July 2023 Book Reports

Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion by Abigail Rine Favale - I first read Favale's newer book, The Genesis of Gender. I bought this book and read it quickly when I thought I would be able to hear her speak at a conference. Sadly that didn't work out, but the book was worth reading. It's the heart-wrenching story of Favale's conversion. She was raised evangelical, discarded that belief for postmodern feminism and intellectualism, but surprised herself by converting to Roman Catholicism. Favale writes with skill and humility of her failings and yearnings. Anyone who has struggled with balancing feminism and faith may find her book illuminating. (purchased copy)

How to Attack Debt, Build Savings, and Change the World through Generosity by Amanda and Jonathan Teixeira - link to my post (purchased copy)

Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be by Haley Stewart - This is a perfect book for anyone who loves Jane Austen. It discusses each of Austen's main books (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion) with a focus on a virtue. I read it on my own, but it would be fun to do with a book club. It would also make an excellent companion for a teenager reading all of Austen's novels. It does have spoilers, so I recommend reading the Austen novel before the corresponding chapter. (received as a gift)

Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington (Nugi Garimara) - This is an excellent book for the Mater Amabilis high school geography course that includes Australia. It is based on the true story of three sisters who escape from the government to return to their Aboriginal family. The events are sometimes heart-breaking and frightening, but it provides insight into a world my children have never known. (received from a member of PaperbackSwap.com)

Tales of Japan: Traditional Stories of Monsters and Magic illustrated by Kotaro Chiba - This book is part of a series of Tales from Chronicle Books. The book is a lovely hardcover with dramatic illustrations. It is recommended in the Mater Amabilis curriculum for Level 3 Year 2 (seventh grade). It is indeed a book full of monsters and magic, and some of the stories would be frightening for young or sensitive readers. Second Son did just fine with them; in fact, he enjoyed them. I don't know enough about Japanese tales to say if they are good choices but the sources in the back do seem to be Japanese. (purchased used)

Losing Our Dignity: How Secularized Medicine Is Undermining Fundamental Human Equality by Charles Camosy - link to my post (purchased copy)

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

Reading 2014: A Year in Review

I'm a bit behind the other blogs and I always wonder if these kinds of posts are helpful. After all, I usually end up adding more books to my lists after posts like these than I can read in a year! But reading is what I do, so here we go.

The book covers below are affiliate links to Amazon. Underneath, I've linked to my book reviews or monthly book report.

Favorite Book of 2014

The Hidden Power of Kindness by Lawrence G. Lovasik - my review. More than any other book I read in 2014, this one changed how I live.

Best Fiction

The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk - my review. Please read this book before you watch the movie! (Or just read the book and skip the movie altogether.)


Best Non-Fiction

These Beautiful Bones by Emily Stimpson - my review. If you only read one book on theology of the body, make it this one.

Best Book of Poetry

Still Life with Dirty Dishes by Ramona McCallum - mentioned here. This book inspired me to start reading a poem or two every day.

Best New-to-Me Author

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri J.M. Nouwen - my review.

Best Classic Book I'd Never Read Before

I don't have anything to put here. Hopefully I read a classic in 2015 I like better.
 


Best Book I Pre-Read for School

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart - my review. I pre-read this mostly for First Son and expect him to read it over the summer, but now that I think about it, I just might read it to the whole family. It's most certainly my favorite book in the series.

Book that Made Me Cry

Why did I even keep this category? All the books make me cry.


Book that Made Me Laugh

The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy - my review. All of the Hero guides are laugh-out-loud funny and perfect middle grade reading books.

Best Homeschooling or Education Book

How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig - my review.

Most Challenging

The Idea of a University by Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman - my review. This was a fantastic book for contemplating the purpose of higher education.

Best Book I Read Aloud

Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus - mentioned here. I cheated a little and checked out the audio CD from the library. It was nice to have someone else pronounce the Japanese words. We had the book as well, though, because the illustrations are fascinating.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy

UnDivided by Neal Shusterman - The whole series is great. Read about it here, along with my musings on young adult dystopian literature.

Best Memoir

Something Other than God by Jennifer Fulwiler - my review.

Most Surprising (in a good way)

Clare's Costly Cookie by Julie Kelly - my review. This was originally recommended to me by the owner at Sacred Heart Books and Gifts. I bought it there and highly recommend the store. My 7 year old daughter loved this book.

Best Book on Faith

My Sisters the Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbell - my review. Six of the books above are on faith, so it seems a little much to pick another one, but this one was also surprisingly good.

My Other Favorite Books They may have been beaten out by one of the books above, but they still deserve a mention as one of my favorite books read in 2014. In alphabetical order by title, for lack of a better system:   

The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story by Craig G. Bartholomew and Micheal W. Goheen - my review.
The Giver Quartet boxed set by Lois Lowry - my review (spoiler warning). I haven't seen the movie yet but I think I will.
The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful by Myquillyn Smith - my review.
A Place in Time: Twenty Stories of the Port William Membership by Wendell Berry - my review.
Way of Holy Joy: Selected Writings of Sofia Cavalletti by Sofia Cavalletti - my review.

December 2014 Book Reports

Somewhere More Holy: Stories from a Bewildered Father, Stumbling Husband, Reluctant Handyman, and Prodigal Son by Tony Woodlief - my review. (library copy)

The Other Side of Dawn by John Maarsden is the seventh book of the Tomorrow series which I reviewed for another website. It's probably not worth your time. (library copy)

Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South by Ann Rinaldi is the story of a fourteen year old girl on a South Carolina plantation during the Revolutionary War. Exploring issues of war, loyalty, family, slavery, and identity, this book would be a good addition to a history study. The audience was too old for me to read it aloud to my kids (11, 8, 6, and 4). I think a mature 11 year old could read it (one who already knows how babies come to be), but I don't think my son is mature enough to appreciate the themes of the book so I put it aside. Perhaps one or more of them would be ready the next time we cycle around to the Revolutionary War. (library copy)

Not God's Type: An Atheist Academic Lays Down Her Arms by Holly Ordway - my review. (library copy)

Men and Women Are From Eden: A Study Guide to John Paul II's Theology of the Body by Mary Healy was the book for our parish adult education class. It's a very simple introduction to theology of the body and appropriate for class discussions, but I didn't find it challenging myself. If you are interested in theology of the body, I'd recommend These Beautiful Bones. (copy borrowed from the parish)

Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting by Mother Mary Francis provided daily readings for Advent. There were just a few pages for each day drawn from her talks to her convent over the years. Though directed at cloistered nuns, I found much of the exhortations to be perfectly adapted to a mother of active young children. (received as a gift) 


Books in Progress (and date started)

• Open Mind, Faithful Heart by Pope Francis (January 2014) 
• The Education Of Catholic Girls by Janet Erskine Stuart (February 2014)
• Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol 2 (sixth edition) (August 2014)
• The Little Oratory: A Beginner's Guide to Praying in the Home by David Clayton and Leila Marie Lawler (September 2014)
• The Bible Compass: A Catholic's Guide to Navigating the Scriptures by Edward Sri (September 2014)
• The Religious Potential of the Child: Experiencing Scripture and Liturgy with Young Children by Sofia Cavaletti (September 2014, with a book club at our parish)
• Good Poems ed by Garrison Keillor (October 2014) 
• The Joy of the Gospel by Pope Francis (November 2014, for Blogging for Books)

Links to Amazon are affiliate links. Other links are not affiliate links.

Book Review: Not God's Type

Not God's Type: An Atheist Academic Lays Down Her Arms by Holly Ordway

I enjoyed reading this account of a woman who followed her reason from atheism to Christianity and finally to Catholicism, mainly through the reading of rich literature and the relationship with her fencing coach. If I had ever been an atheist, this book would probably be exactly how I would have discovered my faith, so I was interested to read about this woman who in many ways is like me. More than anything, though, I read it as a Catholic who knows she should be evangelizing but is uncomfortable with many of the ways I've encountered others who evangelize (like walking up to someone and asking if they are saved). This book showed me how I might reach out to others through reason and the written word.

From the beginning, she admits she had heard about Jesus and God but had almost dismissed them without hearing the message at all.

The difficulty was not a lack of opportunity to hear about God. The problem lay deeper: in my very concept of what faith was. I thought faith was by definition irrational, that it meant believing some assertion to be true for no reason. It had never occurred to me that there could be a path to faith in God involving reasons, or that there might be evidence for the claims of Christianity. I thought you had to 'just have faith'--and the very idea of faith baffled and horrified me.

Kansas Dad, who also read himself into the Catholic church, has always been clear that faith and reason are not exclusionary at all. There's a Christmas song by a Christian artist that speaks of Mary's irrational decision to carry Jesus in her womb that bothers him particularly: Following the will of God is in fact as rational a decision as anyone could make.

Believing something irrational on demand to get a prize: that is what the evangelical invitation to "accept Jesus and get eternal life in heaven!" sounded like to me.

I'm uncomfortable with those kind of statements, too. Eternity in heaven is not the only reason to become a Christian. Living in accordance with Scripture and the church's teachings is not just a ticket to heaven; it's how we can be most fulfilled in this life.

I loved one of the interludes in which she experienced how prayer can encompass the whole world. She was reading the liturgy of the Prayers of the People in which the congregation prayed for those who had not yet hear the Gospel and realized she was one of those people. Year after year, people all over the world had been praying for her.

How easy it would have been to write me off: a lost cause, a waste of time, an enemy of Christ. And yet, I had been prayed for, by those who knew me and by those who did not. For just a moment, I sensed a living web of prayer, bright and strong, connecting past, present, and future, far and near.

She repeatedly speaks of her comfort in speaking with her fencing coach and his wife, confident they would respond to her questions with logic and reason without attempting to convert her and without dodging the hard questions.

The mere thought of philosophical apologetics might cause some people's eyes to glaze over. For me, it was like asking for a mere glass of water and getting champagne instead. I was stunned by the very concept that there were rational arguments for the existence of God.

The author claims that her readings of Tolkein and poetry by those of great faith helped lay a foundation for her eventual conversion. For someone who spends most of her waking hours seeking out and sharing quality literature with children, it's always encouraging to read how literature helped change the course of a real life.

June 2014 Book Reports

Prodigy: A Legend Novel by Marie Lu is a young adult dystopian novel, the sequel to Legend. There's nothing amazing here; it's pretty standard fare. I read this to review it for another website. (library copy)

The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls Who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time by Lawrence Lovasik. I've linked to the review. (inter-library loan)

Something Other than God by Jennifer Fulwiler. I've linked to the review. (library copy)

Raising Henry: A Memoir of Motherhood, Disability, and Discovery by Rachel Adams is a book written about her second son, born unexpectedly with Down syndrome. For the most part, I found it a touching memoir, honest about her mixed feelings regarding her son. It's odd to me someone can be nearly certain she would have aborted her son if she had known of his condition, be incredibly delighted with him now that he is here, and yet have no qualms about increasing testing so other women can avoid life with a child just like hers. (library copy)

The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy. I've linked to the review. (library copy)

Awakening and Rebellion by Karen Sandler are the second and third books in the Tankborn series. I read them to review them for another website. I was disappointed in the prominence of same gender couples in the second and, especially, the third books. (library copies)

The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw is one of the books First Son will be reading next year. I had considered it for a family read-aloud, but I think it might be a little too much for the girls: child abuse, abandonment, threat of death, and a scary trek through a tomb. I think First Son will be fine reading it in fifth grade and it's full of interesting ancient Egyptian life as well as courage and friendships. (copy from PaperBackSwap.com)

Books in Progress (and date started)

• Open Mind, Faithful Heart by Pope Francis (January 2014) 
• The Education Of Catholic Girls by Janet Erskine Stuart (February 2014)
• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (February 2014)
• The Idea of a University by John Henry Cardinal Newman (February 2014)
• A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller (April 2014)
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (May 2014)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (May 2014)
• God King: A Story in the Days of King Hezekiah by Joanne Williamson (June 2014)
• Still Life with Dirty Dishes: Poems by Ramona McCallum (June 2014)

Book Review: Something Other than God

Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It by Jennifer Fulwiler

Usually I wait about five years after a book comes out before I read it, not because I believe a book is better with age (though some are) but because I have this list and I like to add books to the list and then read them in that order. It keeps things nice and tidy for me. The blogs were all buzzing about this book, though, and I do occasionally drop by Jen's blog, so I feel like I know her. That's the beauty of blogs. You'd all read my book if I wrote one, right?

Jen's book describes her transformation from an atheist to a Catholic, and it's fascinating. Jen read widely from Church fathers and church history in addition to the Bible. If I had ever been an atheist, it's exactly how I might have come to know and love the faith. (I suppose it's just as likely I would have listened to lots of rap, as she did, as I am to have been an atheist.)

One of the most interesting facets of Jen's journey to faith is how important an online community was early on in her explorations. She visited an atheist website and selected a few Christian commenters she thought were thoughtful and considerate, ones who used reason to make cogent arguments rather than blind statements of faith. Then she invited them, by email, to read her new blog, to comment on her posts as a way to help her work through her questions, to offer recommendations and advice. If nothing else, Jen's story shows us that Christians who comment on blogs can make a startling difference in someone's life. You never know who might be reading (so be kind and truthful!).

She is startled and a little disturbed when she later discovers all of the commentators who respond to her invitation were Catholics. Even as she contemplated the bizarre turn of her life toward Christianity, she had never considered Catholicism viable. Then these people she'd never met in real life started to challenge her.

One of the scenes I found most powerful was when Jen contemplated the life and music of rapper Tupac Shakur.

I weighed the Catechism in my hands. The idea was that this Church's teaching was divinely inspired. If it tried to tell me that Tupac Shakur was in hell, that God didn't factor in his upbringing amidst violent radicals and his life amidst poverty and street warfare, that was going to be a problem. Even I, as someone who only knew him through his art, saw some goodness in him--a goodness that counted for something--despite all of the horrible things he did. And if this book told me that there was no hope for him at all, I didn't think I could believe that its ideas came from God.

She spent hours pouring through the Cathechism, reading everything she could find on hell and salvation, as she listened to Shakur's music.

In a move that was both frustrating and respectable, the Church didn't make final proclamations about who goes to hell. It simply said that people who choose to turn their backs on God completely, in their hearts or in their actions, can expect to end up there; God respects our free will and won't make us hang out with him forever if we don't want to.

So there's no way to know if Tupac Shakur is in hell, purgatory (on his way to heaven), or in heaven. The Catholic church offers us an action, though, something we can do for those who have died, as we hope. We can pray.

The living sent their love for the deceased into the spiritual world, like adding water to a stream that would eventually float their lost friends home.

That's one of the best descriptions of the tradition of praying for the dead I've ever read. In some ways, I think it applies to sacrificial acts for those who are alive as well. I often pray for people I know who are ill or laboring as I exercise, for example, offering my sweat for those who cannot exercise their bodies but who long to be healthy (or to give birth to a healthy child). I don't understand how my prayers and sacrifices can benefit others, but I believe it does.

In the end, Jen prays.

I slid off the bed and dropped to my knees. I pressed my eyes shut as I waited for a wave of pain to pass through my leg. When it had gone, I folded my hands, leaned my head forward, and poured out the most sincere prayer I had ever said, for the soul of Tupac Shakur.

I think it's amazing that a rapper, one who at the very least sang about doing some horrible things but who always wanted to be closer to God, so clearly and powerfully impacted the faith journey of a woman he never met.

There are some other powerful moments in the book as well, but I don't want to ruin it for you. This is easily one of the best conversion stories I've ever read and I highly recommend it, especially if you are an atheist and willing to wonder.