January Picks

January has been a good month for reading here at the House of Hope.  I read a total of eight books this month, not to mention the seventy-five or so I read aloud to my girls. While the read-aloud number is fairly normal for any given month around here (and that number really only accounts for the library books we read), the fact that I read eight books silently for and to myself means that the tide has turned in my reading life.  Hurrah!  Let’s just see if I can keep this up. . .

Anyway, I thought I’d finish off the month by recapping my favorites for the month.  Since I read an equal number of nonfiction and fiction books, I will pick one of each.

(Drumroll, please. . . )

The nonfiction winner of the month is Authentic Faith by Gary Thomas!  Of all the nonfiction books I read, this is the one that has stayed with me the longest.  It is the one I have recommended to people over and over again, and I only do that if I REALLY like (or, in the case of nonfiction, am challenged by) a book.  This book made me examine some of the hard places of life through the filter of scripture and the Christian classics, and it helped me to see that the modern interpretation of these trials (even in the Christian community, unfortunately) is often lacking.  You can read my full review here.

Is it okay if I pick as a favorite a book I really didn’t even understand?  It is?  Okay, good.  I pick G. K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday as my favorite fiction selection of the month.  Since I don’t really understand the meaning behind the story, it is difficult for me to really say why it’s my favorite.  All I can really say about it is that I was greatly amused by it.  I enjoyed Chesterton’s style.  You can read my other ignorant ramblings about it here.

I really shouldn’t wrap up January without mentioning the L.M. Montgomery challenge, however.  I feel almost guilty, like I’m slighting my best friend, for not picking one of the books I read for the challenge as my favorite.  I loved getting back into the world of LMM that I so often frequented as a teenager and young adult.  I loved reading one of her books that I’d never read before and re-reading an old favorite.  I do not want to say that I’ve outgrown her, for I am afraid of what that would say about me, and that isn’t the truth, anyway.  I think the style of book I find enjoyment in has changed as I’ve gotten older.  I like books that challenge the way I see the world, or at least ones that paint one that is realistic.  LMM is fun for a weekend excursion, but I don’t think I want to live there anymore.  I do want to say thanks to Carrie at Reading to Know for hosting the challenge; without it, I’m sure I wouldn’t have taken that little flight of fancy this year.

Now, on to February!

(The snowman pictured above is one my girls and I “built” at the library this month by reading books to earn the pieces through the winter reading program.)

Best Books of 2008

As I mentioned in my Bookish Year in Review, this year has marked a return to reading for me.  I have read some thirty-seven books this year, not to mention the countless books I’ve read aloud to my children.  By many readers’ standards, this is a rather paltry total, I know.  However, when I consider the fact that in the two or three years prior to 2008, I probably did not read this many books all together, I think this is a pretty good start.  There have been a few standouts among those I’ve enjoyed.  These are my favorites of the year (click on the title link to read my full review):

1.  Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson is one of those that was not on my TBR list, so it was a pleasant surprise to me.  I adore what the librarian at my first real job called “pioneery stories,” and this one has a very strong female heroine, to boot.  This book is very deserving of its Newbery honor.  I never got around to reading the Newbery Medal winner from 2007, Penny from Heaven, but if it beat out Hattie Big Sky and Rules, it must be one more book.

2. The Birth Order Book by Kevin Leman caused me to analyze the birth order of everyone I conversed with for a good month.  Fascinating and entertaining!

3.  A Garden to Keep by Jamie Langston Turner renewed, if briefly, my confidence in the genre of Christian fiction.  I appreciated so much about this book:  its literariness (if that isn’t a word, it should be); its many, many allusions to works of literature; its introspective protagonist; and its hopeful theme.  This reminds me that I want to read more of Jamie Langston Turner’s works.

4.  I read The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean for the now-defunct but soon-to-be-resurrected Biblically Literate Book Club (‘though I’m not sure that’s still its title) over at Semicolon.  I found this book to be suspenseful and unusual, which is a great combination for someone who sometimes gets tired of the same-old, same-old.

5.  Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer is one of those books I didn’t expect to like as much as I did.  I usually do not “get” novels written in the form of poetry, even free verse.  This one works, though, and works well.

6.  This book, The Veritas Conflict by Shaunti Feldhahn, is the second from the genre of Christian fiction that I have in my Best Books of 2008 list, so I’m sort of contradicting what I’ve said before about Christian fiction.  However, I enjoyed this book because it reminded me a lot of Peretti’s This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkess, both of which I read and re-read as a teenager.  This is an entertaining, engaging novel, not fine literature.

7.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak reminded me of the best parts of my graduate education in library science:  reading new literature (children’s and young adult) that sparked new ideas for teaching and discussion.  This book is unusual in a lot of ways (it is narrated by death, after all), but it did take me back to the familiar territory of World War II.  Highly recommended.

8.  It is not an understatement to say that Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry opened up a new world of literature to me.  Berry’s writings really resound in my heart and remind me of what is important.  I am a convert, for sure.  This was my favorite for the entire year.

9.  Devotions for Sacred Parenting by Gary L. Thomas is a gem of a parenting book:  it focuses on the real, true, nitty-gritty, spiritual aspect of parenting.  That seems like an oxymoron, but it’s not.  I’ve learned in my four-and-a-half years of parenthood that it is God’s greatest schoolroom for me.  Thomas writes about it with beauty and grace, and not a few allusions to other works of literature.  I have more of Thomas’s works waiting on my TBR bookshelf.

10.  Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton is a story of hope and redemption in a nation without hope.  Beautifully written and thoughtful, it reminded me a little of  Wendell Berry’s works (‘though certainly the setting is much more tragic).  I’m eager to watch the movie of this one and see how it compares.

Well, there they are.  All of these authors are new to me, so I am glad to add them to my list of favorites and look forward to reading more of their works in the future.  Have you read any of these authors, and if so, can you recommend other specific titles?

Edited to add:  11.  How could I forget Peace like a River by Leif Enger?  Oh my.  This is an unusual, delightful book with a surprise ending that I’m really glad I read.