Reading Plans for 2017

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Barbara Harper

We no sooner post our favorite books or reading challenge wrap-ups from last year, and it is time to plan new ones for the new year. Such is the life of a book lover. 🙂

I like reading challenges for spurring me on to read things I might not or to be a little more intentional in my reading, but I’ve found I have to have some breathing space in my reading plans to pick up something else along the way if I feel so led. Too many reading plans or challenges leave me feeling constricted and constrained. The two that seemed to work best for me last year were the Back to the Classics Challenge and the Mount TBR (To Be Read) Challenge. Sometimes there are one or two more small ones through the year, but these are the major ones for me.

First, though, I’ll be hosting the Laura Ingalls Wilder reading challenge in February. I’m especially looking forward to it this year since this Feb. 7 is her 150th birthday. Hope you can join in!

On to the other challenges.

Every January Carrie hosts an L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge. This year I’ll be reading Story Girl. which I haven’t encountered before but have heard good things about. You can find more information here.

Karen at Books and Chocolate hosts the Back to the Classics Challenge, in which she comes up with different categories for us to choose from, and we earn prize entries for completing six, nine, or twelve categories. This will be my fourth year participating in this challenge, and I really enjoy it. I’ve mentioned before that somehow I was not exposed to many classics growing up, and I’ve been trying to rectify that as an adult. It’s nice, after reading one, to think, “So that’s what that one was all about.”

As it stand now, my choices for this year are:

1. A 19th Century Classic. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

2. A 20th Century Classic. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

3. A classic by a woman author. Middlemarch by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

4. A classic in translation. Any book originally written or published in a language other than your native language. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

5. A classic published before 1800. Either Don Quixote (1600s) or The Confessions of St. Augustine (400s).

6. A romance classic. Lavender and Old Lace by Myrtle Read

7. A Gothic or horror classic. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

8. A classic with a number in the title. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

9. A classic about an animal or which includes the name of an animal in the title. Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

10. A classic set in a place you’d like to visit. No Name by Wilkie Collins. I don’t have a burning desire to visit any place, but if I did, it would probably be England or Ireland. I do have a desire to read more of Collins.

11. An award-winning classic.Possibly either The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Newberry Medal, 1962) or A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (Pulitzer, 1945)

12. A Russian Classic.Either Resurrection or The Death of Ivan Ilych, both by Tolstoy

The purpose of the Mount TBR Challenge is to have us read as many books as we already owned before 2017. There are various levels to strive for, in 12 book increments. Last year, my first to participate, I only committed myself to the first level of 12 (Pike’s Peak) and got to the third (36 books, or Mt. Vancouver) without much trouble. But I think I am just going to commit to the second level (24 books, Mount Blanc) just to be safe and may add more later. Bev posts a monthly place for reviews and optional checkpoints once a quarter. More information, rules, and a sign-up page are here.

I’m not going to post a list of planned books this year like I did last year, preferring to just tally as I go. But I’ll show you my TBR stack, compiled of Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, and Mother’s Day gifts from the last year (and before!). In addition to these, I have a handful in my Audible library (mostly classics bought on sale in anticipation of the above challenge) and who knows how many in my Kindle app.

Some of you who have been reading here a while have seen some of these before – which underscores just how much I need to work on them! 🙂

Are you participating in these or any other reading challenges?

(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books)

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Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge 2017

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Barbara Harper

I hope you’ll forgive multiple posts in a day. The first two were reading challenge wrap-ups, required for the challenge but probably not of interest generally to anyone else, especially since I’ve already posted books read in 2016 and my favorites thereof. 🙂 And I did want to get information posted about the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge for this year.

The month of February contains the dates of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s birth and death, so it seems a fitting month to focus on her life and writings, especially this year, which marks her 150th birthday. This is our sixth year to host this challenge, and I have enjoyed it each time. Many of us grew up reading the Little House books. I don’t know if there has ever been a time when there wasn’t interest in the Little House series since it first came out. They are enjoyable as children’s books, but they are enjoyable for adults as well. It’s fascinating to explore real pioneer roots and heartening to read of the family relationships and values.

On Feb. 1 I’ll have a sign-up post where you can let us know if you’ll be participating and what you’d like to read. That way we can peek in on each other through the month and see how it’s going (that’s half the fun of a reading challenge). You can read anything by or about Laura. You can read alone or with your children or a friend. You can read just one book or several throughout the month — whatever works with your schedule. If you’d like to prepare some food or crafts or activities somehow relating to Laura or her books, that would be really neat too. Annette at the Little House Companion blog has some neat ideas for Laura-related activities. You do not have to have a blog to participate: if you don’t, you can just share with us in the comments on the sign-up post Feb. 1 that you’ll be participating.

On Feb 28 I’ll have a wrap-up post so you can link back to any posts you’ve written for the challenge or to a wrap-up post.

Need some ideas beyond the Little House books themselves? Annette, as I mentioned, has shared several books for children here. I compiled a list of Books Related to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and some others are listed in the comments. Laura fan extraordinaire and historian Melanie Stringer has a treasure trove of information at Meet Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I don’t know how many more years I will continue to host this challenge -probably just one or two – so I encourage you to join in before it’s all over. Have fun gathering your materials and planning what to read and do, and I’ll see you at the sign-up post on Feb. 1!

I am having trouble making a code that you can use to put the button on your site, but in the meantime, you can right click on the button below, click on “Save as”, then save it to your computer to use in your post. I’d appreciate your linking back to this post if you participate in the challenge. Thanks!

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Mount TBR Reading Challenge Wrap-up

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Barbara Harper

The Mount TBR Reading Challenge had the goal to read books that we already had on hand prior to 2016. For this challenge I completed (the first 12 are from my original list; the rest I added throughout the year in more or less the order I finished them.):

True Woman 201: Interior Design by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (Finished 4/16/16)
The Renewing of the Mind Project by Barb Raveling (2015) (Finished 5/23/16)
Beyond Stateliest Marble: The Passionate Femininity of Anne Bradstreet by Douglas Wilson (2001) (Finished 5/1/16)
Ten Fingers For God: The Life and Work of Dr. Paul Brand by Dorothy Clarke Wilson (Finished 8/26/16)
What Are You Afraid Of? Facing Down Your Fears With Faith by David Jeremiah (Finished 2/22/16)
Home to Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney (Finished 9/18/16)
The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay (Finished 2/2/16)
Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits by Mary Jane Hathaway (2014) (Finished 5/24/16)
Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser (Finished 1/16/16)
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pamela Smith Hill (Finished 7/11/16)
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (Finished 2/22/16)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain (Finished 3/8/16)
Big Love: The Practice of Loving Beyond Your Limits by Kara Tippetts (Finished 2/14/16)
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Finished 1/13/16)
SEAL of God by Chad Williams and David Thomas (Finished 1/24/16)
Not In the Heart by Chris Fabry (Finished 3/26/16)
A Slender Thread by Tracie Peterson (Finished 4/6/16)
The Reunion by Dan Walsh (Finished 4/10/16)
What Follows After by Dan Walsh (Finished 4/23/16)
The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard by Kara Tippetts (Finished 4/30/16)
One Perfect Spring by Irene Hannon (Finished 5/11/16)
Don’t Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees: The Adventures of an American Surgeon in Nepal by Thomas Hale (Finished 6/13/16)
Chateau of Secrets by Melanie Dobson (Finished 6/18/16)
Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn’t Give Up by Ian and Larissa Murphy (Finished 6/28/16)
Thin Places: A Memoir by Mary DeMuth (Finished 7/12/16)
The Methusaleh Project by Rick Barry (Finished 7/16/16)
C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Children, edited by Lyle W. Dorsett and Marjorie Lamp Mead (Finished 7/23/16)
I’m No Angel: From Victoria’s Secret Model to Role Model by Kylie Bisutti (Finished 9/6/16)
Be Faithful (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon): It’s Always Too Soon to Quit! by Warren Wiersbe
Be Mature (James): Growing Up in Christ by Warren Wiersbe
Be Hopeful (1 Peter): How to Make the Best Times Out of Your Worst Times by Warren Wiersbe
Be Real (I John): Turning From Hypocrisy to Truth by Warren Wiersbe, not reviewed. (Not sure of the finish date for the above four – sometime in August or September)
Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids With the Love of Jesus by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson (Finished 10/1/16)
Knowable Word: Helping Ordinary People Learn to Study the Bible by Peter Krol
Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World by Carolyn McCulley (Finished 11/20/16)
The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson (Finished 11/15/16)
The Messenger by Siri Mitchell (Finished 12/7/16)
The Christmas Violin by Buffy Andrews (Finished 12/13/16)

The different levels of the challenge are represented by different mountains. I had originally planned to read at least 12 for “Pike’s Peak.” I’m happy I got to the third level, Mt. Vancouver!

Bev also added a fun activity linking the books from our list with familiar proverbs. Mine are:

A stitch in time…with A Slender Thread.
Don’t count your chickens…and Don’t Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees.
All good things must come…Home to Chicory Lane.
When in Rome…[see] Our Mutual Friend
A picture is worth…Eight Twenty Eight.
When the going gets tough, the tough get…The Hardest Peace.
Two wrongs don’t make…One Perfect Spring.
The pen is mightier than…The Messenger.
The squeaky wheel gets…What Follows After.
Hope for the best, but prepare for…Thin Places.
All that glitters is not…Beyond Stateliest Marble.
Birds of a feather…[attend] The Reunion.

I enjoyed getting to so many of my books on hand (or in my Kindle app) yet allowing for some new reads along the way, too.

Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge Wrap-up

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Barbara Harper

I participated this Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge for the first time. The basic idea is just to read Christmas-related books between Nov. 21 – Jan. 6, and Michelle listed the following levels:

Main levels:

—Candy Cane: read 1 book
—Mistletoe: read 2-4 books
—Christmas Tree: read 5 or 6 books (this is the fanatic level…LOL!)

Additional levels:
—Fa La La La Films: watch a bunch or a few Christmas movies…it’s up to you!
—Visions of Sugar Plums: read books with your children this season and share what you read

*the additional levels are optional, you still must complete one of the main reading levels above

I read (each title links to my review of it):

The Christmas Stories of Louisa May Alcott by Louisa May Alcott
The Christmas Violin by Buffy Andrews
Finding Father Christmas/Engaging Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn
From Heaven: A 28-Day Advent Devotional by A. W. Tozer
A Sandy’s Seashell Shop Christmas by Lisa Wingate
A Patchwork Christmas Collection by Judith Miller, Nancy Moser, and Stephanie Grace Whitson
The Women of Christmas: Experience the Season Afresh with Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna by Liz Curtis Higgs

Oddly, we didn’t see any Christmas movies this year, but we did watch a few specials: Rudolph, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The America’s Got Talent Christmas Spectacular. My children aren’t at read-to age (I know, technically you can read to them no matter how old they are), but my son did read a Christmas Nativity story book on Christmas morning for my grandson and all the rest of us.

I think I am a little overdosed on Christmas reading now, ha! But it was fun!

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16 Favorite Books Read in 2016

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Barbara Harper

I don’t normally like to publish two posts in a day, but did so today since they overlap. One of my favorite end-of-the-year activities is compiling a list of books read through the year and then choosing my favorites. I usually aim for 10, or perhaps 10 fiction and 10 non-fiction, but I don’t stick hard and fast to a number. This year 16 stood out to me, 6 non-fiction and 10 fiction. They weren’t all published in 2016 – in fact, I don’t think any of them were. I spent a great deal of the year reading classics and books already in my possession, so I didn’t spend as much time as I would like with new ones. I don’t agree with everything in each one, but something compelling about the book propelled it to a favorite.

Without further ado, here are my favorite books I read this year:

Non-fiction:

Pioneer Girl

Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pamela Smith Hill. This is Laura’s memoir, written before the Little House books and from which they were developed. Ms. Hill has done a masterful job of annotating it with just about any aspect any Laura fan wold have a question about.

malala

I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb. In 2012, 15 year old Malala Yousafzai was shot for having spoken up for girls’ education in Pakistan. This book tells the story of that event and Malala’s life before and after. I enjoyed reading about the culture and her family, and even though we would differ in religion and politics, I have great respect for Malala and her father in particular.

still-here

I’m Still Here: A New Philosophy of Alzheimer’s Care by John Zeisel. Though I would differ with Zeisel religiously, what I appreciated most about this book its gracious and thoughtful approach regarding dealing with those with dementia.

knowable-word

Knowable Word: Helping Ordinary People Learn to Study the Bible by Peter Krol. A very helpful and relatively short and simple approach to getting more from your Bible study.

radical-womanhood

Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World by Carolyn McCulley. An eye-opening history of feminism from one who was fully immersed in it and later became a Christian whose views on Christian femininity changed.

What Are You Afraid Of

What Are You Afraid Of: Facing Down Your Fears With Faith by David Jeremiah discusses the universality of fear, different kinds of fear, Biblical examples of people dealing with fear, Biblical principals for dealing with fear. An excellent resource.

Fiction:

Willows

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. It’s hard to fathom that I had never before read this warm, lovely account of Mole, Rat, Badger, and Toad. I admit Toad is my least favorite, but I grew to like him (and even smile over some of his antics) as well.

remains-of-the-day

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I had this listed as a classic at first – it reads much like one. A butler recounts his days of service under one man during the WWII era and his adjustments in a new one, revealing his thoughts about life and service. He reminds me a lot of Carson in Downton Abbey except he’s less brusque but more buttoned-up. The author is a master of nuance and “showing, not telling.”

Tranquil

City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell, a novelization of her grandparents’ lives as missionaries in China during the early 20th century. Loved much about this: the characters, the relationships, the way it was told.

Chateau

Chateau of Secrets by Melanie Dobson. A young American woman travels to her French grandmother’s family chateau in France and discovers her grandmother’s history of helping the French Resistance while German soldiers commandeered her house.

long-way-gone

Long Way Gone by Charles Martin, a modern-day prodigal son story set in Nashville. Martin is a master at pulling on heartstrings.

Not-in-the-Heart

Not In the Heart by Chris Fabry. A reporter down on his luck and estranged from his family is asked to write an inmate’s story. The inmate wants to donate his heart to the reporter’s desperately ill son after his execution so some good can come out of his life. But the more research the reporter does, the more convinced he is that the inmate in innocent. Loved this, both the story, the writing, and the “outside looking in” view of Christianity.

The Reunion

The Reunion by Dan Walsh. A maintenance man at a trailer park does his work with excellence and takes a special interest in helping people when he can. No one knows of his heroic deeds in Viet Nam until some of his former fellow soldiers come looking for him. Probably my favorite Walsh book. I love the thought that even the most overlooked people have a story.

Searching for Eternity

Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser. A 14 year old boy is uprooted from his home in France in the 1960s to live with his mother’s family in Atlanta. He has been told his father has left them, but he thinks his father is a spy and may be in danger. Adjusting to school leads to encounters with bullies and an unusual friend. This covers so much and was so good.

secrets

Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner. Two sisters are sent away from London to live with a foster mother in the country for their safety during WWII. The oldest, a teenager right on the verge of getting her dream job and thinking she can take care of herself, runs away to go back to London, and ends up having to take her sister as well. The London blitz begins the very day they arrive, and they are separated.

Tuck

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. A girl comes across a family who never ages. Though that sounds ideal, the various family members have discovered it’s not so much. This was quite thought-provoking, but it’s a favorite mainly due to Babbitt’s writing.

So there you have it. 🙂 What were your favorite books read this year?

(Sherry at Semicolon, who hosts the weekly Saturday Review of Books link-up, is allowing us to link up book lists this week: books read, favorite books, books we plan to read next year, etc.)

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Books Read in 2016

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Barbara Harper

At the end of the year I like to make a list of books I’ve read or listened to throughout the year. So here’s the record for 2016, divided into a few major categories. Each title links back to my review of it (or should! I’ve had some trouble with links this morning!). I used to separate the audiobooks from the paper ones, but I have them all in there together. :

Non-fiction:

Be Faithful (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon): It’s Always Too Soon to Quit! by Warren W. Wiersbe, not reviewed
Be Hopeful (1 Peter): How to Make the Best Times Out of Your Worst Times by Warren Wiersbe, not reveiwed
Be Mature (James): Growing Up in Christ by Warren W. Wiersbe, not reviewed
Be Ready: Living in Light of Christ’s Return (NT Commentary: 1 & 2 Thessalonians) by Warren W. Wiersbe, not reviewed.
Be Real (I John): Turning From Hypocrisy to Truth by Warren Wiersbe
Beyond Stateliest Marble: The Passionate Femininity of Anne Bradstreet by Douglas Wilson
Big Love: The Practice of Loving Beyond Your Limits by Kara Tippetts
C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Children by C. S. Lewis
Don’t Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees: The Adventures of an American Surgeon in Nepal by Thomas Hale
Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn’t Give Up by Ian and Larissa Murphy
From Heaven: A 28-Day Advent Devotional by A. W. Tozer
Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson
The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard by Kara Tippetts
I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
I’m No Angel: From Victoria’s Secret Model to Role Model by Kylie Bisutti
I’m Still Here: A New Philosophy of Alzheimer’s Care by John Zeisel
Knowable Word: Helping Ordinary People Learn to Study the Bible by Peter Krol
The Loveliness of Christ from the letters of Samuel Rutherford
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pamela Smith Hill
Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World by Carolyn McCulley
The Renewing of the Mind Project by Barb Raveling
SEAL of God by Chad Williams and David Thomas
Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds And Stopped Trying To Earn God’s Favor by Teresa Shields Parker
Ten Fingers For God: The Life and Work of Dr. Paul Brand by Dorothy Clarke Wilson
Thin Places: A Memoir on by Mary DeMuth
True Woman 201: Interior Design by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss
The Voice of Experience: Stories About Health Care and the Elderly by Samuel and Jane K. Brody
What Are You Afraid Of: Facing Down Your Fears With Faith by David Jeremiah
The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs
Why Christ Came: 31 Meditations on the Incarnation by Joel R. Beeke

Classics:

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
The Christmas Stories of Louisa May Alcott by Louisa May Alcott
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Emily’s Quest by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Great British Short Stories: A Vintage Collection of Classic Tales by various authors
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Christian/Inspirational Fiction:

The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay
Chateau of Secrets by Melanie Dobson
Every Waking Moment by Chris Fabry
Finding Father Christmas/Engaging Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn
Five Brides by Eva Marie Everson
Home to Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney
Leaving Oxford by Janet W. Ferguson
Long Way Gone by Charles Martin
The Methuselah Project by Rick Barry
The Messenger by Siri Mitchell
Not In the Heart by Chris Fabry
One Perfect Spring by Irene Hannon
A Prairie Christmas Collection by Tracie Peterson, Deborah Raney, and others
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate
Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits by Mary Jane Hathaway
The Promise of Jesse Woods by Chris Fabry
The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson
Rescuing Finley by Dan Walsh
The Reunion by Dan Walsh
A Sandy’s Seashell Shop Christmas by Lisa Wingate
Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser
Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
The Silver Suitcase by Terrie Todd
A Slender Thread by Tracie Peterson
A Sparrow in Terezin by Kristy Cambron
They Almost Always Come Home by Cynthia Ruchti
What Follows After by Dan Walsh

Other Fiction:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell
The Christmas Violin by Buffy Andrews
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Green Ember by S. D. Smith
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
More Things in Heaven and Earth by Jeff High
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

That’s 80 by my count – a record, I think. Audiobooks do increase that number, though I don’t read just to hit a number. Often with audiobooks, I have a Kindle copy (if there is an inexpensive one) as well or a library copy to go back and reread certain parts more closely. About 25 were audiobooks; all but one of the classics were audiobook/Kindle combinations.

I might finish one more by the end of the year. I have not kept up well with my Goodreads account, so many of these are not there. I may even cancel my account there – I am not sure yet.

Overall it was a good reading year. There was one book I was disappointed in, a couple I was surprised to find I didn’t like as much as I had thought I would, a few (in the “other fiction” category) that would have been wonderful except for unnecessary offensive language. But by and large I enjoyed the majority.

I would be doing a list like this anyway, but Sherry at Semicolon, who hosts the weekly Saturday Review of Books link-up, is allowing us to link up book lists this week: books read, favorite books, books we plan to read next year, etc. I’ll be posting my favorites in just a few moments (my top 16 is now up here).

What’s On Your Nightstand: December 2016

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Barbara Harper

What's On Your Nightstand The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the last Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read.

It’s the last Nightstand post of 2016! I’m not quite sure how much reading I got done this busy month, so let’s take a look:

Since last time I have completed:

The Messenger by Siri Mitchell, audiobook, reviewed here. A Quaker woman, who is a pacifist and not supposed to have anything to do with war, ends up passing messages for the rebels during their fight for independence for England. Very interesting historical fiction!

The Voice of Experience: Stories About Health Care and the Elderly by Samuel and Jane K. Brody, reviewed here.

From Heaven: A 28-Day Advent Devotional by A. W. Tozer, reviewed here. Some convicting, memorable quotes.

A Sandy’s Seashell Shop Christmas by Lisa Wingate, reviewed here. With some of the characters from The Prayer Box, a woman who hasn’t celebrated Christmas for three years since the loss of her husband finds reasons to. Sweet novella.

Finding Father Christmas/Engaging Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn, reviewed here. Nice Christmas read about a woman who goes to England with few clues to try to find out about the father she never knew.

The Christmas Violin by Buffy Andrews, reviewed here. Intersections in the lives of a man grieving the loss of his wife, a woman grieving the loss of her son, and a homeless woman. Intriguing concept, but a bit of a disappointment.

The Christmas Stories of Louisa May Alcott, audiobook, reviewed here.

And a reread, The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs. I didn’t review it again, but my review from a few years ago is here. I found it just as edifying as the first time.

So…I did better than I thought, but probably because several of them are very short.

I’m currently reading:

A Patchwork Christmas Collection by Judith Miller, Nancy Moser, and Stephanie Grace Whitson

How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart

Up Next:

I have a new stack of books received for Christmas:

Plus I have books I received from my last birthday and bought for Kindle sales as well. I haven’t worked out my reading plans for next year yet, but The Magnolia Story is likely to be high on the list!

I also posted all the books I read in 2016 here and my top 16 here.

Happy reading!

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The Christmas Stories of Louisa May Alcott

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Barbara Harper

I wanted to round out my year of audiobook listening with something warm and homey. I considered listening again to Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, but then I came across a collection of her Christmas stories and thought that sounded perfect. The stories recorded here are:

“Gwen’s Adventure in the Snow”: A group of children of varying ages go on a sleighing expedition to their country house and end up getting caught in a snowstorm with their horses running off. The children take refuge in the house and have to try to come up with food and a way to get warm.

“Rosa’s Tale”: Children discussing the legend that animals can speak for an hour after midnight on Christmas hear their horse’s life story.

“What Polly Found in Her Stocking”: a poem about a girl’s stocking presents.

“A Hospital Christmas”: a warm and caring nurse makes Christmas brighter for patients in a military hospital during the Civil War era.

“A Country Christmas”: A girl staying with her aunt in the country invites two city friends to spend the holidays with them.

“Mrs. Podgers Teapot”: A woman who feels she is making her dead husband happy by not remarrying falls in love.

“Peace From Heaven”: Another poem.

“The Quiet Little Woman”: A girl in an orphanage is taken in to a home as a servant and longs for family love.

“A Christmas Dream and How It Came True”: A spoiled little girl has a sort-of Christmas Carol experience.

“A Song”: Another Christmas poem

“Kate’s Choice”: A teenage girl in England has lost her parents and is sent to live with each of her American uncles in order to choose which one to love with.

“Bertie’s Box”: A little boy overhears his mother and aunt talking about a needy family that they might try to do something for if they remember after getting their own plans done, and he decides to take matters into his own hands.

“What Love Can Do”: As two young girls lament the meager Christmas they are facing and share their wishes, a neighbor overhears and puts a little Christmas surprise in front of their door. Another neighbor sees this and adds his own, and so on.

Tessa’s Surprises: Tessa is the oldest daughter of a poor Italian family whose mother died. As she tries to come up with a way to provide a little something for her siblings for Christmas, she decides to go with an older boy who plays a harp to various places in the city to sing and see if she can earn a few pennies.

A Christmas Turkey: A father demoralized by work problems neglects his family.The children want to do various tasks to earn money at least for a nice Christmas dinner for the family and meet with various benefactors in the process.

Becky’s Christmas Dream: Becky is a 12 year old orphan from a poorhouse bound to work for a certain family until she is eighteen. She is sad at being left behind to tend the house while the family goes out to celebrate Christmas. As the clock strikes 12, either the animals and household items start talking or Becky starts dreaming, but either way they tell how they learned contentment in their assigned tasks.

A Merry Christmas: A section from Little Women where the girls give their Christmas breakfast to a poor family and put on a play in the evening.

A New Way to Spend Christmas: An assemblage of people visit an orphanage, touched by the plight of the children and heartened by the example of one ministering to them..

Tilly’s Christmas: A poor girl rescues a bird and is rewarded by an unseen benefactor with a special Christmas.

My favorites were Kate’s Choice and What Love Can Do.

I actually have “The Quiet Little Woman” in book form – it’s been on my shelf for years, and I thought I had read it, but as it started, it did not sound at all familiar to me. The book contains that story as well as Tilly’s Christmas and Rosa’s Tale.

All of the stories are in much the same spirit as Little Women: there are morals; encouragements to be brave and good and kind and to work hard and to remember and give to the poor; the simple and homey is revered above the showy and rich. In some places, like Aunt Plumey’s frank opinions in “A Country Christmas, the moral comes on a little strong by today’s standards, but was well received by the hearers in the story. Some of the stories seem more steeped in sentimentally than her books – maybe because the books have other events or maybe because Christmas stories seem to bring that out.

I didn’t look up the dates of all the stories, but the ones I did search out were written after Little Women, some of them published in magazines.

I’ve seen several collections of Alcott’s Christmas stories in print form that contain some combination of these, but I don’t think there is one that matches up exactly with the audiobook. The text of some of them can be found online by searching for the story title.

The narrator gave a valiant effort, even adding a little bit of a whinny to a horse’s voice, but I didn’t quite warm up to her.

But I am glad to have come across these and familiarized myself with some of Alcott’s stories that I hadn’t known before.

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Book Review: From Heaven

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Barbara Harper

I like to read a Christmas devotional during December, so I got From Heaven: A 28-Day Advent Devotional by A. W. Tozer when I saw it on a recent Kindle sale for 99 cents since I have enjoyed what I have read of Tozer in the past.

Compiled by unnamed editors at Moody Publishing from Tozer’s various writings and sermons, it is probably different than a book like this that Tozer would have written himself. There is not really a logical progression from point A to point B or developing and building on truths throughout the book. It’s just a series of isolated bits somewhat on the theme of Christ’s coming to Earth in both His first advent, which we celebrate at Christmas, and His second advent, when He returns. That lack of progression or development plus the entries’ being taken out of context from their original sources are the book’s greatest weaknesses. Introductory remarks convey that profits from the book sales will go to help Moody students, so this may have even been assembled as something of a fund raiser.

But it is Tozer, after all, who is a deep thinker and often has something noteworthy to say, which is the book’s greatest strength.

Some of the chapter titles are What the Advent Established, The Meaning of Christmas, The Logic of the Incarnation, Three Truths Behind Christmas, Light and Life to All He Brings.

Some of the quotes that stood out to me:

Even though you may still be unconverted and going your own way, you have received much out of the ocean of His fullness. You have received the pulsing life that beats in your bosom. You have received the brilliant mind and brain within the protective covering of your skull. You have received a memory that strings the events you cherish and love as a jeweler strings pearls into a necklace and keeps them for you as long as you live and beyond. All that you have is out of His grace. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us, is the open channel through which God moves to provide.

We must love someone very much to stay awake and long for his coming.

Another reason for the absence of real yearning for Christ’s return is that Christians are so comfortable in this world that they have little desire to leave it.

All of the mercy God is capable of showing, all of the redeeming grace that He could pour from His heart, all of the love and pity that God is capable of feeling–all of these are at least suggested in the message that He came!

All of our hopes and dreams of immortality, our fond visions of a life to come, are summed up in these simple words in the Bible record: He came!

The idea that the Old Testament is a book of law and the New Testament a book of grace is based on a completely false theory. There is certainly as much about grace and mercy and love in the Old Testament as there is in the New. There is more about hell, more about judgment and the fury of God burning with fire upon sinful men in the New Testament than in the Old

The only contrast here is between all that Moses could do and all that Jesus Christ can do. The Law was given by Moses—that was all that Moses could do. Moses was not the channel through which God dispensed His grace. God chose His only begotten Son as the channel for His grace and truth, for John witnesses that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. All that Moses could do was to command righteousness. In contrast, only Jesus Christ produces righteousness. All that Moses could do was to forbid us to sin. In contrast, Jesus Christ came to save us from sin. Moses could not save, but Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior.

The big thing is to be sure we are not lulled to sleep by a false hope, that we do not waste our time dreaming about days that are not to be ours. The main thing is to make today serve us by getting ready for any possible tomorrow. Then whether we live or die, whether we toil on in the shadow or rise to meet the returning Christ, all will be well.

[This one really helped me with the concept of “of His fullness have we all received” in John 1:16]: If you could ask the deer that goes quietly down to the edge of the lake for a refreshing drink, “Have you received of the fullness of the lake?” the answer would be: “Yes and no. I am full from the lake but I have not received from the fullness of the lake. I did not drink the lake. I only drank what I could hold of the lake.”

Christmas as it is celebrated today is badly in need of a radical reformation. What was at first a spontaneous expression of an innocent pleasure has been carried to inordinate excess.

In our mad materialism we have turned beauty into ashes, prostituted every normal emotion, and made merchandise of the holiest gift the world ever knew. Christ came to bring peace and we celebrate His coming by making peace impossible for six weeks of each year. Not peace but tension, fatigue, and irritation rule the Christmas season. He came to free us of debt and many respond by going deep into debt each year to buy enervating luxuries for people who do not appreciate them. He came to help the poor and we heap gifts upon those who do not need them. The simple token given out of love has been displaced by expensive presents given because we have been caught in a squeeze and don’t know how to back out of it.

So, we live between two mighty events—that of His incarnation, death, and resurrection, and that of His ultimate appearing and the glorification of those He died to save. This is the interim time for the saints—but it is not a vacuum. He has given us much to do and He asks for our faithfulness. In the meantime, we are zealous of good works, living soberly, righteously, godly in this present world, looking unto Him and His promise. In the midst of our lives, and between the two great mountain peaks of God’s acts in the world, we look back and remember, and we look forward and hope! As members of His own loving fellowship, we break the bread and drink the wine. We sing His praise and we pray in His Name, remembering and expecting!

Tozer is not one to leave you with warm fuzzy feelings, but he does make you think. And though the chapters seem a little disjointed, there is much good food for thought and conviction here.

Genre: Christian non-fiction
Objectionable elements: None.
My rating: 8 out of 10

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Book Review: Finding Father Christmas and Engaging Father Christmas

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Barbara Harper

After reading Pam’s engaging post on the difference between the Hallmark and written versions of Robin Jones Gunn’s Finding Father Christmas, the novella sounded so charming I had to look it up. I found it bound with its sequel, Engaging Father Christmas. I’ve enjoyed some of Robin’s Sisterchicks novels and I think maybe one or two others, so I was glad to read her again.

In Finding Father Christmas, Miranda Carson is a single working woman who grew up as the only child of a single actress. She knew nothing of her father: in fact, in her youngest years her mother told her fairy tales of how she came to her, so she didn’t think she even had a father. Miranda had an unconventional childhood hanging out around theaters while her mom practiced and performed, and they lived in cheap hotels. One day Miranda discovered an old blue velvet purse of her mother’s and opened it to find her birth certificate, a photo of a boy sitting on the lap of Santa Claus, and a playbill for The Tempest. From that time on, realizing that she had been deceived by her mother, she lost any love for fairy tales and vowed never to go to the theater again.

Miranda’s mother died when Miranda was 11, and she was taken in by a friend. When that friend died, Miranda falsified her age and struck out on her own, choosing an accounting career because numbers were more reliable than words.

But the longing to know her father caused her to take vacation time in England, where the photo in her mother’s purse had been taken. She only had the name of the photo studio and a street to go on, but arriving in the village of Carlton Heath, she entered a shop called the Tea Cosy and met its proprietors, Andrew and Katherine MacGregor, and started from there. Once she found the information she was looking for, she then had to decide the best way to deal with it.

I can’t say much more without revealing too much of the plot, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. The setting, the characters, Miranda’s journey all were every bit as charming as Pam made them sound. I very much appreciated that Robin was not afraid to deal specifically with Miranda’s spiritual journey as well: Miranda had little to no spiritual context and didn’t even realize her need of or longing for God as her Father until she encountered Him. In a day when so many Christian authors handle spiritual matters lightly (if at all) lest they come across as “preachy,” Robin proves that you can deal with them realistically and naturally within the context of the story. I loved the many literary references as well.

In Engaging Father Christmas, Miranda comes back in England for a visit about a year later. A romance blossomed with a man she met right at the end of the first story, and she’s hoping this visit will result in an engagement ring and the making of Carlton Heath her longed-for home. But her idyllic Christmas plans are threatened by serious obstacles.

One of my favorite passages occurs between crises as she views a beautiful nighttime scene:

Was everything around us more or less a fixed snapshot that alluded to a greater beauty? A deeper mystery? A hint of what was to come? How many unknown layers were there to life–to the eternal life that was hidden in Christ? What glorious surprises awaited us in the real land of which this earth was only a snapshot? Let heaven and nature sing…

These novellas were the perfect Christmas reads: clean, warm, lovely, and heart-stirring. There is a third in the series just out recently, Kissing Father Christmas. I’ll have to look out for that one next year.

Genre: Christian Christmas fiction
Objectionable elements: None.
My rating: 10 out of 10

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