#OpenBook for February 2024

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!

 

1-6-24 Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World - Jean Granneman & Andre Solo -  I am definitely a sensitive person (I scored 30 out of 32 on the in-book test). I always thought it was simply due to being an introvert, but while there is some overlap, sensitive people can be extroverted or introverted. This book was written for people to "stop seeing sensitivity as a flaw and to start seeing it as a gift." It shows readers how to make the most of their sensitivity and offers tips on how to live and work with others who see the world differently. If you or someone you love falls into this category, I recommend reading this book. I definitely recommend it for parents who struggle to understand their child's sensitivity. If you have ever uttered the words, "Why are you so sensitive?" or "Suck it up, buttercup," this book is for you!

 

1/12/24 Where Hope Begins - Heidi Chiavaroli - This is the second book in a Little Women themed series. This installment focuses on Meg, who is struggling in her marriage and with caring for her stepson who has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. It vividly shows their struggle with this disease. While I cannot speak to the accuracy of the portrayal, the author states she interviewed several people who had experience with Type 1 diabetes before writing it. I definitely learned a lot in reading it. 

1/13/24 Just Once - Karen Kingsbury - I've read many of Kingsbury's books and enjoyed them. This was her first attempt at a World War II era romance and she did a great job telling the story of Irvel Holland who was dating one brother while loving another. After Pearl Harbor, all three are drawn into the war in various capacities, including Irvel's role as a spy which she can tell no one about. Kingsbury skillfully balances the horrors of war with a love story. If you enjoyed The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, you'll enjoy this book.

1-13-24 The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary - Sarah Ogilvie - I was first introduced to the people behind the Oxford English Dictionary in the fictional The Dictionary of Lost Words. Creating the OED was an incredible undertaking. This is a nonfiction book which explores the many volunteers who read books and sent in suggestions of words to include along with the reference where they found it used. Ogilvie divides the volunteers into alphabetical categories from A for Archeologist to Z for Zealots. I only read about half of the book but it was enough to give me a feel for the wide variety of people who left their mark on the OED. 

 

1-16-24 Understanding Divine Mercy - Fr. Chris Alar, MIC - This is a lovely book explaining the Divine Mercy message. Whether you are familiar with the Divine Mercy message and devotion or this is your first time hearing about it, this book is well-worth reading. It would be great to read during Lent.

1-21-24 The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin - This book wins the award for the oddest cover! I'm always interested in books on creativity and I read about this one somewhere and requested it from the library. It had no "About the Author" so I had to look up who Rick Rubin is. It turns out that he is a famous music producer. The book itself was very good with lots to contemplate about living a creative life and dealing with the ups and downs of that reality. It definitely falls into the spiritual but not religious category where there is an amorphous higher power that leads us to create. If you are looking for a book on the gift of creativity from a Catholic spirituality, may I suggest The Work of Our Hands: The Universal Gift of Creativity which I wrote a few years ago (it is only $2.99 on Kindle!). 

1-21-24 The Songbird of Hope Hill - Kim Vogel Sawyer - This was a lovely story of redemption in which a prostitute finds a new life and love at a refuge for former ladies of the evening. (Read for a book review publication.)

 

1-27-24 The Elusive Truth of Lily Temple - Joanna Davidson Politano - This book was different from most books I read. The book description describes it as "a whimsical and layered tale" set in 1903 Edwardian England. It was part fairy-tale, part mystery, part allegory, part romance. It had a lot going on and sometimes I was a bit confused, but it all worked out in the end. Lily Temple is a film actress who constantly reinvents herself, keeping her real identity and her past hidden. Peter Driscoll is an inquiry agent who has been hired to investigate the mystery of a missing gem, which happens to be in Lily's possession. (Read for a book review publication)

1-28-24 Different Kinds of Minds - Temple Grandin - This is a book for teens, especially for those who identify as neurodivergent. It is very similar to her book Visual Thinking, just designed for a slightly younger audience. It helps explains how some brains see the world differently than others and that our school system should adapt to teaching those learners (she offers the example that when she was young there was many more opportunities for hands-on learning such as shop classes and home economics.) She also talks about the ways people with different types of brains can work together to solve problems. 

1-28-24 Turn to the Cross: Daily Prayers for Lent and Holy Week -Josh Noem - This is a Lenten devotional that offers a Scripture passage or quote, a reflection passage, prayers, and reflection question for each day of Lent. It focuses on the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and will help deepen your prayer life this Lent. 

1-28-24 Messages of Perseverance for Lent 2024 - Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran. This duo has put together a number of these short devotional books for Advent and Lent. It was a bit odd that this one started on the first Sunday of Lent rather than Ash Wednesday. These are very short reflections that, as the title suggests, focus on persevering in prayer and faith even when the road is hard. These are great for a quick spiritual pick-me-up.

1-28-24 Behold Your Mother: Marian Stations of the Cross - Marge Steinhage Fenelon - This book takes a unique approach to the Stations of the Cross. They are told from the first-person perspective of a child watching Mary as she watches her son's suffering and death. The child knows that they have somehow contributed to both Mary and Jesus's suffering and wants to comfort Mary. While written for adults, because of the child's perspective, these could also be used in a family or classroom setting with children.

 

2-1-24 Saint John Bosco: The Juggling Saint - Maria Riley - This is the third in a series of books in which three siblings time travel back to meet important saints (think Magic Tree House books or the Chime Travelers). In this one, young Joshua is scared to start at a new school for second grade. The siblings meet St. John Bosco who helps Joshua know that God will take care of him at school. 

2-3-24 The Bookshop of Yesterdays - Amy Meyerson - I enjoyed this story which was part mystery / part journey of personal discovery. A young woman is bequeathed a bookstore from her estranged uncle. He also leaves her a literary scavenger hunt for her to discover the truth about her past.

2-4-24 The Secret Lives of Introverts - Jenn Granneman - I'm always happy to read a book that celebrates introverts! This one offers concrete suggestions on how to function in the world while respecting our own need to recharge after human interaction. It covers personal relationships in families, dating, friendships, and in the workplace. It also has sections for extroverts to read on how to relate to and care for the introverts in their lives.

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 junior year). 

1-6-24 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy -Sir Isaac Newton - This was another book I skimmed due to my limited understanding of the math and science involved. Newton wrote this in 1685-1686. It began with his laws of motion (which I actually recognized)! It goes on to discuss the motion of various bodies, explores the motion of orbits, the way gravity attracts spherical bodies such as planets, the motion of fluids, and the laws that govern motion in the wider universe (space). 

1-20-24 When I was searching for the next book on my list I came across this document from Thomas Aquinas College that had the math readings for the first semester of junior year: https://www.thomasaquinas.edu/sites/default/files/media/file/junior-math-readings-vol1.pdf It was great! It had explanations and excerpts (so I didn't have to read the full books!). Alas, there doesn't seem to be a similar document available online for the second semester readings.

Anyway, I read an excerpt from Intro to the Analytic Art by Francois Viete. Viete was a French mathematician whose work on new algebra helped introduce the world to modern algebra in 1591. I could actually understand parts of this one and it was cool to see how algebra was developed!

I also read excerpts from Viete's Standard Enumeration of Geometrical Results and Rene Descartes The Geometry. I didn't understand very much of those!

1-27-24 Quadrature of the Parabola - Archimedes - Archimedes was writing to a fellow mathematician in this document, sending him a geometrical theorem.. Archimedes was attempting to square the segment bounded by a straight line and a section of a right-angled cone (a parabola). 

On the plus side, I am now done with math for this section and can move on to reading other things that I might have a better chance of comprehending.

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

 

1-17-24 Project F - Jeanne DuPrau - This is a post-apocalyptic novel set a few hundred years in the future, a time in which all fossil fuels are banned. An inventor wants to build a flying machine and uses black dust (coal) to fuel it. A teenage boy, Keith, gets involved in the project. Overall, this book was meh. It is a pro-environment book that does make you think about our reliance on fossil fuels, but some parts of it didn't make sense like the fact that they had trains (how did they run?). There were also some subplots that seemed to have little to do with the story.

 

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