What are you reading?
We’ve been busy this fall with the release of Hallelujah: Cultivating Advent Traditions with Handel’s Messiah, but even so, between the two of us we have enjoyed an eclectic line-up of books.
The Case of the Left-Handed Lady: An Enola Holmes Mystery
My daughter and I have been listening to these books when we are in the car running to and from places. We’re on the second book and really having fun with them. In this series by Nancy Springer, the 14-year-old Enola is the younger sister of Sherlock and she is not without her own skills of solving mysteries!
We highly recommend the audiobook, which is read by Katherine Kellgren. When she says, “Chapter the Tenth,” for instance, I have to say it, too! “Chapter the Tenth….”
-Tina
Marta’s Legacy Book Series
I enjoy Francine Rivers novels, especially her classic Redeeming Love. This series was a recent read for me.
-Tina
My Survival: A Girl on Schindler’s List
This is a book for tweens that tells the story of Rena and her mother, who work for Oskar Schindler, the famous businessman who saved the lives of so many Jews. Even though Rena and her mom get sent to Auschwitz, Schindler helps them to make an escape.
-Tina
Open Book
From the popular non-fiction category, this book by Jessica Simpson gives a candid look at her experiences growing up as the daughter of a pastor, seeking fame through competing for roles at Disney (in the age of Brittany Spears), dealing with a background of abuse, and trying to get her footing after a chaotic decade in her formative years.
I enjoy books like this one, which tell of a life so distant from the one I live, but remind me that behind all the celebrity glamour, real people are trying to live their lives–and it’s not easy. The title is fitting: it feels like a very honest memoir from a woman that you sympathize with and want to see overcome. I listened to the audiobook.
-Tina
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
I read Till We Have Faces for the first time this year, and then listened to the Till We Have Faces series on The Literary Life podcast (we highly recommend listening to the Lit Lifers discuss the book). Till We Have Faces is the sort of book that make take a bit of effort for you as you get started, but the pay-off is huge. It’s totally understandable that many people call it Lewis’s best work.
When I came to the end of Till We Have Faces, I wept. Not because the ending is tragic, but because the story leads to such deep reflection and repentance. Orual’s sin is our own sin: we are deceived about ourselves and our need for salvation. Why are we deceived? Because, like Orual, we hide our true selves not only from others, but even from ourselves. Pulling back the veil on our hearts is a painful process, but in the end it is life-giving.
Tina just started reading Till We Have Faces. To refresh her memory on the details of the Cupid and Psyche myth, she reviewed the summary in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. Another idea is to check out a picture book of the story. One that my children and I have enjoyed is Cupid and Psyche by M. Charlotte Craft and illustrated by Kinuko Y. Craft.
-Amy
The Vanishing American Adult
Do you have annual reading goals? Ever tried to read 100 books a year? Pres. George W. Bush and his adviser Karl Rove used to challenge each other to read two books a week–and Pres. Bush would win the contest. How did a busy president manage to maintain a reading habit of 100 books a year? What would it look like to cultivate that habit in ourselves and our children? It means making reading a way of life.
Sen. Ben Sasse, among other things, tells about how he and his wife sought to challenge their kids to read 100 books a year, even at a young age. In the book they share some book lists of titles that make it easy to jump into reading, even for the kid who isn’t all that into reading. It’s inspiring. I found some books from their list–several of which are new to me–at the library. We’ll see if my daughter enjoys them!
-Tina
Planet Narnia
I began reading Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Michael Ward this fall. I’m not yet finished with the book, but nevertheless I can heartily recommend it. You may have already heard of Ward’s thesis: that each book in the Narnia series reflects one of the seven planets in medieval cosmology. Not only does Ward show how the Chronicles of Narnia books connect to that cosmology, he shows how Lewis also wove these ideas into That Hideous Strength and the other two so-called Space Trilogy books, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra.
If you haven’t read Lewis’s book The Discarded Image, I would recommend that you check it out, maybe even before reading Planet Narnia, but at least refer to it at the same time. Planet Narnia presumes that you have a basic understanding of medieval cosmology, which is something lost to most contemporary readers.
(Also, what is going on with that book cover for The Discarded Image? I cannot understand it at all. It literally has nothing whatever to do with the subject of the book. It’s too bad we don’t have the rights to create a better version!)
-Amy
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
We’re reading this aloud in Morning Time at the Edwards home. My youngest, Lydia, hasn’t read all of the Chronicles of Narnia yet, so we are revisiting them. We finished up The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last spring and Prince Caspian earlier this fall. I’m enjoying this re-read after reading Michael Ward’s ideas about this Narnia chronicle reflecting Sol, the Sun. (Does it seem strange to you that the Sun is one of the planets? You’ll definitely enjoy The Discarded Image.)
How about that beautiful book cover on this new collector’s edition?
-Amy
Number the Stars
Since we are studying the 20th century in our homeschool at the Edwards house, we’re reading Number the Stars in Morning Time lately. It’s a classic choice and a Newbery Medal winner.
-Amy
Swallows and Amazons
Swallows and Amazons is another Morning Time read-aloud for the Edwards family. This is our first time to read it, in spite of the wonderful reviews and recommendations–I’m not sure why it took us this long. It’s a lovely book, and we are now about half-way through. I would say that it is a harder read for kids who are conditioned to the very fast pace of story-telling that dominates more recent stories and certainly television and films.
Ironically, our kids today rarely enjoy the level of freedom and responsibility that the siblings of Swallows and Amazons do. In the book, the Walker siblings, who are on summer holiday in the Lake District of England, take a small sail-boat (the “Swallow”) across the lake to “Wild Cat Island” where they camp for days, embark on adventures around the lake, and meet up with the Blackett sisters, who have their own little boat, “Amazon.” Free-range kids for a summer holiday today’s kids can only dream about! I highly recommend Swallows and Amazons.
-Amy
Rebecca
Everyone seems to be reading Rebecca right now, thanks to the new film adaptation starring Lily James which is available on Netflix. All the buzz prompted me to order the original Hitchcock film starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. I haven’t seen it in ages. Have you?
I read Rebecca for the first time in high school. The ending slays! I won’t tell! Be sure you read it before you watch the movie.
The movie tie-in book is available right now, but I like the hardcover Everyman’s Library edition for my own library.
-Amy