Luggage and Literature

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - St. Augustine

November 2018 Reading List

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Every month I try to read at least one book from the following categories: nonfiction, devotional, and fiction. And this year I’m participating in the 2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge, so I’m also going to be listing which category my books fulfill. If you want to join in on the fun, you can check out the list of categories here! This is my November 2018 Reading List, my brief reviews and book recommendations for November 2018. Hopefully I’ll provide you with some inspiration for your future reading as well!

Books Finished:

Choosing Real: An Invitation to Celebrate When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned by Bekah Jane Pogue

This book was wonderful. It was a good reminder that life is sometimes hard, and that we can not only survive but thrive in the midst of challenges, as well as grow from them. And it was also a reminder to be thankful for the blessings in our life, because even in the midst of crummy stuff, we are still blessed.

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

I feel as if it’s been quite a while since I read a book that I just adored (although that’s not quite accurate when I look at the other books that I’ve read recently). But nonetheless this book is nothing short of extraordinary. It follows a girl named Leni through her teenage years and 20s. Her father is a Vietnam POW with major PTSD issues, and her mother is basically a battered woman. The family moves to the bush in Alaska, and interesting things ensue. I could not put this book down. It made me cry, but I also loved the story and ending. Read this book.

Count Your Blessings: Inspiration from the Beloved Hymn by Barbour Publishing, Inc.

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book with song lyrics in the title

A compilation of prayers, quotations, and song lyrics on various topics, this book is a good reminder to be thankful for our blessings. Pretty simple.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

I’ve had this on hold on audio from Libby/Overdrive for quite some time, and my hold came up this month. I wasn’t sure quite what to expect, other than that it was nonfiction. The author makes some valid points about how we really need to choose what to care about, and not give a f*ck about other things and people’s opinions. It reminded me of a secular version of Lysa TerKeurst’s The Best Yes. Not bad.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a cyberpunk book

Mike and I saw the movie version of this right when it came out. Mike listened to the audiobook shortly thereafter, and I finally got around to it this month. Both the book and the movie are wonderful, but are very different. There is excitement, nostalgia, love, friendship, and fun in this book in equal parts. I recommend this book.

 

Books in Progress:

Twelve Women of the Bible by Lysa TerKeurst (My bible study is working through this book and the associated videos)

Flawed Convictions: “Shaken Baby Syndrome” and the Inertia of Injustice by Deborah Tuerkheimer

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

The Brave Ones: A Memoir of Hope, Pride and Military Service by Michael J. Macleod

Where Should We Begin?: The Arc of Love by Esther Perel

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

 

Books Abandoned:

The Likeness by Tana French

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book by an author with the same first or last name as you

October 2018 Reading List

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Every month I try to read at least one book from the following categories: nonfiction, devotional, and fiction. And this year I’m participating in the 2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge, so I’m also going to be listing which category my books fulfill. If you want to join in on the fun, you can check out the list of categories here! This is my October 2018 Reading List, my brief reviews and book recommendations for October 2018. Hopefully I’ll provide you with some inspiration for your future reading as well!

Books Finished:

Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book set on another planet

If you’re an astronomy buff, this book is great. It is very similar to other books and shows by Neil deGrasse Tyson. The only downside is that the audiobook isn’t narrated by deGrasse Tyson.

Tricked by Kevin Hearne

I didn’t like this book nearly as much as the previous entries in the Iron Druid Chronicles, but it was still pretty good. It follows Atticus in his dealings with a Native American trickster god, and in dealing with the consequences of his decisions and actions in the previous book. I’m hopeful that I’ll like the next one better.

True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall by Mark Salzman

This was my book club’s October book. It is the true story of the author’s experience conducting a writing program in a juvenile detention facility. As an attorney who practices juvenile law, I had some issues with things that happened in the book. I know that the passage of time has meant the changing of laws relating to how juveniles can be held, and what sentences they can receive, so that is part of the explanation. Also, the author and kids are in a different state, so some of it can also be based on differences in state law. Although the story was a compelling look at why we should be treating juveniles differently from adults, and an honest look at childhood trauma, it wasn’t as moving as I’d expected it to be. Perhaps this is based on me hearing these kinds of stories and dealing with kids just like these in the course of my work. It was a great book club pick, and sparked some honest and interesting discussion.

Daniel, Man of God: Being a Man of Character in a Babylon World by Dwight L. Moody

I picked this book up from Amazon for free, and although it is clearly written for and to young men, it still had lessons applicable to women about how we need to stand up for our beliefs. It was good, but not the best spritual/devotional book that I’ve ever read.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book with an ugly cover

I read and enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, and then immediately put this book on my to read list. The book is told from the perspectives of different people after a traumatic event has occurred, while they try to figure out exactly what happened and why, and they try to cope and figure out where their lives should now go. I really liked it, right up to the very end. I was a bit disappointed with the ending, but can understand why Ng wrote it that way. My book club has picked this book for February, so I’m looking forward to discussing it with everyone.

Deadwood by Pete Dexter

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book tied to your ancestry

I purchased this book without reading the description closely enough. Although I thought it was a nonfiction look at Deadwood, but it was very plainly a fictionalized telling of some real and some not so real events. I picked it out because my family has lived in the Black Hills for generations, and my grandmother grew up in Lead-Deadwood. Although the story was interesting, I struggled a bit with the language, and the author’s preoccupation with a certain piece of male anatomy that he constantly calls a “peeder.” It’s distracting and really unnecessary. So if you’re prepared to overlook this, then this might be the book for you. I found it to be a disappointment, but did read all the way to the end.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

After reading Manhattan Beach and enjoying it, I was looking forward to reading A Visit from the Goon Squad, especially since it was a Pulitzer Prize winner. But perhaps this book just wasn’t right for me, because I just didn’t fee like I ‘got it.’ Essentially it’s written from the perspectives of different people all writing about a couple of main characters and their encounters with them over the years. But at the end, it felt like the book totally switched genres and was then telling this dystopian story set in the future. I just didn’t know what to make of it. I’ve thought quite a bit about the book, and have read a lot of other reviews of it, thinking perhaps I just missed something. And readers of this book tend to fall into two different categories: loved it, or didn’t get it. So I’m not alone, I guess.

An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew by Annejet van der Zijl

This book was the super interesting biography of Allene Tew, who I’d never heard of before picking this up as a Kindle First book. Her life was incredibly fascinating, and the book is well written. I recommend it.

 

Books in Progress:

Twelve Women of the Bible by Lysa TerKeurst (My bible study is working through this book and the associated videos)

Flawed Convictions: “Shaken Baby Syndrome” and the Inertia of Injustice by Deborah Tuerkheimer

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

The Brave Ones: A Memoir of Hope, Pride and Military Service by Michael J. Macleod

Choosing Real: An Invitation to Celebrate When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned by Bekah Jane Pogue

 

Books Abandoned:

None.

September 2018 Reading List

by //

Every month I try to read at least one book from the following categories: nonfiction, devotional, and fiction. And this year I’m participating in the 2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge, so I’m also going to be listing which category my books fulfill. If you want to join in on the fun, you can check out the list of categories here! This is my September 2018 Reading List, my brief reviews and book recommendations for September 2018. Hopefully I’ll provide you with some inspiration for your future reading as well!

Books Finished:

Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study Of The Years 1900-1925 by Vera Brittain

This book is quite long, and had some slow-moving spots, so it took me a long, long time to read it. I found the section where Ms. Brittain talks about her nursing career during World War I and of the correspondence with her brother and fiance most interesting.

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek

This book examines various leaders and teams in efforts to examine what the differences are between the successful and less so. I found some of the information quite illustrating, but some of it was oversimplified. And other portions appeared to be downright insulting of those who think or act differently than the author. I’m not sad that I read this, but I’m not certain that I’d recommend it to others.

The Winter Station by Jody Shields

This book is the story of a Russian doctor living in Manchuria with his Chinese wife during an epidemic. I expected the novel to be quite different from how it actually turned out to be, based on the book description. It wasn’t as gripping or fast-paced or engaging as I expected. But I listened to the book in its entirety.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

This was a great book, and I flew through reading it. Essentially it’s the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the history of English dictionaries, and the story of two men who were instrumental in creating it. Not so spoiler alert, one of them was locked up in an insane asylum. I recommend this fairly short, but very interesting book.

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book that was being read by a stranger in a public place

Although I’d previously seen the movie (and it is one of the most violent that I’ve probably ever seen), I wanted to read the book. This book was so riveting that I flew threw it in about a week and a half. I can’t wait until my Libby hold on the second book in the series comes due, so that I can find out what happens in the second installment.

Hexed by Kevin Hearne

Hammered by Kevin Hearne

Hexed and Hammered are books two and three of the Iron Druid Chronicles. I really liked both of them as well. If you check out book one (Hounded) and like it, you’re bound to like these as well.

The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book about a problem facing society today

Having read both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, I wanted to read more about the theories behind both books. Ayn Rand’s theories are intriguing to me, as I see quite a lot of sense in them. But I don’t agree with all of them, as I don’t think that they completely comply with the tenants of Christianity and Christ’s teachings.

Feeding the Dragon by Sharon Washington

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book by an author of a different ethnicity than you

This book was an Audible Original, and I so enjoyed listening to it. The book is the story of a girl who grows up living in a library. Her voice, the narrative nature of the story, and the topic were incredibly engaging. I recommend it.

The Coming Storm by Michael Lewis

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book with a weather element in the title

An Audible Original, I picked this out based solely on the author. Michael Lewis previously wrote The Big Short, which I thought was fantastic. This book looked at the intersection of NASA, the National Weather Service, and politics. I mostly liked it, but there was a liberal bias to the book that I found to be distracting.

The Whistler by John Grisham

After reading a couple of Grisham novels lately that weren’t to my taste, I was very happy to find another that I loved. This book follows Lacy, an attorney working in the Florida Board of Judicial Conduct. She receives a tip about a judge who is completely corrupt and involved with a mafia in the panhandle of Florida. Murder, bribes, and legal thrills abound. This book is page turner, and I finished it in just a few days.

The Soul Winner: How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour by Charles H. Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon was a prominent and well-known preacher in the 1800s. This book is his guide to those who are interested in a career in ministry, as well as for those who want to see people go to Heaven. Some parts of it are quite dated, not applicable in the modern world. But much of it contains excellent information and tips to help people save souls.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

2018 PopSugar Challenge: a book about or set on Halloween

This was my book club’s pick. Although I’ve read the entire series twice before, I was really excited to talk with everyone about this book. If you’ve not read it before, what are you waiting for? It’s so fantastic. And many in our book club who’d been reluctant were mesmerized by the story.

 

Books in Progress:

Twelve Women of the Bible by Lysa TerKeurst (My bible study is working through this book and the associated videos)

Flawed Convictions: “Shaken Baby Syndrome” and the Inertia of Injustice by Deborah Tuerkheimer

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

The Brave Ones: A Memoir of Hope, Pride and Military Service by Michael J. Macleod

 

Books Abandoned:

None.

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