Summer Reading Challenge update
Three more books finished, 12 to go to make my 18-book challenge for the summer. I’m actually hoping I’ll finish more than my goal in order to stay on track and finish my reading list for the year. We’ll see.
I finished Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul by John and Stasi Eldredge before we left. There were a couple of good nuggets in there, but there’s a huge doctrinal error that runs through the entire book, so I would not recommend it.
Two nights ago, I finished The Novelist by Angela Hunt. Definitely a good read, especially for anyone who aspires to write. I don’t know how she managed it, but she wrote two stories in one. There’s the main story about a woman novelist, and then there’s the story the novelist is writing. The two stories intertwine and along the way are some good lessons about God’s sovereignty and how our choices to sin affect not only ourselves but everyone around us. It took me a while to get drawn in, but once the story grabbed me, I didn’t want to put it down.
Today I finished The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs. This was a very entertaining read. After years of writing for pop culture magazines like Entertainment Weekly and Esquire, Jacobs decided he was being “dumbed down”. In an effort to learn, well, everything, he embarks on a quest to read the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 2002 edition.
“…33,000 pages, 65,000 articles, 9,500 contributors, 24,000 images. I’m looking at thirty-two volumes, each one weighing in at a solid four pounds, each packed with those giant, tissue-thin pages. The total: 44 million words.”
When I picked up this book, I thought it had the potential to either be completely fascinating or extremely dull. Jacobs’ sense of humor pervades, along with personal anecdotes about his attempts to get his wife pregnant and to come to an understanding in his relationship with his father. And along the way I learned some fascinating stuff - almost enough to make me want to read the EB myself. Almost.
“Absalom
Absalom, a biblical hero, has the oddest death so far in the encyclopedia. During a battle in the forest, Absalom got his flowing hair caught in the branches of an oak tree, which allowed his enemy, Joab, to catch him and slay him. This, I figure, is exactly why the army requires crew cuts.”
The Bible actually says his head got caught in the tree, but I still found this funny. I marked many passages and will share some more in a later post. Anyone who is fascinated by trivia would enjoy this book. There is some profanity, though it is not pervasive, so keep this in mind if you decide to pick it up.
Next up: Atonement by Ian McEwan and Fresh-Brewed Life by Nicole Johnson. I’m also close to being finished listening to both A New Song by Jan Karon and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling on audiobook - the latter with Natalie and Noah.
How about you - what are you reading these days?
Now I’m curious about the Eldridge book–do you want me to read myself to find out what the doctrinal error is or will you elaborate? ;o)
I just finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife, and I enjoyed very much. Read the whole fat book in three days. The unique exploration of free will vs. determinism really caught my attention.
Right now I’m in the middle of Return of the Native and A Wind in the Door. I was feeling ashamed of myself because I’d never actually read anything by Madeleine L’Engle. Maybe it’s because these books are written for a young adult audience or because I’m a literary cad, but they’re not really grabbing my interest.
Happy Reading!
June 25th, 2006 at 5:47 pmCount me in as another curious person about Captivating.
I don’t know how you read so many books at once. I can only do 1 at a time. Of course, I often read to the the exclusion of everything else, so often finish in a day or so!
June 26th, 2006 at 6:47 amJodi - I loved The Time Traveller’s Wife, too! It was a book that I was sad to see end.
Karen - I never used to read more than one book at a time, but have changed that recently. Don’t really know why. Usually, though, whatever fiction I’m reading will take over once I reach the halfway point and I finish it before I pick any of the other ones up.
June 26th, 2006 at 6:24 pm