Open Book for May 2023

 

Welcome to  #OpenBook. 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!

 

4/5/23 The Ave Guide to the Scriptural Rosary - Michael Amodei - The Rosary is one of my favorite prayers. This is a lovely book that includes quotes from various popes on the importance of the Rosary as well as a brief history of the Rosary and why to pray it. It also contains the 15 Promises of Mary to those who pray the Rosary and an introduction to using Lectio Divina when praying the Rosary. An appendix offers the texts of additional Marian prayers. The bulk of this book, however, contains scripture verses to use while praying the Rosary, one for each prayer of the twenty mysteries. This is a wonderful resource to aid in prayerful, meditative recitation of the Rosary. 
 

4/7/23 Living with Blue and White - Editors of Victoria Magazine - This was a pretty coffee-table book that was a delight to look through. I don't really decorate with blue and white, but the images were lovely and soothing. 

4/12/23 Managing Millie - Susan Pope Sloan - This is the third book in a series and while it can function as a standalone, you'll probably appreciate it more if the other two books are read first. It takes place at the tail end of the Civil War and features a young Southern woman who has been displaced from her home by Union soldiers. When a young man she has been enamored with rescues her from an attacker and declares his love for her, she is eager to have him replace the memory of the vicious attack with a more loving one, but that decision has lasting consequences. He is a man on the run, trying to avoid fighting in the war, but soon he is taken prisoner and she does not know where he is.  I've enjoyed this series of books. It is interesting in that in the beginning of the books, all three books contain some of the same story but told from different perspectives. The latter half of the books, after the Civil War is ended, have stories that diverge. (Read for a book review publication)

4/16/23 Historic Houses of the Connecticut River Valley - Alain Munkittrick - This was a work of local history focusing on houses from Vermont through Connecticut (including in my hometown of Springfield, MA). I love history and old houses, so I enjoyed this book which featured many houses I have seen or heard of. It was sad to realize how many of these significant homes have been torn down.

4/22/23 If a Poem Could Live and Breathe: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt's First Love - Mary Calvi - I found this while browsing the "new" shelf at the library and I am so glad I did! It was a delight to read - historical fiction set in the late 1870s through early 1880s about Theodore Roosevelt, when he was a student at Harvard, and Alice Hathaway Lee, whom he fell in love with. 

4/24/23 The Unschool Challenge - Sue Elvis - In an ideal world, I'd be an unschooler. Alas, that never happened, but I have benefited from learning about unschooling (in fact, the first things I ever read about homeschooling way back in 2003 were about unschooling) and greatly appreciate the attitude that much can be learned simply through living life and embracing interests. Sue Elvis unschooled all of her now grown children and has much wisdom to offer on the topic. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about unschooling and how it works or if you simply want to broaden your understanding of education.  

4/24/23 The Ave Guide to Eucharistic Adoration - Michael Amodei  - This guide offers a short history of Eucharistic Adoration and a collection of prayers, quotes, scripture passages, and reflection questions to ponder while praying before the Blessed Sacrament. It's a convenient size book to bring to Adoration with you. If you are someone who struggles with knowing what to do during Adoration or if you aren't good at meditating (I'm horrible at it!), this book provides a tool to help spend a holy hour in prayer.

4/28/23 Adventures with the Saints - St. Joseph: The Foster-Father Saint - Maria Riley - I enjoyed this children's book about three young children who get to witness St. Joseph soon after the birth of Christ. As an adoptive mom, I especially appreciated that it acknowledged the big feelings and trauma as well as the love that are all a part of being a foster child / adopted child.

4/29/23 The Art of Brevity - Grant Faulkner - I first encountered Grant Faulkner through his work with National Novel Writing Month, but he is also a cofounder of "100 Word Story." In this book, he focuses on the art of composing a story with fewer than 1000 words. Most of his emphasis is on stories much shorter than that (the 100 word and less variety). This is a great book for writers to read because it challenges you to consider how to make the most of every word you use. More words do not always make writing better or more effective. As an aside, I love this minimalist cover in which the title is formed as a found poem in a block of text about writing. 

 4/30/23 A Novel Proposal - Denise Hunter - If you like light, clean romance, this story is a delight! Sadie has written two westerns that had poor sales and now must write a romance to keep her publisher happy. Two problems with that: she knows nothing about writing a romance and has never been in love. She rents a beach cottage for the summer where she meets her broody next-door neighbor, Sam (you see where this is going, right?). She also finds a engagement ring in a donated book and is determined to find the owner. This story starts each chapter with a stated trope from romance and then has the chapter match the trope. It pokes fun at romances while at the same time paying homage to the genre. It was so much fun!

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). 

4/9/23 The Consolation of Philosophy - Boethius - Boethius was writing in the 6th century from Rome where he is in prison and will be ultimately be executed as a traitor. The Consolation of Philosophy is an imagined dialogue between the author and the personification of philosophy. I enjoyed this book which tackled issues that have bothered me since I was a child such as the problem of evil, why bad things happen to good people, and the struggle to accept both God's foreknowledge and our free will. Are the answers satisfactory? No, but only because there are no real answers. Ultimately, it comes down to God is God and we are not, and some things we just can't understand. But Boethius does a good job of wrestling with the questions.

My twelve-year-old daughter and I read the following book this month:

4/26/23 - Endling: The First - Katherine Applegate - We continued with book 2 of the Endling series. This is a middle-grade fantasy series about a dairne named Byz and her companions who are trying to find other dairnes in the world after the dairne species has been declared extinct. It has lots of adventure and unusual creatures.

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