2012 Challenge!

I have decided to sign up for a challenge, and I'm very excited!  I'm signing up for the Classics Challenge hosted by November's Autum. 

Here’s a list of some classics I hope to read this year.  I know there are more than seven.  I will choose seven from this list, depending on which ones I find first.   And who knows, I may end up reading them all.

• The Scapegoat (D. du Maurier) – I bought this at a book sale and it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for far too long! 
• Crime and Punishment (F. Dostoevsky) – I read The Brothers Karamazov when I was in high school.  It’s about time I read another book by this author. 
• A Passage to India (E.M. Forster) – I’ve heard some mixed reviews about this one and want to see what I will think about this book.  I've read and enjoyed other books he's written, so we’ll see. 
• Lady Susan (J. Austen) – I love Jane Austen!  I’ve read her other six novels several times, so it’s about time I read this one! 
• Walden (H.D. Thoreau) – This book was mentioned in Rules of Civility, a book I really enjoyed reading.  I’ve been curious about Walden ever since then. 
• Excellent Women (B. Pym) – I read Some Tame Gazelle and enjoyed it, so I want to give another of her books a try. 
• Miss Marjoriebanks (M. Oliphant) – It’s been on my TBR list for a really, really long time.  
• Daniel Deronda (G. Eliot) – I like George Eliot and have already read most of her books, but still haven’t read this one.  
• The Last Chronicle of Barset (A. Trollope) – As the title suggests, it is the last book in the Barsethire series.  I’ve already read the previous ones, so I should really read this one. 
• Can You Forgive Her? (A. Trollope) – This is the first book in the Pallisers series, and I thought it might be a good one to try once I finished with the Barsetshire ones. 
• Lady Anna (A. Trollope) – I really, really liked the other stand-alone novel I read by Trollope (The Way We Live Now), so I wanted to try another of his stand-alone ones.

Reviews, short and sweet (part 2)

So since the last time I posted, I have moved apartments, and gone on two trips.  Needless to say, I’ve been pretty busy.  I have three short reviews here.

 

My Life with the Saints, by J. Martin

I read James Martin’s The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and really, really liked it (see previous post).  So, I looked up what other books he had written, and decided to start with My Life with the Saints. 

 

A quick summary: In this book, every chapter is dedicated to a different saint who inspired Martin.  He talks about the saint and his/her life, and also shares stories from his own life. 

This is the first time I read anything that talks about saints – this is a topic I pretty much knew nothing about until I read this book.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  Martin talks about the saints as people, and describes how they came to follow God and how they have helped him deepen his faith in various ways.  As a Christian, I’m always interested in learning about other people’s paths in the faith – how they came to know God, what (if any) obstacles they faced, and how they learned to completely rely on God.  One of the reasons I liked this book was that each chapter in a way introduced me to another Christian, and from each one, I could learn something about what it means to follow and love God.  Reading this book has made me want to try to find other books that talk about other Christians’ paths to God.  Luckily, Martin provides a nice list of book suggestions – I may start by reading some of those.

The Marriage Plot, by J. Eugenides

I enjoyed reading this book, although somehow the ending didn’t really feel like an ending to me.  I’m not sure what ending I was expecting, but I felt like I wanted something more. 

A quick summary:  Madeleine, Leonard, and Mitchell are undergraduates at Brown, in the 1980s.  The book starts out on graduation day, but has some flashbacks that tell you what happened to the characters throughout the four years of their studies.  The book then goes on to tell what happened after graduation. 

I thought overall, the book was well written, and I definitely enjoyed that.  Madeleine is an English major, so there are references to books that I think book lovers will enjoy (I know I did!).  There were some R-rated scenes throughout, which I did not like.  I never understand why authors think those are necessary, but maybe that’s just me.  Besides that and my issue with the ending, I did enjoy the book.  Once I started it I wanted to keep going until I finished it. 

Three Men in a Boat, by J.K. Jerome

I had never heard about this book until recently, when I started to read about it in other people’s blogs.  I enjoyed it very much!

A quick summary:  Three friends and their dog decide they want a little vacation, in the form of sailing along the Thames.  The book talks about their preparations for this trip and describes the things that happened on this trip.  The narrator also shares stories of things that had happened to him and his friends at different points in their lives.

Even though the different bloggers seemed to enjoy the book, I was a bit skeptical.  But once I started reading, I realized why the book had such positive reviews.  It’s really entertaining!  The narrator talks about his friends and their experiences in a way that’s interesting for the readers.  He was also, in my opinion, pretty funny.  It really was a good read, and it’s a book I would recommend.

Reviews, short and sweet

I am a bit sad to be back from vacation.  Luckily, Christmas is only a few weeks away.  Besides still being tired from traveling, I’m moving next week, so every free minute needs to be spent on packing! So, today’s reviews are short and sweet.   I read three books on my trip:

Crossing the Threshold of Hope, by Pope John Paul II

In this book, a journalist/author asks the Pope some questions, and the book is set up so that typically, each chapter is the Pope’s answer to one of the questions.  I enjoyed this book very much, and I definitely learned a lot.  There were several quotes I liked, but will only include two in this post:

“It is also necessary that the young know the Church, that they perceive Christ in the Church, Christ who walks through the centuries alongside each generation, alongside every person.  He walks alongside each person as a friend.  An important day in a young person’s life is the day on which he becomes convinced that this is the only Friend who will not disappoint him, on whom he can always count.” (p.126)

“In the very search for faith an implicit faith is already present, and therefore the necessary condition for salvation is already satisfied.” (p.193)

Every Living Thing, by James Herriot

The last of the Herriot books!  Great, as always.  The stories are always either funny or heartwarming, always enjoyable.  The animals and people we read about are such that I wish I could actually meet them! 

A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is the first Sherlock Holmes I have read, and I liked it.  The first and third portions of the book are narrated by Dr. Watson, and the middle portion is an omniscient narrator.  I found the mystery to be entertaining, and I was definitely curious to find out both who the murderer was and how Sherlock Holmes solved the mystery.  Overall, I thought it was a nice read.  It’s also a very quick read, it didn’t take me long to finish it.  I think I will definitely try some other Sherlock Holmes novels.

Surprised by Joy - by C.S. Lewis

A quick summary:  C.S. Lewis talks about his life (in a memoir-ish type of way), and how he eventually converted to Christianity.

This is the second time I read this book.  The first time I read it was several years ago, before I had read any of his nonfiction.  I didn’t enjoy it much back then.  This time, I enjoyed it a lot more, and I think it is because I’ve already read and enjoyed many of his nonfiction books.  This time, reading about his life has helped me better understand him as a person and as a Christian author, and has made me better understand his books and his approach to writing about Christianity.  His books are always so rational – he seems to always try to prove every point he makes, approaching Christianity and faith from a very logical (for lack of a better word) standpoint.  I think this is great, as sometimes we want (and need) to learn about faith from this perspective.

Some quotes I liked:

“Hence while friendship has been by far the chief source of my happiness, acquaintance or general society has always meant little to me, and I cannot quite understand why a man should wish to know more people than he can make real friends of.”  (p.32-33) – I totally agree.  For me, friends and acquaintances are very different things, and while there may be many acquaintances, there are only a few friends.

“What I like about experience is that it is such an honest thing.  You may take any number of wrong turnings; but keep your eyes open and you will not be allowed to go very far before the warning signs appear.  You may have deceived yourself, but experience is not trying to deceive you.  The universe rings true wherever you fairly test it.” (p.177)

“For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose.  And there I found what appalled me; a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds.  My name was legion.” (p.226)

“Doubtless, by definition, God was Reason itself.  But would He also be ‘reasonable’ in that other, more comfortable, sense?  Not the slightest assurance on that score was offered me.  Total surrender, the absolute leap in the dark, were demanded.  The reality with which no treaty can be made was upon me.  The demand was not even ‘All or nothing.’  …Now, the demand was simply ‘All.’” (p.228)

“I did not see then what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms.  The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet.  But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape?...The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.” (p.229)  Awesome!!

What I’m reading next: I haven’t decided yet…I’m actually leaving for a two-week vacation this week (yeah!), which means I will either read a lot, or not read much at all.  But I will bring some books in case it turns out to be the former.

The Way to Christ, by Pope John Paul II

I had started reading this a few weeks ago, reading a chapter or two every couple of days, and finished this last night.

A quick summary:  The book is divided into two sections, and each section represents a different retreat in which the Pope spoke.  Each section is divided into different chapters, each about a different topic.

I enjoyed this book.  The chapters talked about topics such as God is person, conversion, prayer, and love.  The retreats seem to have been for students, so there is also one chapter specifically for female students, and one specifically for male students.  I thought it was a good book to use for devotional reading, since the chapters are short and make you think about different topics.

This is the first time I have read anything by Pope John Paul II, and I certainly plan to read more.  Here are some excerpts I liked:

"Maybe the greatest obstacle for us in our relationship with God, who is Creator, is the fact that he is invisible, and we wish he were the object of direct experience.  However, it is easy to realize that if he were the object of direct experience and were visible, he would not be God.  God cannot be visible.  Matter is visible.  The body is visible and we know that it is not God; it is destroyed, dies, changes, dissolves.  It is subject to time, whereas God is eternity.  He is above time and knows no beginning and no end.  God is outside the concepts of beginning and end; they do not refer to him, but they are found in the world of created things; beginning and end are found in me.  He is invisible, and this is something very special.  However, if I look within myself and reflect on myself for a moment I can say that to a significant degree I too am invisible.  The visible aspect of myself, which can be perceived by the senses, is only a part of me; we might describe it as the outer person, whereas the inner person is invisible.  So the inner person, who is invisible, cannot be in conflict with God, who is also invisible."  (p.11)

"God is Person.  Only the encounter with that Person who is God provides us, or our self, with the sense of the absolute importance of life." (p.12)

"Following Christ also means following yourself.  Christ does not tear you away from yourselves.  He does not diminish or nullify the personhood of any of us.  He enriches us if we truly desire to join him and shoulder the responsibility we have in common with all humanity: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."  The Kingdom of God is something which involves everybody, and this is why every man who seeks the Kingdom of God finds himself." (p.58)

"Why do you pray?  Because I know that God exists, and because I am always seeking God...I pray because I believe.  What does believing mean?  Believing means bearing Jesus Christ's witness within ourselves." (p.83)

Mini Reviews

An Edible History of Humanity, by T. Standage

This book talks about food and how it has affected and changed history and society.  While it certainly had some interesting facts, I didn't really enjoy reading this book.  It felt a bit too textbook-y to me, so while I read the first few chapters, I mostly just skimmed the rest.  I was supposed to read this for book club, but since I won't be able to make it to that book club meeting, I don't feel too guilty.  Like I said, it did talk about some interesting things, and maybe if I'd read it some other time when I was in the mood for something like this, I would have enjoyed it a lot more than I did.



 Cold Comfort Farm, the movie

Well, I watched the movie today.  The movie was pretty good, in the sense that it was very close to the book.  I'm glad I watched the movie so soon after reading the book, because I was able to recognize dialogue I had read in the book.  Most of the cast was pretty similar to the way I pictured those characters to look like. 

I really love watching a movie after having read the book.  It's great to visually see what you've imagined in your head.  Sometimes it's very different, but sometimes it turns out to be pretty similar.  I think it's also cool to see if they change things about the story, and if so, how.  Usually, when they do change things, I tend to think the book was better, but there have been a handful of cases where I thought the movie was better.





 Book I've started reading next: Surprised by Joy, by C.S. Lewis. 

Cold Comfort Farm – by S. Gibbons

 A quick summary:  When Flora’s parents die, she decides to move in with some of her family at Cold Comfort Farm, where she decides to fix everything and everyone around her.

This book was okay.  I didn’t identify much with Flora at the beginning, but started to warm up to her somewhere around the second half of the book.  She reminded me a little bit of Emma, from Jane Austen’s book, because she was quite the meddler.  Unlike Emma, though, her meddling was successful and all the characters had some sort of happy ending.  There was something that was mentioned throughout the book which was not exactly resolved, and I thought that was a bit disappointing.  But other than that, the book was pretty enjoyable, with some funny parts here and there.  I saw that there is a movie starring Kate Beckinsale as Flora, and I’ll try to watch that sometime this week while the book is still fresh in my mind.

Book I’m reading next:  An Edible History of Humanity, by Tom Standage.  This is a nonfiction we’re reading for book club.

Looking for Alaska, by J. Green

A quick summary:  Miles leaves home to join a boarding school, in search of the "Great Perhaps."  There, he makes several friends, including Alaska, a girl he starts to like.  Then, something happens...

This book was recommended by someone who recommended other books I liked, so I was really expecting to like this book.  But it was just okay.  Maybe it's because it's a YA book - I don't always like YA.

I did like this quote:

"There were so many of us who would have to live with things done and things left undone that day.  Things that did not go right, things that seemed okay at the the time because we could not see the future.  If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions.  But we can't know better until knowing better is useless."  (p.218)

If only we could see how even our smallest actions do affect our lives.  If only we could know better at the precise time when we need to know better.

The Night Circus, by E. Morgenstern

A quick summary:  Two illusionists, Celia and Marco, have been made to participate in a competition against each other.  They did not choose to be in this competition, but were entered in it by Celia's father and Marco's guardian.  These two begin training Celia and Marco since they are children, and only tell them they need to get ready for this competition, without telling them what exactly the competition entails or who they are competing against.  Eventually, Celia and Marco, who fall in love, find out they are competing against each other. The main events take place in a circus created precisely with the goal of being the setting for Celia and Marco's challenge. 

This was a very fun read - once I started reading I really did not want to stop.  There are many likeable characters.  I enjoyed reading about the circus and the different acts and illusions.  It sounded like an amazing place to visit!  Overall, I enjoyed this book very much!

For the first time in a while, I don't know what I'll be reading next.  Time to go through my TBR list and see what I can find.  It's always so exciting to pick out a new book...

Random Post…

I made these apple muffins this weekend and they were delicious!  I used whole wheat flour and ground flax seed, so they’re pretty healthy, too.  They made my kitchen smell absolutely wonderful!  And did I mention they were delicious?

 

                       (The picture is not great, I took it with my phone...)