Casual Classics Challenge 2009

Classic being anything written before 1970. And only need to read 4 of them – my list of books:

• To Kill a Mockingbird – done
• Jane Eyre – got it on my Kindle now along with several other Bronte books
• Heart of Darkness – done
• The Trial by Franz Kafka

The Iliad counts and so will the Odyssey when I finish it. Sense and Sensibility definitely counts. Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat also count. I just finished The Scarlet Pimpernel as well as Emily of New Moon and Emily Climbs so I have definitely read some classics.

Technically this one is still going on, but I’m marking it as closed for me. I have read many classics and will read more before the year is over.

Christian Readers Challenge 2009

Any Christian books (fiction or nf) to read by April 30 – my list:

• Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God by David McCasland – done
• George Muller of Bristol: His Life of Prayer and Faith by A. T. Pierson – on the Kindle waiting for free time
• The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton – done
• Mere Christianity – done
• The 7 Hardest Things God Asks a Woman To Do by Kathie Reimer & Lisa Whittle – read two more chapters

So, I didn’t conquer my list, but I did get 3 out of the 5 finished and enjoyed them very much. The other 2 are still on my list to be read this year.

I’m in the middle of the Spring Reading Thing challenge and keeping up quite well with the 999 challenge. Here’s what I plan to read over the next month.

1. The Odyssey by Homer
2. Spectacular Sins by John Piper – on Kindle
3. How Long, O Lord by DA Carson
4. Believing God by RC Sproul Jr
5. make progress in Les Miserables
6. The Scarlet Pimpernel – on Kindle
7. The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

Now, progress check on last month’s list and any extras that popped up.

There was only one that I didn’t finish so it’s on my list for May.

Fiction:

• Around the World in 80 Days for the 5M4B Classics Bookclub – a fun book, I’m glad I read it!
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd – church book club – finished but haven’t written it up yet
• Consequences of Sin – library book
• Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo (an advance readers’ edition, it’s coming out June 2009)

Nonfiction:

• That Went Well  – library book, I just loved the title – it was a good book
• Finally Alive by John Piper – Piper is always good
• Not Knowing Where by Oswald Chambers – a marvelous book that helped me a lot this past month!
• Believing God by RC Sproul Jr (I read the first chapter, I like it) – didn’t get to it this month
• The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns (Thomas Nelson Bloggers freebie) – wonderful!
• Spiritual Disciplines – the audio book for March -

Extras:

• The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett – fun
• Emily Climbs by LM Montgomery
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – what a wonderful book!
• The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
• The Noticer by Andy Andrews – another Thomas Nelson Bloggers freebie)

I added The Uncommon Reader: A Novella because I kept reading great reviews about it. I’m so glad I did.  It’s a short read, but very funny and well done. Reading does change a person, especially if they stay at it and begin to do it with some purpose and organization. It is also well done with a friend or guide. The plot is that the Queen of England is walking her corgis one day and comes upon a traveling library van. She checks out a book to be polite and checks out one more the next week. This second one hooks her and she soon becomes a voracious reader, even at the expense of her other duties.

Anyone wholoves to read can recognize this – every conversation goes on too long because you could be reading. Any task or meail takes too much time when there is a good book to get back to. He does a good job showing the transformation that many readers make as all the reading makes them think and apply lessons to their own life.

So, well done. There are two crude phrases in the book that could have been left out of an otherwise pleasant read. I’m not a prude, and I understand that language helps define a character, but sometimes foul language is just unnecessary.

Just tracking my progress here:

My original list with links to book reviews or summaries.

1. Consequences of Sin by Clare Langley-Hawthorne
2. Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo (an advance readers’ edition, it’s coming out June 2009)
3. Get Outta My Face! by Rick Horne
4. The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns
5. The Odyssey by Homer
6. Spectacular Sins by John Piper – on Kindle
7. How Long, O Lord by DA Carson – not in library, available on Kindle
8. Finally Alive by John Piper
9. Emily Climbs by LM Montgomery
10. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
11. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke – hold 4/22 but position 40. I did read The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
12. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett – hold 4/22
13. finish Les Miserables (I’ve read 1 volume)
14. the ChristianAudio April freebie – not a good book, but I did read Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
15. the ChristianAudio May freebie
16. the ChristianAudio June freebie
17. Believing God by RC Sproul, Jr.
18. George Muller bio by Pierson – on Kindle

It’s tempting to put off finishing something deep and get a quick success in, but I need to hold down and finish what I have in progress already.