I read at least 80 books in 2021; that is my new record since I started keeping track of my readings a few years ago. While it is tempting for me to get caught up in trying to beat my records, I am working on keeping the mindset of quality over quantity. And last year I am happy to say there were quite a few books that were well worth my time. In July of last year I wrote a post ranking my favorites as of that point. Now it is interesting to go back and see how those rated…
So far this year I’ve read about 35 books. I think I might have missed a couple that I read on my Kindle and returned already. But that’s a pretty close number. And quite a lot of books! So instead of waiting until the end of the year to recap everything I wanted to mention the highlights thus far. Fiction A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness This is the first in a trilogy of fantasy novels. While I went on to read the sequels, the story seemed to lose some magic along the way (pun intended). “A Discovery of Witches”…
Inspiration from a Biography of Fred Rogers Growing up in a strictly conservative home, there were strict limits to what our family was allowed to watch on television. We were probably a decade behind the times when we finally upgraded from the boxy old TV set to a new-fangled flatscreen. Our TV time was limited to a few animated cartoons and old (mostly black and white) movies. But there were a few shows on PBS that were also acceptable, including Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which came on every day at 12.30 pm. My mother would comment that this was perfect timing because…
I saw this book in the Kindle library and it sparked my interest because of my complete ignorance about this religious group. All I knew was that it is a mysterious and secretive movement that Tom Cruise is somehow connected with. Apparently this book is the only comprehensive expose that attempts to remain objective. While many defectors from Scientology have written about their own experiences, this author tries to report from a more balanced perspective and ensure that all claims are backed up with several sources. In terms of style, this was a very enjoyable read. The narrative flowed very…
In a future world, the moon is used as a penal colony for Earth. Some “earthworms” decide to take their chances in this new territory and voluntarily move to the moon for a fresh start, making it something like the new Wild West. There are methods of extracting resources on the moon to send back to Earth in exchange for the materials the “loonies” need. But there is growing resentment among the loonies at being a colony of Earth—the trade is highly unbalanced and loonies struggle to survive in an economy where they are not getting paid enough for their…
I was a little apprehensive about teaching C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces in my literature class this year—I am usually nervous about any new texts—but this is proving to be one of my favorite selections of the year. I read the book for the first in 7th or 8th grade, and in retrospect I probably should waited a little longer. I remember being thoroughly baffled by it. It was one of those books I wanted to like and understand, but was just too confusing. One of my original problems was the confusion over names of characters. For a speed reader,…
So anyone who knows me in person, or on Facebook for that matter, will know that I’m a huge fan of Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Downton Abbey. In that order. I can drive you crazy with my Doctor Who references. If you ask me about the show, be prepared for a 5 hour monologue on the subject. Well…over the past few weeks I had the opportunity to finally read The Lord of the Rings. I’ve had this on my to-do list for the last few summers. After my little sister read The Hobbit in a ridiculously short time I decided…
I heard Joel Beeke for the first time at the Ligonier National Conference in March of 2012 and of course since all the books there were at such an incredible discount, I couldn’t resist purchasing this one. I eventually got around to reading it a few months later. Overall, I really liked the idea of the book. I find that people sometimes think Calvinism can be reduced down to the 5 points or TULIP, and as long as your church affirms salvation by faith alone through Christ alone then you are Calvinistic. Well, maybe that’s true, but TULIP fits into…
I’m going to break out of the typical reading/reviewing I do to mention a young adult novel I read on vacation. This is the backstory…my sister and I read the first book in a fantasy trilogy called Aurelia’s Colors. I was ambivalent (one of my most-used words, btw) about it, but my sister loved it. So she was going to buy the other two books online but for some reason, the second one was pretty expensive, but the third one was very cheap. Being my sister, she didn’t want to spend that much on the second book, so skipped that…
Contrary to what I suspected, I actually had quite a bit of reading time on vacation. My family wanted me to make sure everyone was aware that they were not so cruel as to deprive me of my reading/quiet/alone time even while on vacation. So while everyone else was hanging out at the pool I was wandering around until I found a secluded spot by the lake to read. It was really, really nice. So one of the books I got to read was Douglas Wilson’s What I Learned in Narnia. This book intrigued me for several reasons: 1) I…
