.

I do have many more both on my shelves and on a list of books to read, so if I get through all these, I still have many more to choose from.

I also usually like to include one classic novel, but I don’t have a specific one in mind yet. Then again, I have so many other books stacked up to read, perhaps I’d better just concentrate on those.

You can visit the sign-up post at Katrina‘s to check out what others are reading or to join in.

One of the unexpected blessings of blogging about books is that every now and then I hear from an author. Eva Marie Everson commented on my earlier review of one of the Potluck Club books and e-mailed me a while back to offer to send me a copy of her new book if  I would like to review it. Of course I jumped at the chance!

In Things Left Unspoken by Eva Marie Everson, Jo-Lynn Hunter has come home to Cottonwood, Georgia, for the funeral of her great-uncle Jim, who had been like a grandfather to her. She discovers while there that a company wants to revitalize the town, “bringing it back to its former glory,” renovating or replacing old buildings, bringing in new businesses, etc., and they want to use Aunt Stella’s house as a museum.  Unhappy in her marriage and on indefinite leave from her job as an interior decorator, Jo-Lynn accepts her great-aunt’s invitation to stay and renovate her home. But as she digs into the work, she begins to uncover clues to more than one old family secret, and sightings of strange men leaving the barn at night and increasingly serious acts of vandalism indicate that someone wants those secrets to remain unknown.

Some parts of Aunt Stella’s story are told in a series of flashbacks, so the reader is in on it early on, but the rest is uncovered in Jo-Lynn’s research along the way. J0-Lynn has to wrestle with the state of her marriage and the consequences of her agreement with her husband not to have children as well as the realization that Uncle Jim might not have been the kind of man she thought he was.

This book took me back to my younger days with my great-Aunt Jewel. I was not as close to her as Jo-Lynn is with Stella, but the setting, the relationships, the vivid immersion into old Southern culture was much the same and brought back warm memories. As a reader I liked being in on the one secret, wondering how or if it would come to light, while being in on Jo-Lynn’s other discoveries along the way. I really liked how the book ended, which was a little different from where I thought it was going.

As a Christian, my only quibble is with Jo-Lynn’s thoughts about her relationship with God. When she says she knows God personally and has gone to church all her life, on first reading it sounded to me like she was basing her relationship with God on her church attendance rather than on faith. But looking back over that section again, I can see that the church attendance was part of her life of faith and not necessarily the basis of it. In the parts of the South I have lived in, people are prone to believe they are Christians because of such things rather than having a personal relationship with God based on faith, so I might be more sensitive to that than other readers. I don’t think every book of Christian fiction necessarily has to spell out the full plan of salvation, but I do like for any mention of it to be crystal clear.

Eva Marie’s own Southern heritage gives the book its authentic ring, and while the story is not from her own family, it is based on an old home of her great-grandparents. The theme of renovation touches many levels. I enjoyed the story very much.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon’s Saturday Review of books.)

Fatal Illusions is the first novel of Adam Blumer.

Gillian Thayer is a pastor’s wife in Chicago grieving the loss of stillborn twins, trying to keep busy with a calligraphy business and her teen-age daughter, Crystal. When her husband, Marc, is attacked and accused by an out-of-control counselee, Gillian doesn’t know what to think. Reluctantly the family agrees to take a sabbatical in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula until the publicity over Marc’s attack dies down.

Unbeknownst to them, amateur magician Haydon Owens is also taking a sabbatical in the area, but for different reasons. He has committed four murders in Cincinnati and has decided it is time to make a clean break just to be safe, even though the police have almost no leads on the so-called Magician Murderer. He grew up in Michigan’s UP and decides to head back there to lay low for a while…until he discovers that Crystal Thayer has the same blonde hair, blue eyes, and wire-rimmed glasses as his other victims…

Fatal Illusions is a suspenseful, can’t-put-it-down page turner with well-defined, genuine characters. I felt the Thayers could have been from my own home church: their reactions and ways of thinking and reasoning are similar to my own.

I think I am not alone in that, when I read a mystery, I can’t help but try to put the pieces together and figure out how it is going to end, but, though I may experience some satisfaction in doing so, I don’t really want to figure it out. I want to be surprised. Adam doesn’t disappoint on that front: just about the time I thought I knew where things were leading, the next few pages proved my theory wrong. A few scenes that didn’t seem to make sense to me at first became clear in good time.

It wasn’t until I typed the title that I realized there were so many shades of meaning in it as most of the main characters deal with various illusions or misconceptions.

I don’t normally read scary books, at least not since the last one I read left me afraid to be alone at night for a while. But when I heard that Adam Blumer was publishing his first novel, I wanted to read it. I sort-of know Adam from the Sharper Iron site and I have always appreciated his reasonable, articulate voice there. I almost didn’t want to mention that because I didn’t want that knowledge to cause readers to think I wasn’t being objective. I don’t review any book that I don’t feel I can be honest about, and those of you who have been reading here for a while know I don’t hesitate to share what I don’t like as well as what I like about books. But I honestly can’t find fault with this one except for a couple of what seemed to me to be cliched phrases.

And though I would call Fatal Illusions more suspenseful than scary, I would still recommend not reading it while home alone at night…but I do highly recommend it. I can’t wait to see what Adam publishes next.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of books.)

My son recently alerted me to the news that PBS’s Reading Rainbow was coming to an end.

Reading Rainbow used to be almost daily fare in our house, but we hadn’t seen it in a while as our children got older. I hadn’t even known Levar Burton had left the show over philosophical differences. Seems the company that bought the show was also the parent company of Sylvan Learning Centers and Hooked on Phonics, which teach how to read, wanted to take the show that direction: teaching the mechanics of reading.

I think that was the wrong approach — at least changing the show over totally that direction was. Teaching mechanics is necessary. But I think kids are more inspired and motivated to learn to read by experiencing great books. And even those who know how to read well and experience great books don’t go on to become book lovers themselves, so  a show like that exposed them to a lot more than they would encounter themselves. And those who did love to read would find some good recommendations, like those of us who love to read and peruse other people’s reading lists to get some good ideas.

So even though I am beyond the stage of life of having small children, I am still sad that the show is gone.

When I have grandkids, reading is one of the main activities I want us to do together.

Janet had some great thoughts about teaching and inspiring reading.

I‘ve traveled the world twice over,
Met the famous; saints and sinners,
Poets and artists, kings and queens,
Old stars and hopeful beginners,
I’ve been where no-one’s been before,
Learned secrets from writers and cooks
All with one library ticket
To the wonderful world of books.
~ Author Unknown ~

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to
mankind, which are delivered down from generation to
generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn,
~ Joseph Addison  ~

Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up
its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors.
~ Joseph Addison ~

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
~ Joseph Addison  ~

How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser is the story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. I had always been intrigued by what little I knew of their love story and welcomed the chance to read more about it.

The book begins with Elizabeth as an established, respected poet in her later thirties, but practically a recluse. As a child she had begun having some recurrent chest congestion which led to her becoming weak and easily over-tired and over-stimulated. Further reading outside the book indicated that her illness was never specifically diagnosed. She became nearly an invalid, and with that and her father’s unusual disinclination toward visitors, her world was primarily her room. She became afraid of even meeting people and turned down requests from other poets of her day to meet with her. Any visitors outside her family and small circle of friends would cause her to panic.

Her father was beyond authoritarian to the point of insisting that none of his children marry. This is never explained — his reasons may not have been known. Perhaps after his wife died it was his way of not “losing” any more of his family. But he was Elizabeth’s chief love, and her loyalty caused her to think he was only somewhat eccentric. Later she realized that “he…instead of loving me with the unconditional love that had been my offering, loved with a possessive hand that hurt in its clutching, that caused bruises and offered no solace” (p. 223). “His love consumed me like a shroud, cloaked me in anxiety, bathed me in fear of an unwitting transgression that would bring his displeasure. Being loved by Papa involved clutching my arms around myself in protection”(p. 235).

She was thirty-nine when she received a letter from fellow poet and admirer, Robert Browning. She was aware of his work and admired it and decided she did want to meet him. They were opposites in many ways. Her life had been overshadowed by sorrow; his had been bright and happy. She lived in her room; he had traveled the world. She was retiring; he was effusive. But they fell in love. “I had found the population of books gentle mates but hadn’t known there was any sweeter music…” until Robert (pp. 232-233). Then they had to figure out what kind of relationship they could have in light of her health and her father.

I mentioned several days ago that at first I wasn’t enjoying the book as much as I thought I would. Part of the reason for that is that Robert doesn’t come into the picture until a third of the way through the book. Yet I can understand now that the first third of the book is needed to fully understand Elizabeth’s life and what it meant for her to take the steps she did. It would not have made the same impact and would not have entirely made sense if the book had started with their meeting. Also, at first I didn’t like that the point of view was in the first person. I know that poets probably don’t talk in everyday life like their poems sound, but at first I didn’t see much depth in her conversations. And, knowing this was a fictionalized story, I disliked reading as if I were hearing her own thoughts without knowing if they were hers or the author’s and would have preferred a third person viewpoint. By the time she first heard from Robert, though, I liked being inside her head, and at that point the story became captivating. Theirs was no fairy-tale infatuation: their love strengthened each other and brought out the best in each other.

I appreciated that Nancy Moser included several appendices in the back, especially a section discussing what was fact and fiction in the story. Some of her changes were understandable, such as changing duplicate names to avoid confusion. Purist that I am, I wish she had not changed any of the incidents. But I feel confident overall that the story is truly Elizabeth’s and Robert’s, and I very much enjoyed reading it.

(This post will be linked to Semicolon’s Saturday Review of Books.)

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.

August was a busy month, but a long road trip provided a lot of good reading time.

I finished:

Sometimes a Light Surprises by Jamie Langston Turner and reviewed it here.

To The Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson and reviewed it here.

Above the Line: Take Two by Karen Kingsbury, the second in the Above the Line series about two Christian filmakers trying to make films of Hollywood quality in technicality yet contain life-changing values. The daughter of one is pushing her boundaries much farther from the faith she was raised in, and some of the scenes, though not explicit, might need to be preread and discussed before letting daughters read it. I can appreciate the fine line Karen is trying to walk between not showing too much yet needing to show the consequences of compromises and poor decisions.

An Unexpected Love by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller, second in the Broadmoor Legacy series about three cousins from a wealthy family in the 19th century. This one focuses on Sophie, wose mother passed away years earlier and whose father, in his grief, has thrown himself into charity work in neglect of his daughter. She in turn becomes flirtatious and seeks attention in the wrong ways. Very good book though maybe a little predictable.

Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes by Robin Jones Gunn. An abnormal medical test sends Summer into a need to escape for a while. So she goes to visit her long-time pen pal in Holland, Noelle. Loved this book and the glimpses of Holland as well as the interaction between the two friends.

Currently reading:

How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser about the relationship between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. I was always fascinated by what little I knew of their story  — how does a reclusive near-invalid with an authoritarian father who insists none of his children marry ever find love? I have to admit I am not yet enjoying the book as much as I thought I would, but I am only about a third of the way through, so hopefully that will change before long.

Things Left Unspoken by Eva Marie Everson. Just barely started but I am drawn in already.

Next in the queue:

Fatal Illusion by Adam Blumer which I agreed to read and review for a blog tour.

A Surrendered Heart by Tracy Peterson and Judith Miller, third in the Broadmoor Legacy series.

Still haven’t gotten to How To Read Slowly by James W. Sire but hope to before reading any other non-fiction.

And if I complete those — I have a stack comprised of some new additions from my birthday as well as some I purchased on a clearance table back in January as well as a few others purchased here and there.