Nightstand (April 2016)

The document once entitled “A Catalogue of All I’ve Read Since September 5, 2006” has grown too large to be easily accessed and is now split up into over a dozen individual spreadsheet files, helpfully subdivided into even more sheets within the document. This is the comprehensive list, with call numbers and author names and the dates I finished books (as well as whether the particular category into which the book falls is “open” or “closed”.) The spreadsheets work well to record whether and when I read a particular book – but they’re less helpful in recording my thoughts on the books. For that, nothing beats a good Nightstand post. Which is why, despite being halfway into the month of May, I’m still posting my April Nightstand.

Books for Loving:

• The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper
  An excellent short treatment of the question “why did Jesus die?” Piper gives 50 God-centered reasons (as in, what was God’s purpose in Christ’s death), spending 1-2 pages on each reason. This offered plenty of opportunities for worship and I think this would make an excellent family devotional for the Lenten season.

Books for Growing:

• Praying with Paul by D.A. Carson
  Read with my midweek Bible study, this discussion of Paul’s prayers has helped me develop more God-centered habits in prayer. While this is topical in scope, Carson does an excellent job of expositing Paul’s prayers in context – which firmly centers Paul’s prayers (and our own) in the character and action of God. I highly recommend this book.
• Your Pregnancy Week by Week by Glade B. Curtis and Judith Schuler
  If you want to be scared out of your mind by all the things that could go wrong in pregnancy and to be convinced that every intervention your doctor might suggest is absolutely the right decision, you’ll want to read this book. If you prefer to learn what a normal pregnancy looks like, how to deal with the normal problems of pregnancy, and to make evidence-based (versus fear-based) decisions for your pregnancy and childbirth – this is not at all the book for you. May I recommend Tori Knopp’s The Joy of Pregnancy instead? (Check out my full review of Week by Week here.)
• Lawns 1-2-3 by The Home Depot
  We will be putting in a lawn one of these days (it’s been three very dry months since we moved in, fire warnings all the time and several significant wildfires about – but the first rains finally came last week and turned our acre of bare ground into oozing mud.) I wanted a good basic introduction to lawn care to help us make our decision on what types of grass we’ll put in and what sort of care we’ll provide. This book suited that purpose well.
• The Postage Stamp Garden Book by Duane and Karen Newcomb
  I thought this woud be just another version of Square-Foot Gardening, but it isn’t. While similar in garden-size and intensive spacing, Postage Stamp Gardening involves a “scatter and thin” method of sowing (vs. Square Foot Gardening’s methodical planting on a grid). In general, I think I’m going to stick with the Square Foot Method, since I’m persnickity and don’t like wasting seeds (and have a hard time distinguishing seedlings from weeds unless I can rely on my careful planting locations to guide me!) Nevertheless, there were a few helpful tips in this book, and I’m glad I read it.
• Everything Else You Need to Know When You’re Expecting by Paula Spencer
  A little bit different than my typical pregnancy reading, this book is all about the etiquette of pregnancy – what to do or say when people ask rude questions, how to handle pregnancy and birth announcements, etc. I didn’t find anything particularly enlightening about this book, but I did enjoy the little comebacks Spencer’s friends and acquaintances have come up with for some of the most common rude questions.

Books for Knowing:

• The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum
  A history of the birth of forensic medicine in New York City during the Prohibition. Maybe it’s just because I’m rather into medical stuff, but I just blazed through this book, letting all sorts of other household tasks wait.
• Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein
  I truly dreaded reading this book (it’s in a Dewey Decimal category I’m trying to close) because I despised Ricki Lake in the pair’s documentary “The Business of Being Born”. Maybe Epstein took a more central role in the writing of this book? Because this was really a very well-done discussion of the options that are available to women – empowering women to take a more assertive role in determining how their labors and deliveries will proceed (rather than letting hospital protocol or standard practice make the decisions for them.)
• Theories of Childhood by Carol Garrhart Mooney
  A brief introduction to the theories of John Dewey, Maria Montessori, Erik Erickson, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky. The author focuses on early childhood education, reviewing only the theories that apply to children age 5 and younger. I found this to be a very readable introduction to the various theories and look forward to delving a little deeper into the topic later on.

Books for Seeing:

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
  Based purely upon a popular conception of Frankenstein but without having seen any of the Frankenstein movies, I would have been inclined to dread reading this book. But several bloggie friends have read this in the past few years, and every one of them remarked on how NOT like the popular story the book is (thank goodness!) I found Frankenstein to be an entertaining and thought-provoking look into the responsibilities of a creator to its creature, the nature of humanity, and the limits of “playing God”. I rather wish I’d been reading along with someone else with a plan to discuss, because I know there’s plenty I didn’t think about that I could have.

Books for Enjoying:

• 52 Loaves by William Alexander
  An interesting but not amazing memoir of a man’s attempt to make the perfect loaf of peasant bread – undertaken one loaf per week for a year. It was a pleasant read but I don’t know that I’d recommend it.
• Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy
  This was my book club’s April pick, and it was an engaging huge-cast story. Unfortunately, it was also super.depressing. People were unfaithful, spouses grew apart and weren’t even paying attention to it, no one was intentional about their relationships at all. It didn’t really bother the other book club ladies as much as it did me, but it did bother me. A lot. I am aware that many marriages do fall apart, that many people just drift through their lives without intentionally building into their marriages. But I don’t intend to just drift through my marriage – and reading about marriage after marriage falling apart through lack of intentionality doesn’t at all encourage me.

Other Books:

• Curtains, Blinds, and Valances, A “Sew in a Weekend” book
  Instructions for a wide variety of window dressings – photos are a bit dated but the instructions are good. I made some tie-backs using their pattern (although I adjusted both the pattern and the instructions, because I’m like that.) I’ll be checking this book out again when I finally get around to making Roman blinds for Daniel’s and my room (and maybe a few more times as I work through the rest of the house.)

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