Cindy's bookshelf: 2024 en-US Sat, 01 Mar 2025 15:56:30 -0800 60 Cindy's bookshelf: 2024 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Story of Britain: From the Romans to the Present: A Narrative History]]> 429483

Just as much as kings and queens, battles and empire, Britain's great themes have been the liberty of the individual, the rule of law, and the parliamentary democracy invented to protect them. Ever since Caractacus and Boudicca surprised the Romans with the bravery of their resistance, Britain has stood out as the home of freedom. From Thomas More to William Wilberforce, from Gladstone to Churchill, Britain's history is studded with heroic figures who have resisted tyranny in all its guises, whether it be the Stuart kings' belief in divine right, the institution of slavery, or the ambitions of Napoleon and Hitler.]]> 848 Rebecca Fraser 039332902X Cindy 5 2024 ]]> 3.95 The Story of Britain: From the Romans to the Present: A Narrative History
author: Rebecca Fraser
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: 2024
review:
Well, that was fun!! Our Island Story for grownups!!

]]> War and Peace 19046562 This carefully crafted ebook: "War and Peace - The Unabridged Maude Translation� is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature. It is considered Tolstoy's finest literary achievement, along with his other major prose work Anna Karenina. This complete english version translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude was originally published in 1922. It includes all 15 books + the first and second epilogue. The Maudes are classical translators of Leo Tolstoy who worked directly with the author and gained his personal endorsement.

]]> 496 Leo Tolstoy Cindy 5 2024, audiobooks
Second read: 2024

This time it only took me 11 months and I enjoyed every minute. I listened to the Thandiwe Newton audio and she was superb. She reminded me of Lily James as Natasha.

I wish I could just be a fly on the wall forever at Natasha and Pierre’s house.

I could have done without the second epilogue in favor of more Bolkonskys.]]> 4.59 1869 War and Peace
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.59
book published: 1869
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/16
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: 2024, audiobooks
review:
Read this many years ago. It took me about two years to read and I have very fond memories of that time. It became my friend after a while, A testament to reading slowly.

Second read: 2024

This time it only took me 11 months and I enjoyed every minute. I listened to the Thandiwe Newton audio and she was superb. She reminded me of Lily James as Natasha.

I wish I could just be a fly on the wall forever at Natasha and Pierre’s house.

I could have done without the second epilogue in favor of more Bolkonskys.
]]> <![CDATA[Forget Me Not: Loving God's Aging Children]]> 456862 1 Elisabeth Elliot 088070330X Cindy 5 2024 4.83 1990 Forget Me Not: Loving God's Aging Children
author: Elisabeth Elliot
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.83
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: 2024
review:
This is just a tiny booklet and I wouldn’t have added it to ŷ if Elisabeth Elliot had not described exactly what I am going through with my mother who is in memory care. These conversations are almost word for word the ones I have with my mother. Eventually Elisabeth too faced dementia and I have to admit while part of me is deeply saddened for my mother another part is terrified of my own future. What then when I cannot hold on to Christ? He will hold me fast.
]]> Corrie's Christmas Memories 2715930 64 Corrie ten Boom 0800708229 Cindy 4 2024, christmas 4.08 1976 Corrie's Christmas Memories
author: Corrie ten Boom
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1976
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: 2024, christmas
review:
A sweet little volume with ideas from how the Ten Booms celebrated Christmas first with all the aunts and then in Ravensbruck. Corrie’s reluctant faith and ultimate trust shine through.
]]> <![CDATA[Winter Fire: Christmas with G.K. Chesterton]]> 126527058 It may be because I am silly, but I rather think that, relatively to the rest of the year, I enjoy Christmas more than I did when I was a child. My faith demands that such be the case. The more mature I become the more I need to embrace the joys of the incarnation. The more mature I become, the more I need to be but a child.

� G. K. Chesterton

Experience the warmth of Christmas through the winsome wit and wisdom of beloved writer G. K. Chesterton. This devotional—perfect for the Christmas season—includes selections of Chesterton’s writings, accompanied with commentary, Scripture readings, and reflections.

Be encouraged by Chesterton’s insight, charmed by the Victorian-inspired artwork, and delighted by the traditional English recipes. Make Chesterton’s poetry, short stories, and essays a part of your Christmas tradition!

A festive celebration of childlike wonder, the beautifully illustrated Winter Fire is a unique and meaningful gift.

]]> 241 Ryan Whitaker Smith 0802473865 Cindy 4 2024
Of course, I abhorred the questions at the end of each chapter, but I will give the author the benefit of the doubt and blame the publisher. ]]> 4.43 Winter Fire: Christmas with G.K. Chesterton
author: Ryan Whitaker Smith
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: 2024
review:
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, both the Chesterton excerpts and the author’s insights. It was a real encouragement to revel at Christmas!

Of course, I abhorred the questions at the end of each chapter, but I will give the author the benefit of the doubt and blame the publisher.
]]> <![CDATA[Death at the Sign of the Rook (Jackson Brodie, #6)]]> 203164357 The stage is set. Marooned overnight by a snowstorm in a grand country house are a cast of characters and a setting that even Agatha Christie might recognize � a vicar, an Army major, a Dowager, a sleuth and his sidekick - except that the sleuth is Jackson Brodie, and the ‘sidekick� is DC Reggie Chase.

The crumbling house - Burton Makepeace and its chatelaine the Dowager Lady Milton - suffered the loss of their last remaining painting of any value, a Turner, some years ago. The housekeeper, Sophie, who disappeared the same night, is suspected of stealing it.

Jackson, a reluctant hostage to the snowstorm, has been investigating the theft of another The Woman with a Weasel, a portrait, taken from the house of an elderly widow, on the morning she died. The suspect this time is the widow’s carer, Melanie. Is this a coincidence or is there a connection? And what secrets does The Woman with a Weasel hold? The puzzle is Jackson’s to solve. And let’s not forget that a convicted murderer is on the run on the moors around Burton Makepeace.

All the while, in a bid to make money, Burton Makepeace is determined to keep hosting a shambolic Murder Mystery that acts as a backdrop while the real drama is being played out in the house.

A brilliantly plotted, supremely entertaining, and utterly compulsive tour de force from a great writer at the height of her powers.]]> 320 Kate Atkinson 0385547994 Cindy 5 2024
After content this book last night I decided to give it five stars. ⭐️ Kate Atkinson put in the work for this novel and she made it delightful. You could pick it back up and read it immediately looking for all the nods to other books. She even has a Comoran Strike nod! Well done, Kate! ]]> 3.69 2024 Death at the Sign of the Rook (Jackson Brodie, #6)
author: Kate Atkinson
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: 2024
review:
The perfect book for the week between Christmas and New Year’s! Lots of old friends. Atkinson is the queen of characterization. That means you get a lot of stories in one. My favorite part is all the nods to other mystery novels and British detective TV. So fun!!

After content this book last night I decided to give it five stars. ⭐️ Kate Atkinson put in the work for this novel and she made it delightful. You could pick it back up and read it immediately looking for all the nods to other books. She even has a Comoran Strike nod! Well done, Kate!
]]> Why Literature Still Matters 222944601 87 Jason M. Baxter 1965520006 Cindy 5 2024 4.66 Why Literature Still Matters
author: Jason M. Baxter
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.66
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: 2024
review:
Excellent little book that roars out of the starting gate with the first essay. So much food for thought and discussion in this volume!
]]> <![CDATA[Silent Night, Stolen Night (Cherringham #47)]]> 214060202

Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing English web designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack. Thrilling and deadly - but with a spot of tea - it's like Rosamunde Pilcher meets Inspector Barnaby. Each of the self-contained episodes is a quick read for the morning commute, while waiting for the doctor, or when curling up with a hot cuppa.


Co-authors Neil Richards (based in the UK) and Matthew Costello (based in the US), have been writing together since the mid-90s, creating innovative content and working on major projects for the BBC, Disney Channel, Sony, ABC, Eidos, and Nintendo to name but a few. Their transatlantic collaboration has underpinned scores of TV drama scripts, computer games, radio shows, and the best-selling mystery series Cherringham. Their latest series project is called Mydworth Mysteries.



]]> 134 Matthew Costello 3751742611 Cindy 3 2024 4.43 2024 Silent Night, Stolen Night (Cherringham #47)
author: Matthew Costello
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/21
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: 2024
review:
Car trip light reading with my husband. Fit the bill. Fun.
]]> The White Witch 59701931 422 Elizabeth Goudge 1496470923 Cindy 4 2024
With the backdrop of the English Civil War, we have a simple story of lives twisted and turned by politics and conflict and the confusion they bring.

While this book is not mostly in Oxford, we still get to spend time with that city of bells Elizabeth describes so well making us long for a cottage in the Cotswolds.



]]> 4.12 1952 The White Witch
author: Elizabeth Goudge
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: 2024
review:
As with all Goudge books I have read, this one took me a while to get into. And just like the others it eventually weaved its spell and I couldn’t put it down.

With the backdrop of the English Civil War, we have a simple story of lives twisted and turned by politics and conflict and the confusion they bring.

While this book is not mostly in Oxford, we still get to spend time with that city of bells Elizabeth describes so well making us long for a cottage in the Cotswolds.




]]> Big Sky (Jackson Brodie, #5) 43107933
Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son and an aging Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-partner Julia. It’s picturesque, but there’s something darker lurking behind the scenes.

Jackson’s current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard-issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network—and back across the path of his old friend Reggie. Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking novel by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today.]]> 352 Kate Atkinson Cindy 4 2024 3.90 2019 Big Sky (Jackson Brodie, #5)
author: Kate Atkinson
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: 2024
review:
I always love Kate Atkinson books and this was no exception. Word to the wise, these need your full attention to sort through all the characters and she retells the same scenes through different eyes but that kind of grew on me.
]]> <![CDATA[Another Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day]]> 59958235 'Clemency Burton-Hill makes classical music absolutely accessible, magical and medicinal. Another Year of Wonder is, indeed, another wonder.' Dolly Alderton, broadcaster, writer and bestselling author'Clemmie's recommendations have broadened my mind, sharpened my imagination, tugged on my heartstrings and given me a song for every mood. Read this book and let yourself float away for a moment or two. What a gift.' Emma Gannon, bestselling author and host of the Ctrl Alt Delete podcastANOTHER YEAR OF WONDER IS A CAREFULLY CURATED COLLECTION OF CLASSICAL MUSIC OFFERING ONE PIECE TO LISTEN TO EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR.WITH A FOREWORD BY ELIZABETH DAYIn this follow-up to her much-loved Year of Wonder, award-winning broadcaster, journalist and violinist Clemency Burton-Hill continues her mission to demystify and open up the world of classical music to everyone, offering up one extraordinary piece of music to listen to every day of the year.'There is no algorithm to this it is a thoughtfully curated selection given from one human to another. It is not a history book, or a formal 'guide to classical music'. It is simply from my heart to yours. I have chosen pieces I love, or think historically interesting, or which have some resonance for me personally or in the world. But what matters is what you think; how they make you feel as you listen. I hope that you will fall in love with most of them, or at least be fascinated by their historical context, or find them curious in other ways, because then you are already in a relationship with classical music. This is your book, as much it is mine.'Another Year of Wonder shows that, whoever you are and wherever you come from, classical music can be a soundtrack for your everyday life and a reminder that finding a space to sit and listen to a piece of music every day can be a singular gift.]]> 550 Clemency Burton-Hill 147225936X Cindy 4 2024 4.37 Another Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day
author: Clemency Burton-Hill
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: 2024
review:
I am finishing this up a bit early. I loved the author’s first Year of Wonder and did enjoy this one too if not quite as much. It felt a little self-consciously fixated on social justice or best case scenario just too many modern selections over older pieces and a weird move to label pretty much anything classical. But I still enjoyed having a piece of music to listen to every morning.
]]> <![CDATA[Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About the Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive]]> 210137296
Did you know that:

Vincent van Gogh's attempt to start an artist's colony with Paul Gauguin lasted only nine weeks, ending in his infamous "ear episode"?
Pablo Picasso was a prime suspect in the disappearance of the Mona Lisa?
Artemisia Gentileschi was tortured with thumbscrews to verify her testimony at her own rapist's trial?
Norman Rockwell's critics said his work would never be accepted as "high art"--and he agreed?
These stories--and many more--shaped the work these artists left behind. In their art are lessons common to the human experience about the wonder and struggle of being alive: dreams lost, perspectives changed, and humility derived through suffering.

In Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart, Russ Ramsey digs into these artists' stories for readers who may be new to art, as well as for lifelong students of art history, to mine the transcendent beauty and hard lessons we can take from their masterpieces and their lives. Each story from some of the history's most celebrated artists applies the beauty of the gospel in a way that speaks to the suffering and hope we all face.]]> 244 Russ Ramsey 0310155576 Cindy 5 2024 4.36 2024 Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About the Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive
author: Russ Ramsey
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: 2024
review:
I think I may have liked this even more than Rembrandt is in the Wind.
]]> A Child's Christmas in Wales 563820 48 Dylan Thomas 0823405656 Cindy 4 christmas, 2024 4.14 1952 A Child's Christmas in Wales
author: Dylan Thomas
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: christmas, 2024
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle - a Sherlock Holmes Short Story (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, #7)]]> 2395757
But a strange thing happens. Trivial is what Sherlock Holmes calls it. He's studying an old hat when Dr. Watson visits to wish him "The compliments of the season." Holmes tells Watson about Commissionaire Peterson's report of seeing a little knot of roughs assault a man carrying a Christmas goose home for the family. They all ran, leaving both the goose and the hat. No one could locate the man, Henry Baker, whose name was tagged to the goose so Peterson took possession.

Soon another strange thing - Mrs. Peterson found Morcar's fabulous blue jewel inside the goose while preparing it for their family festivities.

Can S.H. sort this all out?]]> 72 Arthur Conan Doyle 8124200238 Cindy 5 2024, christmas 3.83 1892 The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle - a Sherlock Holmes Short Story (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, #7)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1892
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: 2024, christmas
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany]]> 21413792
In keeping with At the Still A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time (“a thing of beauty� and “a literary treasure trove and devotional feast,� two reviewers called it) this collection contains daily and weekly inspirational readings to help the reader prayerfully experience God through the liturgical seasons of winter. Well-loved classics by Andersen, Dickens, and Eliot join contemporary works by Frederick Buechner and Gary Schmidt. Poems by Donne, Herbert, and Rossetti are paired with newer Scott Cairns, Benjamín Alire Sáenz, Susanna Childress, and Amit Majmudar. Readers are invited to experience Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany in its raw strangeness, stripped of sentiment, and to turn toward Emmanuel.]]> 224 Sarah Arthur 1612614191 Cindy 4 2024 Mid-Advent is that I have been dipping into over several years.
In the end, I think this is a great book for dipping but hard to read through in one season. I can’t quite put my finger on why. ]]> 4.37 2014 Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany
author: Sarah Arthur
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: 2024
review:
The reason I am finishing this book
Mid-Advent is that I have been dipping into over several years.
In the end, I think this is a great book for dipping but hard to read through in one season. I can’t quite put my finger on why.
]]> <![CDATA[The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #1)]]> 267123 The Warden centers on Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity who is nevertheless in possession of an income from a charity far in excess of the sum devoted to the purposes of the foundation. On discovering this, young John Bold turns his reforming zeal to exposing what he regards as an abuse of privilege, despite the fact that he is in love with Mr. Harding's daughter Eleanor. It was a highly topical novel (a case regarding the misapplication of church funds was the scandalous subject of contemporary debate), but like other great Victorian novelists, Trollope uses the specific case to explore and illuminate the universal complexities of human motivation and social morality]]> 336 Anthony Trollope 0192834088 Cindy 4 2024 Be careful what you wish for. ]]> 3.75 1855 The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #1)
author: Anthony Trollope
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1855
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: 2024
review:
Lovely beginning to The Barsetshire Chronicles.
Be careful what you wish for.
]]> <![CDATA[For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy]]> 271634 151 Alexander Schmemann 0913836087 Cindy 5 2024, christian-living I am in no danger of becoming Orthodox but I loved this book anyway.

November 26,2024 finished reading this on my Kindle. I rarely reread books in the same year let alone the same season but this book was a huge help in putting together the reality of life in Christ for me. I don’t think I have highlighted so many passages before.]]> 4.39 1973 For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy
author: Alexander Schmemann
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1973
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: 2024, christian-living
review:
I thought I wrote a long review of this but now I can't find it. I will hopefully have time to return to this to do it justice but as it is I am immediately rereading it on my Kindle so I can highlight.
I am in no danger of becoming Orthodox but I loved this book anyway.

November 26,2024 finished reading this on my Kindle. I rarely reread books in the same year let alone the same season but this book was a huge help in putting together the reality of life in Christ for me. I don’t think I have highlighted so many passages before.
]]> <![CDATA[Payment in Blood (Inspector Lynley, #2)]]> 31372
ISBN: 0553284363

ISBN 13: 9780553284362

Used in later editions]]> 374 Elizabeth George Cindy 3 2024 4.00 1989 Payment in Blood (Inspector Lynley, #2)
author: Elizabeth George
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: 2024
review:
The problem with these books is that it is hard to keep track of all the characters, especially in audio. But I find them well written and enjoyable.
]]> <![CDATA[Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America]]> 59593246 Forest Walking teaches you how to get the most out of your next adventure by becoming a forest detective, decoding nature’s signs and awakening to the ancient past and thrilling present of the ecosystem around you.

What can you learn by following the spread of a root, by tasting the tip of a branch, by searching out that bitter almond smell?

What creatures can be found in a stream if you turn over a rock—and what is the best way to cross a forest stream, anyway?

How can you understand a forest’s history by the feel of the path underfoot, the scars on the trees along the trail, or the play of sunlight through the branches?

How can we safely explore the forest at night?

What activities can we use to engage children with the forest?

Throughout Forest Walking, the authors share experiences and observations from visiting forests across North America: from the rainforests and redwoods of the west coast to the towering white pines of the east, and down to the cypress swamps of the south and up to the boreal forests of the north.]]> 240 Peter Wohlleben 1771643315 Cindy 4 2024
I think this would make a great family audiobook or read-aloud. ]]> 3.81 2022 Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America
author: Peter Wohlleben
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: 2024
review:
Lovely, motivational, friendly, and hopeful. I have a forest in my back yard and this book has motivated me to get to know it better.

I think this would make a great family audiobook or read-aloud.
]]> <![CDATA[Hannah's Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth]]> 176443237
In the midst of a historic "birth dearth," why do some 5 percent of American women choose to defy the demographic norm by bearing five or more children? Hannah’s Children is a compelling portrait of these overlooked but fascinating mothers who, like the biblical Hannah, see their children as their purpose, their contribution, and their greatest blessing.

The social scientist Catherine Pakaluk, herself the mother of eight, traveled across the United States and interviewed fifty-five college-educated women who were raising five or more children. Through open-ended questions, she sought to understand who these women are, why and when they chose to have a large family, and what this choice means for them, their families, and the nation.

Hannah’s Children is more than interesting stories of extraordinary women. It presents information that is urgently relevant for the future of American prosperity. Many countries have experimented with aggressively pro-natalist public policies, and all of them have failed. Pakaluk finds that the quantitative methods to which the social sciences limit themselves overlook important questions of meaning and identity in their inquiries into fertility rates. Her book is a pathbreaking foray into questions of purpose, religion, transcendence, healing, and growth—questions that ought to inform economic inquiry in the future.]]> 400 Catherine Pakaluk 1684514576 Cindy 5 2024
I am so happy I read it!! If you are an older mom with a large family, I highly recommend this book. It will bring back all the wonderful reasons you had so many children! This was such a happy read for me, a chance to remember all the reasons I had 9 children and how they were good reasons and how the children were blessings.

I am just thrilled to death with the joy of motherhood found in this book.

]]> 4.37 2024 Hannah's Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth
author: Catherine Pakaluk
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: 2024
review:
I was reluctant to read this. My child bearing years are over. Sometimes it even feels like those years were a little demoralizing. Why would I need this book? Been there, done that.

I am so happy I read it!! If you are an older mom with a large family, I highly recommend this book. It will bring back all the wonderful reasons you had so many children! This was such a happy read for me, a chance to remember all the reasons I had 9 children and how they were good reasons and how the children were blessings.

I am just thrilled to death with the joy of motherhood found in this book.


]]> <![CDATA[The Unlikely Thru-Hiker: An Appalachian Trail Journey]]> 43570679 224 Derick Lugo 1628421185 Cindy 4 2024, appalachian-trail 4.13 2019 The Unlikely Thru-Hiker: An Appalachian Trail Journey
author: Derick Lugo
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: 2024, appalachian-trail
review:
Having read many books on thru-hiking the AT, I didn’t think I wanted to read anymore but this one was a little different in a good way. I loved that Derek was not a hiker or even outdoor enthusiast before his trek. I listened on audio and enjoyed the dry humor and voice of the author.
]]> <![CDATA[Hallowe'en Party (Hercule Poirot, #41)]]> 16307
That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the 'evil presence.' But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double-murderer!]]> 336 Agatha Christie 0007120680 Cindy 3 2024 3.56 1969 Hallowe'en Party (Hercule Poirot, #41)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves: 2024
review:
Long drive. Fun companion. Late Agatha Christie. The body count is a bit daunting.
]]> <![CDATA[Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership]]> 9401421 208 John Dickson 0310328624 Cindy 4 2024 3.95 2011 Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership
author: John Dickson
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/01
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves: 2024
review:
Short book on humility by the self-effacing Australian John Dickson. I would say this is a good business book and one I am considering giving to my sons.
]]> The Bruised Reed 19000367 122 Richard Sibbes Cindy 5 2024, christian-living 4.57 1630 The Bruised Reed
author: Richard Sibbes
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1630
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves: 2024, christian-living
review:
Read slowly. Highly recommend if you feel confused, lost, or discouraged. A great treatise on the Christian idea of the now and the not yet.
]]> <![CDATA[Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie, #4)]]> 7307795
Meanwhile, Jackson Brodie, the beloved detective of novels such as Case Histories, is embarking on a different sort of rescue - that of an abused dog. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished.]]> 350 Kate Atkinson 0385608020 Cindy 3 2024 I ended up a little confused about where Courtney came from but apparently that was not the real plot of the book.]]> 3.91 2010 Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie, #4)
author: Kate Atkinson
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves: 2024
review:
3.5 and probably 4 if I had read it rather than listened. It is hard work reading a Kate Atkinson book. So many characters, so many threads. And yet with the work comes the reward. Don’t give up too quickly on these books or you will miss all the goodness.
I ended up a little confused about where Courtney came from but apparently that was not the real plot of the book.
]]> <![CDATA[Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion]]> 210454061 A sharp Christian voice makes a bold when politics are driven by empathy rather than truth, innocent people pay the price.We are told that empathy is the highest virtue—the key to being a good person. Is that true? Or has “empathy,� like so many other words of our day� “tolerance,� “justice,� “acceptance”—been hijacked by bad actors who exploit compassion for their own political ends?In Toxic Empathy, Allie Beth Stuckey argues that empathy has become a tool of manipulation by left-wing activists who bully people into believing that they must adopt progressive positions to be loving. She explores the five most heated issues through which toxic empathy is abortion, gender, sexuality, immigration, and social justice. Progressives use catchy mantras to present their perspective as empathetic, like “abortion is healthcare,� “love is love,� or “no human being is illegal,� but in each case, they ignore the other side of the moral equation. For example, abortion is presented as compassionate for the woman, but what about the human life the procedure kills?This book isn’t about killing empathy; it’s about submitting our empathy to God’s definitions of love, goodness, and justice. Stuckey exposes thelogical pitfalls and moral consequences of toxic empathy, equipping Christians with research-backed, Biblical truths to dismantle the progressive lies that have permeated our culture� and our church.]]> 224 Allie Beth Stuckey 0593541944 Cindy 5 2024, christian-living This book is a quick booster to courage and love, the real kind. ]]> 4.33 2024 Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion
author: Allie Beth Stuckey
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: 2024, christian-living
review:
Listened to this on a trip to Kentucky. I honestly didn’t know what to expect since I don’t listen to her podcast.I was pleasantly surprised by how well written and well thought out this was. I have been thinking about courage a lot lately and Allie is a good example of that.
This book is a quick booster to courage and love, the real kind.
]]> <![CDATA[When Will There Be Good News? (Jackson Brodie, #3)]]> 3289281 When Will There Be Good News?

On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever...

On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound...

At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency...

These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson, the critically acclaimed author who Harlan Coben calls "an absolute must-read."]]> 388 Kate Atkinson 0316154857 Cindy 4 2024 3.98 2008 When Will There Be Good News? (Jackson Brodie, #3)
author: Kate Atkinson
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/21
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves: 2024
review:
I quite enjoyed this one. I even enjoyed all the crazy coincidences.
]]> <![CDATA[Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent]]> 127280282 Discover the work of the greatest writer in the English language as you've never encountered it before by ordering internationally renowned actor Dame Judi Dench's SHAKESPEARE: The Man Who Pays The Rent—a witty, insightful journey through the plays and tales of our beloved Shakespeare.

Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig...

Cavorting naked through the Warwickshire countryside painted green...

Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head...

These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.

For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra. In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O'Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare's plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans.

Interspersed with vignettes on audiences, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she serves up priceless revelations on everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes, all brightened by her mischievous sense of humour, striking level of honesty and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes, many of which have remained under lock and key until now.

Instructive and witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi's love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.]]> 400 Judi Dench 1250325773 Cindy 5 2024
Judi Dench unequivocally gets Shakespeare, gets language, gets acting, and definitely gets poetry especially iambic pentameter.

I loved hearing her experiences acting in sooo many of the plays. I loved even more her constant quoting of lines and poems.

She is a bit salty.

Interestingly, Barbara Flynn narrates/plays the role of Judi in most of the book. She is simply remarkable. It is seamless between the real Judi and Barbara’s narrations. This isn’t a straight reading but a re-enactment of the conversations.

This is a must-read for lovers of Shakespeare or even for those who don’t get it.
There is also much here for those who love language and like to talk about how it works. Judi has all the respect for the words! The play is the thing!

I hope to get the Kindle version to collect quotes. There are many I want to remember. ]]> 4.51 2023 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent
author: Judi Dench
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/10/16
shelves: 2024
review:
If you have ever asked “Why read Shakespeare?� This is the book for you.

Judi Dench unequivocally gets Shakespeare, gets language, gets acting, and definitely gets poetry especially iambic pentameter.

I loved hearing her experiences acting in sooo many of the plays. I loved even more her constant quoting of lines and poems.

She is a bit salty.

Interestingly, Barbara Flynn narrates/plays the role of Judi in most of the book. She is simply remarkable. It is seamless between the real Judi and Barbara’s narrations. This isn’t a straight reading but a re-enactment of the conversations.

This is a must-read for lovers of Shakespeare or even for those who don’t get it.
There is also much here for those who love language and like to talk about how it works. Judi has all the respect for the words! The play is the thing!

I hope to get the Kindle version to collect quotes. There are many I want to remember.
]]> <![CDATA[By Life or by Death: The Life and Legacy of John and Betty Stam]]> 209495725 192 Andrew Montonera 080243276X Cindy 5 2024
Because of that when @Moodypublishers asked if I would like to read this book, I answered, “Would I!! Yes, please.� And I almost always say no to those requests.

Fast forward 50 plus years, and a missionary biography seems somehow anachronistic, out of place. I can just imagine the critics as I read the story of John and Betty Stam and yet, for all that I read this whole book with a lump in my throat and the memory of that other world where laying down your life for Christ was not debunked but held on to fiercely.

It is easy to be a critic. This book is not great because the words are strung together with deftness, but because it is a story which the author loved and that comes through on every page. This love is so powerful that it forces us to pay attention and it reminds us that for all our sophistication, we can do no better than John and Betty Stam by giving our lives to Christ. That doesn’t make us victims but victors!]]> 4.55 By Life or by Death: The Life and Legacy of John and Betty Stam
author: Andrew Montonera
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/08
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2024
review:
I grew up surrounded by retired missionaries and I believe I became a Christian at 6 years old when an ancient retired missionary taught my SS class in the musty, dark basement of the C&MA church in DeLand, FL. Her name was Mrs. Rudak and we ended every session by singing “Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Come in today, come in to stay. Come into my heart Lord Jesus.� And he did come into my heart and I have never forgotten that holy room with that old, old missionary lady.

Because of that when @Moodypublishers asked if I would like to read this book, I answered, “Would I!! Yes, please.� And I almost always say no to those requests.

Fast forward 50 plus years, and a missionary biography seems somehow anachronistic, out of place. I can just imagine the critics as I read the story of John and Betty Stam and yet, for all that I read this whole book with a lump in my throat and the memory of that other world where laying down your life for Christ was not debunked but held on to fiercely.

It is easy to be a critic. This book is not great because the words are strung together with deftness, but because it is a story which the author loved and that comes through on every page. This love is so powerful that it forces us to pay attention and it reminds us that for all our sophistication, we can do no better than John and Betty Stam by giving our lives to Christ. That doesn’t make us victims but victors!
]]> Reunion 270043 Reunion is a little-known novel. But it is also a universal story of friendship. It is a book of great power, waiting to be discovered.

On a grey afternoon in 1932, a Stuttgart classroom is stirred by the arrival of a newcomer. Middle-class Hans is intrigued by the aristocratic new boy, Konradin, and before long they become best friends. It’s a friendship of the greatest kind, of shared interests and long conversations, of hikes in the German hills and growing up together. But the boys live in a changing Germany. Powerful, delicate and daring, Reunion is a story of the fragility, and strength, of the bonds between friends.

-------------
Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition here.]]> 96 Fred Uhlman Cindy 5 4.21 1971 Reunion
author: Fred Uhlman
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/22
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: 2021, the-literary-life-podcast, reread, 2024
review:
I cannot believe I had never heard of this novella before reading an article on it in Slightly Foxed. It is simply one of the best WWII stories I have ever read. It is so short and easy to read, I do not understand why it is not introduced to high school students. I plan to fit it into my summer course because it illustrates so well the unthinkable rise of facism.
]]> <![CDATA[Castle of the Winds (The Secrets of Ormdale, #3)]]> 204484207
Following this mysterious invitation, Edith sets off on a quest to the Castle of the Winds to find a lost family of dragon keepers in the mountains of Wild Wales. But all is not as it seems. Edith must guard her own hidden power, or she might not return to her friends in Ormdale—including the man who has come to love her. Will Edith make an alliance with the legendary Red Dragon of her dreams to safeguard her ancestral charge, or will she lose everything she has tried to protect?

Book 3 of The Secrets of Ormdale is a breathtaking adventure that will take Edith to exhilarating new heights…and deeper into peril than ever before.]]> 260 Christina Baehr Cindy 5 2024 4.40 2024 Castle of the Winds (The Secrets of Ormdale, #3)
author: Christina Baehr
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/14
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: 2024
review:
I think this was my favorite so far. On to The City of Serpents.
]]> <![CDATA[A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley, #1)]]> 31374
Now into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an axe in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse. Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry."

Yet as Lynley and Havers wind their way through Keldale's dark labyrinth of secret scandals and appalling crimes, they uncover a shattering series of revelations that will reverberate through this tranquil English valley—and in their own lives as well.]]> 413 Elizabeth George 0553278029 Cindy 3 2024 4.03 1988 A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley, #1)
author: Elizabeth George
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: 2024
review:
Well written, if dark, and the last couple chapters are hard to read as others have mentioned. It is an important book for understanding the Lynley series which is also a pretty good BBC series.
]]> Christy 35879889
But as Christy struggles to find acceptance in her new home, some see her � and her one-room school � as a threat to their way of life. Her faith is challenged and her heart is torn between two strong men with conflicting views about how to care for the families of the Cove.

Yearning to make a difference, will Christy’s determination and devotion be enough?]]> 514 Catherine Marshall 1683701275 Cindy 5 2024 It started slow for me this time but grew on me.]]> 4.36 1967 Christy
author: Catherine Marshall
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1967
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: 2024
review:
This was a book nagging me for a reread having read it in my 20s. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, it isn’t a book to read for theology and I remembered some of my earlier discomfort with that, but it is a great book to read for understanding a different place and a different time.
It started slow for me this time but grew on me.
]]> The Solitary Summer 18880525 123 Elizabeth von Arnim Cindy 5 2024
The first few pages did not draw me into this novel but by the end I was highlighting and laughing through every paragraph. This novel is a lovely summer diversion. It is as palpably summer as Elizabeth herself must have been. I yearned with Elizabeth to be a goose girl! Her delights in wood, garden, and field are achingly real.

This would make a great reading slump book. It is also a good cheering-up book too. I dare you not to smile while reading.

Elizabeth is 3 for 3 so far.]]> 3.88 1899 The Solitary Summer
author: Elizabeth von Arnim
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1899
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/26
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: 2024
review:
Someone suggested this on The Literary Life Facebook page and having loved The Enchanted April and Elizabeth’s German Garden I thought it would be a nice summer read.

The first few pages did not draw me into this novel but by the end I was highlighting and laughing through every paragraph. This novel is a lovely summer diversion. It is as palpably summer as Elizabeth herself must have been. I yearned with Elizabeth to be a goose girl! Her delights in wood, garden, and field are achingly real.

This would make a great reading slump book. It is also a good cheering-up book too. I dare you not to smile while reading.

Elizabeth is 3 for 3 so far.
]]> <![CDATA[Slightly Foxed No. 83: Benefit of Clergy]]> 218670808 96 Gail Pirkis 1910898945 Cindy 5 2024
I loved the final essay Counting my Chickens especially! ]]> 4.32 Slightly Foxed No. 83: Benefit of Clergy
author: Gail Pirkis
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/21
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: 2024
review:
This issue was excellent! Jane Austen, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mary Norton, Barbara Tuchman, Leon Garfield, etc.

I loved the final essay Counting my Chickens especially!
]]> <![CDATA[What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust (Flavia de Luce, #11)]]> 203164414
Flavia de Luce, along with her pestilent younger cousin, investigates the murder of a former public hangman and uncovers secrets that bring the greatest shock of her life.



Poisonous mushrooms, pestilent cousins—and a most perplexing murder...

There's a new arrival at Buckshaw—Flavia de Luce's obnoxious cousin Undine. Flavia reluctantly takes on the mentorship of her fellow orphan, who in her best moments shows some potential for trespassing and trickery.

When Major Greyleigh, a former hangman, is found dead from a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms, suspicion falls on the de Luce family's longtime cook, Mrs. Mullet. After all, didn't she pick the mushrooms and serve them to Greyleigh moments before his death?

Flavia knows her beloved Mrs. Mullet is innocent. Together with Dogger, estate gardener and partner-in-crime, and the odious Undine, she sets out to find the real killer and clear Mrs. Mullet's good name.

But following the case's twists and turns will lead her to a most surprising discovery—one with the power to upend her entire life...]]> 298 Alan Bradley 0593724518 Cindy 4 2024, mysteries 3.97 2024 What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust (Flavia de Luce, #11)
author: Alan Bradley
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/21
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: 2024, mysteries
review:
It was fun to meet up with Flavia again. This one started slow, understandably, as it has been a while, but picked up steam as it went.
]]> <![CDATA[Much May Be Done with Sparrows]]> 214701283 76 Karen Glass Cindy 5 2024 4.78 Much May Be Done with Sparrows
author: Karen Glass
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.78
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: 2024
review:
This may be my new favorite Karen Glass book! I loved it from start to finish and consider it a must read for all persons even if you don’t think of yourself as a Charlotte Mason adherent. Much wisdom in this short volume.
]]> <![CDATA[One Good Turn (Jackson Brodie, #2)]]> 501124
The event thrusts Jackson into the orbit of the wife of an unscrupulous real estate tycoon, a washed-up comedian, a successful crime novelist, a mysterious Russian woman, and a female police detective. Each of them hiding a secret, each looking for love or money or redemption or escape, they all play a role in driving Jackson out of retirement and into the middle of several mysteries that intersect in one sinister scheme.

Kate Atkinson "writes such fluid, sparkling prose that an ingenious plot almost seems too much to ask, but we get it anyway," writes Laura Miller for Salon. With a keen eye for the excesses of modern life, a warm understanding of the frailties of the human heart, and a genius for plots that turn and twist, Atkinson has written a novel that delights and surprises from the first page to the last.]]> 418 Kate Atkinson 0316012823 Cindy 4 2024
This story is a matryoshka doll itself with the dolls playing a part in the story. I loved watching all the layers come together. ]]> 3.78 2006 One Good Turn (Jackson Brodie, #2)
author: Kate Atkinson
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/14
date added: 2024/09/14
shelves: 2024
review:
I thought I had read all the Jackson Brodie books but with the new one coming out I realized I had not enjoyed the first one and didn’t go on. I have quite loved many of Kate Atkinson’s other books, so I figured I would give this series another try. Really this was a page turner! Just what I was looking for in light reading.

This story is a matryoshka doll itself with the dolls playing a part in the story. I loved watching all the layers come together.
]]> <![CDATA[The Late Lord Thorpe (D.C. Smith #11)]]> 217032663 455 Peter Grainger Cindy 5 2024 4.60 2024 The Late Lord Thorpe (D.C. Smith #11)
author: Peter Grainger
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: 2024
review:
Just another great DC Smith book. I do so wish I knew him in person.
]]> <![CDATA[The Twist of a Knife (Hawthorne & Horowitz #4)]]> 60461888 New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious fourth literary whodunit following The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death and A Line to Kill, Horowitz becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation� and only one man can prove his innocence: his newly estranged partner in solving crime, Detective Hawthorne.

“I’m sorry but the answer’s no.� Reluctant author, Anthony Horowitz, has had enough. He tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne that after three books he’s splitting and their deal is over. The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.

His new play, a thriller called Mindgame, is about to open at the Vaudeville Theatre in London’s West End. Not surprisingly, Hawthorne declines a ticket to the opening night. The play is panned by the critics. In particular, Sunday Times critic Margaret Throsby gives it a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next day, Throsby is stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger which turns out to belong to Anthony, and has his fingerprints all over it.

Anthony is arrested by an old enemy... Detective Inspector Cara Grunshaw. She still carries a grudge from her failure to solve the case described in the second Hawthorne adventure, The Sentence is Death, and blames Anthony. Now she’s out for revenge. Thrown into prison and fearing for both his personal future and his writing career, Anthony is the prime suspect in Throsby’s murder and when a second theatre critic is found to have died in mysterious circumstances, the net closes in. Ever more desperate, he realizes that only one man can help him. But will Hawthorne take the call?]]> 373 Anthony Horowitz 0062938185 Cindy 4 2024 4.02 2022 The Twist of a Knife (Hawthorne & Horowitz #4)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/08
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves: 2024
review:
Quite enjoyable for a long drive.
]]> <![CDATA[In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions Through the Psalms]]> 56849585 416 Dane C. Ortlund 1433577704 Cindy 4 2024, christian-living 4.66 In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions Through the Psalms
author: Dane C. Ortlund
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.66
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/07
date added: 2024/09/07
shelves: 2024, christian-living
review:
Great companion through some hard times this year. It was a gift from a friend perfectly timed.
]]> <![CDATA[Close to Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #5)]]> 179311283 In New York Times–bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious fifth literary whodunit in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, Detective Hawthorne is once again called upon to solve an unsolvable case—a gruesome murder in an idyllic gated community in which suspects abound

Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate.

It is the perfect idyll until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, a gaggle of shrieking children and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and they quickly offend every last one of their neighbours.

When Giles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator that can be called on to solve the case.

Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?]]> 432 Anthony Horowitz 006330564X Cindy 4 2024 4.06 2024 Close to Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #5)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: 2024
review:
Apparently I missed book 4 of this series! But this was a pretty fun one.
]]> <![CDATA[Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda]]> 204982725 “This may just be the single most important book on modern Evangelicalism in recent years. It is bold, clear, and very well-researched.”—John MacArthur

How deeply have leftist billionaires infiltrated America’s churches?

Liberal theology isn’t new. Pastors and theologians have drifted, slipped, or even plunged into doctrinal error for centuries. But in recent decades, Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham reveals, well-funded forces from outside the church have been sowing seeds of discord from behind the scenes.

In Shepherds for Sale, Basham documents how progressive powerbrokers —from George Soros, to the founder of eBay, to former members of the Obama administration� set out to change the American church. Secular foundations and think tanks have deliberately targeted Christian media, universities, megachurches, nonprofits, and even entire denominations, not to mention many high-profile pastors and influencers, with infiltration and astroturf campaigns. Their to co-opt the church for political purposes. In exchange for toeing a left-wing line, many of those church leaders and institutions have received cash, career jumps, prestige, and praise.

Now, many evangelical leaders are pushing their members to “whisper� about sexual sins, reconsider the importance of abortion, lament the effects of climate change, and repent of “perpetuating systemic racism.� Meanwhile, America’s largest evangelical denominations are fraught with division over issues like critical race theory, and many ministries once known for publishing sound doctrine are now promoting social justice.

Through years of investigation, Basham uncovered compromise at the highest levels of evangelical leadership —from the revered Presbyterian theologian who furtively backed a rogue congregation rebelling against his own denomination, to the celebrity megachurch pastor who secretly encouraged a group of pastors to change their views on sexuality.

A rigorously reportedexposé, Shepherds for Saleserves as a warning of what can happen when a church forgetsthat true power lies not in the world’s wisdom, but in Scripture.]]> 352 Megan Basham Cindy 5 2024 As it wakes us up. Those who find it controversial probably don’t understand how much it resonates with many. It rings very true to our experiences. We are tired of whispering.

But the very best part of the book is Megan’s testimony at the end. The absolute power of the truth and the Gospel shines through her story giving many of us the hope we almost forgot about.

]]> 4.35 Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda
author: Megan Basham
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: 2024
review:
Megan’s book is the waft of Puddleglum’s burning flesh
As it wakes us up. Those who find it controversial probably don’t understand how much it resonates with many. It rings very true to our experiences. We are tired of whispering.

But the very best part of the book is Megan’s testimony at the end. The absolute power of the truth and the Gospel shines through her story giving many of us the hope we almost forgot about.


]]> <![CDATA[Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West]]> 83822676
With dizzying social transformations in everything from gender to social justice, it may seem like there’s never been a more tumultuous period in history. But a single year in the late 18th century saw a number of influential transformations—or evenrevolutions—that changed the social trajectory of the Western world. By understanding how those events influenced today’s cultural landscape, Christians can more effectively bear witness to God’s truth in a post-Christian age.

InRemaking the World, Andrew Wilson highlights 7 major developments from the year 1776—globalization, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Enrichment, the American Revolution, the rise of post-Christianity, and the dawn of Romanticism—and explains their relevance to social changes happening today. Carefully examining key documents and historical figures, Wilson demonstrates how a monumental number of political, philosophical, economical, and industrial changes in the year of America’s founding shaped the modern West into a “WEIRDER� Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic. This thoroughly researched yet accessible book offers a unique historical perspective on modern views of family, government, religion, and morality—giving Christians the historical lens they need to understand today’s post-Christian trends and respond accordingly.

Relevant Cultural and Historical Skillfully connects key ideas and events from the past to the present Examines important developments from 1776, including the American Revolution, Thomas Paine’sCommon Sense, Edward Gibbon’sThe History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; James Watt’s steam engine; Adam Smith’sWealth of Nations; and Immanuel Kant’sCritique of Pure Reason Covers key historical figures, including John Adams, Edmund Burke, and David Hume Equips and encourages readers to share the gospel in a post-Christian world A Great Resource for Pastors, Scholars, and Readers of Carl Trueman’sThe Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self]]> 473 Andrew Wilson 143358056X Cindy 5 2024
Rock of ages cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee�.]]> 4.46 2023 Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West
author: Andrew Wilson
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/05
date added: 2024/08/05
shelves: 2024
review:
I found this book to be encouraging when I expected it to be disheartening. Maybe we aren’t in a complete post-Christian world after all. And in Christ we have all the hope!

Rock of ages cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee�.
]]> <![CDATA[Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education]]> 548979 182 David V. Hicks 0761814671 Cindy 5 2017, reread, 2024
"In fact, our modern educational establishment is expert at treating symptoms, at describing a disease exactly with its marvelous tools of analysis, while ignoring the invisible causes."

Think about that quote the next time you get in a debate over some issue or even when you start to grapple with an issue in your own mind. Your analysis is your problem. You are awash in too much information to clearly see any causes.

This one would do with yearly readings.]]> 4.58 1981 Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education
author: David V. Hicks
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.58
book published: 1981
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/02
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: 2017, reread, 2024
review:
Sixteen years ago, I bought this book and took it to the hospital to read after giving birth to my youngest son. The hormones were not right. I came home and sold the book. I could not understand one sentence. Trusting all those smart people I followed around I dished out the $40.00 to re-buy it a couple years after that. I committed to blogging through my reading of the book and that helped tremendously. Since then I have read Norms and Nobility several times and modeled my high school after his models as best I could. In one of those unforeseen enchantments of life, I now count David Hicks as a personal friend. And now I have finished reading this book one more time. This time I understood much more than the time before. I have gone from babyhood in my understanding to twenty-something. Perhaps, I will never fully be grown-up enough to grasp it all. My own education has been left almost entirely in my own hands. I do wonder if there are any real schools following this model. It is a beautiful one which grasps so much of what is missing in the morass of ideas parading around as education.

"In fact, our modern educational establishment is expert at treating symptoms, at describing a disease exactly with its marvelous tools of analysis, while ignoring the invisible causes."

Think about that quote the next time you get in a debate over some issue or even when you start to grapple with an issue in your own mind. Your analysis is your problem. You are awash in too much information to clearly see any causes.

This one would do with yearly readings.
]]> The Winged Watchman 56079
Holland, 1940's
RL4.9
Of read-aloud interest ages 9-up]]> 191 Hilda van Stockum 1883937078 Cindy 5 2024, family-read-alouds 4.26 1962 The Winged Watchman
author: Hilda van Stockum
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/07/29
shelves: 2024, family-read-alouds
review:
I read this for my narration class and spent the last few chapters choking up. What a simple yet powerful story of WWII in The Netherlands. A good reminder to count my blessings.
]]> <![CDATA[Drake Hall (The Secrets of Ormdale, #2)]]> 200499587
As the new dragon keeper in the hidden valley of Ormdale, Edith expects her first dragon mating season to involve venomous bites and amorous wyverns.

She doesn’t expect to find herself growing closer to an inconveniently appealing suitor next door, or to stumble upon a dragon poacher lurking in the outbuildings, or to uncover a family scandal in the Abbey.

Fortunately, Edith has a mentor to help her sort things out, the spellbinding Helena Drake of Drake Hall. Or does Helena harbour secrets of her own?

For Edith, the dragons were always going to be the easy part.

DRAKE HALL, Book 2 of The Secrets of Ormdale, takes Edith deeper into the cosy gothic world of Yorkshire dragons and the mysterious families who guard them.]]> 242 Christina Baehr Cindy 5 2024 4.33 2024 Drake Hall (The Secrets of Ormdale, #2)
author: Christina Baehr
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/28
date added: 2024/07/28
shelves: 2024
review:
Another intriguing episode in this series. Onward to Wales. So many fun connections. Well done, Christina. I did not expect the “twist� at the end.
]]> <![CDATA[The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #1)]]> 91661 384 Laurie R. King 0553381520 Cindy 3 2024 4.06 1994 The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #1)
author: Laurie R. King
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/13
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves: 2024
review:
I did enjoy this but really cringed at some of the changes. Not sure I will continue this series. I have read Sherlock Holmes too many times.
]]> <![CDATA[My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1)]]> 35036409 My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her two protagonists.]]> 331 Elena Ferrante Cindy 3 2024 4.08 2011 My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1)
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/25
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves: 2024
review:
Pleasant in that it is set in another time and another place but why people think this is great literature, I don’t understand. In spite of the violence at times, it feels complacent. I am not tempted at all to continue the series.
]]> <![CDATA[The Time of the Spirit: Readings Through the Christian Year]]> 743170 259 George Every 0881410357 Cindy 3 2024 3.50 1997 The Time of the Spirit: Readings Through the Christian Year
author: George Every
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/25
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves: 2024
review:
Took me a few years to get through this. It is a series of Christian excerpts from church history mostly from a Catholic or Orthodox perspective. Some are amazing but just not cohesive in a way that makes the reading pleasant.
]]> <![CDATA[Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida]]> 199797807
On the face of it, Denise Williams and Brian Winchester had the perfect, quintessentially Southern lives. The two were hardworking devout Baptists and together, with their respective spouses, formed a tight-knit friendship that seemed unbreakable. That is, until December 16, 2000, when Denise’s husband Mike disappeared while duck hunting on Lake Seminole on the border of Georgia and Florida.

After no body was found, it was assumed that he had drowned and was consumed by alligators in a tragic accident. But things took an unexpected turn when Brian divorced his wife and married Denise. Their surprising marriage was far from happy and in 2018, he confessed to police he killed Mike with Denise’s help nearly two decades earlier.

Now, the full, shocking story is revealed by Mikita Brottman, acclaimed true crime writer and “one of today’s finest practitioners of nonfiction� ( The New York Times Book Review ). With tenacious investigating and clear-eyed prose, she exposes the dark underbelly of far-right conservative Christianity and how it led Brian to choose murder over adultery. A fascinating and in-depth page-turner, Guilty Creatures is destined to become an instant classic in the true crime genre.]]> 288 Mikita Brottman 166802053X Cindy 3 2024 3.38 2024 Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida
author: Mikita Brottman
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/27
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves: 2024
review:
Certainly a page turner and an interesting study in the wages of sin. Not exactly a surprising story.
]]> When Breath Becomes Air 25899336
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.]]> 208 Paul Kalanithi 0812988418 Cindy 5 2024 4.41 2016 When Breath Becomes Air
author: Paul Kalanithi
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves: 2024
review:
Beautiful story of a life and the search for meaning.
]]> <![CDATA[Slightly Foxed #82: 'Spaced Out']]> 214185875 96 Gail Pirkis 1910898902 Cindy 4 2024 3.97 Slightly Foxed #82: 'Spaced Out'
author: Gail Pirkis
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.97
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/02
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: 2024
review:

]]> Much Ado About Nothing 12957 Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare includes two quite different stories of romantic love. Hero and Claudio fall in love almost at first sight, but an outsider, Don John, strikes out at their happiness. Beatrice and Benedick are kept apart by pride and mutual antagonism until others decide to play Cupid.]]> 249 William Shakespeare Cindy 5
This play is perfection. That is all. ]]> 4.06 1598 Much Ado About Nothing
author: William Shakespeare
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1598
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves: shakespeare-2015, 2015, 2018, audiobooks, shakespeare-2017-2018-audio, 2024
review:
I have given up trying to find the right editions of Shakespeare's plays on ŷ.

This play is perfection. That is all.
]]> <![CDATA[Joy in the Morning (Jeeves, #8)]]> 9928818 272 P.G. Wodehouse 0393339440 Cindy 5 2023, reread, 2024 4.24 1947 Joy in the Morning (Jeeves, #8)
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1947
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves: 2023, reread, 2024
review:
They only get better each reading!
]]> Undine 140996 128 Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué 158715689X Cindy 4 2024 3.73 1811 Undine
author: Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1811
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/26
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves: 2024
review:
This was George MacDonald’s favorite fairy tale and indeed I kept thinking he wrote it while o was reading it. The quintessential fairy tale. A story to think about long after the book is finished.
]]> <![CDATA[Charlotte Mason’s Great Recognition: A Scheme of Magnificent Unity (Charlotte Mason Centenary Series)]]> 195711408 82 Deani Van Pelt Cindy 5 2024 4.55 Charlotte Mason’s Great Recognition: A Scheme of Magnificent Unity (Charlotte Mason Centenary Series)
author: Deani Van Pelt
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/25
date added: 2024/06/25
shelves: 2024
review:
Valuable information and insight into Charlotte Mason’s Great Recognition in Florence, Italy.
]]> My India 1860759 163 Jim Corbett 0196623413 Cindy 5 2024
My India is a book by Jim Corbett, a lifelong Anglo-Indian and man-eating tiger hunter. It is a vivid picture of life during the Raj written by a man who greatly loved and respected the people he lived among. Most interesting is the way the Muslims and Hindus live in peace before agitators came along.

Did you know there is a Jim Corbett National Park in India!

I plan on using excerpts of it for my narration classes because it is so well written. ]]> 4.30 1952 My India
author: Jim Corbett
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1952
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/25
date added: 2024/06/25
shelves: 2024
review:
This book entered my life many years ago, perhaps 40. I am sure it came via a library sale and always felt like the next book in the TBR pile and yet, years went by and still I hadn’t read it. I often purge my library but for some reason I could not purge this book even though it had never been recommended and I don’t know why I wanted it. About 5 years ago I moved it to drawer in the living room. And then while searching for something else I ran across it again and decided to give it a trial run. I was so fascinated after the first chapter I continued picking it up each morning. And finally I have finished it.

My India is a book by Jim Corbett, a lifelong Anglo-Indian and man-eating tiger hunter. It is a vivid picture of life during the Raj written by a man who greatly loved and respected the people he lived among. Most interesting is the way the Muslims and Hindus live in peace before agitators came along.

Did you know there is a Jim Corbett National Park in India!

I plan on using excerpts of it for my narration classes because it is so well written.
]]> <![CDATA[Last Bus to Woodstock (Inspector Morse, #1)]]> 76909 282 Colin Dexter 0804114900 Cindy 4 2024 3.85 1975 Last Bus to Woodstock (Inspector Morse, #1)
author: Colin Dexter
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves: 2024
review:
Having watched all the Morris shows, I enjoyed this throwback to the 1990s. I especially enjoyed all the Oxford nods just like they do in the show. Of course my favorite is how often they go to The Bird and the Baby.
]]> In Praise of Plodders 4071936 144 Warren W. Wiersbe 0825440483 Cindy 4 2024 4.31 1991 In Praise of Plodders
author: Warren W. Wiersbe
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves: 2024
review:
Someone sent me this because I often say my super power is plodding. I like Wiersbe and enjoyed his essays to preachers even though I am not a pastor, I do speak in public. Plodders of the world unite!
]]> <![CDATA[Wormwood Abbey (The Secrets of Ormdale, #1)]]> 198096255
Wormwood Abbey isn't just full of curious beasts and ancient family secrets: there’s also a tall, dark, and entirely too handsome neighbour who is strangely reluctant for her to leave.

An unexpected bond with her prickly cousin Gwendolyn gives Edith a reason to stay in this strange world � especially when it turns out that Edith herself may have a role in guarding her family's legacy.

But not all of the mysteries of Ormdale are small enough to fit in her lap...and some of them have teeth.

WORMWOOD ABBEY, Book 1 of The Secrets of Ormdale, is a cosy gothic novel of mystery, dragons, and the perils of friendship, perfect for fans of EMILY WILDE'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES and Maria Grace.

Preorder today to explore the hidden valley of Ormdale, the first in a new 5 book series!]]> 208 Christina Baehr Cindy 5 2024 4.20 2023 Wormwood Abbey (The Secrets of Ormdale, #1)
author: Christina Baehr
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves: 2024
review:
What a delightful book! I was hoping I would like this book since I like Christina but it is always tricky to read books of friends!! I truly enjoyed every minute of this and all my favorite friends literary friends were alluded to wonderfully well. Bravo! Christina!! Such fun!! I kept thinking I wished I could write that well.
]]> <![CDATA[Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics]]> 25135194 Geography shapes not only our history, but where we're headed...

All leaders are constrained by geography. Their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Yes, to follow world events you need to understand people, ideas and movements - but if you don't know geography, you'll never have the full picture.

If you've ever wondered why Putin is so obsessed with Crimea, why the USA was destined to become a global superpower, or why China's power base continues to expand ever outwards, the answers are all here.

In ten chapters and ten maps, Prisoners of Geography looks at the past, present and future to offer an essential insight into one of the major factors that determines world history.

It's time to put the 'geo' back into geopolitics.

Ten maps; ten chapters:

Russia * China * United States of America * Latin America * the Middle East * Africa * India and Pakistan * Europe * Japan and Korea * the Arctic]]> 256 Tim Marshall 1783961414 Cindy 5 2024 4.18 2015 Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics
author: Tim Marshall
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves: 2024
review:
The 5 star doesn’t mean that I agree with everything in the book, rather that it was incredibly interesting and engagingly written. I will be reading this again! So 5 stars!
]]> <![CDATA[Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation]]> 61310629 320 Collin Hansen 0310128684 Cindy 4 2024 The best part of the book was the bibliography of Tim’s life scattered throughout. ]]> 4.53 Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation
author: Collin Hansen
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: 2024
review:
I struggled with the writing style of this but perhaps I am spoiled by reading a ton of biographies lately.
The best part of the book was the bibliography of Tim’s life scattered throughout.
]]> Agnes Grey 298230 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

Drawing heavily from personal experience, Anne Brontë wrote Agnes Grey in an effort to represent the many 19th Century women who worked as governesses and suffered daily abuse as a result of their position.

Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class, English family.

Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose. The cruelty with which the family treat her however, slowly but surely strips the heroine of all dignity and belief in humanity.

A tale of female bravery in the face of isolation and subjugation, Agnes Grey is a masterpiece claimed by Irish writer, George Moore, to be possessed of all the qualities and style of a Jane Austen title. Its simple prosaic style propels the narrative forward in a gentle yet rhythmic manner which continuously leaves the listener wanting to know more.

Anne Brontë, the somewhat lesser known sister, was in fact the first to finish and publish Agnes Grey under the pseudonym of Acton Bell. Charlotte and Emily followed shortly after with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

As Anne passed away from what is now known to be pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of just 29, she only published one further title; The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. As feminist in nature as Agnes Grey, Anne's brave voice resonates and permeates during one of the most prejudiced and patriarchal times of English history.]]> 226 Anne Brontë 0140432108 Cindy 4 2024 3.71 1847 Agnes Grey
author: Anne Brontë
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1847
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/25
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: 2024
review:
Quite enjoyable. I kept thinking of George MacDonald. Her theology is fascinating and comforting.
]]> <![CDATA[Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World]]> 6151 160 Henri J.M. Nouwen 0824519868 Cindy 4 2024 4.23 1992 Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
author: Henri J.M. Nouwen
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: 2024
review:
Definitely not a one and done little book. I especially liked the wisdom in the chapters on brokenness and death.
]]> <![CDATA[Red Bones (Shetland Island, #3)]]> 6361885
When a young archaeologist studying on a site at Whalsay discovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient find - or a more contemporary mystery?

Then an elderly woman is shot in a tragic accident in the middle of the night. Shetland detective Jimmy Perez is called in by her grandson - his own colleague, Sandy Wilson.

The sparse landscape and the emptiness of the sea have bred a fierce and secretive people. Mima Wilson was a recluse. She had her land, her pride and her family. As Jimmy looks to the islanders for answers, he finds instead two feuding families whose envy, greed and bitterness have lasted generations.

Surrounded by people he doesn't know and in unfamiliar territory, Jimmy finds himself out of his depth. Then there's another death and, as the spring weather shrouds the island in claustrophobic mists, Jimmy must dig up old secrets to stop a new killer from striking again . . .]]> 340 Ann Cleeves 0230014461 Cindy 3 2024 3.94 2009 Red Bones (Shetland Island, #3)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/07
date added: 2024/06/07
shelves: 2024
review:
Not a must read but a good series to dip into.
]]> <![CDATA[The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad, #6)]]> 34267285
Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers� quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed-to-a-shine, and dead in her catalog-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before.

And that her death won’t stay in its neat by-numbers box. Other detectives are trying to push Antoinette and Steve into arresting Aislinn’s boyfriend, fast. There’s a shadowy figure at the end of Antoinetteʼs road. Aislinnʼs friend is hinting that she knew Aislinn was in danger. And everything they find out about Aislinn takes her further from the glossy, passive doll she seemed to be.

Antoinette knows the harassment has turned her paranoid, but she can’t tell just how far gone she is. Is this case another step in the campaign to force her off the squad, or are there darker currents flowing beneath its polished surface?]]> 464 Tana French 0143110381 Cindy 3 2024 3.97 2016 The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad, #6)
author: Tana French
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/11
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: 2024
review:
Three stars is generous. So long for so little.
]]> <![CDATA[The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #5)]]> 6449551
Chaos is coming, old son.

With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness.
No one admits to knowing the murdered man, but as secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him?

As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures� from first editions of Charlotte’s Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word “WOE� woven in it—lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and finally back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the truth and the final, brutal telling.
]]> 372 Louise Penny Cindy 3 2024 4.19 2009 The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #5)
author: Louise Penny
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/29
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: 2024
review:
I still like Gamache himself and some of his team but this story was a stretch for me. My problem with Three Pines is that the people are all so unlikeable. I get that the author is probably trying to illustrate that we are all flawed but it is a bit overdone.
]]> Thomas Wingfold, Curate V3 2250809 124 George MacDonald 1406935174 Cindy 3 2024 4.52 2004 Thomas Wingfold, Curate V3
author: George MacDonald
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/31
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: 2024
review:
I must admit that this third volume was grating. Just too much preaching and not enough story. Even though George MacDonald usually gets a pass for being such a kindred spirit, this time it felt like too much. Let’s blame it on me.
]]> Thomas Wingfold Curate V2 10603620 104 George MacDonald 1419189697 Cindy 4 2024 The saga continues. 4.56 2004 Thomas Wingfold Curate V2
author: George MacDonald
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/05/30
shelves: 2024
review:
The saga continues.
]]> <![CDATA[Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did.]]> 134899472 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry calls us to rediscover the path that leads to a deeper life with God.



“One of the most important books I have read in a decade. . . If we would all follow in this way,our lives would change and the world would change.”—Jennie Allen, author of Get Out of Your Head and Find Your People



We are constantly being formed by the world around us. To be formed by Jesus will require us to become his apprentice.



To live by what the first Christian disciples called a Rule of Life—a set of practices and relational rhythms that slow us down and open up space in our daily lives for God to do what only God can do—transforms the deepest parts of us to become like him.



This introduction to spiritual formation is full of John Mark Comer’s trademark mix of theological substance and cultural insight as well as practical wisdom on developing your own Rule of Life.



These ancient practices have much to offer us. By learning to rearrange our days, we can follow the Way of Jesus. We can be with him. Become like him. And do as he did.]]> 302 John Mark Comer 0593193830 Cindy 4 2024 4.65 2024 Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did.
author: John Mark Comer
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/27
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: 2024
review:
I liked the concepts in this book and the huge number of quotes. It was a little too modern for me in that the narrative felt sparse. Still it would be a great graduate gift book. I also have some niggling concerns that I can’t quite articulate to myself.
]]> <![CDATA[White Nights (Shetland Island, #2)]]> 3093685
Raven Black received crime fiction’s highest monetary honor, the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award. Now Detective Jimmy Perez is back in an electrifying sequel.

It’s midsummer in the Shetland Islands, the time of the white nights, when birds sing at midnight and the sun never sets. Artist Bella Sinclair throws an elaborate party to launch an exhibition of her work at The Herring House, a gallery on the beach.

The party ends in farce when one the guests, a mysterious Englishman, bursts into tears and claims not to know who he is or where he’s come from. The following day the Englishman is found hanging from a rafter, and Detective Jimmy Perez is convinced that the man has been murdered. He is reinforced in this belief when Roddy, Bella’s musician nephew, is murdered, too.

But the detective’s relationship with Fran Hunter may have clouded his judgment, for this is a crazy time of the year when night blurs into day and nothing is quite as it seems.

A stunning second installment in the acclaimed Shetland Island Quartet, White Nights is sure to garner American raves for international sensation Ann Cleeves.]]> 392 Ann Cleeves 0312384335 Cindy 4 2024 Enjoyable Shetland visit. 3.94 2008 White Nights (Shetland Island, #2)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/21
date added: 2024/05/21
shelves: 2024
review:
Enjoyable Shetland visit.
]]> Authors and Places 36057482 Roger Lancelyn Green Cindy 4 2024
Each chapter takes you to a different part of Britain and describes how the place affected the lives of different authors like Kipling, Stevenson, or one of the list of Mrs. Authors like Mrs. Molesworth.

Many excerpts of poems and passages.

Truly a treasure.]]> 4.00 Authors and Places
author: Roger Lancelyn Green
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/15
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves: 2024
review:
Just my kind of travel book, a literary one set in England, Scotland, and Wales. This was sent to me from my friend in Australia and it is signed by the author to friend and fellow writer Maud Budden. It even has a dust jacket.

Each chapter takes you to a different part of Britain and describes how the place affected the lives of different authors like Kipling, Stevenson, or one of the list of Mrs. Authors like Mrs. Molesworth.

Many excerpts of poems and passages.

Truly a treasure.
]]> <![CDATA[Thomas Wingfold, Curate, Volume 1]]> 2250811 300 George MacDonald 1425009387 Cindy 4 2024 4.32 2004 Thomas Wingfold, Curate, Volume 1
author: George MacDonald
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/15
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves: 2024
review:
I needed a breath of fresh air in my reading. Enter George Macdonald.
]]> <![CDATA[A Rule Against Murder (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #4)]]> 4201106 "What happened here last night isn't allowed," said Madame Dubois.
It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.
"You have a rule against murder?" he asked.
"I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact....Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe."

It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But they're not alone. The Finney family—rich, cultured, and respectable—has also arrived for a celebration of their own.
The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming. As the heat rises and the humidity closes in, some surprising guests turn up at the family reunion, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body. It is up to Chief Inspector Gamache to unearth secrets long buried and hatreds hidden behind polite smiles. The chase takes him to Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own life, and finally to a harrowing climax.]]> 322 Louise Penny 0312377029 Cindy 3 2024
I seriously dislike Peter now. Especially after the last book and his attitude towards Clara. In this book I wanted him to be the murderer. Oh, well.]]> 4.15 2008 A Rule Against Murder (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #4)
author: Louise Penny
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/14
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves: 2024
review:
I am not sure what to say. I like Gamache but I am still lukewarm on the series. In this episode I liked a few points the author made about parental love and how we so often misunderstand our parents. But the whole thing was a bit weird.

I seriously dislike Peter now. Especially after the last book and his attitude towards Clara. In this book I wanted him to be the murderer. Oh, well.
]]> <![CDATA[In the Footsteps of C. S. Lewis: A Photographic Pilgrimage to the British Isles]]> 30805964 90 Will Vaus 193568812X Cindy 4 2024 4.00 In the Footsteps of C. S. Lewis: A Photographic Pilgrimage to the British Isles
author: Will Vaus
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/16
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves: 2024
review:
This book is part of my continuing journey to trace some of the walking tours Lewis took. It does include information on two other books on Lewis’s travels that I have not read yet and a very cool itinerary plan. Really it is mostly pictures though.
]]> <![CDATA[Through Joy and Beyond: A Pictorial Biography of C.S. Lewis]]> 1415410 Walter Hooper 0025536702 Cindy 5 2024 4.15 Through Joy and Beyond: A Pictorial Biography of C.S. Lewis
author: Walter Hooper
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2024/04/15
shelves: 2024
review:
I adored this book. It records so many places and walks I want to visit and it made me love “Jack� even more .
]]> <![CDATA[Slightly Foxed 81 ‘Stumbling with Precision’]]> 209489329 96 Gail Pirkis 1910898872 Cindy 4 2024 4.18 Slightly Foxed 81 ‘Stumbling with Precision’
author: Gail Pirkis
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2024/04/14
shelves: 2024
review:
Absolutely loved the last essay on the graphic monthly Smash! Just the kind of thing my boys would have loved and me too! Thanks again, Slightly Foxed!
]]> The Silver Trumpet 590158 The Silver Trumpet, a story which first appeared in print in 1925, contains a helpful biographical note on Barfield by Marjorie Lamp Mead. An entertaining and handsome volume, it will be a valuable addition to the libraries of collectors, families, and schools.]]> 126 Owen Barfield 0917665066 Cindy 3 2024 4.01 1925 The Silver Trumpet
author: Owen Barfield
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1925
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2024/04/14
shelves: 2024
review:
There were some great moments in this fairytale but it seemed awkwardly told. Perhaps it could use another reading when I have grown up more. I was especially amazed by the section about the princess being ill while the villagers mobbed her home and thought her husband was the bad guy. Shades of A Winter’s Tale.
]]> <![CDATA[A Burning in My Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson, Translator of The Message]]> 50548361
“In the time of a generation-wide breakdown in trust with leaders in every sphere of society, Eugene’s quiet life of deep integrity and gospel purpose is a bright light against a dark backdrop.”—John Mark Comer, author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

“This hunger for something radical—something so true that it burned in his bones—was a constant in Eugene’s life. His longing for God ignited a ferocity in his soul.�

Encounter the multifaceted life of one of the most influential and creative pastors of the past half century with unforgettable stories ofEugene’s lifelong devotion to his craft and love of language, the influences and experiences that shaped his unquenchable faith,the inspiration for his decision to translate The Message, andhis success and struggles as a pastor, husband, and father.

Author Winn Collier was given exclusive access to Eugene and his materials for the production of this landmark work. Drawing from his friendship and expansive view of Peterson’s life, Collier offers an intimate, beautiful, and earthy look into a remarkable life.

For Eugene, the gifts of life were the glint of fading light over the lake; a kiss from his wife, Jan; a good joke; a bowl of butter pecan ice cream. As you enter into his story, you’ll find yourself doing the same—noticing how the most ordinary things shimmer with a new and unexpected beauty.]]> 368 Winn Collier 0735291624 Cindy 4 2024 Eugene Peterson is closely linked to my dad in my mind and in fact they died the same week in October of 2018.

When I finished reading the Vaughn bios of Elisabeth Elliot, Audible suggested this biography too and I could not resist. Eugene’s attitude toward ministry and fame resonated deeply with me. He was always his “authentic� self and he had the humility to prove it.

I could spend this review splitting theological hairs but that would be to miss the point that it is God who works in us giving us a life. Eugene and my dad, two men who let God add it all up. ]]> 4.63 A Burning in My Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson, Translator of The Message
author: Winn Collier
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.63
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/28
date added: 2024/03/28
shelves: 2024
review:
My dad introduced Eugene Peterson to my boys sometimes reading aloud passages from Run with The Horses during his visits to us or our visits to him. He sprinkled his conversations with references to Jeremiah the rest of his life. Later he gave us A Long Obedience.
Eugene Peterson is closely linked to my dad in my mind and in fact they died the same week in October of 2018.

When I finished reading the Vaughn bios of Elisabeth Elliot, Audible suggested this biography too and I could not resist. Eugene’s attitude toward ministry and fame resonated deeply with me. He was always his “authentic� self and he had the humility to prove it.

I could spend this review splitting theological hairs but that would be to miss the point that it is God who works in us giving us a life. Eugene and my dad, two men who let God add it all up.
]]> <![CDATA[The Major and the Missionary: The Letters Of Warren Hamilton Lewis And Blanche Biggs]]> 196399134 352 Diana Pavlac Glyer 1951872207 Cindy 5 2024 4.43 The Major and the Missionary: The Letters Of Warren Hamilton Lewis And Blanche Biggs
author: Diana Pavlac Glyer
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/27
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: 2024
review:
This book was such a nice surprise. I always felt so badly about “Warnie’s� life after his brother died but this gives a more cheerful side. Blanche Biggs and Warren are both authentic and likable in these letters even though we can read between the lines of Warren’s true illness and even wonder what the Miller caretakers were really up to.
]]> <![CDATA[The Sacred Sacrifice: Cultivating Lenten Traditions with Bach's Great Passion (Advent and Lent Devotions with Great Music Book 2)]]> 205491101
In The Sacred Cultivating Lenten Traditions with Bach’s Great Passion, Hannah Paris leads us into establishing a beautiful Lenten tradition for families of listening to Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. She makes it easy for you to journey through Lent with Bach, on your own or with your family.
Make Lent memorable for your family listening schedule for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, including the German and parallel English librettoOccasional poems and other readingsSuggested activities for observing Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Holy Saturday, and othersRecipes for Shrove Tuesday and Easter]]> 246 Hannah Paris Cindy 5 2024
It is a nice companion to my own Advent book Hallelujah. ]]> 4.61 The Sacred Sacrifice: Cultivating Lenten Traditions with Bach's Great Passion (Advent and Lent Devotions with Great Music Book 2)
author: Hannah Paris
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.61
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2024/03/25
shelves: 2024
review:
This is an excellent listening schedule for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. I was also delighted by all the poetry included.

It is a nice companion to my own Advent book Hallelujah.
]]> <![CDATA[A Strange Habit of Mind (Cameron Winter #2)]]> 60572705 288 Andrew Klavan 1613163517 Cindy 2 2024 4.23 2022 A Strange Habit of Mind (Cameron Winter #2)
author: Andrew Klavan
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/03/24
date added: 2024/03/25
shelves: 2024
review:
For me this was a bit cringey and overdone. Everyone quotes Shakespeare even the bad guys. Cameron Winter just doesn’t track and his therapy sessions are kind of a cheap trick of storytelling. I probably agree with lots of the author’s opinions but that didn’t rescue this book. Don’t get me started on the sex scenes or Winter’s apparent lust for every woman. Angel in the house, much? Cringe!
]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)]]> 8127 Anne of Green Gables is also a wonderful portrait of a time, a place, a family� and, most of all, love.

WITH AN AFTERWORD BY JENNIFER LEE CARELL]]> 320 L.M. Montgomery 0451528824 Cindy 5 4.31 1908 Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1908
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/22
date added: 2024/03/22
shelves: 2024, family-read-alouds, reread
review:
I do so love this book. Was there ever a lovelier man than Matthew Cuthbert? I get teary just writing that.
]]> <![CDATA[Parents and Children (Original Homeschooling #2)]]> 2349719 Book by Mason, Charlotte M. 319 Charlotte M. Mason 0842313567 Cindy 5 2020, reread, 2024 4.55 1897 Parents and Children (Original Homeschooling #2)
author: Charlotte M. Mason
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.55
book published: 1897
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/18
date added: 2024/03/18
shelves: 2020, reread, 2024
review:
Perhaps an underread volume of Charlotte Mason's and yet extremely important. The last two chapters alone make it highly recommended. I read it aloud with my Patreon group and am so glad that I did. Because children are humans/persons everything Charlotte says applies to adults as well.
]]> The Cruellest Month 58519201
It's spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . .

When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil—until one of their party dies of fright. Was this a natural death, or was the victim somehow helped along?

Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.]]> 459 Louise Penny Cindy 3 2024 4.26 2007 The Cruellest Month
author: Louise Penny
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/18
date added: 2024/03/18
shelves: 2024
review:
The mishmash of spirituality gets to be a little much. But I do like Gamache.
]]> <![CDATA[A Bit of the World's Work: The Adventure of Charlotte Mason]]> 206354649 Ourselves along with Mason's other writings. It is written to help us all find our "bit of work in the world."]]> 140 Anne E. White 1990258212 Cindy 5 2024 4.75 A Bit of the World's Work: The Adventure of Charlotte Mason
author: Anne E. White
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/24
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: 2024
review:
I thoroughly enjoyed Anne’s thoughts and the evidence of what a wide feast she is drawing from.
]]> <![CDATA[A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #2)]]> 352921
No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death.

When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?

With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.]]> 311 Louise Penny 0312352565 Cindy 3 2024 4.04 2006 A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #2)
author: Louise Penny
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/08
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: 2024
review:
I gave this series another chance after watching the Alfred Molina TV series. This was better than the first and I also read another one written later which I liked even more. So I will probably read this series periodically.
]]> <![CDATA[Six Voices, One Story: The Heart of AmblesideOnline]]> 199341153 210 Cindy 5 2024
Right out of the starting gate with Donna-Jean's overview of the history of AO this book was pure reminiscence. I was there. I was on that list. I printed off those schedules. I have the duct tape to prove it. When DJ mentioned July 4, 2001. I reeled. The summer AO known then as PUO gave me the courage to read A Midsummer Night's Dream to my children. It was a beautiful memory sitting in the back yard of our home in NJ reading the real Shakespeare for the first time and the kids laughing in all the right places. Yes, yes, I did lose my temper and throw a lawn chair that summer too, but not AT anyone.

I knew Wendi for many long blogging years and she was a true force of nature. But reading how these ladies came together and knowing the incredible brain power each of them possesses, I began to see there is no way this was an accident. The amount of work and communication that went on is staggering. The lack of ego and the willingness to stick to it is nothing short of miraculous. This has been truly a fellowship of INKLING proportions. The simple common sense of these women who have breathed the air of Charlotte Mason's words for a quarter of a century is freeing.

This book will help you see that Charlotte Mason's ideas are ENOUGH even in their most basic form.

Even if you are not interested in how AO was formed, you will want to read the wisdom of these ladies.

Bravo, friends, I am so proud of you and I pray this book brings peace in a very noisy CM world.]]> 4.71 Six Voices, One Story: The Heart of AmblesideOnline
author: AmblesideOnline Education Foundation
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.71
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/28
date added: 2024/02/28
shelves: 2024
review:
It took me a while to get around to reading this book. I have met and talked to each of these ladies in person and conisder them longtime friends but the one I knew first was Wendi and the one I knew best was Lynn and there's the rub. I just wasn't ready to read about them. But as the anniversaries of both their deaths rolled around I finally felt able to think about reading the book.

Right out of the starting gate with Donna-Jean's overview of the history of AO this book was pure reminiscence. I was there. I was on that list. I printed off those schedules. I have the duct tape to prove it. When DJ mentioned July 4, 2001. I reeled. The summer AO known then as PUO gave me the courage to read A Midsummer Night's Dream to my children. It was a beautiful memory sitting in the back yard of our home in NJ reading the real Shakespeare for the first time and the kids laughing in all the right places. Yes, yes, I did lose my temper and throw a lawn chair that summer too, but not AT anyone.

I knew Wendi for many long blogging years and she was a true force of nature. But reading how these ladies came together and knowing the incredible brain power each of them possesses, I began to see there is no way this was an accident. The amount of work and communication that went on is staggering. The lack of ego and the willingness to stick to it is nothing short of miraculous. This has been truly a fellowship of INKLING proportions. The simple common sense of these women who have breathed the air of Charlotte Mason's words for a quarter of a century is freeing.

This book will help you see that Charlotte Mason's ideas are ENOUGH even in their most basic form.

Even if you are not interested in how AO was formed, you will want to read the wisdom of these ladies.

Bravo, friends, I am so proud of you and I pray this book brings peace in a very noisy CM world.
]]> The Thirty-Nine Steps 18680050 136 John Buchan Cindy 4 3.72 1915 The Thirty-Nine Steps
author: John Buchan
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1915
rating: 4
read at: 2017/05/15
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: 2017, morningtime, family-read-alouds, reread, 2022, 2024
review:
The first time I read this book it was a page turner; this last time it was not quite so awesome but it is a good beginning to a wonderful series of books which do an incredible job of illustrating the concepts of honor.
]]> <![CDATA[Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year]]> 62114927 Winters in the World is a beautifully observed journey through the cycle of the year in Anglo-Saxon England, exploring the festivals, customs and traditions linked to the different seasons. Drawing on a wide variety of source material, including poetry, histories and religious literature, Eleanor Parker investigates how Anglo-Saxons felt about the annual passing of the seasons and the profound relationship they saw between human life and the rhythms of nature.
Many of the festivals we celebrate in Britain today have their roots in the Anglo-Saxon period, and this book traces their surprising history, as well as unearthing traditions now long forgotten. It celebrates some of the finest treasures of medieval literature and provides an imaginative connection to the Anglo-Saxon world.]]> 283 Eleanor Parker 1789146712 Cindy 5 2024
The pairing of the Anglo-Saxon seasons and poetry is simply gorgeous. I am now ready for a pilgrimage. ]]> 4.38 2022 Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year
author: Eleanor Parker
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/16
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: 2024
review:
This is a niche book that took me almost a year to read appropriately. It is the kind of book that makes you want to pull out Our Island Story and in fact, it has been a great companion to Rebecca Fraser’s The Story of Britain. Of course, you could say this book was haunted by some of the writings of Lewis and Tolkien. The etymologies were so deeply meaningful. Fallow and bless and so many more. I too am a word-hoarder.

The pairing of the Anglo-Saxon seasons and poetry is simply gorgeous. I am now ready for a pilgrimage.
]]> <![CDATA[Kohila : the shaping of an Indian nurse]]> 358362 206 Amy Carmichael 8190127705 Cindy 4 2024 3.78 2002 Kohila : the shaping of an Indian nurse
author: Amy Carmichael
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/15
date added: 2024/02/15
shelves: 2024
review:
This is a strange little book and you can see that the reviews are mixed. It is not a straight narrative and I realized early on that it needed to be read as a devotional and not as a story. In that way it is full of meat, strong, convicting meat. It is a chance to breathe the air of a different time, a time when death to self was not continually mocked or misunderstood. It is a book that can strip you bare one moment and bind up your wounds with balm the next. It is a strange little volume indeed.
]]> <![CDATA[The River's Edge (Jackman & Evans, #10)]]> 156830431
The peaceful little village of Saltern-le-Fen is buzzing with excitement. A film crew are in town, shooting a new TV police drama, Fen Division Five. But Detective Jackman receives a disturbing tip-off that something is wrong.

Detective Marie Evans meanwhile is looking forward to moving into her dream home. But there’s no time to celebrate. The naked body of a young man is found at the river’s edge. He’s been strangled, his skin massaged in expensive oil.

Two days later, another handsome young man is discovered in a shallow lake. His throat cut. He too is lathered in body oil.

At the same time, an arch enemy from the past emerges. A master manipulator who has his sights on Jackman and Evans. From behind the bars of his high security prison, he’s putting the finishing touches to a devastating revenge plan.

As they hunt a brutal killer, Jackman and Evans are themselves hunted in a deadly game of cat and mouse � and the stakes could not be higher.]]> 340 Joy Ellis 1804059382 Cindy 3 2024 4.51 2023 The River's Edge (Jackman & Evans, #10)
author: Joy Ellis
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/30
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: 2024
review:
Pretty intense mystery with a bit of an odd wrap-up but very engaging.
]]> <![CDATA[A Lesson in Murder (Cherringham, #13)]]> 24661336
-- Cherringham is serial novel à la Charles Dickens, with a new mystery thriller released each month. Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing English web designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack. Thrilling and deadly - but with a spot of tea - it's like Rosamunde Pilcher meets Inspector Barnaby. Each of the self-contained episodes is a quick read for the morning commute, while waiting for the doctor, or when curling up with a hot cuppa.]]> 99 Matthew Costello 3732508455 Cindy 3 2024 Another car ride with Tim. 4.05 2015 A Lesson in Murder (Cherringham, #13)
author: Matthew Costello
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/09
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: 2024
review:
Another car ride with Tim.
]]> Homecoming 61683285
Sixty years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for almost twenty years, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

Nora has always been a vibrant and strong presence: decisive, encouraging, young despite her years. When Jess visits her in the hospital, she is alarmed to find her grandmother frail and confused. It’s even more alarming to hear from Nora's housekeeper that Nora had been distracted in the weeks before her accident and had fallen on the steps to the attic—the one place Jess was forbidden from playing in when she was small.

At loose ends in Nora's house, Jess does some digging of her own. In Nora's bedroom, she discovers a true crime book, chronicling the police investigation into a long-buried tragedy: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the book that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous crime—a crime that has never been resolved satisfactorily. And for a journalist without a story, a cold case might be the best distraction she can find�

An epic novel that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, and how we protect the lies we tell. It explores the power of motherhood, the corrosive effects of tightly held secrets, and the healing nature of truth. Above all, it is a beguiling and immensely satisfying novel from one of the finest writers working today.]]> 547 Kate Morton 0063020890 Cindy 5 2024
I want to add something about Nora because in the beginning it is like she is a hero and slowly the shine comes off and some people think we see a monster but what we really see is a human. We are all at times the bad guy and the good guy. All of our stories can be told two ways. I could tell my life as a tragedy and a comedy and both would be true. This might be why Shakespeare tells the similar tales as tragedy and comedy.]]> 4.00 2023 Homecoming
author: Kate Morton
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/08
date added: 2024/02/08
shelves: 2024
review:
Even though I get the criticisms of this book, I still think it is a thumping good read, a real page turner with Australia as the back drop.

I want to add something about Nora because in the beginning it is like she is a hero and slowly the shine comes off and some people think we see a monster but what we really see is a human. We are all at times the bad guy and the good guy. All of our stories can be told two ways. I could tell my life as a tragedy and a comedy and both would be true. This might be why Shakespeare tells the similar tales as tragedy and comedy.
]]> <![CDATA[The Fourth Friend (Jackman & Evans #3)]]> 36133405 Four lost friends. Four tasks to complete. One big mystery left.

Police detective Carter McLean is the only survivor of a plane crash that kills his four best friends. He returns to work but he is left full of guilt and terrible flashbacks. So for each of his four friends he decides to complete something that they left unfinished.

Eighteen months before the crash, Suzanne Holland disappeared, leaving a room with traces of blood, but no other leads. Suzanne was the wife of one of Carter’s four best friends. Adding to the pressure, the boss’s daughter has a stalker. Due to the sensitivity of the Holland case, Carter is put on this investigation.

DS Marie Evans is the only person Carter can confide in. But even she begins to doubt whether he can really cope and whether he is actually losing his mind.

DI Jackman and DS Evans of the Fenland police face a battle to untangle three mysteries, and can they really believe their friend and colleague Carter?

Full of twists and turns, this is a crime thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the shocking ending.]]> 265 Joy Ellis 1912106868 Cindy 4 2024 4.16 2017 The Fourth Friend (Jackman & Evans #3)
author: Joy Ellis
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/02
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves: 2024
review:
This story was so unique for the genre that I bumped it up a star. Engaging. These are best read in audio.
]]> <![CDATA[Slightly Foxed #80: ‘Arrows of Revelation’]]> 202578689
In this issue
Ysenda Maxtone Graham lifts up her voice � Robin Blake snoops about with Simenon � Rachel Cooke enjoys a French lesson � Samuel Saloway-Cooke feels somewhat flat � Daisy Hay delights in Emma � William Palmer goes down the pub with Myles � Ursula Buchan remembers A Day in Summer � Christopher Rush has a nasty moment on Dartmoor � Sam Leith does his best to grow up, and much more besides . . .]]> 96 Gail Pirkis 1910898864 Cindy 5 2024 Self-consciousness is the killer of the imagination.

Other highlights are essays on Emma and The Hound of Baskerville and of course, Hymns Ancient and Modern.

5 stars for being brave SF! ]]> 4.17 Slightly Foxed #80: ‘Arrows of Revelation’
author: Gail Pirkis
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves: 2024
review:
I actually liked Melanie MCDonagh’s article on the wonderful books published by Puffin during the golden age of children’s literature. It is hard to image any real reader not realizing the treasures moderns are missing by our ever expanding exclusions. Whatever happened to the imagination. As I child I never even noticed it the protagonist was male or female. I just fell down the rabbit hole of the story.
Self-consciousness is the killer of the imagination.

Other highlights are essays on Emma and The Hound of Baskerville and of course, Hymns Ancient and Modern.

5 stars for being brave SF!
]]> <![CDATA[How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created our World & Everything in It]]> 159210
Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics—contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since.

Herman has charted a fascinating journey across the centuries of Scottish history. Here is the untold story of how John Knox and the Church of Scotland laid the foundation for our modern idea of democracy; how the Scottish Enlightenment helped to inspire both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution; and how thousands of Scottish immigrants left their homes to create the American frontier, the Australian outback, and the British Empire in India and Hong Kong.

How the Scots Invented the Modern World reveals how Scottish genius for creating the basic ideas and institutions of modern life stamped the lives of a series of remarkable historical figures, from James Watt and Adam Smith to Andrew Carnegie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and how Scottish heroes continue to inspire our contemporary culture, from William “Braveheart� Wallace to James Bond.

And no one who takes this incredible historical trek will ever view the Scots—or the modern West—in the same way again.]]> 480 Arthur Herman 0609809997 Cindy 5 2024
I even enjoyed the parts on the Scottish Enlightenment and David Hume.
I especially loved the in depth look at Scottish education ideals and its influence in America.

This book inspired me to do some research into my own Maxwell heritage. We have a castle!

Time for a little Waverly. ]]> 3.91 2001 How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created our World & Everything in It
author: Arthur Herman
name: Cindy
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/21
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves: 2024
review:
You can read this slowly feasting on the dense information or you can read it quickly getting the overall picture either way this is a wonderful book full of knowledge. I did a little of both.

I even enjoyed the parts on the Scottish Enlightenment and David Hume.
I especially loved the in depth look at Scottish education ideals and its influence in America.

This book inspired me to do some research into my own Maxwell heritage. We have a castle!

Time for a little Waverly.
]]> <![CDATA[Salted With Fire: The Scots-English Edition]]> 202450179
SALTED WITH FIRE was George MacDonald's final full-length novel. True to his lifelong message, it charts the slide of a faithless minister into an abyss of self-inflicted suffering; but shows, alongside his rebellion, a relentless love that will guide even the most beleaguered prodigal home.]]> 238 George MacDonald Cindy 5 2024 4.63 1897 Salted With Fire: The Scots-English Edition
author: George MacDonald
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.63
book published: 1897
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/24
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves: 2024
review:
Excellent MacDonald story. While there is MUCH to think about in this book as always with MacDonald, one part that really struck me is the side story of James’s mother and how her very love shielded him from growing in grace. What hard providences do we set up our children for by our sometimes disordered love for them?
]]> <![CDATA[The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God]]> 238658
"A delight to read. It is written as history ought to be, especially for nonspecialist readers."—Richard A. Kauffman, Christian Century

In this eloquent introduction to early Christian thought, eminent religious historian Robert Louis Wilken examines the tradition that such figures as St. Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and others set in place. These early thinkers constructed a new intellectual and spiritual world, Wilken shows, and they can still be heard as living voices in the modern world.

In chapters on topics including early Christian worship, Christian poetry and the spiritual life, the Trinity, Christ, the Bible, and icons, Wilken shows that the energy and vitality of early Christianity arose from within the life of the Church. While early Christian thinkers drew on the philosophical and rhetorical traditions of the ancient world, it was the versatile vocabulary of the Bible that loosened their tongues and minds and allowed them to construct the world anew, intellectually and spiritually. These thinkers were not seeking to invent a world of ideas, Wilken shows, but rather to win the hearts of men and women and to change their lives.
Early Christian thinkers set in place a foundation that has endured. Their writings are an irreplaceable inheritance, and Wilken shows that they can still be heard as living voices within contemporary culture.]]> 398 Robert L. Wilken 0300105983 Cindy 5 2024 4.30 2003 The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God
author: Robert L. Wilken
name: Cindy
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/26
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves: 2024
review:
What a lovely surprise. I started this with the feeling it was a “should� read , I ended it amazed at the author’s skill in making these ideas accessible and life giving. Where I expected dry, he breathed life into these fathers even going so far as to intertwine stories from literature to explain complex ideas. I learned so much and it especially helped me in my ongoing wrestlings with the role of education in producing virtue. I feel much better knowing this has been an ongoing thought process through the ages.
]]>