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!
7-6-25 Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo van Gogh - I am a big fan of historical women's biofiction and this one did not disappoint. It tells the story of Jo van Gogh, who struggles to pull her life together after her husband Theo's death. Theo was the brother of Vincent van Gogh (also dead by this time) and worked to bring his brother's work to the attention of the art world. Jo picked up that task as those paintings are her son's inheritance and she is determined to make the most of it.
7-10-25
Food for Hope - Jeff Gottesfeld - This lovely picture book tells the story of John van Hengel, who started the world's first food bank in 1967.
7-13-25
Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life - Maggie Smith - As the subtitle suggests, this was a book encouraging writers in their creative journey. The author is primarily a poet, so there was a lot in here about poetry, but it can certainly be read and appreciated by any writer. It includes writing exercises and suggestions for additional reading.
7-13-25
God Made That! Catholic Nature Field Guide - Kathleen Hoenke and William Jacobs - Written by two Catholic ecologists, this book is a combination of religion and science books, focusing on discovering the beauty of the world from a Catholic perspective. It features profiles of many patron saints of ecology and introduces children (and adults) to some of the plants and animals that populate different environments. It also includes nature study activities. It's a black and white book that could have benefited from some color photographs. (Read for a book review publication).
7-14-25 As Far as the West - Barbara A. Curtis - This book is part of a series, but it works fine as a standalone. In May 1920, Lizzie Morgan leaves Caldwell, Idaho, to go to Boise to make her own way and discover how Benton Calloway, a long-time enemy of her family, is working to undermine her family's business. She doesn't plan on falling in love with Benton's son, who is working to pay back all the wrongs his father has done. This was a good story, but it was a bit heavy on its message of forgiveness. (Read for a book review publication.)
7-2-25
The Story She Left Behind - Patti Callahan Henry - I loved this story set in the 1950s about an illustrator whose mother disappeared when she was eight years old. Her mother was a child prodigy who published a best-selling book as a young person, but who then disappeared. Presumed dead, she left behind a manuscript of a sequel written in a secret language. When the daughter gets a call that her mother's satchel has been found in England along with a dictionary of the secret language, she takes her own eight-year-old daughter and makes the trip, hoping to find answers to the mystery that has haunted her. There is some non-graphic premarital sex in this book. Overall, though, it is a lovely story about family and imagination.
7-21-25 Jumping into Joy: Caitlyn and Peter's Rosary Adventures - Theresa Linden - This is an imaginative children's book in which Caitlyn and Peter visit the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary to learn more about the mysteries and discover the virtues associated with each mystery.
7-22-25 A Moment to Love - Tracie Peterson - This book is part of a series, but it works great as a standalone. Spencer Duval has one focus in life: hunting down the man who killed his father. His long-time friend Dr. Carrie Vogel just broke off her engagement with a fellow doctor who kept passing off her research as his own and plans to go home to Cheyenne. Spencer gets a lead that the man he is looking for might be in Cheyenne and asks Carrie if she will enter into a marriage of convenience with him so that he will have a cover to go there and search for him. They plan to annul the marriage after he finds the killer. After praying about it, she agrees. Of course, that will mean that they need to somehow fool her family into thinking their marriage is real and there is also the small complication that they might actually care about each other. I enjoyed this story! (Read for a book review publication).
7-27-25
The Boxcar Librarian - Brianna Labuskes - This is a dual-timeline/plot story about a boxcar library during the 1920s set up to serve mining communities and a group of writers working for the Works Progress Administration on a guide to Montana during the Great Depression. I found this one interesting, but the story ended up going places I never expected. It included murder, mystery, and romance. It did include some premarital sex. It was inspired by an actual boxcar library and the Works Progress Administration, but most of the characters and situations are fictional.
7-28-25 C is for Courting - Shelley Shepard Gray - This is the third book in the Amish ABCs series, in which four English siblings decide to go live with their Amish grandparents and discern whether they want to be Amish. So far in the series, two have been baptized and gotten married. This book focuses on the oldest brother, Martin, who has decided Amish life is not for him, which would be fine except he is in love with an Amish woman, and sister Beth, who is unmarried and pregnant after a one-night stand with a long-time friend. She goes to work for a candle-making business to keep busy but also unexpectedly finds romance. If you are interested in this story, I suggest starting with the first book in the series: A is for Amish. (Read for a book review publication).
8-3-25
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier - This is historical biofiction about Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, who were fossil hunters in Lyme, England, in the early 1800s. Mary's findings helped the scientific community understand that some animals were now extinct, which raised questions about God and creation. I found this very interesting! Content notice: There is one non-graphic instance of premarital sex.
8-3-25
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: A Spiritual Portrait - Joseph I. Dirvin, C.M. - This is a reprint of a 1990 book:
The Soul of Elizabeth Seton, published in honor of the 50th anniversary of her canonization this September. I've read a great deal about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and feel like I know her well. This book emphasizes her spiritual development. It is arranged thematically, rather than chronologically, discussing her efforts to do God's will, her prayer life, her devotion to the Blessed Mother, her conversion to Catholicism, and preparing for death. Fr. Dirvin uses many quotes from St. Elizabeth's writings. It is a well-researched book. However, although it was written in 1990, it feels like it was written much earlier. It is very hagiographic in nature. Her humanity seems to get a bit lost in the portrait.
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).
Still in progress - I'm in Volume 3! - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
- Edward Gibbon - Gibbon was an English essayist, historian, and
politician who wrote this epic six-volume work between 1776 and 1789.
It's incredibly long, and I have little interest in the Roman Empire. It
is going to take me a while to get through this one.
My fourteen-year-old daughter and I read the following book this month:
7-22-25 Old School - Gordon Korman - My daughter and I both enjoyed this story about a 12-year-old boy who has grown up with his grandmother at a retirement community. He's been unofficially homeschooled by various well-educated members, but there was never any official paperwork, so the truant officer forces him to go to the local middle school. Dexter, as one might expect, does not fit in well, especially since he dresses like a senior citizen. But it turns out he and the middle-schoolers have lessons to teach other, and when he is suspended from school for using his Swiss army knife to fix a vending machine, the other kids start a protest. (My daughter was a bit disappointed that there was no large bird in this story. When we finished it, she was quite confused as to why there was a big bird on the cover. She had been apparently been waiting through the whole book to hear about the bird!)
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