November reading: aspirations and actuality
I took this photo the first week of November. I was enthusiastic about shopping my shelves for November reading, and these titles spoke to me with their brown autumnal spines; also their mood seemed to fit shorter days and the melancholic air of fall.
I've finished 12 books so far this month (some of them begun in previous months, many of them shorter books), and none of them were from that stack. For that I can only blame my own fickleness...and Kindle Unlimited.
As I've tried to be intentional about reading my own Kindle and physical books this year, I saw that I'd purchased Madeleine L'Engle's The Small Rain on Kindle and had not yet read it. This was her first novel, and though it doesn't contain the full measure of the substance of her later works, it's an admirable first novel, and I cared about Katherine, the protagonist. In the introduction, L'Engle writes that she wrote a companion novel years later, and I was curious what became of Katherine. Yet how would I acquire the book? This companion novel, A Severed Wasp isn't well-known enough to be on Libby, I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit myself to buying it on Book Depository for 444 crowns, and I can't use my Czech debit card on my American Amazon account. That was the moment that Amazon dangled a Kindle Unlimited free trial in front of my eyes. I suddenly had visions of other titles I'd desired to read but a) weren't available on Libby, b) had a months' long waiting list on Libby, or c) weren't available on Libby and I wasn't ready to commit to buying a copy.
Can you see how that lovely stack of autumnal books became neglected? Soon my Kindle Unlimited rental list was nearing the maximum of 10 as Amazon's search history, wish lists, and other magical cookie powers began suggesting just the titles I'd like to borrow. My free trial expires December 2, and I fear that that stack will continue to be neglected as I devour those free (for now) titles. Those which currently have me most engaged are:
The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in its Proper Place by Andy Crouch
As its title suggests, this book is all about technology in the home and how to influence your children's (and family's) relationship with technology. Interspersed throughout is research about technology use in American homes today. The book compels me to think intentionally about my behavior with technology and the kind of rhythms and relationships I want to establish in my home. I'm only about halfway through, but I'd already recommend it highly, and I'd be remiss not to give it a reread in the future--or at least to review my notes and highlights.
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers
This title goes well with my recent reading of Madeleine L'Engle as Sayers explores the mind of the maker, especially as we are makers made in the image of God. This is title I plan to read thoughtfully and may need to purchase since I want to give this work the proper attention.
The Man Upstairs and Other Stories by P. G. Wodehouse
After hearing much admiration for Wodehouse, I finally borrowed something written by him, and what a delight it is! These short stories are brilliant. The humor is wonderful and everything is so fresh and unexpected that I find myself smiling as I read and resenting being pulled away from the text. Most stories have some sort of a love story in the plot: an engaged man who must prove himself worthy, a shy suitor vying for the attention of a London belle, and so forth. Yet these relationships, while often providing the impetus for action, are not in fact the central action of the story. Rather than prattling on and perhaps spoiling this lovely work, here are a couple of quotes:
My appreciation for the work of Sally and Clay Clarkson has increased dramatically this year, as I find myself listening regularly to Sally Clarkson's podcast At Home with Sally Clarkson as well as having read more of her work, namely The Lifegiving Home. I've purchased numerous books of both of the Clarksons (sometimes books that are co-written with children of theirs) this year and I have faith in their perspectives and experience. I'm not far into this book, but it has a promising start, as Clay counters the idea of "spare the rod, spoil the child" as the central passage on child discipline. As with The Mind of the Maker, I find my progress to be slow--as it ought to be. I will likely end up buying the title to add to my growing parenting section of my library.
So there you have it. As much as I like to dream about my future reading, sometimes I must set aside my plans and seize on book serendipity. As it happens, one book in that stack (All the Light We Cannot See) is currently in the CD player of our family car. I borrowed a Czech audiobook version for my husband, with the hopes of discussing it with him. If he's been listening to it today in the car, he may be halfway through, so I ought to crack the binding and catch up.
I've finished 12 books so far this month (some of them begun in previous months, many of them shorter books), and none of them were from that stack. For that I can only blame my own fickleness...and Kindle Unlimited.
As I've tried to be intentional about reading my own Kindle and physical books this year, I saw that I'd purchased Madeleine L'Engle's The Small Rain on Kindle and had not yet read it. This was her first novel, and though it doesn't contain the full measure of the substance of her later works, it's an admirable first novel, and I cared about Katherine, the protagonist. In the introduction, L'Engle writes that she wrote a companion novel years later, and I was curious what became of Katherine. Yet how would I acquire the book? This companion novel, A Severed Wasp isn't well-known enough to be on Libby, I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit myself to buying it on Book Depository for 444 crowns, and I can't use my Czech debit card on my American Amazon account. That was the moment that Amazon dangled a Kindle Unlimited free trial in front of my eyes. I suddenly had visions of other titles I'd desired to read but a) weren't available on Libby, b) had a months' long waiting list on Libby, or c) weren't available on Libby and I wasn't ready to commit to buying a copy.
Can you see how that lovely stack of autumnal books became neglected? Soon my Kindle Unlimited rental list was nearing the maximum of 10 as Amazon's search history, wish lists, and other magical cookie powers began suggesting just the titles I'd like to borrow. My free trial expires December 2, and I fear that that stack will continue to be neglected as I devour those free (for now) titles. Those which currently have me most engaged are:
The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in its Proper Place by Andy Crouch
As its title suggests, this book is all about technology in the home and how to influence your children's (and family's) relationship with technology. Interspersed throughout is research about technology use in American homes today. The book compels me to think intentionally about my behavior with technology and the kind of rhythms and relationships I want to establish in my home. I'm only about halfway through, but I'd already recommend it highly, and I'd be remiss not to give it a reread in the future--or at least to review my notes and highlights.
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers
This title goes well with my recent reading of Madeleine L'Engle as Sayers explores the mind of the maker, especially as we are makers made in the image of God. This is title I plan to read thoughtfully and may need to purchase since I want to give this work the proper attention.
The Man Upstairs and Other Stories by P. G. Wodehouse
After hearing much admiration for Wodehouse, I finally borrowed something written by him, and what a delight it is! These short stories are brilliant. The humor is wonderful and everything is so fresh and unexpected that I find myself smiling as I read and resenting being pulled away from the text. Most stories have some sort of a love story in the plot: an engaged man who must prove himself worthy, a shy suitor vying for the attention of a London belle, and so forth. Yet these relationships, while often providing the impetus for action, are not in fact the central action of the story. Rather than prattling on and perhaps spoiling this lovely work, here are a couple of quotes:
The sun had just gone down; and it was a lovely sunset, and the sky looked like a great, beautiful slice of underdone beef; and I said so to him, and he said, sniffily, that he was afraid he didn't see the resemblance.
To the eye of an experienced critic the picture would certainly have seemed crude. It was a study of a dark-eyed child holding a large black cat. Statisticians estimate that there is no moment during the day when one or more young artists somewhere on the face of the globe are not painting pictures of children holding cats.Heartfelt Discipline by Clay Clarkson
My appreciation for the work of Sally and Clay Clarkson has increased dramatically this year, as I find myself listening regularly to Sally Clarkson's podcast At Home with Sally Clarkson as well as having read more of her work, namely The Lifegiving Home. I've purchased numerous books of both of the Clarksons (sometimes books that are co-written with children of theirs) this year and I have faith in their perspectives and experience. I'm not far into this book, but it has a promising start, as Clay counters the idea of "spare the rod, spoil the child" as the central passage on child discipline. As with The Mind of the Maker, I find my progress to be slow--as it ought to be. I will likely end up buying the title to add to my growing parenting section of my library.
So there you have it. As much as I like to dream about my future reading, sometimes I must set aside my plans and seize on book serendipity. As it happens, one book in that stack (All the Light We Cannot See) is currently in the CD player of our family car. I borrowed a Czech audiobook version for my husband, with the hopes of discussing it with him. If he's been listening to it today in the car, he may be halfway through, so I ought to crack the binding and catch up.
Comments
Post a Comment