What's in My Book Basket?

This post is actually 100% for me because I seem to be having a hard time remembering what I'm reading lately.  I'm going to put it all together in this post so I can come back and remind myself what I'm doing.  

Yes, something is wrong with my brain and my ability to focus--too much going on!

 

• Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias:  I'm reading this because it's the January selection for Carrie's Book Club.  I was intimidated--it's a deep book about defending our faith and living our faith and the writers are waaaay smarter than I am.  I will confess that I have only read the introduction and the first two chapters, but it's actually a great book and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.  I can only read it when kiddos are sleeping and when I have a chunk of time to really get into it (reminiscent of Crime and Punishment) because my brain isn't accustomed to working quite this hard, but once I get into it, I'm finding it readable and thought-provoking.  You can see the table of contents here to appreciate what great things I'm getting to learn about even as I'm not promising I will have it finished by the end of the month.

• The Holy Bible:  I'm continuing the "Read through the Bible chronologically in 182 days" challenge and very much enjoying it.  This is a really fun way to get an overview of the big picture again, and I'm enjoying the way "trivial" facts are standing out to me by reading a larger portion at once.  For example, this is the first time I've realized that Uriah the Hittite was one of David's closest "valiant men" (we all tend to remember him as the guy that got sent to his death in the front lines so no one would know David had gotten his wife pregnant).  I am also appreciating the way this schedule interweaves the psalms David wrote with the accounting of the history in Samuel and Chronicles.  Fascinating--really adds to the big picture.  Finally, I am reading the Bible in the English Standard translation--a translation I am unfamiliar with, so that also makes the reading fresh for me and my temptation to skim over verses I've memorized in the past is removed since I didn't memorize them in this translation. 

• Loving the Little Years:  Motherhood in the Trenches by Rachel Jankovic:  Okay, I'm going to just get the negative out of the way right off the bat.  This book is too short!  Yep, that's my big complaint.  It's requiring a great deal of discipline to savor this book in small bites.  The author is the mother of five kiddos five and under (one set of twins) and she truly has a gift.  I'm finding this book to be 1) very encouraging, 2) funny, and 3) surprisingly insightful.  What a little gem!  If you are a "mother of littles", trust my promise that you will love this breath of fresh air.

• What I Learned in Narnia by Douglas Wilson:  I could rave about this book, but will save that for a better review later.  We started back to school this week and the big kids have been applying their worldview studies to an in-depth analysis of CS Lewis's worldview as evidenced in the Chronicles of Narnia.  We're having a blast!!  My kiddos are so smart and insightful and NEAT! (Whoops, that just slipped out!)  Anyway, we're sharing Wilson's book together--great times!

• And to continue the Lewis theme, Alan, the big kids and I are also enjoying "The Screwtape Letters" together.  I'm having so much more fun with this reading than I did the first time I read it--homeschooling high school truly IS a reward for sticking with it all the other years. 

• Organize for a Fresh Start:  Embrace Your Next Chapter in Life by Susan Fay West:  I started reading this as something of a joke because those who know me well know organizing my home is not exactly my strongest talent (a-hem).  But I've actually found it rather interesting and at 32% of the way through it (hey, it was free for my Kindle, what can I say??!) I am getting some good ideas as we prepare to move.  Don't expect anything *too* major, but small steps count, right?!

Okay, there--phew!  This is not a list of books I hope to read; these are the books I am currently reading.  I *must* finish them before I get to start any other books. (Ha! We'll see how that works out!)