She Reads?! Books I have Finished

Compared to the many avid readers who blog, this list will not be very impressive (the much longer list would be “Books I have started and never finished”). I was very glad to not be tagged in the #OnMyNightstand hashtag that was going around, as mine with its baby monitor, glass of water, and probably dirty kleenex, would not compare to the many that were piled in and over and under with wonderful books.

I want to remember that I have actually read (cover to cover!) some books this year. It amazes me. I am not really a huge book person, so it either has to COMPLETELY capture my attention and be really well written, or it has to be a book on a subject I am so very interested in that I am willing to commit to it and push through. I won’t even go into the “no time” excuses, because if it is a good enough book, apparently I do make the time.

These are not affiliate links or anything, mostly I was double checking that I am remembering the title right.  But in case anyone wants more info I put the links to amazon there, but check your library (that’s where I got mine. Not a big book buyer here) because you can probably borrow most if not all of these books.

In no particular order:

The Care and Management of Lies

I like historical fiction and I had read a book by this author (from the Maisie Dobbs series) and enjoyed it, so I picked it up and was happy with it. Friendship, cooking, love and womanhood during WWI. If you like that sort of thing than this is a good fit. When I got to the last page I wasn’t relieved/excited I had actually made it to the end, but instead I wished it kept going, so that’s a good sign right?

 

 

In this House of Brede

This book was a recommendation from a book swap episode of the Fountains of Carrots podcast, and it was SO GOOD! It is a long book, and I am telling you I read it without even renewing it once! That’s a miracle people. That means I read a 600+ page book in less than 3 weeks. Record time for me. So many beautiful things about this book and how well its written and the seemingly simple and quiet life of cloistered sisters has never been more exciting and adventuresome!
Check out Christy and Haley for lots of good book recommendations!

 

Call the Midwife

I picked this up from a “take one, leave one” book shelf and honestly I enjoyed it much more than the show. I  haven’t kept up with the episodes past the first or second season because it was all about the DRAMA and near death experiences and most of the time I was/am pregnant and just couldn’t watch. But I love reading memoirs, and this one goes much more into the main midwife (Jenny? Seriously, my memory is so bad) her thoughts and growth in faith while she lives with the Sisters, and I loved that. Also beautiful stories of real people facing hardship and poverty, some of the characters that made it into an episode, but with greater depth and less character exaggeration. I liked it.

Unplanned

I had kept hearing things about Abby Johnson and following her on facebook, and honestly my curiosity just drove me to pick up and get through this book, again very quickly. Very interesting and eye opening for people who call themselves prolife. I wish it went further into her conversion to Catholicism, but there’s her blog to read for more recent updates (Like her out of the blue adoption of a 7 week old, while she had a few month old infant of her own. Crazy story!) Such an impressive woman.

 

Saint Padre Pio: In the Footsteps of Saint Francis

This was free on Amazon one day so I downloaded to it my kindle app, and honestly just started reading it one day while I was “trapped” in the car with sleeping children and facebook was boring.  But, OH. MY. GOSH. Do you know much about this Saint? Because its CRAY. ZEE!!! I did not and my mind was sort of blown away. Makes you think, “yeah I want to be a saint, but Jesus…. please don’t pick me for any of that crazy stuff!” Stigmata and Bilocation and all the miracles you hear about this man, true story but with great power comes great suffering. Wow.

Pope John XXIII: The Good Pope

This was (and still is apparently) another free Kindle download, and I wanted to read it because it was right around the time he was being canonized with JPII and I really didn’t know anything about him, so it was really interesting. Quick read. He reminded me a lot of Pope Francis, and the same sort of media excitement, “Finally, a modern-progressive-open minded etc etc pope!” So funny how history repeats itself. And It was beautiful to learn more about the wonderful things he did for the world and the Church.

 

Well that’s all I can think of, and probably all there are! But I am reading a few more and if they ever get finished I will post on this subject again. for your own safety, no breath holding.