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!
2-9-24 Befriending St. Joseph: Finding Faith, Hope, and Courage in the Seven Sorrows Devotion - Deacon Greg Kandra - St. Joseph's feast day is March 19th. This book would make for wonderful spiritual reading or an at-home retreat during this month. It offers short chapters that reflect on the seven times St. Joseph is mentioned in Scripture. Learn more about St. Joseph and the lessons he has to teach us. It also offers several prayers to use to ask for St. Joseph's intercession in our time of need.
2-11-24 One Thousand Gifts - Ann Voskamp - I learned about this book from a review on CatholicMom.com. Ann embraced gratefulness as a way to counteract the bitterness in her life and as a way to reflect on Eucharist (which means Thanksgiving). She is a nondenominational Christian so her understanding of Eucharist is different than a Catholic one, but there are some similarities. She reflects on being grateful in times of trial (she has had more than her share of trauma). I found her writing style a bit disjointed in parts (this was a New York Times bestseller - many people evidently disagree with me), but I loved the idea and it was just what I needed because I was looking for something to do for Lent for the prayer component. Thanksgiving is a form of prayer. I'm going to try to make my own list of 1000 things to be grateful for - 25 per day for 40 days. I have no idea if I will manage this or not, but I'm going to try.
2-15-24 The Song of Sourwood Mountain - Ann H. Gabhart - Mira Dean’s fiance died five years earlier, along with her dreams of being a wife and mother, but she enjoys her life as a schoolteacher in Louisville. When a former classmate she hasn't seen in years, a missionary in Appalachia, asks her to marry him and be a teacher to the children of Sourwood, she thinks the idea is preposterous. However, when circumstances conspire against her, she realizes that God wants her to accept his offer. This was a lovely story of following God's will, even when it takes you to unexpected places. (Read for a book review publication)
2-17-24 Life in Five Senses - Gretchen Rubin - This book went along nicely with the gratitude project I'm doing for Lent. It was all Rubin's quest to appreciate the world more through her five main senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. It encourages paying more attention to how we experience the world.
2-19-24 1000 Words: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round - Jame Attenberg - This book is partly reflections on the writing life by the author and partly a collection of essays on writing by other authors. Some of the writers I had heard of; others I had not. Many of the essays had been written during the pandemic and spoke of isolation or the struggle to write when their personal circumstances had been upended. I enjoyed reading the different essays, although a few of them used some vulgarity. Basically, the purpose of the book was to inspire readers to continue to focus on their writing even when it is hard and they feel uninspired.
2-23-24 The Proposal Plot - Kathleen Fuller - This is enjoyable Amish fiction about a headstrong young woman and her new neighbor who, after getting his heart broken badly, wants nothing to do with women. Unfortunately, his nephew and her sister fall in love, and they are recruited to chaperone them all too often. (Read for a book review publication)
2-24-24 ADHD for Smart Ass Women - Tracy Otsuka - I don't love the title of this book (it is based on the podcast of the same name), but the book itself was quite good. I read it to help understand / help my teenage daughter who has an ADHD brain. I recommend it to any women who have ADHD or have teenager daughters who have ADHD. It offers practical tips on time management, managing money, sleep challenges, exercise, and nutrition.
2-27-24 Our Lady of Good Help: Prayer Book for Pilgrims - Fr. Edward Looney - My mother gave me this book for Christmas and it is a lovely exploration of the Marian apparition at Champion, Wisconsin, in 1859. Fr. Looney describes the apparition, compares it with other Marian apparitions, and explains its message for all of us. The second half of the book is a collection of prayers including preparing to receive sacraments, novenas, and prayers for different locations at the National Shrine for those fortunate enough to make a pilgrimage there.
3-6-23 Carnegie's Maid - Marie Benedict - I've read a few books by Marie Benedict over the years, but I had somehow missed this one. I'm so glad I picked it up! I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of a young Irish woman working as a lady's maid for Andrew Carnegie's mother and developing a relationship with her wealthy son.
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).
2-16-24 The Sense of Music - Victor Zuckerkandl - The next group of selections I am working on is on music. This particular book wouldn't be considered part of the "Great Book" canon, but was written to help students studying the Great Books to better understand music as listeners. I have a basic understanding of how to read music. I learned some when I was a child and I have been using the "Simply Piano" App for the past couple of years to try to learn how to play the piano better, which I enjoy and is good for exercising my brain. I did not understand everything in this book, but I learned many things about musical theory.
2-29-24 Fundamentals of Music - Boethius - The author of this work lived from 480-524 and was examining the mathematical underpinnings of Western musical theory. He focused on translating Greek works on music and shaped the discipline of music during the middle ages. While the mathematical portions of this book were beyond me, I did understand some of the philosophical musings.
3-9-24 Tonality - Molly Gustin - This is another relatively modern book (1969) and I was excited to see it was by a woman, a true rarity on this book list. She was writing to argue that seven-tone diatonic scales and better than 12 tone chromatic scales. She discussed tone, consonance, mode, key. pitch, meter, and aesthetics. I understood parts of it. In this journey through music, I have learned that music is much more complicated than I ever thought!
2 comments:
I can't recommend enough the practice of naming things you are grateful for. We name things each night as part of our family prayer, but I began counting more when I was participating in Erin McCole Cupp's prayer of gratitude and surrender, which used the decade beads on the rosary to name things grateful for. Sometimes I'll just challenge myself to name 20 things I'm grateful for in the room, or between dinner and bedtime. I never run out of things to be grateful for. There are so many!
I have a digital copy of Carnegie's Maid and have been meaning to read it for years. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.
Thanks for linking to An Open Book!
Wow, Rubin's book sounds really, really interesting! I'm adding that to my list. The Girl in the Lake sounds really good, too.
If it makes you feel any better, I was not a huge fan of Voskamp's book. I am 100% on board with gratitude (its a practice we do as a family daily), but some of the things she wrote didn't fully jive with me, and her writing style was hard for me since it was a long book (if it was a shorter piece I'd be fine with it, but not multiple chapters). I'm glad, though, that the book has benefited many people!
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