Nightstand (April 2012)

In what is becoming a refrain for me, I’ve been busy–busy enough that I haven’t blogged much and haven’t written anywhere near as many reviews as I’d have liked. But I’ve still been reading in every snatched moment.

This month I read:

Adult Fiction

• Dear Lady by Robin Lee Hatcher
• The Hidden Flame by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke
  I’d already met Abigail, a family-less woman of the early church, in The Centurion’s Wife. There, she was an unassuming character, gently inviting Leah (the main character of that novel) into the community of believers. Abigail is still serving the church, but somehow she’s managed to catch the eye of two very different men: one a well-endowed Pharisee merchant, another a well-positioned Roman soldier. She’s not sure she is interested in either, but what choice does she have in the matter? This story takes the reader through the martyrdom of Stephen-moving slowly through the times of the first church.
• Last of the Dixie Heroes by Peter Abrahams
  I’ve really lucked out that Abrahams’ name starts with AB. Had I begun my trip through the fiction section of my not-so-local library with an author that I despised, I might have despaired. As it is, I’ve enjoyed each of the half dozen or so suspense novels I’ve read by Abrahams so far. This one, about a Rebel Civil War reenactor who finds himself a bit deeper amidst battle than he expected, was no exception.
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  While listening to the chapter on Northanger Abbey in A Jane Austen Education, I realized that I had never read this particular work of Austen’s. I set out immediately to correct that oversight and found it a delightful story, one that must be added to my list of favorites (along with pretty much everything else by Austen.)
• Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck
  Caroline is about to spread her wings and fly off to Barcelona, leaving behind her responsible but unexciting life as bookkeeper-slash-waitress at the decrepit Frogmore Cafe. But then she learns that the late owner of the Cafe has willed it to…her. Either she takes it, or it’ll be closed. Sweet Caroline is fluff Christian romance, nothing spectacular. I did enjoy it, though.

Adult Non-fiction

• Changing Diapers by Kally Wels
  Yes, I read books about cloth diapering. Sue me. This was a fun little guide for Moms who have made the decision to cloth diaper (or are strongly leaning that way) and who want some direction regarding the options and/or the process. This book is decidedly pro-cloth diapering and does NOT give both sides of the issue. If you’ve chosen not to cloth diaper and are inclined toward Mommy-guilt, do yourself a favor and don’t read this. As for me, I read it while thanking God that the little Miss (my niece) is cloth-diapered–getting to change her every so often helps keep the covetousness at bay :-)
• Coffee is bad good for you by Robert J Davis
  Have you ever been confused by the conflicting food and nutrition information you hear from just about everywhere? Who hasn’t been? Robert J. Davis puts a collection of popular food/diet information through the evidence test–and shares his findings. This is a rare nutrition book that gets my (almost unequivocal) stamp of approval. Davis is true to his word and avoids the sensationalism to get down to the science behind the headlines. What I liked best about this book is that Davis is willing to say that the jury’s still out–something most health reporters don’t seem to understand in their rush to report what the latest study “proves”.
• Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America by Ann Coulter
  I read this. I liked parts of it. I didn’t like other parts. I think Coulter’s crazy. I think she’s very intelligent. I think that if you’re a conservative, you might want to read my full review. If you’re a liberal, you’d probably rather not. Coulter takes delight in ticking off liberals–and, while I don’t delight in doing the same, probably just hearing her described will be enough to raise your blood pressure (I know it raises my blood pressure to hear about certain authors/personalities who take delight in raging against me and mine).
• A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz
  The life “Billy” has lived is far different from mine–and I disagree with many of the choices he describes having made in his memoir of growing up through his encounters with Jane Austen’s fiction–but that doesn’t change my opinion of this book. It is the perfect bibliophile memoir. Deresiewicz takes Austen seriously, extracts valuable life lessons from Austen’s fiction, and shares enough (but not too much) about his own life to make the reader sympathize with him. I sincerely enjoyed this book.
• Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
  Yes, I also read pregnancy books–although the official word on this is “research” for the story that I may someday move from my head to paper.
• Mere Anarchy by Woody Allen
  I don’t know much about Woody Allen, but apparently he’s a comic. I’m not sure about how funny he is, but his Mere Anarchy certainly was fun to read. He used big words, SAT or GRE caliber words. He alludes to educated things. Regularly. It’s fanTAStic. I’d read this again, just for the privilege of reading phrases like “my spine suddenly assumed the shape of a Mobius strip” and “only the fumes of a smoked whitefish I was deconstructing at the Carnegie Deli induced sufficient hallucinatory molecules to conjure the following correspondence.”
• Miller’s Collecting Science and Technology
  I don’t collect science and technology, but it sure is fascinating to read all about the pieces.
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
  I had heard about this book (via a podcast I listen to regularly), read about this book (on a couple of different blogs), and talked about this book (with my dad, who’d heard about it from the same podcast I had). It was on my TBR list, but it wasn’t until I saw a hardback copy for sale at the used store that I actually settled down to read it. Nothing prepared me for what I found within. This is a fascinating look at the factors that contribute to success. It was not at all what I expected, but just as interesting as I’d expected. I hope to review this in more detail at some point (add it to the pile of “review in more depth someday”.)
• The Roots of Obama’s Rage by Dinesh D’Souza
  I cringed when this book came up next in my attempt to speed my way through the 973.932’s at my library (current events-if I can finish this and close the gap between it and the next section before the next presidency, I can somewhat stem the tide of new books about politics that I’ll have to read.) The title of this book is awful. It reminds me of all those books that attempted to psychoanalyze Bush or explain how really he was just a puppet of Rove/Cheney/Big Oil. I hate that sort of thing. Hate it, hate it, hate it. And rage? Since when is Obama raging? Condescending, I can see, but I’ve never thought of him as raging. Anyway, I was inclined to not want to read this book. The redeeming feature was that it is written by Dinesh D’Souza, whose books I really enjoy reading. Thankfully, it turned out that this book was mis-titled, and isn’t really about rage after all (thank goodness!) I propose that it should have been titled The Last Anti-colonial. D’Souza draws from Obama’s autobiographies to explain how he feels that the underlying value behind Obama’s policy decisions is anti-colonialism. I’m fascinated by this thesis, and (for the first time ever) am eager to read Obama’s autobiographies myself in order to put D’Souza’s theory under the microscope.

Juvenile Fiction

• Cam Jansen and the Mystery of Flight 54 by David A. Adler
• Cam Jansen and the Mystery at the Haunted House by David A. Adler
• Don’t Talk to Me about the War by David A. Adler
  Tommy Duncan does not want to hear about the war going on in Europe. There’s enough going on in his own home to keep him worried, what with his mom’s shaking and unexpectedly dropping things and falling and whatnot. And when Tommy isn’t worried about his mom, he wants to take his mind off of trouble by thinking about stuff like baseball–not gloom and doom stories of war. But Tommy’s friend friend Beth and their new classmate Sarah, a refugee from the Third Reich, aren’t going to let him ignore what’s going on in the world.
• The Ghost at Skeleton Rock by Franklin W. Dixon
• The Mystery Girl by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• Nine Days a Queen by Ann Rinaldi
  I think I’m on my way to becoming a historical fiction junkie. And if this book is any indication, Rinaldi is among the best. This work is, of course, about Lady Jane Grey, who reigned for nine days before being deposed by her cousin, Mary, who would later have a blood-red cocktail drink named after her. The bit of this book that hooked me for good? The adolescent Edward, Mary, Jane, and Elizabeth (do you recognize these four as King Edward the Sixth, Bloody Mary, Jane Grey, and Queen Elizabeth I?) are discussing the King’s new wife:

  “She is brave,” Elizabeth put in.

  “She has a good head on her shoulders,” Edward said, and just as he said it, he minded what he had spoken, and we all looked at one another in horror.

  “May it stay there,” Mary whispered as if in prayer. And she crossed herself.

  Elizabeth said nothing, but I saw her pale. Her mother had been beheaded when she was just three. She never spoke of it. But I wondered what she felt and how she could live knowing about it.

  ~Nine Days a Queen by Ann Rinaldi, page 14

• At least 28 Children’s picture books

Juvenile Non-Fiction

• Tell Them We Remember by Susan D. Bachrach

Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!