I did read a few things that I really enjoyed this year. Here's the very brief recap:
Number of books: 45
Number of novels: 26
Non-fiction: 19
Read-alouds: 8. Five Little Peppers and Redwall both took a long time. I did enjoy reading Redwall once I got into it. Fun to read aloud with different accents. Will probably read another in the series.
Favorites: Mansfield Park, The Professor's House, A Room With a View, I Surf Therefore I Am, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki. Very different books enjoyed for different reasons.
Least favorites: Morrissey, Graced and Gifted, The Fault in Our Stars. Boring and overrated, all three. Ok, maybe The Fault in Our Stars wasn't boring, but it was so overrating and objectionable as a young adult book because of the love scene. Just leave it out. It's a YA book for goodness sake. Middle schoolers are grossed out by that kind of stuff.
Again not much spiritual reading. Again no Shakespeare or Dickens. But Trollope, which took a good deal of time, was like Dickens. And I've been dipping in and out of a book of essays of spiritual writing. Nonetheless, my reading goals for 2015 will remain the same: More Shakespeare, Dickens, and read alouds. Try to read closer to 50 books - not on a good start to that goal. And do more reading that will feed my soul instead of just entertain - although most of these classics do feed my soul.
Again not much spiritual reading. Again no Shakespeare or Dickens. But Trollope, which took a good deal of time, was like Dickens. And I've been dipping in and out of a book of essays of spiritual writing. Nonetheless, my reading goals for 2015 will remain the same: More Shakespeare, Dickens, and read alouds. Try to read closer to 50 books - not on a good start to that goal. And do more reading that will feed my soul instead of just entertain - although most of these classics do feed my soul.
Now it is past the middle of January, and I haven't finished a book. I've been reading my grandfather's biography and my literature book. I recently was reading the racy Kate Chopin story "The Storm" and doing some internet research on her life, when I discovered an amazing coincidence - I know her great-granddaughter! She teaches the docent classes for art class presenters at our kids' school. What things you can find on the internet! I sent her a fan letter via email, even though according to her remarks at the Kate Chopin International Society meeting last spring, she never met her great grandmother and really never read her books until she was in college. But the truth is Chopin was not very well known until she was rediscovered in the late 60s. I was given a book with "The Awakening" in it as a graduation gift from my high school English teacher. It struck me as incredibly sad and romantic, but I didn't understand the controversial reception it first received. Now I read her stories with mixed feelings - I am uncomfortable with the frankness with which she writes about sexual tensions - but nonetheless, I appreciate her artistry with words and the fact that she could write like this and support herself and 6 small children after her husband died. A strong woman she must have been.
