Reading Update

Book #41 of 2016 was State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett.  I recently read Elizabeth Gilbert's book on creativity, Big Magic.  Gilbert and Patchett are good friends, and there are lots of references to Patchett's books in Gilbert's book, so I looked for them in the library.  This one is a novel about the Amazon, and it's wonderful and absorbing and satisfying.  Highly recommended.

Book #42 was Good Night, God: Night Time Devotions to End Your Day God's Way, by David C. Cook.  This was one I'd read a few pages of in the middle of the night if I couldn't sleep.  I haven't been sleeping very well, so I finished it the other night.

Book #43 was a YA verse novel about the 2011 Tohoku quake in Japan, Up from the Sea, by Leza Lowitz.  This book is an easy read, due to its format, but the subject matter is heavy.

Book #44 was A Well-Worn Path: Thirty-One Daily Reflections for the Worshipping Heart, by Dan Wilt.  I have actually read this quite a few times; it's designed to be reread every month.  I've just never listed it in my book total.

Book #45 was When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances, by Ed Underwood.  Underwood shares his own experiences dealing with a debilitating illness.

Book #46 was another Patchett title, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, a collection of Patchett's short non-fiction.

Book #47 was Kwame Alexander's new book, Booked, and yes, I did download it and read it the day it came out.  I liked it a lot and will probably share it with my seventh graders, since it's about soccer.

Book #48 was Together Tea, by Marjan Kamali.  This is about a family of immigrants from Iran.  I love books about families of immigrants, wherever they are from, and as I had just recently watched the movie of Persepolis with my daughter, I was particularly interested in this story.

Book #49 was The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life's Hard, by Kara Tippetts.  Tippetts was a blogger who died of cancer a year ago.  This book is heartbreaking but well worth reading.

Book #50 was The Selection, by Kiera Cass, a goofy YA title about a Bachelor-type wife-choosing competition by a prince in a bizarre dystopian future of the United States.  Silly, but I'm reading the second one now.

Book #51 was a reread, Trouble, by Gary D. Schmidt.  Actually I have read it many times, since I've been sharing it with my eighth graders for the last several years.  This time I read it aloud to my husband, who liked it as much as I do. Reading aloud is one of my very favorite things to do, and Schmidt's beautiful prose is a special delight. “The world is Trouble . . . and Grace. That is all there is,” says Henry, the protagonist, at the end of the book.  So true, and this book is one example of Grace.

This post is linked to today's Saturday Review of Books.