Reading Plans for 2023

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For most of my life, I’ve just read whatever was next in the stack or something I was in the mood for. Reading challenges have helped broaden my horizons and be more intentional in my reading. Plus it’s fun to share reading lists with the other participants. And some challenge hosts offer drawings for prizes!

I dropped one challenge I participated in last year. All of these are categories I already read anyway. Plus they leave me some room to still delve into something new and unexpected through the year.

I have not heard or seen anything from Karen at Books and Chocolate about whether she is hosting the Back to the Classics Challenge again this year–so that probably means she isn’t. That’s too bad, as this was one of my favorites. But I’m sure she has other priorities in her life right now.

I will still read classics, though. I’ve made it a mission to since I wasn’t exposed to many growing up. I’ve been trying to read through Dickens novels that I haven’t read yet. All I have left are Martin Chuzzlewit, Barnaby Rudge, Dombey and Son, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, so I’ll read at least one of those. I also got the audiobooks for Pilgrim’s Regress by C. S. Lewis and Martyr of the Catacombs. I finished Anthony Trollope’s Barsetshire series last year, so I’d like to explore some of his other works.

Bev at My Reader’s Block hosts the Mount TBR Reading Challenge, which encourages us to get to those books we already own but have not read yet. That’s something I need to do every year, and I have enjoyed participating with Bev the last few years. She has the goals set out as a series of mountains, and we’re supposed to declare which one we’re aiming for. I think I’ll stay with Mt. Vancouver (36 books), even though I’ve reached the next level a couple of years. The sign-up and more information for this challenge are here.

Shelly Rae at Book’d Out hosts the Nonfiction Reader Challenge. This can be done one of two ways. Shelly has twelve books in different categories that we can aim for. Or we can be a “Nonfiction Grazer” and make our own goal. Although I might hit a few of her categories, I’ll go the grazer route. I normally read several nonfiction books (over 30 last year). This year, I’d like to hit these categories:

  • At least one biography, autobiography, or memoir.
  • One writing book
  • One book of humor
  • One Bible study book
  • One Christian living book
  • One book of letters or journals
  • One book by C. S. Lewis that I have not read yet
  • One book on organization or productivity
  • One book pertaining to a holiday (probably Christmas)
  • One book related to midlife or aging

Finally, The Intrepid Reader. hosts the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. A good many of my fictional reads fit this category. I’m going to aim for the Medieval level at 15 books.

And that does it for this year, I think!

Do you participate in reading challenges? Which ones.

Heaven and Nature Sing

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Heaven and Nature Sing: 25 Advent Reflections to Bring Joy to the World by Hannah Anderson was just released last fall. I’m so glad I heard of it in time to use for Advent.

“Heaven and nature sing” is a phrase from “Joy to the World,” written by Isaac Watts. Watts’ hymn looks forward to Jesus’ second coming more than His first, but it’s regularly used as a Christmas carol. Hannah took inspiration from this phrase and wrote 25 Advent devotions based on various aspects of nature connected with the birth of Christ. The Bible tells us creation groans from the effects of sin, waiting for redemption. We also groan or yearn for things to be set right. Hannah writes, “I want to offer you hope—not by ignoring the brokenness but by looking it squarely in the face, knowing your Redeemer has and will come” (p. 1).

One thing that struck me about these meditations was how much sheer thought must have been behind them, to weave so many threads together.

For instance, in the chapter “Family Tree,” Hannah writes of her husband’s discovering some old family genealogies which were written not in flow charts like we’re used to, but in concentric circles. Then she tells of a family visit to see the redwood trees in CA. One cross-section of a stump showed rings developed over the millennia the tree had been alive, and Hannah contemplates all the history the tree lived through. Then she brings up the records of Jesus’ human genealogy. His people were often faithless and disobedient, resulting in judgment by enemy armies taking over Israel and exiling its people. Isaiah compares this to God lopping boughs off a tree (Isaiah 10:33). But He promises “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. . . In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:1-2, 10).

“The story of Christmas is this: the tree is not dead” (p. 20). And eventually, others were grafted into the family (Romans 11:17-24), “strangers and foreigners and all those who thought they’d never know family again, those who never dared to hope that life would run through them” (p. 20).

You and I are links in the chain of generations, called to steward the fragile hope we’ve received. The seventy or eighty years given to us on this earth pale in light of those who have come before us and those who follow after. . .

So whether his work happens over the course of a thousand years or one day, whether it is given to us to play a prominent role in it or simply to stand as a faithful witness to the promise, we will wait on him. And we will wait in hope.

The tree is not dead. The quiet, steady work that came before us will continue on after us. The quiet, steady work we do today—even if it’s as simple as celebrating the Promised Son during this season—will echo through the years (pp. 20-21).

And thus Hannah writes about winter, stars, serpents, holly, evergreens, swaddling bands, shepherds, stars, and more.

One of my favorite quotes is in the chapter “Among the Beasts.”

Yes, the manger signals something about this baby, but it is not simply his poverty. By being placed in the manger, he is revealed as both the rightful son of Adam charged with caring for his creation and also the eternal Son of God who created them and who provides for them. So instead of filling the manger with hay or corn, he fills it with himself (p. 80).

I spent many mornings after my reading in this book in tears or joy, touched and awed by the contemplation of the “old, familiar” Christmas story.

Each devotion is about five pages long and written in an easily readable style. The illustrations on the cover and between chapters were drawn by Hannah’s husband, Nathan.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. I’m sure I’ll use it again in future Advent seasons. But since these truths are timeless, you could read it any time of year.

I have some of Hannah’s other books in my Kindle app, and I am eager to read them. The only trouble is deciding which one to start with!

Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled

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The scene is in the upper room, where Jesus met with His disciples to observe the Passover. He washed their feet as an example of humble serving. He instituted what we call the Lord’s supper. He predicted that one of them will betray Him. He gave them a new commandment, to love each other as He loved them.

And now He tells them He is about to leave them.

Peter, almost always the first one to speak up, wants to know where Jesus is going and why they can’t follow. He pledges to lay down his life for Christ.

And then Jesus stuns Peter by predicting Peter will deny Him—not once, but three times.

In John’s narrative, it looks like immediately after this exchange, Jesus goes on to some of His final teaching before He is betrayed and arrested. John is the only gospel-writer to record this extended discourse.

The disciples only know part of what’s coming: that Jesus is leaving, and that at some point persecution will come. Peter is told that he will spectacularly fail. None of them knows that Jesus is about to be arrested that very night and die the next day. But Jesus knew they needed comfort, hope, and strength for what was ahead.

Jesus opens and closes these words with the phrase, “Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1, 27). I had never realized before this reading that Jesus said it twice or that He said it right after predicting Peter’s denial.

In Warren Wiersbe’s book, Be Transformed (John 13-21: Christ’s Triumph Means Your Transformation), he brings out six truths Jesus shared with His disciples at this time:

They are going to heaven (13:36-14:6). Not immediately, but someday they will follow Him to the place He went ahead to prepare.

They know the Father now (14:7-11). Wiersbe points out that “the word Father is used fifty-three times in John 13-17.” Heaven is “my Father’s house.” “Jesus said that knowing Him and seeing Him was the same as knowing and seeing the Father. He was claiming to be God.” Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). They could trust in the Father’s loving care.

They have the privilege of prayer (14:12-15). “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (14:13). Wiersbe notes:

The “whatsoever” in John 14: 13 is qualified by all that God has revealed in His Word about prayer; likewise, the “anything” in John 14:14. God is not giving us carte blanche; “in My name” is the controlling element. To know God’s name means to know His nature, what He is, and what He wants to do. God answers prayer in order to honor His name; therefore, prayer must be in His will (1 John 5:14–15). The first request in “the Lord’s Prayer” is, “Hallowed be thy name” (Matt. 6:9). Any request that does not glorify God’s name should not be asked in His name (Location 587).

They have the Holy Spirit (14:16-18). In God’s plan, the Holy Spirit would come to minister to God’s people in a special way when Jesus went back to heaven. He’s called the Helper and the Comforter. “He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (14:26).

They enjoy the Father’s love (14:19-24). Our love for Him will be manifested by keeping His Word.

They have the gift of His peace (14:25-31). “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (v. 27).

Though our circumstances are different, there is much in the world that could trouble us. The world has never been a friend of God, but it seems to be going further away from Him. Those who know God in Western society have had many privileges the last several decades, but those are fading fast. Christianity is not popular these days. Christ foretold a variety of bad things that would happen before the end.

And besides the large-scale issues, we face rising prices, discord in our country, new diseases, and physical issues.

And, like Peter, sometimes our personal failures haunt us.

Yet God has given us the same resources He gave the first disciples, hasn’t He? We have a relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has prepared a place in heaven for us to look forward to. Meanwhile, we have the Father’s love, care, forgiveness, and grace, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit’s help, comfort, and guidance, and the peace of Jesus that overcomes the world.

Truly we have every reason to “let not our hearts be troubled,” no matter what comes our way in the future.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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This has been a light blog reading week for me, but I did find a few things I wanted to share:

What I Long For More Than Miracles. “I suppose it is possible that I have witnessed a miracle in my lifetime, but if so, I’m not aware of it. . . . And if I’m honest, this doesn’t bother me in the least. It doesn’t bother me in the least because on many occasions I’ve witnessed something I count equally significant or perhaps even more so: I have witnessed the evidence and the intricacy and the perfect timing of God’s providence.”

Stooping to Filthy Feet, HT to Challies. “The man on his knees, rinsing sweat from Peter’s athlete’s foot and getting between Judas’s toes to wipe away the dung was our Creator, who is before all things and in him all things hold together; the hands that washed those verrucae and blisters would one day be the only ones qualified to break the seals and open the gates to the New Jerusalem.”

Winning Your Child’s Heart With Winsome Words, HT to Challies. “My years as a parent have helped me understand that my words do more than guide my children through their day. They shape how they think about themselves, other people, and how the world works. Most importantly, my words are one way my children learn about the gospel.” I wish I has this to read 40 years ago.

Bible Reading and Vain Vows. “We know the history of the people who made that vow at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Almost all of them ended up dead for disobedience and never set their feet in the promised land. They swore to do everything God told them to do, then they didn’t do it. We also know our own history when it comes to New Years Resolutions. These aren’t necessarily ‘vows,’ unless we actually vow something to the Lord, but we know that we are as frail as ancient Israel was. The spirit might be willing, but the flesh is exceedingly weak.” Includes several Bible reading plans.

Two sides of the issues from the same blogger: 3 Reasons Why You Should Make New Year’s Resolutions and 3 Reasons You Should NOT Make New Year’s Resolutions. HT to Challies.

I’d like to leave you with the last half of a poem by John Newton titled “At the Close of the Year.” (You can find the whole poem here.)

And since his name we knew,
How gracious has he been:
What dangers has he led us through,
What mercies have we seen!

Now through another year,
Supported by his care,
We raise our Ebenezer here,
“The Lord has help’d thus far.”

Our lot in future years
Unable to foresee,
He kindly, to prevent our fears,
Says, “Leave it all to me.”

Yea, Lord, we wish to cast
Our cares upon thy breast!
Help us to praise thee for the past,
And trust thee for the rest.

Friday’s Fave Five

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Here we are at the last FFF of December, and of 2022. Before we set up next year’s calendars, it’s good to pause and think through the blessings large and small of the last week. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story invites us to do just that.

1. Christmas cards and letters. Fewer people seem to be sending these, understandable with rising postal costs. One friend said that since many of us stay in touch through the year on Facebook, she wondered if a yearly recap letter was really necessary. But, thankfully, she sent one anyway. 🙂 I enjoy sending and receiving them and having a little visit with friends through them.

2. Wellness in time for Christmas. I mentioned some of these faves on my end-of-December reflections yesterday, but I know some are only here for FFF. So I hope you’ll forgive a bit of overlap. Timothy had Covid right before Christmas, causing us to wonder if we should push the celebrations back a day or two. But his fever broke and symptoms abated just in time to be able to go ahead as planned.

3. Christmas and all its blessings: family together, feasting, thoughtful gifts. We also enjoyed a disposable tablecloth that had puzzles, games, and pictures to color. We all worked on it at points throughout the day.

4. My husband made numerous trips to the store for me the last couple of weeks since he was off. That was immeasurable help in freeing me up to get things done at home.

5. Extra time to visit. My oldest son is here for an additional week. He did this last year, too. Even though he is working from our home during the day, we have evenings and an extra weekend before he heads back to RI. That’s been so nice, especially with how busy last week was and with Timothy and Mittu not feeling well part of the time.

Bonus: Friends. Jeremy got a call this week that his refrigerator in RI died. A friend who stopped by to feed his cat noticed a bad odor and discovered the frig was at room temperature with a puddle of oil at the bottom. She cleaned up the puddle and another friend came over and cleared out the ruined food. Thankfully, he had already planned and budgeted for a new refrigerator, so it should be there a couple of days after he gets home.

As we head into a new year, I hope and pray it’s a blessed one for you.

December Reflections

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I imagine your December was filled with many of the same things ours was: Christmas decorating, shopping, wrapping, addressing Christmas cards and writing family newsletters, cleaning and preparing for family members or friends to visit. I’ve often thought that the Christmas “extras” would be a lot more manageable without the everyday stuff that still needs to be done. 🙂 Thankfully, my husband offered to get take-out several times before Christmas week and helped me with some tasks.

Jim and I celebrated our 43rd anniversary with a dinner out at a nice restaurant.

The week before Christmas, my grandson, Timothy, tested positive for Covid. We were thinking about whether it would be best to put Christmas celebrations off for a day or try to celebrate separately over FaceTime. But, thankfully, his fever broke and symptoms lessened in time to do Christmas as scheduled.

This was not a white Christmas, but it was the coldest one we’ve had since we were married. We’ve reached a low of 7F in the middle of some winter nights, but this year we were at 3 or 4 for a couple of days.

We managed to get to a Christmas concert by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and a small new drive-through light show as well as dinner out a couple of times.

And we had a wonderful Christmas together with lots of catching up and games on the other nights.

Thankfully, my oldest son is here for two weeks. I’m so glad, because Christmas week was so busy and went by so fast. Even though he’s working from our home this week, we have an extra weekend and evenings this week to be together. And with Timothy sick over a few days and Mittu one day, it’s nice to have a few extra days built into this visit.

Creating

I send out store-bought cards to extended friends and family, but make cards for immediate family. That makes December a busy card-making month with family Christmas cards as well as our anniversary and my step-father’s birthday.

This was my card to Jim for our anniversary:

The birds and branch were done on the Cricut. The white background was embossed on the Cuttlebug.The writing was printed on the computer–I usually do all my greetings and inside sentiments on cardstock through the computer, several on one page, and cut them apart.

This was Jim’s card for Christmas.

The white trees were embossed with the Cuttlebug and the deer was made with the Cricut.

This was Jeremy’s:

The fox was from a free download found on Pinterest. I printed him off on cardstock and cut him out with an Exacto knife. The trees were made via Cricut and dabbed with a glue stick and then doused with glitter. This was the first card I made this year, because I wanted Jeremy’s to be done before he came. I made a note to myself not to make the first card with glitter unless I want all the cards to have glitter. 🙂 I think I still have glitter on my work table and even had some embedded on my glue stick.

This was Jason’s:

I don’t know if you can tell, but the letters and center snowflake are big spongy stickers. Then I put a few more of the snowflake stickers in the center of the snowflakes on the background paper.

This was Mittu’s:

I was especially pleased with this one. I couldn’t find a design on the Cricut for a long branch of a pine or fir tree, so I cut out four smaller ones and arranged them.

This was Timothy’s:

The gingerbread stickers from Hobby Lobby were made out of fabric, ribbon, and buttons. I was delighted to find scrapbooking paper with Christmas cookies for the background on one of my multi-packs of paper.

And this was for Jesse:

This is all done with stickers except the background scrapbooking paper. After it was too late, I realized I should have cut apart the “JOY” sticker and spread out the letters a bit.

This was for my step-father’s after-Christmas birthday.

I found this paper in a pad of Christmas scrapbooking paper, too, but thought it looked like it would do for a non-Christmas card.

Watching and Listening

Somehow we didn’t watch some of our usual favorite Christmas movies. But we did see a really good new-to-us one. My husband likes WWII movies and somehow found one set during Christmas. Silent Night was made in 2002, starring Linda Hamilton. She plays a mom in Germany whose home gets bombed. Her husband is a soldier, but she’s not in sympathy with the war. She and her son travel to their family’s hunting cabin, which happens to be near the front lines. Three American soldiers burst in on Christmas Eve, one of them wounded. They take over her cabin and distrust her efforts to help. She has her son hide the soldiers’ guns. And then three German soldiers come. . . She tries to negotiate a Christmas peace for the night while the soldiers are all wary of each other.

We also watched Meet John Doe, and old black and white film with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. A newspaper columnist is fired but has one last column to write. She makes up a story about receiving a letter from an unemployed John Doe saying he’s going to jump off a building on Christmas Eve in protest of the state of the world. A number of people write in, offering John Doe jobs and giving him reasons to stay. The reporter convinces the newspaper to hire a man to impersonate “John Doe.” As people do for publicity, the newspaper and backers push and milk the story for all it’s worth, and the whole thing grows into a movement. But one businessman funding the scheme has his own agenda.

And, I’m not much for Hallmark Christmas movies, but I did enjoy The Mistletoe Promise while wrapping presents one afternoon. A lawyer is not fond of Christmas after some disappointments earlier in his life.He runs into a businesswoman in the food court who feels the same way due to her scheming ex-husband, with whom she still works. The lawyer is up for partner, but his boss is big on family values. He feels his chances would increase if he had a girlfriend and was heading towards marriage. So he proposes the “mistletoe contract” with his businesswoman friend, where she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend. To make it more realistic, they attend several Christmas events together. And, of course, you now what happens. 🙂 But it was a sweet movie overall.

I finished listening to the Literary Life podcasts on Dracula. They ended the series with a program on “Dracula At the Movies,” showing how the film adaptations changed over the years as society’s perception of evil changed. The book comes from the view that Dracula represents evil and must be destroyed.But later films change the story to provoke sympathy for Dracula and eventually to regard him as the mistreated hero.

I also listened to Your Best Writing Life’s podcasts on Organize Your Writing Life for Higher Productivity with Liana George and Writing Hybrid Devotional Studies with Kathy Howard (hybrid devotional studies being something between one verse and a couple of paragraphs on one hand and a full-fledged Bible study with an hour’s homework on the other hand).

Reading

I recapped all the books I read this year here and chose my top twelve here. But just to be consistent and share what I read since last month:

I’m currently reading:

  • Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God by Tim Challies. Almost done!
  • Writing for the Soul: Instruction and Advice from an Extraordinary Writing Life by Jerry B. Jenkins
  • Be Transformed (John 13-21): Christ’s Triumph Means Your Transformation by Warren W. Wiersbe
  • Hope for Christmas by Malissa Chapin

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews and book recap posts previously mentioned, I’ve posted these since last time:

  • The Meekness of Wisdom. It takes meekness both to receive and share wisdom.
  • God Does Not Forget Prayers or Promises. God ended 400 years of silence with an announcement of John the Baptist’s birth. He cares and has not forgotten His people, even though His timing is different than ours.
  • Why Did Jesus Come as a Baby? There are a number of reasons Jesus came to earth as a human, but why specifically as a baby? Some thoughts here.
  • The Savior of the World Is Here. Herod was once called “the Savior of the World.” But a baby born to poor parents in a stable was the only one with a claim to that title.

Writing

Not much, if any, this month! Our critique group disbanded for the holidays and will start back up in January. I hope to really dig into my writing then.

I wish you all the best for the coming year!

Top Twelve Books Read in 2022

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This post is one of my favorites to write every year. Looking back through all the books I read during the year is like revisiting old friends. I try to keep my end-of-year favorites between 10-15. Some rise to the top immediately. Others I have to think about and weigh.

Not all of these books were written this year; in fact, most of them weren’t. But most were first-time reads for me this year.

Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity by Alisa Childers, nonfiction. I knew fairly soon that this would be one of my top books. Alisa Childers’ faith was shaken by her pastor, of all people, as he undermined the validity of the Bible, the nature of Christ’s atonement, and so many fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. Alisa realized that she didn’t know why she believed what she believed. And to her credit, instead of just following along, she began to read and study for herself. This book is her testimony as well as her answer to the issues the progressive movement brings up.

Heaven and Nature Sing: 25 Advent Reflections to Bring Joy to the World by Hannah Anderson, nonfiction. As the title indicates, Hannah focuses on various aspects of the Christmas narrative, especially in connection with nature. She brings such a depth of thought and brings out things I had not considered before.

Joy: A Godly Woman’s Adornment by Lydia Brownback, nonfiction, is made up of 42 fairly short devotions on the topic of joy. Being joyful is not a matter of having a bubble personality. It runs much deeper. I enjoyed the truths Lydia bought out.

O Love That Will not Let Me Go: Facing Death with Courageous Confidence, complied by Nancy Guthrie, nonfiction. Most people are uncomfortable thinking about death. Even if we know we’re going to heaven because we’ve believed on Jesus as Savior, we can be a little afraid of death and dying. It’s not for nothing that the Bible calls death the last enemy. Nancy has assembled writings from an assortment of Christian writers over time to help.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by Lady Carnarvon, nonfiction. The author is the current countess of Highclere Castle, which was used as the ancestral home of the characters in Downton Abbey series on PBS. But you don’t have to be a fan of the show to enjoy the book. Lady Almina oversaw the castle through World War II, when she turned it into a hospital for wounded soldiers. She accompanied her husband on many travels to Egypt for his health, and where he and friend Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s tomb. The first part of the book was largely informational and a little hard to get into, but before long it became fascinating.

The Italian Ballerina by Kristy Cambron, Christian fiction, is my favorite fiction book this year. It was released just this summer. It’s based on the true account of an Italian hospital which made up a contagious disease they called Syndrome K to keep the Nazis away from one ward. They then used that ward to hide Jewish refugees until they could find somewhere for them to go.Two US military men, a newly-orphaned child, and a ballerina and her partner end up in the hospital as well and try to help. The story is uncovered by two descendants of some of the characters in modern times who follow clues to find out what happened. Excellent.

Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer, Christian fiction, is another split-time novel involving modern characters trying to find the history of their ancestors. In this case, Hazel DeFord’s younger sister disappeared when they were children, when Hazel was supposed to be watching her. Hazel didn’t tell her daughter, but this loss made her overly controlling, perfectionistic, and anxious–which drove her daughter away. Her granddaughter is a cold-case detective who unwittingly discovers old pictures of Maggie, Hazel’s sister, and uses time healing from an accident to investigate the 70-year-old case, hoping to bring closure to her grandmother and healing to her and her mother.

The Lost Heiress by Roseanna M. White, Christian fiction, is a novel about an adopted heiress who finds out who her true father is. But will the rest of her father’s family accept her, and will her relationship with her friend, Justin, who she secretly loves, survive? And will she realize the man trying to woo her is a predator? This sounds like a fluff read, but there is no fluff in Roseanna’s books. She brings such depth into her characters and plot.

Midnight, Christmas Eve by Andy Clapp, Christian fiction, is a sweet story about two teenagers who decide that in five years time, if they are not married, they’ll come back to “their” bench in their home town at midnight on Christmas Eve and get engaged. He comes; she does not. He continues to come for the next several Christmas Eves.

Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan is a novel about a college girl is London whose younger brother is dying. Her brother is obsessed with the world of Narnia and wants to know whether it’s a real place, and if not, where it came from. When he learns the author, C. S. Lewis, teaches at his sister’s college, he begs her to meet Lewis and ask these questions. There are three levels to this story: Megs and George and their family, Lewis’ biography, and Megs’ learning the value of stories. I didn’t agree with every point of theology from the author, but the overall story was very good.

The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow is secular fiction from the world of Pride and Prejudice, from the viewpoint of Mary, the quiet sister in the background in Austen’s book. It suffered from a bit of over-explanation in a couple of places, but overall it was excellently done. And the audiobook was very good.

The Winnie the Pooh books by A. A. Milne. I reviewed the two books of stories and two of poetry all together. The Pooh videos were a big part of my kids’ growing up. There was a weekly cartoon of Pooh on then with new stories. But somehow we never read the books together. I wish we had. It was sweet and nostalgic to read them as an adult.

So that’s my top twelve this year. What was your favorite among the books you read this year? Have you read any of the ones I listed?

Books Read in 2022

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It’s been another great reading year, with a variety of new and old, fiction and nonfiction, mostly good, a handful not so much. By my count, I’ve read 79 books this year—a smidgen fewer than the last couple of years.

I’ll post my favorites tomorrow. The titles link back to my reviews. (MTBR) at the end of some titles refers to the Mount TBR Reading Challenge, where we read books we already owned before the year began. I noted them here instead of making a separate list.

Nonfiction:

  1. 100 Best Bible Verses to Overcome Worry and Anxiety, a devotional book by various authors (MTBR)
  2. Aging With Grace: Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture by Sharon Betters and Susan Hunt
  3. Always, Only Good: A Journey of Faith Through Mental Illness by Shelly Garlock Hamilton
  4. Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity by Alisa Childers
  5. Be Alive (John 1-12): Get to Know the Living Savior by Warren Wiersbe (MTBR)
  6. Be Compassionate (Luke 1-13): Let the World Know Jesus Cares by Warren Wiersbe (MTBR)
  7. Be Courageous (Luke 14-24): Let the World Know Jesus Cares by Warren Wiersbe (MTBR
  8. Be Determined (Nehemiah): Standing Firm in the Face of Opposition by Warren W. Wiersbe (MTBR)
  9. Be Distinct (2 Kings and 2 Chronicles): Standing Firmly Against the World’s Tides by Warren Wiesrbe (MTBR)
  10. Be Encouraged (2 Corinthians): God Can Turn Your Trials Into Triumphs by Warren W. Wiersbe (MTBR)
  11. Be Free (Galatians): Exchange Legalism for True Spirituality by Warren Wiersbe (MTBR)
  12. Be Responsible (1 Kings): Being Good Stewards of God’s Gifts by Warren Wiersbe (MTBR)
  13. Be Restored (2 Samuel & 1 Chronicles): Trusting God to See Us Through by Warren W. Wiersbe (MTBR)
  14. Be Successful (1 Samuel): Attaining Wealth That Money Can’t Buy by Warren W. Wiersbe (MTBR)
  15. Be Wise (1 Corinthians): Discern the Difference Between Man’s Knowledge and God’s Wisdom by Warren W. Wiersbe (MTBR)
  16. Daily Light on the Daily Path compiled by Samuel Bagster
  17. “Don’t Call Me Spry”: Creative Possibilities for Later Life by Win Couchman
  18. The Enchanted Places: A Childhood Memoir by Christopher Milne
  19. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown (MTBR)
  20. The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis (MTBR)
  21. Heaven and Nature Sing: 25 Advent Reflections to Bring Joy to the World by Hannah Anderson
  22. IBS for Dummies by Carolyn Dean and L. Christine Wheeler (MTBR)
  23. I Must Decrease: Biblical Inspiration and Encouragement for Dieters by Janice Thompson (MTBR)
  24. Jesus Led Me All the Way by Margaret Stringer (MTBR)
  25. Joy: A Godly Woman’s Adornment by Lydia Brownback (MTBR)
  26. Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by Lady Carnarvon.(MTBR, audiobook)
  27. The Middle Matters: Why That (Extra)Ordinary Life Looks Really Good on You by Lisa-Jo Baker (MTBR)
  28. O Love That Will not Let Me Go: Facing Death with Courageous Confidence, complied by Nancy Guthrie
  29. The Path Through the Trees by Christopher Milne )Audiobook)
  30. Ten Time Management Choices that Can Change Your Life by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims (MTBR)
  31. Treasures of Encouragement: Women Helping Women by Sharon W. Betters
  32. Where I End: A Story of Tragedy, Truth, and Rebellious Hope by Katherine Elizabeth Clark (MTBR)
  33. Women and Stress: A Practical Approach to Managing Tension by Jean Lush and Pam Vredevelt (MTBR)
  34. The Writer’s Desk by Jill Krementz (MTBR)

Classics:

  1. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin (Audiobook)
  2. The Confessions of St. Augustine (Audiobook)
  3. Dracula by Bram Stoker
  4. Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope (MTBR, Audiobook)
  5. Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott (Audiobook)
  6. The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne (Audiobook)
  7. The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope (Audiobook)
  8. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (Audiobook)
  9. Now We Are Six by A. A. Milne
  10. The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope (Audiobook)
  11. The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (Audiobook)
  12. To Sir, With Love by E. R. Braithwaite (Audiobook)
  13. Victorian Short Stories of Successful Marriages by Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, and others.
  14. When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne
  15. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne

Christian Fiction:

  1. Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer (Audiobook)
  2. A Daily Rate by Grace Livingston Hill (Audiobook)
  3. Enchanted Isle by Melanie Dobson
  4. The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck (Audiobook)
  5. Half Finished by Lauraine Snelling (MTBR)
  6. The Hatmaker’s Heart by Carla Stewart (MTBR)
  7. The Italian Ballerina by Kristy Cambron (Audiobook)
  8. Just 18 Summers by Michelle Cox and Rene Gutteridge (MTBR)
  9. A Lady Unrivaled by Roseanna M. White (Audiobook)
  10. Midnight, Christmas Eve by Andy Clapp (MTBR)
  11. The Lost Heiress by Roseanna M. White (MTBR)
  12. The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron (MTBR, Audiobook)
  13. The Reluctant Duchess by Roseanna M. White (Audiobook)
  14. The Road Home by Malissa Chapin
  15. The Search by Grace Livingston Hill (Audiobook)
  16. Shadowed by Grace: A Story of Monuments Men by Cara Putman (MTBR)
  17. Shadows in the Mind’s Eye by Janyre Tromp
  18. Snowed In for Christmas by Cami Checketts (Audiobook)
  19. Something Good by Vanessa Miller
  20. The Stranger by Melanie Dobson (MTBR)
  21. Three Fifty-Seven: Timing Is Everything by Hank Stewart and Kendra Norman-Bellamy (Audiobook)
  22. To Treasure an Heiress by Roseanna White (Audiobook)
  23. Worthy of Legend by Roseanna M. White

Other Fiction:

  1. Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth (MTBR, Audiobook)
  2. The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (MTBR, Audiobook)
  3. The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper (MTBR)
  4. The London House by Katherine Reay (audiobook)
  5. Mourning Dove by Claire Fullerton (MTBR)
  6. Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan (Audiobook)
  7. The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow (MTBR, Audiobook)

And that just about wraps it up for 2022! I’m close to finishing a couple more, but I’ll save them to review at the beginning of next year so they don’t get lost in the shuffle.

Reading is one of my highlights, so I was very thankful to be able to make time for it.

How was your reading year? The number of books is not as important as whether the books are enjoyable and edifying. In that sense, I’ve had a great year indeed.

Reading Challenge Wrap-Ups

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I enjoy participating in reading challenges and sharing books I have enjoyed. Most of these challenges involve the type of books I would be reading anyway. The only difficulty comes in the time it takes for record-keeping. I haven’t decided yet which challenges I will participate in next year. But I can recommend any of these.

Most of the challenge hosts require a wrap-up post at the end of the year. I shared my Back to the Classics Challenge Wrap-Up, hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate here. But I decided to include all the rest in one post so as not to be tedious for readers.

Bev at My Reader’s Block hosts the Mount TBR Reading Challenge. The idea is to read books you already owned before the start of this year. Bev has made levels in increments of twelve, each named after a mountain, and we’re to choose a level to shoot for. Even though I’ve reached Mt. Ararat (48 books) the last couple of years, I decided to play it safe and stick with Mt. Vancouver (36 books).

That turned out to be a wise decision as I just made it with 38 books. Instead of making a separate list, I marked the books in this category with (MTBR) on my list of all the books I read this year.

Shelly Rae at Book’d Out hosts the Nonfiction Reader Challenge. She provided 12 categories of nonfiction, and participants chose which level they want to aim for. Thankfully, this year she has included a Nonfiction Grazer category where we set our own goals for how many and what kind of nonfiction to read. That worked best for me this year.

I read a total of 33 non-fiction books this year, which can be seen on my Books Read in 2022 post.

As to my personal goals for this challenge:

Even though I didn’t hit every category I wanted to, I did more in others, and I feel I had a rich and varied nonfiction reading experience this year.

The Audiobook Challenge is hosted by Caffeinated Reader. I aimed for the Binge Listener level at 20-30. I finished 30, so I was right on target. I also marked these on my list of books read this year. I posted what I had listened to through June at the check-in here. Here are the ones I listened to through the end of the year:

The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is hosted by The Intrepid Reader. I aimed for the Medieval level of 15 books. I completed 22.

As you can tell, Roseanna M. White and Kristy Cambron are favorites in the category.

I’ve included split-time novels here, which have both a modern and a historic timeline. I’ve never been sure whether classics count—books written before our time but were modern in the time in which they were written. If so, I’d have eleven more.

And finally:

The Literary Christmas challenge hosted by Tarissa at In the Bookcase. For this I read:

I also started Hope for Christmas by Malissa Chapin, but haven’t finished it yet. Maybe I will by the end of the year.

I didn’t get quite as many in this category as I had hoped to, but we had a very busy December.

Whew. It’s been a good year of reading.

The Savior of the World Is Here

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Over 2,000 years ago, Gaius Octavian became the Caesar of the Roman Empire. According to Stephen Davey, “for the first time in the four hundred year old kingdom of Rome, the Roman senate voted to give Caesar Octavian the title of Augustus. Augustus meant ‘revered or holy,’ and, until this time, it had been a title reserved exclusively for the gods.” One inscription referred to him as “the savior of the world.”

But during his time on earth, another baby was born to whom that title rightly belonged.

Which of the two would the world believe to be the real Savior? By birth, wealth, fame, and position, most people would have gone with Augustus. How could an unknown baby born to poor parents in Bethlehem claim that title?

But John wrote, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).

Many books could be written and verses shared about how Jesus is the true Son of God and Savior. He claimed those positions for Himself, they were foretold by numerous prophets, His Father testified to them as well as many others.

But though He died to save the world, only those who believe on Him come to know Him as Savior for themselves.

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God (John 3:14-18).

If you don’t know Jesus as your own personal Savior, I pray you will believe on Him today.

I wish you all a wonderful, meaningful, joyful Christmas.

I have never heard this song sung at Christmas, but it could be!

I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship,
Should set His love upon the sons of men,
Or why, as Shepherd, He should seek the wand’rers,
To bring them back, they know not how or when.
But this I know, that He was born of Mary,
When Bethl’hem’s manger was His only home,
And that He lived at Nazareth and labored,
And so the Savior, Savior of the world, is come.

I cannot tell how silently He suffered,
As with His peace He graced this place of tears,
Or how His heart upon the Cross was broken,
The crown of pain to three and thirty years.
But this I know, He heals the broken-hearted,
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
For yet the Savior, Savior of the world, is here.

I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
How He will claim His earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of east and west, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
And He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
And some glad day His sun shall shine in splendor
When He the Savior, Savior of the world, is known.

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing,
And earth to heaven, and heaven to earth, will answer:
At last the Savior, Savior of the world, is King.

–W. Y. Fullerton, 1920

_____
Thanks to Stephen Davey for inspiring these thoughts in his radio message from December 15, The Inside Story.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)