Welcome to the April edition of The Reading Report! Although the weather has cooled off significantly from just one week ago when we were having an early taste of 70 degree weather, it is still officially spring. (If nothing else, my allergies are confirming this fact!) I am in denial about the fact that snow is currently in our forecast for this weekend, and choosing to focus on a little spring refresh needed in my reading life!
Over the past couple month or so I fell out of the solid reading routine I had going, and I can’t quite say why. I think a lot of it was just plain tiredness and an inability to focus in the evenings when I had time to crack open a book. So this month I want to get back into better reading habits, and that probably means taking stock of what books I actually want to be reading right now and focussing on those, instead of looking at a stack of books that I started but don’t really feel like reading at the moment which just makes me feel guilty and causes me to avoid reading at all! (Maybe it’s weird the way my brain works, but it’s true!) Writing this blog post comes at just the right time to help me reevaluate what I am currently reading and set some reasonable goals for April. So let’s go…
Finished Books:
The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher – Technically, I finished this book at the tail end of February, but I guess it was after I had already written last month’s reading report, because I didn’t include it in my list then. This was a delightfully quick read because it is actually a pretty short middle grade novel, and I read it in the course of an evening or two before handing it off to my son to enjoy. The Clockwork Crow is what I would classify as light fantasy or even magical realism for kids. It reminded me of books by Joan Aiken such as The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, as well as The Christmas Doll by Elvira Woodruff and The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. Oh, another book that just came to mind that is similar but contains even more magic would be The Midnight Folk by John Masefield. Think of late Victorian Britain, orphaned or displaced children, and a dose of magic and mystery, and you’ve got a good idea of what these books all have in common. The Clockwork Crow is the first in a series, which I didn’t realize when I picked it up, but if you have a kiddo who loves this sort of book and also likes to read books in a series (who doesn’t?), I think this would be a good place to start! (Actually, all of the similar titles I listed are also really fun stories that I recommend checking out, too!)
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinor Pruitt Stewart – This was the second book I finished in March. It was my challenge book for the Tea and Ink Society prompt to read a classic about pioneers or immigrants. Written in the early 1900s by a widow woman who moves from Denver with her toddler daughter to claim a Wyoming homestead, the letters are poignant, humorous, and engaging. Mrs. Pruitt Stewart’s correspondence with her friend and former employer give us a rare glimpse into real life on the western frontier during this time period. I enjoyed this book so much that sometimes I forgot I was reading actual letters from a woman living the life she wrote about and lost myself in the story. The author was not only a plucky homesteader with more courage and determination than I can claim to have, but she was a natural storyteller.
The Pastor’s Wife by Sabina Wurmbrand – How I have missed hearing about this book until recently, I do not know. Sabina Wurmbrand was wife of Richard Wurmbrand, a Jewish Christian pastor in Romania during and after World War II. He was imprisoned by the Communists who took over Romania after the end of the war, as was Sabina. This book is their story from her perspective as a wife and mother, friend and sister, ministering and surviving through intense persecution that Christians in the West can hardly even imagine. After finishing this incredible true story of faith and endurance, I cannot understand why this book is not recommended for all Christians reading alongside The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. Prison camps and persecution of Jews and Christians did not end with WWII, and it could come to us in the West in the future. We need to know these stories of the saints who have gone before, as well as those who are withstanding persecution around the world today.
Current Reads: Refreshed!
Aside from the longterm reads I am still plodding along with for book clubs and homeschool reading, these titles are the top four I plan to focus on in the month of April. (Plus, just for fun, I thought maybe you’d like see all the great books I snapped up at our local Friend of the Library bookstore!)
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope – This has been a bit of a slow read for me, but I am now over one third of the way through it! I have finally gotten to the point where I can remember all the characters and their relationships to one another, which was no small feat because there are quite a few of them! I am enjoying the story and the satirical tone Trollope uses throughout.
Saint Peter’s Fair by Ellis Peters – I just grabbed this book on my Kindle last week when I needed a comfort read. You may ask how a murder mystery can possibly be a comfort read, but for me, this series by Ellis Peters just always hits the spot. Perhaps they aren’t as literary as Dorothy Sayers or as much of a puzzle as Sherlock Holmes, but I just love the character of Brother Cadfael and the setting of the story in the environs of a medieval village and its adjoining monastery. I have been reading the series in order thus far, and it’s fun to get reacquainted with characters from previous books as they make their appearances again in this fourth story. When I am too tired or distracted to read anything else, this will be my go-to, so I will probably finish it relatively quickly!
Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall – As you can see in the photo above, I picked this up at the FoL used book store a couple of weeks ago, and I pretty much dove right in reading it when I got home. I had heard a few different homeschoolers and other readers I respect talk about how interesting and informative this book was, and I decided to give it a try. I can’t say that I have ever read much about geopolitics before, but I do like staying on top of current events and like to understand the background of why certain conflicts between nations ever started in the first place. So far, this book has lived up to the good reviews. Or course, as geopolitics are always rather fluid, some of the information has already become somewhat dated; but the history of why countries struggle with each other along certain borders remains relevant today.
A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot – After finishing The Pastor’s Wife, I decided I need to keep a Christian biography in rotation, especially for my morning audio book listening while I cook breakfast. Even when I don’t get up early enough to do my Bible study before making the kids something to eat, I still like to have some devotional thoughts to start my day, and listening to the testimony of those who have gone before me is truly encouraging. This biography of missionary Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot is probably considered a modern a Christian classic, yet I had not read it before. I am really enjoying it so far, and I think this would be a book I would like my daughter to read for school when she is older.
And that’s a wrap for this month! I hope I can report back that I have finished at least three out of the four books I have listed here, as well as some others that are “back burner” books which are nearing completion. Until then, happy reading!
Kiel
