I'm joining up with Carolyn Astfalk who hosts an #OpenBook Linkup on CatholicMom.com. (I still am working on "What I've Read in 2021" post, scheduled to run on December 31, 2021.) Here's what I've been reading this past month. The dates indicate when I finished the book.
11/7/21 The Musical Child: Using the Power of Music to Raise Children who are Happy, Healthy, and Whole - Joan Koenig - This was an interesting exploration of how music impacts children's brains. It focuses on birth - age 6. It combines neuroscience, psychology, anecdotes, and practical suggestions for incorporating more music in children's lives. If you have young children or work in educating young children, this book is definitely worth reading.
11/9/21 Where the Last Rose Blooms - Ashley Clark - Alice's mother disappeared during Hurricane Katrina and Alice has spent the last 16 years trying to find out what happened to her. Meanwhile, back in 1861 Charleston, Rose is a slave searching for her daughter Ashley (with the help of her abolitionist leaning owner Clara) after they are both sold and separated. This dual-timeline Christian inspirational includes suspense, romance, and mystery with a lesson of God being with us even in our darkest hours (a little bit of everything!). (Read for a book review publication)
11/15/21 Adore: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation - Fr. John Burns - This is a lovely journal to help prepare for Christmas featuring reflections on the scripture readings and collects (opening prayers) of the Mass. A nice feature is that this isn't tied to any particular year, so it can be used over and over again. I reviewed it here.
11/17/21 St. Dymphna's Playbook: A Catholic Guide to Finding Mental and Emotional Well-Being - Tommy Tighe - As someone who has struggled with mental health most of my life, I was eager to read this book. St. Dymphna is the patron saint of those who suffer from mental illness (she hears a lot from me as I pray for others who struggle with their mental and emotional health as well as for myself). What was wonderful about this book is that Tighe, a licensed marriage and family therapist, also knows what it is like to suffer from mental illness. Not that I would wish that on anyone, but having experienced it himself gives Tighe much more understanding than someone who has only studied about mental illness. This book is a great resource for anyone who might be struggling.
11/25/21 - Emily Writes - Jane Yolen - This is a children's book written by fellow Western Mass native Jane Yolen. It imagines Emily Dickinson as a young girl just learning how to read and write and make rhymes. It features sweet illustrations by Christine Davenier and would be a lovely way to introduce children to Dickinson. I also enjoyed the author's note (written for adults) at the end of the book.
11/25/21 - The Stranger in the Lifeboat - Mitch Albom - I always make a point of reading Albom's books when they come out. For one thing, they are relatively short and I can read them in a sitting or two. Second, I find them interesting. This one is about a group of people on a raft who have escaped from a sinking ship. A stranger comes to them in the water and says that he is the Lord. They let him on the boat, but it raises the question of would we recognize the Lord if he came back in human form. Albom frequently ponders questions of faith and God and heaven in his work and this one is no exception.
11/26/21 The Bookseller's Promise - Beth Wiseman - This Amish romance features Yvonne, a book buyer from Texas, who is on a mission to purchase a rare book from Jake Yantz, an Amish bookseller in Indiana. The problem? Jake promised his grandfather he would never sell the book, which is rumored to have the power to help save souls. Meanwhile, the romance portion involves Jake and his employee Eva. He realizes he's in love with her, but another young man in the community has made his feelings for Eva public knowledge and Jake believes he needs to do the honorable thing and step aside. This is the first in a series based in Amish bookstores and it was an enjoyable beginning. (Read for a book review publication)
11/28/21 A Piece of the World - Christina Baker Kline - This one was recommended on Franciscan Mom's Open Book post last month and I am so glad that I requested it from the library! It is a novel based on the life of Christina Olsen of Cushing, Maine, the woman in the famous painting "Christina's World" by Andrew Wyeth. It was a lovely and painful story about an independent spirit who happened to be in a disabled body.
For the past two-and-a-half years, I have been making my way through the Great Books Curriculum of Thomas Aquinas College (I'm currently working on the readings for sophomore year).
11/5/21 De Anima - Aristotle - I enjoyed reading this much more than Physics. This one is Aristotle's attempt to understand the soul. He defines the soul as being "the essential 'whatness' of a body" and states that the soul is inseparable from the body. There are also different abilities that a soul possesses with the most basic level belonging to plants and simple animals (the nutritive and reproductive qualities) with higher-order functions belonging to more complex animals. Those who have the ability to calculate are of the highest order. This was my last book in the philosophy section for sophomore year. I am now moving on to natural science.
11/13/21 On Generation and Corruption - Aristotle - This was Aristotle's attempt to explain how things grow and decay. I have to give him points for trying. Given the fact that the basic elements were understood at his time to be earth, fire, air, and water, it is very hard to explain how things grow. He certainly made a valiant (if inaccurate) attempt.
11/19/21 On the Principles of Nature - St. Thomas Aquinas - Aquinas is never an easy read. This was definitely a read only three pages a day kind of document with a lot of rereading of sentences involved. He was discussing different types of being, generation, corruption, principles of nature, and causes.
11/23/21 On the Combination of Elements - St. Thomas Aquinas - I wasn't able to find the full document of this one, but I read some excerpts. As the name suggests, Aquinas was pondering how elements combine to form new things.
My ten-year-old daughter has been enjoying a series of books about dogs by W. Bruce Cameron. This month, she and I read Bailey's Story. I enjoy these stories as much as she does! She also asked for a "scary" book, so we read School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari. I found it odd, but she enjoyed it!
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2 comments:
Thanks for linking to An Open Book! I was able to take my oldest children to Kindermusik weekly from infancy through about kindergarten/first grade, and the instructor shared so many of the wonderful benefits of music to young children. I'm so glad that we had that time.
I admire you sticking with your reading program! I need to do that.
Wow, St. Dymphna's Playbook sounds awesome! I've struggled with mental health stuff a decent amount over the past few years, and that sounds like a great book-I love how it sounds like the book draws together practical activities and techniques with a solidly grounded Catholic approach (too often, resources seem to either be only focused on Catholic spiritual practices OR only talk about secular practices-with perhaps a sprinkling of non-Christian spirituality thrown in).
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