Category Archives: Books

Children’s Classics: Chapter Books

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Children's ClassicsThe 5 Minutes For Books site us starting a monthly focus on children’s classics, and this month the topic is chapter books for 8-12 year olds.

My oldest son was my only avid reader at this age, and one of his favorite series was Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective. He was analytical and enjoyed figuring things out, so detective stories fit the bill for him. As far as I can remember they were clean and wholesome: looking them up now I see they’s updated the covers: I hope they haven’t “updated” the stories, because that usually doesn’t bode well. He read them in the mid-90s: I am not familiar with any in the series after that.

He read some of the Hardy Boys when he got older, but didn’t seem to take to them as well.

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder is good for this age as well. We read one or two of them out loud together when we were homeschooling.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember as many of these books as I do the books for younger kids, probably because at this point he branched off into reading on his own rather than our reading together. For a while I tried to read everything he read, but he had a lot more time to read than I did then. 🙂

And though I was a voracious reader as a child, I don’t remember what specific books I read then, either.

But you can find others’ recommendations here.

And although the subject is classic books, and, though what is a classic is loosely defined, these books haven’t been around long enough to be called classics, I would highly recommend the Journey Forth division published by BJU Press. They are well written, wholesome, character-building books. Our absolute favorites were the Peabody Adventure series by Jeri Massi, and we also enjoyed A Father’s Promise by Donnalynn Hess, about a boy living through WWII, Medallion by Dawn Watkins, the Bracken Series by Jeri Massi, The Treasure of Pelican Cove by Milli Howard, and These Are My People by Milli Howard, about missionary Gladys Aylward.

Green Leaf in Drought

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In 1950, Arthur and Wilda Mathews and their 13 month old baby, Lilah, traveled to Hwangyuan, China. China had fallen to Communism, and other missionaries were leaving, yet the Chinese church had invited them to come, with the approval of the Communist government. They felt this was a miraculously opened door God would have them go through.. Yet, when they arrived, they could sense that all was not well. The Christians pastors who met them were strained, and they discerned that between the time of their invitation and arrival, the Chinese learned that association with the white people would be a liability under Communism, not a asset. The Mathews thought perhaps then that, if they could not be a help to the church, they could endeavor to evangelize the unreached Mongols in the area and nearby. They had a few weeks in which to minister, but soon found that they were restricted in ways they could help. They endeavored to set up an inn with which to reach the Mongols, but Chinese troops took it over the day before it was to open. Arthur protested, but soon found it would have been wiser to have said nothing. In two days a policeman came to the mission compound to announce that no one there could do village work without permission, and the white people were forbidden everything: they could not have meetings outside the compound, they could not give out tracts or dispense medicine. They were restricted to the mission compound.

They finally decided that since they were more of a hindrance than a help, they would apply for exit visas. They thought, since the government did not want them, they would be allowed to leave quickly, and so gave away or sold dishes, curtains, etc., keeping just the bare minimum to function until they could leave. Arthur was summoned to the police station and asked to sign a statement that he was for world peace. He had heard of another missionary having to sign some document before leaving, so he signed without thinking much of it. The government official then asked what contribution Arthur was then willing to make toward world peace, outlining a plan in which Arthur would go to India and essentially be a Communist spy. Arthur realized that the Communist definition of world peace was a world dominated by communism, and of course could not consent.

A government official called Arthur in and promised his exit visas if he would do something for them, like write a report of five other missionaries. At first Arthur did write glowing reports of the missionaries in question, but someone told him he dare not turn that in: the Communists would change what he had written but keep his signature. So Arthur threw his report in the fire and told the official he could not be a Judas. The official then told him that he could have given him a pass, if he had cooperated, but now a charge had been laid against him which must be investigated, and “investigations take a long time.”

Thus began a two and a half year ordeal. Their provisions from their mission were frozen by the government, which made Arthur submit a report of what he would need, and then they doled out to him much less than what the report said he needed. Every victory they mentioned in a letter seemed to be immediately challenged by the enemy of their souls: once when they wrote what a blessing Lilah was, she then came down with scarlet fever, and they almost lost her. All of them had turns being ill. Eventually they were told that no one could speak to them, and they could only leave home to draw water from the creek and get food.

They wrestled with the “what-ifs” and the frustration of what they called “second causes,” finally coming to the conclusion that they had to trust that the Lord was in control and had them there for a reason, though it was hard to discern that reason when they were so restricted. Yet the Lord did use them even when they could not speak to the people. The few weeks they had had to minister before restrictions set in, people knew their hearts and saw their love. When the Mathews could no longer speak openly, the people saw them in tattered clothes, persecuted, attacked by illness without much medical aid, laughed at, jeered, humiliated, doing menial, degrading work just to survive, tantalized by the government offering release and then not giving it or doling out money that was theirs in the first place. They saw the Lord provide miraculously for them in many ways. Yet more than that, they saw them endure graciously and joyfully until, finally, the Mathews became the last CIM missionaries to leave China.

How the Lord provided for them and ministered through them in unexpected ways are some of the most exciting parts of the book Isobel Kuhn wrote of their story titled Green Leaf in Drought. She says,

But most amazing of all was their spiritual vigour. Whence came it? Not from themselves: no human being could go through such sufferings and come out so sweet and cheerful. As I was in a small prayer meeting… one prayed thus: ‘O Lord, keep their leaf green in times of drought!’ I knew in a moment that this was the answer. Jeremiah 17:8: “He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” That was it! There was an unseen Source of secret nourishment, which the Communists could not find and from which they could not cut them off…That is needed by all of us. Your drought may not be caused by Communism, but the cause of the drying up of life’s joys is incidental. When they dry up — is there, can we find, a secret Source of nourishment that the deadly drought cannot reach?…Is it possible for a Christian to put forth green leaves when all he enjoys in this life is drying up around him?

The answer, by God’s grace, is yes!

“Thy Calvary stills all our questions.”

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The following is excerpted from Rose From Brier by Amy Carmichael, a book compiled from letters she wrote to those in the hospital on the Dohnavure compound after she herself had been bedridden and in pain for many years. This is from the chapter “Thy Calvary Stills All Our Questions.”

Yet listen now,
Oh, listen with the wondering olive trees,
And the white moon that looked between the leaves,
And gentle earth that shuddered as she felt
Great drops of blood. All torturing questions find
Answer beneath those old grey olive trees.
There, only there, we can take heart to hope
For all lost lambs – Aye, even for ravening wolves.
Oh, there are things done in the world today
Would root up faith, but for Gethsemane,

For Calvary interprets human life;
No path of pain but there we meet our Lord;
And all the strain, the terror and the strife
Die down like waves before his peaceful word,
And nowhere but beside the awful Cross,
And where the olives grow along the hill,
Can we accept the unexplained, the loss,
The crushing agony – and hold us still.

Children who love their Father know that when He says, “All things work together for good to them that love God,” He must mean the best good, though how that can be they do not know. This is a Why? of a different order from that of the little mosquito. It is immeasurable greater. It strikes at the root of things. Why is pain at all, and such pain? Why did God ask Satan the question which (apparently) suggested to the Evil One to deal so cruelly with an innocent man? Why do the innocent so often suffer? Such questions generally choose a time when we are in keen physical or mental suffering, and may (the questioner hopes will) forget our comfort. They seize us like fierce living things and claw at our very souls.

Between us and a sense of the pain of the world there is usually a gate, a kind of sluice gate. In our unsuffering hours it may be shut fast. Thank God, it is shut fast for tens of millions. But let severe pain come, and it is as though the torture in us touched a secret spring, and the door opens suddenly, and straight upon us pour the lava floods of the woe of a Creation that groans and travails together….

O Lord, why?

…I have read many answers, but none satisfy me. One often given is our Lord’s to St. Peter: “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” And yet it is not an answer. He is speaking there of something which He Himself is doing, He is not doing this. “Ought not this woman whom Satan hath bound be loosed?” That was always His attitude toward suffering, and so that blessed word is not an answer to this question, and was not meant to be.

There are many poetical answers; one of them satisfied me for a time:

Then answered God to the cry of His world:
“Shall I take away pain,
And with it the power of the soul to endure,
Made strong by the strain?
Shall I take away pity that knits heart to heart,
And sacrifice high?
Will you lose all your heroes that lift from the fire
White brows to the sky?
Shall I take away love, that redeems with a price,
And smiles at its loss?
Can you spare from your lives that would climb unto mine
The Christ on His cross?”

But, though, indeed, we know that pain nobly born strengthens the soul, knits hearts together, leads to unselfish sacrifice (and we could not spare from our lives the Christ of the Cross), yet, when the raw nerve in our own flesh is touched, we know, with a knowledge that penetrates to a place which these words cannot reach, that our question is not answered. It is only pushed farther back, for why should that be the way of strength, and why need hearts be knit together by such sharp knitting needles, and who would not willingly choose relief rather than the pity of the pitiful?

No, beautiful words do not satisfy the soul that is confined in the cell whose very substance is pain. Nor have they any light to shed upon the suffering of the innocent. They are only words. They are not an answer.

What, then, is the answer? I do not know. I believe that it is one of the secret things of the Lord, which will not be opened to us till we see Him who endured the Cross, see the scars in His hands and feet and side, see Him, our Beloved, face to face. I believe that in that revelation of love, which is far past our understanding now, we shall “understand even as all along we have been understood.”

And till then? What does a child do whose mother or father allows something to be done which it cannot understand? There is only one way of peace. It is the child’s way. The loving child trusts.

I believe that we who know our God, and have proved Him good past telling, will find rest there. The faith of the child rests on the character it knows. So may ours, so shall ours. Our Father does not explain, nor does He assure us as we long to be assured… But we know our Father. We know His character. Somehow, somewhere, the wrong must be put right; how we do not know, only we know that, because He is what He is, anything else is inconceivable. For the word sent to the man whose soul was among lions and who was soon to be done to death, unsuccored, though the Lord of Daniel was so near, is fathomless: “And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.”

There is only one place we can receive, not an answer to our questions, but peace — that place is Calvary. An hour at the foot of the Cross steadies the soul as nothing else can. “O Christ beloved, Thy Calvary stills all our questions.” Love that loves like that can be trusted about this.

Book Review: Peculiar Treasures

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I had enjoyed all of Robin Jones Gunn‘s Sisterchicks series, so when I saw a new release from Robin titled Peculiar Treasures, I picked it up.

If I had realized it was a continuation of the Christy Miller series, aimed, I think, at teens and younger women, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up since I am not in that target audience. But I am glad I did. It was a good story, plus it was a reminder of the kinds of things women that age face.

The story opens with Katie’s maid of honor duties at Christy’s wedding. Katie has just finished her junior year of college, has summer school classes, a part-time job, an “almost boyfriend,” an almost-rival, an offer for a new job and level of responsibility, questions about her major and direction in life, hurts from the lack of involvement and care from her parents an incredibly busy senior year ahead, and adjustments to make as one friend has just gotten married, another friend and her husband are expecting their first child, and another friend is out of the country.

How did any of us ever survive that time of life?

But Katie survives and thrives, growing and learning along the way with grace and humor.

I think this book is not only good for women in this age group but also for any of us who have women in this age group in our lives. It’s a good reminder for those looking back and an encouragement for those looking ahead that God’s grace is sufficient for even the busiest seasons of life.

Book Review: Mistaken Identity

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I had seen the book Mistaken Identity on bookshelves, but hadn’t really looked at it. I thought it was fiction, and I had read other fiction books with a mistaken identity plot line, and, though they were interesting reads, there was still an air of unreality about them. This couldn’t really happen, at least not to this extent where closest family members are mistaken.

But it can. And it did.

I caught an interview with the families on one of the evening news magazine programs, and my heart was knit to theirs as their faith shined through their tragedies. I then went out and bought the book as soon as possible.

Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak were among several university students riding in a van back to school after working at a banquet when they were all involved in a horrific accident. Five people died, and Laura was taken to the hospital with several broken bones and a traumatic brain injury. Only it wasn’t Laura: it was Whitney. She was misidentified based on a nearby purse with Laura’s driver’s license in it. Though at first glance the girls look different enough to tell apart, when you look at individual features, they share an uncanny resemblance. Laura’s family had no reason to believe this girl was not Laura, and all the little inconsistencies could be explained by the accident (calling her sister by four different names, for instance, was consistent with the type of brain injury she had). Whitney’s family had chosen not to see her body; they wanted to remember her as she was.

It was not until five weeks later, when Whitney was able to communicate a little more clearly, that they realized she had been misidentified. The Ceraks were at first unbelieving but then overjoyed to find their daughter alive while the Van Ryns had to come to terms with their daughter’s death, and they all had to deal with unwelcome media attention during these events.

What touched my heart even more than their stories was the way their faith was evident at every turn. The Scriptures shared at various junctures perfectly upheld them, though of course it did not take away from the pain they experienced. Their grace in dealing each each other, the truck driver who caused the accident, and everyone along the way is evidence of God’s grace in their lives.

In Isobel Kuhn’s book, In the Arena, she quotes I Corinthians 4:9 (“For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men”) and explains that Paul probably had in mind the Roman arena where Christians were thrown in to be devoured by wild animals. Our trials great and small can have multiple purposes, but, she says, one of them surely is to reveal God, His power, character, and grace as it is worked out in His people’s lives (not only to people, both believers and unbelievers, but to “principalities and powers in heavenly places“) . I often think of that when I hear news stories that have captivated the nation and then find out that the people involved are Christians.

One of the paragraphs that most grabbed me was a journal entry by Carly, Whitney’s sister, before she knew that Whitney was still alive:

Death is Satan’s greatest way to attack this world. Amazingly, then God takes what Satan uses to attack us and uses it to bring us together and reveal Himself the most. Through Satan’s greatest strength, God’s power still overcomes and is stronger.

I had never thought of death in that way, but it is so true that even at Satan’s strongest point, God overcame not only to resurrect those who have died but to provide immeasurable comfort to those who are left behind.

I highly recommend this book to you.

Book Review: The Count of Monte Cristo

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I was only vaguely aware of the title of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas until…I saw the Wishbone version on PBS years ago. (Don’t laugh — I benefited from a lot of culture on children’s programming. 🙂 ) But that put the intriguing story on my mental list of books I wanted to read some day. I have been working my way through some of the classics over the last few years and have just finished reading the Count.

In the past I had read The Three Musketeers and The Man In the Iron Mask by Dumas, and I have to say I was disappointed in them, in the darkness of the latter especially. The ending differs from any film version of it I have seen. So I approached the Count with a little bit of trepidation, but it is my favorite of these three Dumas books.

Originally published in the 1840s, the story is that of Edmund Dantes, a young sailor on the verge of being promoted to captain of his ship and of marrying his longtime sweetheart, Mercedes, in France during the era just before Napoleon’s Hundred Days. Edmund has enemies he is not wary enough of, a jealous shipmate and another who loves Mercedes, and these two plot together to implicate him as a Bonapartist traitor. The main piece of evidence comes into the hands of one prosecutor who could potentially be harmed by its contents, so to protect himself he destroys the evidence and lets Edmund go to prison.

Edmund, of course, despairs, tries to see the governor of the prison to plead his cause, and is rewarded with bring thrown further into the dungeon. He decides to starve himself until he hears the faint sounds of digging, and the possibility of interacting with another human being other than his jailer revives his desire to live. He and the other prisoner, Abbe Faria, do make contact, and the Abbe becomes something of a mentor to Edmund, teaching him all he knows both of education and society. Thus his fourteen years in prison actually serve to make him the man he later becomes.

When the Abbe dies, Edmund sees his chance to escape by placing the Abbe’s body in his cell and hiding himself in the Abbe’s burial shroud, which is tosses into the river. The Abbe had told him of and bequeathed to him a treasure buried on the island of Monte Cristo, which Edmund finds and the uses to perfect his new persona as the Count of Monte Cristo. He then sets himself to reward those who were loyal to him and stood by him and to exact vengeance on the three men who were instrumental in imprisoning him.

The story is quite intriguing as the reader understands the Count’s ultimate purpose but wonders exactly what he is up to as events unfold. Some characters who appear at first to be a distraction to the main plot are found actually to be integral to it. Though at first his designs fall into place perfectly, the Count eventually finds many unintended consequences of his actions and has to wrestle with his conscience before God to determine the best way to ultimately do the right thing by the various people affected by his actions.

Wikipedia describes this as an adventure novel, and it certainly is that, but it is full of intrigue as well. Though I would not call it a Christian book, there are many Christian principles throughout. Modern readers would find it a bit melodramatic in places — at least six times, various people threaten to kill themselves due to shame or loss. I don’t know if that was a popular mode of dealing with problems at the time or popular literary plot device. Though it does drag a bit in places overall the book is very well crafted.

The 1998 Tom Doherty associates version that I read says that it is complete and unabridged, which is what I wanted, but I was disappointed to find that it was not complete: in reading over the Wikipedia summary, I found several strands of the plot that were not in this book. Some of the situations now make more sense to me. I wouldn’t look at the Wikipedia listing, though, until after you have read the book as it does detail most of the plot and you’ll lose the fun of discovery if you read it.

I’ve seen reference to several film versions, and if you have read the book and seen any of the films I’d love to know which film version you think is best.

Thursday Thirteen: Books I read to my children

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When I made up my book meme a couple of weeks ago, one of the questions I asked concerned book we may have read to our children. I found so many others books that I had forgotten about mentioned in other people’s answers that I decided to focus a Thursday Thirteen on books I enjoyed reading to my children.

1. The Little Engine That Could.

2. Gus the Bus. This appears to be out of print not, but it’s one my kids loved reading over and over even after we had to tape it together. It’s about a dutiful school bus whose tires one day get too much air in them, which sends him through meadows chasing horses and such while all the kids are in school. When the bus driver finally finds him, discovers the problem, and brings him back, He goes back to his routine, but with a little smile and a daisy stuck next to his mirror.

3. Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom as well as others in the Jesse Bear series. Sweet stories, lovely art work.

4. Dr. Seuss, especially, of course, the perennial favorites The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.

5. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey.

6. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.

7. Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Peter Roop. This was one of my favorites, about a girl who has to keep the lighthouse lamps burning when her father is delayed from getting back home due to a storm.

8. P. D. Eastman. books, especially Go, Dog, Go, and Are You My Mother?

9. The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy by Jane Thayer.

10. Golden Books, especially The Poky Little Puppy, The Little Red Caboose, Scuffy the Tugboat.

11. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton.

12. Arch books, but I was choosy with those. I don’t like Bible story books that are flippant or where the characters are drawn in a cartoonish way. I wanted my children to respect those stories and to differentiate between them and other stories.

13. The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by Kenneth N. Taylor or one like this.

We read multitudes of books when they were younger, but these are the standout favorites that come to mind. As they got older they liked Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett and others.

I can’t wait to read some of these to my grandkids some day!

You can visit other Thursday Thirteeners here.

(Graphic Courtesy of Grandma’s Graphics.)

Books to read before you die

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Our main family e-mail account is with AOL, and one of the AOL headlines that caught my eye yesterday was “10 Books to Read Before You Die” based on a popular opinion poll conducted by Netscape. Their list included:

1, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

I really have no desire to read this. Though there were parts of the movie I liked, overall it was the story of a spoiled immature girl growing up into a spoiled immature woman. Not terribly inspiring, to me anyway. But it was cited for the historical accuracy of the era, so that might be worth exploring.

2. Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.

This I would agree with. There is a richness to the story itself, the vocabulary, the imaginativeness, the quest of good vs. evil.

3. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling.

I’ve never had an interest in this. I suppose if my boys had been interested I would have explored it. I’ve read many debates by Christians about whether we should read it or not. I’ve got too many other things I am interested in reading to get involved with this, and I am not inclined to read things dealing with the occult, even in fun. That may seem inconsistent with having read Lord of the Rings with its wizards and magic, but the wizards in LOTR were more like superheroes of Middle Earth — I don’t think they did what real witches would do.

4. The Stand by Stephen King.

I am not a Stephen King fan.

5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

I was amazed at how the public flocked to this. I’d recommend The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin Lutzer.

6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

On my TBR list.

7. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

This precedes The Da Vinci Code. I’m not really interested in exploring it.

8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

I had never heard of this one. It’s described as “a hymn of praise to the concept of rugged individualism…[the] polemic for Rand’s philosophy of ‘rational self-interest.'” Doesn’t sound like anything I’d be interested in.

9. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

Since it cites “liberal use of profanity, its frank conversations about sex,” I don’t think I’d explore this, either.

10. The Holy Bible.

I was surprised to see this on their list. The reason the site lists is “No book has had more influence on the world. Its pages tell the story of the creation, fall, and redemption of mankind and the coming of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. The Bible contains epic stories of history, heroism, and hope.” I once wrote of reasons to read the Bible here.

My own list of classic “Books To Read Before You Die” would include the following:

1. The Bible.

For reasons mentioned above.

2. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Classic picturesque allegory of the Christian life.

3. Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Classic picture of early American homesteading, homemaking, and family values.

4. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.

Classic English waif in the industrial era, tale of a boy overcoming many odds against him to grow up into a decent human being.

5. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Riveting example of “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

6. Something by Jane Austen.

My favorite Austen book is Persuasion (my review is here), but probably most people would list Pride and Prejudice as quintessential Austen and the quintessential novel of classic English society and romance.

7. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Besides a painful picture of the cruelty of slavery, it also represents Uncle Tom, as one former pastor put it, as “the kind of Christian you always wanted to be.”

8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

For many reasons mentioned in an earlier review.

9. At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon.

The Mitford series is a sweet and poignant picture of small town American life. This first book in the series is my favorite.

10. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

Classic, beauitful tale of redemption.

I had originally meant to include both Christian books and classics on one list, but I am discovering I have more than enough for two separate lists. So here would be my top ten Christian books to read before you die. The first two in the above list, of course, could also go on this list, but I will leave them where they are:

1. Hudson Taylor: Growth of a Soul by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor.

This is one of the classic missionary biographies. It includes many of Hudson taylor’s own writings as well as the story of his life and faith.

2. Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur by Frank Houghton.

Life story of a remarkable missionary to India.

3. Goforth of China and Climbing by Rosalind Goforth

I can’t begin to express ways in which my heart was touched or lessons learned by reading these books.

4. By Searching and In the Arena by Isobel Kuhn.

I have probably given away more copies of these books than any others. the first is Isobel’s own journey from doubt into faith; the second details certain experiences of her life in which God’s grace and power were on display.

5. To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson.

Biography of Adoniram Judson, America’s first missionary. I admire his conviction, his passion, his steadfastness in the face of persecution, his overcoming in the face of loss, pain, and doubts.

6. Winning the Inner War: How To Say No to a Stubborn Habit by Erwin Lutzer, reviewed here.

I’ve read this two or three times, maybe more. It’s a great help in learning to overcome temptation.

7, Changed Into His Image by Jim Berg.

Great resource on how to live the Christian life.

8. The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot.

Not a “how-to” guide, but the story of her own family. Wonderful, inspirational examples.

9 Through Gates of Splendour by Elisabeth Elliot.

The first and classic story of the five missionaries speared to death in the early 1960s by what was known then as the Auca Indians, and the subsequent reaching of that tribe with the gospel.

10. Not My Will by Francena Arnold.

One of the first examples of Christian fiction I am aware of and one of the best.

My mind is swirling now with book titles, many more that I could recommend. But these are the best of the best.

How about you? Would your list include any of these? What would you list differently?

Two interesting quizzes

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42

As a 1930s wife, I am
Average

Take the test!

And according to this book quiz I saw at Alice‘s and tried:

Your responses showed you fitting equally into all four reading personalities:

Involved Reader: You don’t just love to read books, you love to read about books. For you, half the fun of reading is the thrill of the chase – discovering new books and authors, and discussing your finds with others.
Exacting Reader: You love books but you rarely have as much time to read as you’d like – so you’re very particular about the books you choose.
Serial Reader: Once you discover a favorite writer you tend to stick with him/her through thick and thin.
Eclectic Reader: You read for entertainment but also to expand your mind. You’re open to new ideas and new writers, and are not wedded to a particular genre or limited range of authors.

A brand new book meme!

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Since I love books, and several of my blog friends do as well, I’ve been mulling over some questions for creating a book meme. And here it is!

1. Do you remember how you developed a love for reading? I think it began in school: I don’t really have a memory of reading before that.

2. What are some books you read as a child? A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories by Arthur Gross, Little Golden Books and Dick and Jane readers.

3. What is your favorite genre? Biographies and Christian fiction.

4. Do you have a favorite novel? It’s hard for me to have just one favorite. 🙂 A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

5. Where do you usually read? Um…in the bathroom. 😳 But evidently that’s not uncommon. I sometimes read at the table while eating (though I know they say not to do that) or on the loveseat in our family room. I also take a book any time I am going to have to sit and wait, like doctor’s offices. I just can’t stand to sit and stare at walls or look through old magazines. Plus reading helps reduce nervousness of some of those waiting times by helping to get my mind off of whatever I am waiting for.

6. When do you usually read? Well, besides whenever I go to the bathroom 🙂 I love to read on Sunday evenings after church. I read some weekday evenings as well. Reading is a relaxing way to end the day or to take a break. And, as I said before, I love to pass waiting times with reading.

7. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time? Yes, one for each bathroom. 🙂

8. Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction? Yes. Fiction I can usually get into any time anywhere. Nonfiction in the form of a story I can usually read most anywhere. But most other nonfiction takes more concentration. I can “get” the “lesson” in a story easily and retain it easily (which is one reason why I love Christian fiction and one reason why I believe Jesus told parables). But for nonfiction written in an instructive form I need to be without distraction to get anything from it, and I often read it with a pencil in hand to mark key points. I sometimes incorporate Christian non-fiction into my devotional time, though I try to keep that primarily straight Bible reading. I also need to read in defined sections (chapters or smaller divisions) whereas fiction or a biography I can put down and then get back into at any point.

9. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library? Most of the classics I check out of the library, and then if I really like them and think it’s something I’ll treasure and reread, then I’ll buy it later. Most Christian fiction I buy: the local libraries carry some of it, but not much and not what’s current.

10. Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them? I keep a few, but most I pass on to my mother-in-law. The ones I don’t think she would be interested in I give to Salvation Army.

11. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child? I did specifically look for some of the books I mentioned on question 2 when my children were smaller. I also sought out The Little Engine That Could. the Little Bear books were favorite as, were, of course, Dr. Seuss. With my youngest two we also discovered the Jesse Bear series by Nancy White Carlstrom. I loved it for the sweet stories and rhymes and beauitful art work, but then when we named my youngest Jesse (after a former pastor, not after the bear) it was especially fun. I also book a Bible in pictures book because I remember being awed and fascinated by one when I was younger. We used it for family devotions when they were preschoolers.

12. What are you reading now? The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and South Carolina by Yvonne Lehman.

13. Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list? Yes. I have a list on the computer where I can easily add books that I see other people recommend. I also list classics I want to read.

14. What’s next? The next classic I want to read is To Kill a Mockingbird. I am not sure about the next Christian fiction. I don’t think any of my favorite authors has anything new coming out just now.

15. What books would you like to reread? Les Miserables, Jane Eyre, The Becky Miller books by Sharon Hinck, the Little House series, some of the Anne of Green Gables series, Little Women, Changed Into His Image by Jim Berg, Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur by Frank Houghton, By Searching and In the Arena by Isobel Kuhn, Goforth of China and Climbing by Rosalind Goforth. Some of these, particularly the last several, have already been read more than once, but I could still reread them several times.

16. Who are your favorite authors? Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Amy Carmichael, Isobel Kuhn, Rosalind Goforth, Sharon Hinck, Terri Blackstock, Lori Wick, Beverly Lewis. (Writer2be reminded me of Elisabeth Elliot. How could I have left her off??!! I probably quote her more than anyone else.

I am going to tag some specific people who I know love to read: Alice, Susanne, Barb, Katrina, Deena, writer2be, Cindy, and Bet. But I also want to leave this wide open to anyone who would like to do it — let me know if you do and I will be glad to come and read your answers! I’d love it if you’d link back here, too.

(Photo courtesy of the stock xchng.)