The Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge 2016

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Barbara Harper

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. This is our fifth year to do so, 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. In the past I think some have made food or clothing from the styles of the day: Annette even had a Little House-themed birthday party for one of her daughters, (and, unrelated to the challenge but just from her own interest she started the Little House Companion blog: you might find some neat ideas for activities and Laura-related books there.

On Feb 29 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. You do not have to have a blog to participate: if you don’t, you can just share with us in the comments that day what you’ve read.

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 – at least the next couple, and I’ll reevaluate then. I encourage you to join in before it’s all over – and this year you even have an extra day in February in which to read! 🙂

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 rightclick 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 particpate in the challenge. Thanks!

Back to the Classics 2015 Wrap-Up Post

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Barbara Harper

The Back to the Classics Challenge 2015 requires a wrap-up post (at least to be eligible for prizes, but it’s nice, too, to look back over the fruit of one’s labors.) So these are the classics I’ve read for this challenge this year. Each links back to my review of the book.

1. A 19th Century Classic — any book published between 1800 and 1899: Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (Finished 7/22/15)

2. A 20th Century Classic — any book published between 1900 and 1965: The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer, 1928 (Finished 1/19/15)

3. A Classic by a Woman Author: Emily Climbs by L. M. Montgomery, second in the Emily of New Moon series. (Finished 2/4/15)

4. A Classic in Translation. a book written originally in a language not your own: Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Finished 9/19/15)

5. A Very Long Classic Novel — a single work of 500 pages or longer: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Finished 4/20/15)

6. A Classic Novella — any work shorter than 250 pages: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Finished 6/22/15)

7. A Classic with a Person’s Name in the Title: The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Finished 5/20/15).

8. A Humorous or Satirical Classic. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. Serious subject, but written in a satirical form. (Finished 9/26/15).

9. A Forgotten Classic or lesser-known classic: The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins. (Finished 11/7/15).

10. A Nonfiction Classic: The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis. (Finished 9/19/15)

11. A Classic Children’s Book: By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 5th in her Little House series. (Finished 2/18/15)

12. A Classic Play: Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. (Finished 7/30/15)

I am happy to have completed all the categories! That makes me eligible for three entries into Karen’s drawing.

I tried a few new authors and enjoyed meeting up again with some who were already known and loved, to try some of their other works.

As I said at the start of this challenge, I didn’t grow up reading a lot of classics, and I’ve been making a deliberate effort to include them in the past several years. Thanks to Karen at Books and Chocolate for encouraging that endeavor in such a clever and interesting way!

Book Review: Emma, Mr. Knightly, and Chili Slaw Dogs

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Barbara Harper

This title of Emma, Mr. Knightly, and Chili Slaw Dogs by Mary Hathaway intrigued me when I saw it listed on fellow “What’s On Your Nightstand” participant Tonia’s post in May (which is one advantage of the Nightstand posts – new book recommendations!) I got it to read for the the Austen in August Challenge for which we can include spin-offs of Austen’s books as well as books by or about her.

As you can guess by the title, this book is a take-off of Austen’s Emma (linked to my review). It’s part of a series titled Jane Austen Takes the South, the first of which was Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits (which I have not read but have put on my TBR list!) The books are all set in the modern-day South, this one in a small town called Thorny Hollow, though I don’t remember if the state is named.

Caroline Ashley was a promising journalist for The Washington Post, but her father’s sudden death has left her mother unable to cope, so Caroline left her job to care for mother and their antebellum house. She chafes over helping with society luncheons and bridge parties and has plans someday for more articles and a book, but nothing ever seems to come to fruition. The one bright spot in her life is longtime family friend Brooks Elliott, a journalism professor and heir to a nearby estate. A costumed Jane Austen-themed party and Civil War reenactors add to the story.

When an exciting, handsome newcomer offers Caroline a job in a new publishing venture, Brooks distrusts him, but Caroline welcomes the offer. And when a neighbor’s beautiful, accomplished granddaughter seems to vie for and catch Brooks’ Caroline, Emma is dismayed.

Knowing the book is based on Emma, we know where the plot is ultimately going to go, but it’s fun to see how it plays out in this setting and to look for the other reworked characters in the story. Not all of Austen’s characters and scenes are here: I don’t think I saw a Mr. Elton and his conniving wife as well as some others. Plus there are a few characters and plot points not in the original books. But the story isn’t meant to be a carbon copy: it’s a modern-day retelling.

There are modern attitudes as well, which is only natural, but one I was sad to see was towards Caroline’s mother. Though Emma’s father was a hypochondriac and a little ridiculous at times, everyone was kind and solicitous towards him, with Emma even declining to marry out of care for him. In this book, both Caroline and Brooks speak somewhat disdainfully of her mother, though later Caroline does come to understand her a little better and they come to an understanding.

I liked that Caroline, who comes from an old-money, well-established family, has to have her thinking challenged in regard to a less fortunate acquaintance and in regard to how others of her set have to handle dealing with their aging homes. Some of these beautiful old homes cost a fortune to maintain, and though there is regret that some of them have to “go commercial” in some way to make it, it’s an understandable and real issue.

I wasn’t sure if the book was marketed as Christian fiction, though the back cover mentions “good Christian women with spunk to spare” as part of the cast. As I looked at some reviews and sites after reading the book, apparently it was, but I’d say it’s light on the Christian aspect. About all I can recall being mentioned along those lines is one character being encouraged to pursue her God-given gifts and Brooks recalling his grandmother’s talk about “ferreting out God’s will” for one’s life. Nothing necessarily wrong with that – some authors and readers, even among those who like Christian fiction, don’t like it to be heavy-handed, and I agree that it needs to be natural and not preachy or forced. But, as I’ve said before, there are normal things you’d expect to see Christian people doing that are largely absent here.

There’s also one scene that reviewers argued over, some calling it R-rated, some saying it’s clean and merely a kiss. I’d say it goes beyond being merely a kiss, but while it’s not R-rated, it’s more PG 13 than I’d expect to see in a book like this. It’s meant to jolt the characters into realizing their feelings for each other and into changing the dynamic, but I think that could have been done with a “mere kiss.”

Overall I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to reading more in the series.

The back of the book as well as several blurbs online say that “Mary Jane Hathaway is the pen name of an award-nominated inspirational fiction writer who spends the majority of her literary energy on subjects un-related to Jane Austen.” I do wonder why she chose a pen name for this series, especially since her real name is mentioned on Amazon, and she owns up to these books on her blog. She is also a “homeschooling mother of six young children,” which make me question my excuses for not getting a book written! There is a Facebook page for the Jane Austen Takes the South series here.

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

TBR Challenge Wrap-Up Post

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Barbara Harper

The TBR Pile Challenge is for reading books we have on hand or have on a TBR list but haven’t gotten to yet. A wrap-up post is required at the end, and I am happy to say I have completed the challenge! So I wanted to go ahead and write a wrap-up post now rather than wait til the end of the year. I’ve linked each title to my review of it. The publishing dates are just to make it easier for RoofBeamReader, who requires that the books for this challenge are ones published before 2014. I’ve also included the date I finished reading each one.

Here are my selections for this year:

1. A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily Freeman, 2013. I got this because I really liked her Grace For the Good Girl. I got it right at the beginning of last year but it got pushed aside for some of the other challenges. Mixed emotions about parts of it but overall a good message. (Finished 3/30/15)

2. He Is There and He Is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer, 1972. I can’t tell you how many years I have had this on my shelf, but I wouldn’t if I could because it would be too embarrassing. It wasn’t what I had thought it would be, but it was still highly valuable. (Finished 4/22/15)

3. Gentle Savage Still Seeking the End of the Spear: The Autobiography of a Killer and the Oral History of the Waorani, 2013, by Menkaye Aenkaedi with Kemo and Dyowe, 2013. Those who have been reading here a long time know that the whole story of the five missionaries who were killed trying to reach the Waorani, known then as Aucas, and the subsequent way God opened the hearts of this tribe to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord means a great deal to me and has impacted my life exponentially. This book was told by Menkaye, one of the killer of the missionaries who later became a father and grandfather figure to Steve Saint and his family, descendants of one of the five men. (Finished 5/24/15)

4. Strait of Hormuz by Davis Bunn, 2013. I like Bunn and his Marc Royce series, but this is another that kept getting pushed aside while I worked on other reading challenges. This series keeps one on the edge of one’s seat! (Finished 6/9/15)

5. Better to Be Broken by Rick Huntress, 2012, about an accident that left him in a wheelchair and the influence it has had on his life. (Finished 3/2/15)

6. The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson, 2013, a retelling of Snow White. (Finished 6/17/15)

7. My Emily by Matt Patterson, 2011, a family’s story of a young daughter born with Down’s Syndrome who is then diagnosed with leukemia. (Finished 3/4/15)

8. The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser, 2001. I really enjoyed her Words Unspoken (it was one of my top ten from 2010), so I wanted to read more from her. Loved it and want to read more. (Finished 4/18/15)

9. Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son’s Journey to God. A Broken Mother’s Search for Hope by Christopher & Angela Yuan, 2011, recommended by Tim Challies. I am sure this will be one of my top ten of the year. (Finished 3/8/15)

10. Growing Up Amish: A Memoir by Ira Wagler, 2011. Saw this highly recommended by a number of people. (Finished 5/31/15)

11. Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl by Lisa TerKeurst, 2009. Have had this on hand, meaning to get to it, for years. Enjoyed it very much. (Finished 2/1/15)

12. The Narnian by Alan Jacobs, 2009, for Carrie’s Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge in July as well as this challenge. Liked the information, did not like Jacobs’ style. (Finished 7/24/15)

We’re allowed two alternates in case there is a book we just can’t get into. I had chosen The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson, 2013 (a retelling of Cinderella) and read it even though I did complete my original list and didn’t need an alternate (Finished 6/28/15). I had also chosen “something by Ann Tatlock, if I can be that unspecific.” I have six of her books in my Kindle app and ended up choosing Things We Once Held Dear. I’ve started it but have picked it up so intermittently that I am not really into yet, but I do want to complete it even though I don’t need to for the challenge. (Update: Finished this 10/5/15)

One of the reasons I value this challenge is that it does help me purpose to read books that I have been meaning to get to and helps me be more intentional in my reading yet it also allows room for picking up books on a whim through the year as well. I’ve found I do best if I do have some reading plans for the year but do have some breathing room for other interests or new books as well.

Thanks to RoofBeamReader for hosting this challenge once again!

Reading Plans

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Barbara Harper

I’ve mentioned that, while I enjoyed the several reading challenges I participated in last year, I felt a little constricted and constrained by them, too. It’s hard to balance: I like some intentionality in my reading, and that brings some books into my planning that I might not otherwise get to, and a challenge is supposed to be challenging. 🙂 But I like a certain amount of freedom, too, to read on a whim or pick up something and start right in without thinking that I can’t because I have all these lists to finish. So this year I decided to think about what I wanted to read, and then if that happened to fit into any plan, fine, and if not, I’d make my own plan. As it turned out, I will be able to participate in a few challenges this year.

I know I’ll be participating in Carrie‘s Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge this month, reading the second and possibly the third in the Emily series.

I’ll also be reading a few from Carrie‘s Reading to Know Classics Book Club for the year: Christy by Catherine Marshall; The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; probably one or two from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, maybe Laddie by Gene Stratton Porter, and then I’ll be hosting the September discussion on The Screwtape Letters. A couple on the list I just read last year, so it is a little too soon to reread them.

In February I host the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge (and I heartily invite you to as well! I’ll have more information about it soon and a sign-up post on Feb. 1), where we read anything by or about Laura. I am planning to read the next one or two in the series. The first couple of years I read a lot of books about Laura as well as some books of her magazine columns, and I think I’d like to just stick with her Little House series for now – though I ~~am awfully tempted by~~ decided to go ahead and read Pioneer Girl (especially after this review of it) since it fits a category in the classics challenge below.

The Back to the Classics Challenge:

I didn’t grow up reading a lot of classics, and I have made a deliberate effort to catch up with some of them in the last few years.

Karen changed the format for the Back to the Classics Challenge 2015: readers can choose books within the 12 categories listed, and reading six, nine, or twelve will earn you entries in a drawing for a $30 Amazon or Book Depository gift card. More information is here. Books have to be at least 50 years old. Sign-up is open through March 31. We don’t have to declare which books we’ll be reading in order to sign up, and we can change our minds during the year, but so far I am planning on:

1. A 19th Century Classic — any book published between 1800 and 1899: Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (Finished 7/22/15)

2. A 20th Century Classic — any book published between 1900 and 1965: The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer, 1928 (Finished 1/19/15)

3. A Classic by a Woman Author: Emily Climbs by L. M. Montgomery, second in the Emily of New Moon series. (Finished 2/4/15)

4. A Classic in Translation. a book written originally in a language not your own: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, I set that one aside for Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Finished 9/19/15)

5. A Very Long Classic Novel — a single work of 500 pages or longer: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Finished 4/20/15)

6. A Classic Novella — any work shorter than 250 pages: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Finished 6/22/15)

7. A Classic with a Person’s Name in the Title: The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Finished 5/20/15).

8. A Humorous or Satirical Classic. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. Serious subject, but written in a satirical form. (Finished 9/26/15).

9. A Forgotten Classic. This one is hard to evaluate – there are classics I have never heard of but ay be well known to others. But I am going to go with The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins. It’s one of his earlier works and not one of his more well-known ones. (Finished 11/7/15).

10. A Nonfiction Classic: Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder, published only recently but written in 1929 0r 1930. I wasn’t sure that would qualify since it was so recently published, so I chose instead The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis. (Finished 9/19/15)

11. A Classic Children’s Book: By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 5th in her Little House series. (Finished 2/18/15)

12. A Classic Play. ~~I don’t have any ideas for this one yet. Suggestions?~~ Decided on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. (Finished 7/30/15)

TBR Pile Challenge:

The TBR Pile Challenge is for reading books we have on hand or have on a TBR list but haven’t gotten to yet. I really enjoyed the this challenge last year and like the idea of incorporating books I have on hand into my reading instead of just piling on new ones. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit to reading twelve (though I have way more than that both in physical books and on my Kindle app) and thought about just choosing a smaller number – six or so – for my own purposes and not signing up for this official challenge. But once I started sorting through my books on hand (some even in a box in the closet!) and on my Kindle app, I found several I was excited about getting to, so here they are:

3. Gentle Savage Still Seeking the End of the Spear: The Autobiography of a Killer and the Oral History of the Waorani by Menkaye Aenkaedi with Kemo and Dyowe, 2013. Those who have been reading here a long time know that the whole story of the five missionaries who were killed trying to reach the Waorani, known then as Aucas, and the subsequent way God opened the hearts of this tribe to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord means a great deal to me and has impacted my life exponentially. This book was told by Menkaye, one of the killer of the missionaries who later became a father and grandfather figure to Steve Saint and his family, descendants of one of the five men. (Finished 5/24/15)

4. Strait of Hormuz by Davis Bunn. I like Bunn and his Marc Royce series, but this is another that kept getting pushed aside while I worked on other reading challenges.(Finished 6/9/15)

5. Better to Be Broken by Rick Huntress, 2012. (Finished 3/2/15)

6. The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson, 2013, a retelling of Snow White. (Finished 6/17/15)

7. My Emily by Matt Patterson, a family’s story of a young daughter born with Down’s Syndrome who is then diagnosed with leukemia. (Finished 3/4/15)

8. The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser, 2001. I really enjoyed her Words Unspoken (it was one of my top ten from 2010), so I wanted to read more from her. (Finished 4/18/15)

9. Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son’s Journey to God. A Broken Mother’s Search for Hope by Christopher & Angela Yuan, 2011, recommended by Tim Challies. (Finished 3/8/15)

10. Growing Up Amish: A Memoir by Ira Wagler. Saw this highly recommended by a number of people. (Finished 5/31/15)

11. Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl by Lisa TerKeurst, 2009. Have had this on hand, meaning to get to it, for years. (Finished 2/1/15)

12. ~~Either Live Like a Narnian by Joe Rigney, 2013, or~~ The Narnian by Alan Jacobs, 2009, or both if I have time, for Carrie’s Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge in July. I have both already in my Kindle app – just have to decide which to start with. (Finished 7/24/15)

We’re allowed two alternates in case there is a book we just can’t get into, so I’ll choose The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson, 2013 (a retelling of Cinderella) (Finished 6/28/15) and something by Ann Tatlock, if I can be that unspecific. I have six of her books in my Kindle app.

Sign-up for the TBR Challenge is open here through January 15, so you have time if you’d like to join in. The only stipulations are that the books on your list have to be ones you have never read before and have to have been published before January 1, 2014 (unfortunately! I had to cross two off my list because they were just published last year.). Those who complete the challenge by the end of the year are eligible for a drawing for a $50 Amazon or Book Depository gift card.

Non-fiction:

I think I will sign up again for the 2015 Non-fiction Reading Challenge, as I read a number of non-fiction books anyway. I will aim for the “Seeker” level, which is 11-15 books.

Image courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photographyat FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So…it looks like these will keep me busy for a while. 🙂 Do you have any reading plans for the year?

Back to the Classics Challenge Wrap-up

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Karen at Books and Chocolate hosted the Back to the Classics Challenge this year, where we could choose to read and review classics that fit in certain categories, with drawings for prizes at the end of the year. There are some required categories and some optional categories, and, thankfully, I was able to finish them all. I will link each title back to my review.

Required:

A 20th Century Classic: My Man Jeeves by P. D. Wodehouse
A 19th Century Classic: Bleak House by Charles Dickens
A Classic by a Woman Author: The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
A Classic in Translation (A book originally written in a different language from your own.) The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky.
A Classic About War The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.
A Classic by an Author Who Is New To You: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Optional Categories:

An American Classic: Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Classic Mystery, Suspense or Thriller: A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, the first Sherlock Holmes book
A Historical Fiction Classic: I will Repay by Baroness Orzcy, part of The Scarlet Pimpernel series.
A Classic That’s Been Adapted Into a Movie or TV Series: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Extra Fun Category: Write a Review of the Movie or TV Series adapted from Optional Category #4: To Kill a Mockingbird

Karen asks us to “Please remember to indicate within your post how many entries you have earned for the prize drawing. You earn one entry for completing the six required categories, an additional entry for completing three of the optional categories; complete all five optional entries, and you receive two additional entries for completing all of the optional categories. The most entries one person can earn is three. ” Since I completed all of the required and optional categories, I have three entries.

I did not grow up reading a lot of classics, so I have purposefully tried to incorporate a few classics into my reading the last few years. This challenge was a fun way to do that. I had pretty much decided not to do it next year, however, just because I had been involved in too many challenges this past year and felt a little constricted and constrained. But Karen changed the format for the Back to the Classics Challenge 2015: this time there are twelve categories of classics but we have the choice of reading from whichever category we want, with a minimum of six required to enter for a $30 Amazon prize, and more entries are earned at different reading levels. So I think perhaps I will join in after all, but I’m going to wait til after Christmas to decide whether to and which classics to read if I do.

Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Barbara Harper

I’ve been finished with the TBR Pile Challenge for a while and finished or close to finished with the others as well, so I thought I would wrap them up all in one post except for the Back to the Classics Challenge, which I should complete within a few days. Some of these will overlap – I could not have participated in multiple challenges if they hadn’t.

The 2014 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader was to read 12 books in a year that have been on your shelves unread with a publication date before 2013. My original post is here. My links are to my reviews:

1. Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food by Lisa TerKeurst

2. Crowded to Christ by L. E. Maxwell

3. Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts by Janet and Geoff Benge

4. The House Is Quiet, Now What? by Janice Hanna and Kathleen Y’Barbo

5. How to Read Slowly by James W. Sire

6. How to Be a Writer by Barbara Baig

7. Walking From East to West: God in the Shadows by Ravi Zacharias

8. The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis

9. Loving the Church by John Crotts

10. The Book of Three by Alexander Lloyd

11. Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal: A Boy, Cancer, and God by Michael Kelley

12. Why We Are Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

I did not read How To Be a Writer. I want to some time, but just couldn’t get motivated to start it this year. However, we were allowed two alternates and I read both of them, totally 13 books for this challenge:

Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen

Just Jane: A Novel of Jane Austen’s Life by Nancy Moser

I haven’t decided yet if I will do this challenge next year, but I did like that it did motivate me to get to books that had been untouched on my shelves or in my Kindle app for too long.

The Cloud of Witnesses Challenge was sponsored by Becky at Operation Actually Read Bible, and the idea was to read nonfiction books by godly authors who have gone on to be with Jesus. Sermons or articles could count as well, but I did not keep track of those. I did plan to read at least four books, but got a little more in:

Crowded to Christ by L. E. Maxwell

How I Know God Answers Prayer by Rosalind Goforth

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer

On Stories and Other Essays on Literature by C. S. Lewis. I am not sure if this counts – it is non-fiction, and C. S. Lewis is in heaven, but though it is not a theological book, it does apply spiritual truth to the topic.

The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses by C. S. Lewis

By the end of the year I will also have completed Traveling Toward Sunrise, a daily devotional by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, Daily Light, a devotional of Scripture verses compiled by Samuel Bagster, and Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, a compilation of essays compiled by Nancy Guthrie having to do with Christmas (some of those authors there would fit this category – Luther, Whitefield, Lloyd-Jones, Edwards, Spurgeon, Augustine, Schaeffer, etc.).

I am thankful to Becky for this challenge. It had been a long time since I had read Tozer and some of these types of books, and it was very beneficial to get back into them.

The Nonfiction Reading Challenge was to read any non-fiction book on any topic. There were different levels one could aim for:

Dilettante–Read 1-5 non-fiction books

Explorer–Read 6-10

Seeker–Read 11-15

Master–Read 16-20

I was aiming for Seeker. The non-fiction books I read so far this year are:

Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus compiled by Nancy Guthrie

Crowded to Christ by L. E. Maxwell

Gospel Meditations for Missions, not reviewed.

Gospel Meditations for the Hurting by Chris Anderson and Joe Tyrpak, not reviewed.

The House Is Quiet, Now What? by Janice Hanna and Kathleen Y’Barbo

How I Know God Answers Prayer by Rosalind Goforth

How to Read Slowly by James W. Sire

Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts by Janet and Geoff Benge

Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir of Sorts by Ian Morgan Cron

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer

Loving the Church by John Crotts

Made to Crave Action Plan Participant’s Guide by Lysa TerKeurst and Ski Chilton

Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food by Lisa TerKeurst

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

On Stories and Other Essays on Literature by C. S. Lewis

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity by Nabeel Qureshi

Walking From East to West: God in the Shadows by Ravi Zacharias

Walking in the Spirit: A Study Through Galatians 5 by Steve Pettit

Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal: A Boy, Cancer, and God by Michael Kelley

The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses by C. S. Lewis

Why We Are Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin

In addition to Traveling Toward Sunrise and Daily Light, mentioned above, I will also have completed Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room by Nancy Guthrie.

So that’s 22, or 25 including the ones I will finish by year’s end, more than I had planned. Since I usually gravitate toward fiction, I am pleased. The TBR Challenge contributed greatly to this one: most of the books I have on my shelves but have not read yet are non-fiction.

As I said with the TBR challenge, I have not yet decided whether to participate in any of these next year, assuming all of the hosts will be hosting them again. I did enjoy that they got some books into my reading that might not have gotten there otherwise, but I didn’t like the self-imposed feeling of pressure at the beginning of the year that I “had” to get these done before I could pick up any book just for pleasure. I am not going to think about it until after Christmas. But I would recommend any of these challenges to you: they were all beneficial.

Reading Challenge Update

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Barbara Harper

I keep forgetting that Roof Beam Reader, who hosts the 2014 TBR Pile Challenge, has check-in points around the 15th of each month so we can summarize how we’re doing. I haven’t done one since June, and since that time I have completed (all links are to my reviews):

How to Read Slowly by James W. Sire

The Book of Three by Alexander Lloyd

The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen

Just Jane, A Novel of Jane Austen’s Life by Nancy Moser

The last two were my alternates, and this completes twelve books from my list, so technically I am done. I have started Why We Are Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be, one of the books on my original list. I’d like to get to How to Be a Writer but I am not sure I will. I like to read a book about writing now and then to keep those fires stirred up, but the lack of time to write is a bit of a sore spot right now, so I am undecided.

I’ve completed everything for the Back to the Classics Challenge except To Kill a Mockingbird, both the book and the movie. We’ll be reading that title in December for Carrie’s Reading to Know Classics Book Club, so I’ll pick that one up then, or maybe a little early.

For the The Cloud of Witnesses Challenge, in addition to Mere Christianity and Crowded to Christ, which I had read earlier this year, I finished The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer. I had planned to read four books in this category of nonfiction books written by a Christian who has passed on, so with these three and the devotional I am reading by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, I’ll have no problem finishing my goals for this challenge as well, though I may read one or two more before the year is out.

As much as I have enjoyed the challenges, especially the impetus to work some titles into my reading that I might not have gotten to otherwise, I’m happy to be pretty much done with them and back to some of the fiction books that have been waiting for me.

Reading Challenge Updates.

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Barbara Harper

I keep forgetting that Roof Beam Reader, who hosts the 2014 TBR Pile Challenge, has check-in points around the 15th of each month so we can summarize how we’re doing. I haven’t done one since March, and since that time I have completed (all links are to my reviews):

Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal: A Boy, Cancer, and God by Michael Kelley.

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis.

Crowded to Christ by L. E. Maxwell.

Walking From East to West: God in the Shadows by Ravi Zacharias.

Loving the Church by John Crotts.

Out of the 12 books I chose for this challenge, that completes 8, and I have started two more, so I am feeling pretty good about this challenge.

And while I am here I may as well update the other reading challenges I am participating in this year:

The Back to the Classics Challenge has a mid-year check-in. I’m happy to say that after completing My Man Jeeves by P. D. Wodehouse, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, and The Brothers Karamazov yesterday, ~~though it will take me a few days to get a review together~~, I’ve completed all of the required books I chose for this challenge and all but two of the optional ones. Here are my completed choices (links are to my reviews):

Required:

A 20th Century Classic: My Man Jeeves by P. D. Wodehouse
A 19th Century Classic: Bleak House by Charles Dickens
A Classic by a Woman Author: The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
A Classic in Translation (A book originally written in a different language from your own.) The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky.
A Classic About War The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.
A Classic by an Author Who Is New To You: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Optional Categories:

An American Classic: Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Classic Mystery, Suspense or Thriller: A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, the first Sherlock Holmes book
A Historical Fiction Classic: I will Repay by Baroness Orzcy, part of The Scarlet Pimpernel series. (Not completed yet)
A Classic That’s Been Adapted Into a Movie or TV Series: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. (Not completed yet)
Extra Fun Category: Write a Review of the Movie or TV Series adapted from Optional Category #4 (Not completed yet).

For the The Cloud of Witnesses Challenge.I completed Mere Christianity and Crowded to Christ. I had planned to read four books in this category of nonfiction books written by a Christian who has passed one. I’m also reading Traveling Toward Sunrise by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, a devotional which which be completed by the end of the year, and just started The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer. While it looks like I’ll have no problem completing my goals for this challenge, now that I have started reading this type of book again, I want to continue.

And in the Nonfiction Reading Challenge in which I am aiming to read 11-15 nonfiction books, I have completed 12. But I have other nonfiction books to complete for some of these other challenges, so I’ll be adding more to this list.

It helps a lot that many of these challenges overlap. That’s one reason I decided to participate in them all – otherwise I would have had to choose just one or two. And audiobooks have helped a lot, too, particularly with the classics.

It’s funny how just having these on a list of goals to complete for the year have been driving me towards completing that goal. Sometimes I don’t like that driven feeling, but that’s probably because I gravitate more toward…not fluff, exactly, but lighter reading. Yet I am glad for the impetus to incorporate some reading I would not otherwise get to.