April 2025 Book Reports

Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim - This was recommended after I enjoyed The Enchanted April. I was surprised to find it's not fiction, but rather a kind of diary of a year in a German garden. Elizabeth finds solace in her making her garden beautiful, though she must do so through the hands of gardeners. Behind the garden record are comments and frustrations of life in Germany for an English woman with many small children and a haughty husband. A love of gardening will increase your enjoyment of the book. (purchased audiobook)

Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson - This is another book I selected when looking for something light and funny. There are some absolutely hilarious stories in the book, but it's also a glimpse into the life of an amazing woman in rural Vermont with her growing family. (purchased audiobook)

September 11, 2001 by Brendan January - The library discarded the book my older children read in Level 4 (eighth grade) on the attacks on the World Trade Towers, so I had to find another one for my youngest. This is a short read perfect for one or two lessons that covers the attacks from many angles. (library copy)

Pinocchio with Reflections on a Father's Love by Carlo Collodi, reflections by Franco Nembrini - I read this with my book club. I read Pinocchio aloud to my kids back in 2016, when they ranged from 11 to 6, and it was perfect. The book club edition includes little essays after each of the chapters to make connections between the story and our modern lives. The reflections were mixed. Some comments were helpful and some less so. (purchased copy)

The Eighth Arrow by J. Augustine Wetta - link to my post (received as a gift from my son)

Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien - link to my post (Christmas gift); read in February 2025, but left off the post, so included here.

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October and November 2024 Book Reports

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger - This was our book club read for the month, and I absolutely loved it. I read it at the airport and on a couple of flights, finishing it in just over 24 hours. I will definitely be reading it again. (purchased copy)

The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns - Kansas Dad recommended I read this book. "In 1838, a group of America's most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what is now Georgetown University." It echoed many of the themes in The History of Black Catholics in the United States, but with even more modern sources. It is good to be aware of the sins of the past and to think deeply about how we can be a part of the reconciliation process. (Kansas Dad's purchased copy)

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers - This is one of the novels recommended for Level 6 Year 2 (twelfth grade) in the Mater Amabilis English plans. I read it a little ahead of First Daughter. I haven't read any other Peter Wimsey novels, but I enjoyed this one. As I neared the end, I certainly neglected some of my chores because I was eager to read more. First Daughter loved it and promptly checked out every Peter Wimsey book she could find at the library. (shared by a member of PaperBackSwap.com)

Paul for Everyone: Romans Part One by N. T. Wright - I read the older version of Romans for Everyone, and am not entirely sure I should count it as its own book since there's a Part Two. (I'll get to that one, too.) I'll quote what I wrote about a different book in the Paul for Everyone series:

N. T. Wright is an Anglican priest and an expert on Paul. Using his own translations, he provides Scripture in short selections (but with nothing missing) and then thoughtfully reflects on them, always including a relevant story from his own life. For the most part, Wright's commentaries have nothing contrary to the Catholic faith, but it is good to have a knowledge of the major differences between Anglican and Catholic beliefs when reading, like the differences between the recognized books of the Bible and those of Jesus' immediate family. (purchased used)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Bookshop and Amazon are affiliate links.

Be the Good: Therese

Therese
by Dorothy Day

I read this with my book club and did purchase the Well-Read Mom edition from Ave Maria Press. The design of this book is beautiful - lovely cover, good margins, nice quality paper. I do think it's odd that it seems to be only available through Ave Maria Press's website. I stopped by a local Catholic bookstore to find a different book in the Well-Read Mom edition and was told they were not allowed to carry it in stores, even though they wanted it and had people asking for it. It would be so nice to be able to buy all the book club books from a local brick-and-mortar store. I've linked the one from the same publisher which you can find online, which seems to have everything except the Well-Read Mom portions.

Surprisingly, my favorite parts of this book were the forward and the afterward. In these, Robert Ellsberg (in the foreword) and John Cavadini (in the Afterword), draw a direct connection between Dorothy Day's advocacy for peace and St. Therese's little way. 

From Therese, Day learned that each sacrifice endured in love, each work of mercy, might increase the balance of love in the world. She extended this principle to the social sphere. Each protest or witness for peace--though apparently foolish and ineffective, no more than a pebble in a pond--might send forth ripples that could transform the world. (p. ix)

Dorothy Day wrote that St. Therese's shower of roses, her spiritual force, and presumably the works offered by all those who try to follow her little way, rise up against the fears and horrors of the twentieth century.

We know that one impulse of grace is of infinitely more power than a cobalt bomb. Therese has said, "All is grace." (p. 192)

John Cavadini continues in a similar way. He says these blessings challenge the lie that Love will fail.

If I had encountered this idea before, that St. Therese's Little Way was more than just a way for us to grow in virtue, that it could combat the evil of the world one little good deed at a time, I had forgotten it. As a homeschooling mother who does little more than one little good deed at a time, this is an important lesson.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

Learning to Love: The Scent of Water

The Scent of Water

by Elizabeth Goudge

My book club picked this book for July. I was really looking forward to it because I'd read excellent reviews of Elizabeth Goudge's books.

In this book, Mary Lindsay leaves her life in the city behind (almost cutting her ties entirely) to move into a home left to her by her elderly Cousin Mary, a woman she'd only met once. There she meets her new neighbors, each in a struggling relationship with a spouse or a family member.

Paul, one of her new neighbors, is a man blinded in the Second World War. His marriage is rocky, partly because of his struggles as a young poet, playwright, and author. His character provides some of the context for the title.

The scent of water, of the rain and of the dew. It was difficult to separate it from the grateful fragrance of the life it renewed, but it had its scent; the faint exhalation of goodness. It would still come down upon the earth after man, destroying himself, had destroyed also the leaves and the grass. Its goodness might even renew again the face of the burnt and blasted earth. He did not know. But unlike Job's comforters he believed there was a supreme goodness that could renew his own soul beyond this wasting sorrow of human life and death.

One of the other book club members said she thought the theme of the book was "learning to love." Mary Lindsay finds a whole shelf full of journals written by her Cousin Mary that help develop the theme.

I had not known before that love is obedience. You want to love, and you can't, and you hate yourself because you can't, and all the time love is not some marvelous thing that you feel but some hard thing that you do. And this in a way is easier because with God's help you can command your will when you can't command your feelings. With us, feelings seem to be important, but He doesn't appear to agree with us. 

It was not a terrible book, but it wasn't a wonderful book, either. It seemed odd that Mary, with her keen insight into all the new neighbors, had nearly no contact with anyone from her previous home in the city. It was also weird to me that she moved out to the house with the idea of coming to know her Cousin Mary, but it's not clear how she would have done that in any meaningful way without conveniently finding the journals. The plot seemed just a little too stilted for me to really give in to it.