I'm joining up with Carolyn Astfalk who hosts an #OpenBook Linkup on CatholicMom.com. Here's what I've been reading this past month. The dates indicate when I finished the books. Thanks for stopping by!
9/19/22 Secrets of the Sonnets - Samantha Hastings - This is a romance/mystery set in 1812 England. Miranda Hatch is determined to go down in history as a Shakespearean scholar despite her gender. She and Lord Robert Hamilton go on a hunt for Shakespearean manuscripts, discovering some surprises in the process. I really enjoyed it! (Read for a book review publication.)
9/21/22 Beginning Well: 7 Spiritual Practices for the First Year of Almost Anything - Joel Stepanek - I've never been very good at adapting to change, even positive change. This is a great guidebook to embracing change and starting anew in ways both big and small.
9/25/22 Inspired -Understanding Creativity - Matt Richtel - I've always been fascinated by creativity, especially the connections between faith and creativity. Richtel interviews several influential creative people, explores some psychological studies, and briefly examines the connection the impact of faith on creativity (note that the author is agnostic but not anti-faith). He had a special emphasis on creativity in 2020 in the midst of the height of Covid (which was when he was writing this book). This was a book I wanted to love but didn't. I did find it moderately interesting.
9/25/22 Holyoke Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone - Rusty Clark - I continued my exploration of local history with this interesting book on the history and tombstones of Holyoke, Massachusetts, a nearby city where many of my ancestors lived and worked and where I went to high school.
10/1/22 Images of America: Holyoke - More on local history with this one. I love these Images of America books - they have them for almost every city. They combine pictures with brief text and give you a true feel for a place.
10-2-22 The Love We Vow - Victoria Everleigh - I really enjoyed this contemporary tale, so much so that I bought the next book in the series. The Amazon description of this one sums it up nicely, so I'm sharing that:
TV news reporter Violet Rosati thought she’d be married with kids and living in the suburbs by now. Instead, she’s single, thirty-one, and starting a new job at a TV station in Portland. Her move to Maine brings her closer to her boyfriend, Jude, who she hopes will propose soon. He knows and accepts everything about her—even her darkest secret.
However, her new church brings an unexpected surprise. While in confession, she realizes the priest is her ex-boyfriend, Tristan. She hasn’t seen him in seven years and never told him about her pregnancy. He treated her terribly and broke her heart. Now he’s a priest?
As she faces old wounds, she finds Father Tristan to be kind, empathetic, and apologetic. Old feelings reemerge. But he’s a priest, and she loves Jude. How can she be drawn to a priest when she has such a wonderful boyfriend? Confused and torn, she struggles to forgive, love, and find redemption. Turning to her faith for direction, she learns that forgiving herself may be the hardest part of all.
Can she move on and find the life she wants with Jude? Or does she confront her feelings for Father Tristan and risk the lives they’ve both chosen?
10-2-22 Postcard History Series: Mount Holyoke College - When I was browsing the online library catalog for local history books, I came across this one. Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA is one of my favorite places to go for a walk. It is a beautiful campus and the library is breathtaking. I enjoyed looking through all the pictures in this book and reading the comments from students from long ago.
Since spring of 2019, 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).
9/11/22 The Rise of Rome, Books 1 -5 - Livy - It took me six weeks to trudge through this one, but I made it! Titus Livius lived from 59BC - AD17. He was a historian who felt that it was important to study the past so that you would choose what to imitate. I admire his desire to record the history and this record is important for our understanding of Rome. However, I found it dreadfully dull. There are lots of wars, a lot of civil strife. I've never been one for military history.
9/25/22 Marcellus - Plutarch - I'm in the "Plutarch's Lives" section of sophomore year. I read a few of these during the freshman year readings. Marcellus died in 208 BC and was a five-time consul of Rome. He fought against Hannibal.
Caius Marius - Plutarch - Caius Marius lived from 155-86 BC. He married Julia Caesar (of the famous Caesar family). He was skilled at war and was consul of Rome seven times.
My eleven-year-old daughter and I read the following book this month:
9/8/22 The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan - My daughter and I continued our trek through the Percy Jackson books with book 3 of the series.
3 comments:
That homeschooling book sounds wonderful! I'm all about relaxed homeschooling :)
I really love your little book The Work of Our Hands. It needs a wider audience! Thanks for linking to An Open Book.
Thank you so much!
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