In Tune With The World by Josef Pieper My rating: 4 of 5 stars 3.5-3.75 rounded to 4. I loved the beginning of this book, the end … less so? It didn’t go where I expected it to and I was kind of frustrated by that. It isn’t that I disagree with Pieper’s diagnosis, but…
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’m a little shocked that this says I began to listen in September. I think I restarted a couple of times since then. I had a nice long drive to and from Kentucky over the weekend which gave me sustained listening…
Know and Tell: The Art of Narration by Karen Glass My rating: 4 of 5 stars Super helpful introduction to narration and how it can lead naturally into composition. We’ve always done narration in one form or another but had gotten stuck in written narration and not transitioning well to more formal writing. Chapter…
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne My rating: 5 of 5 stars I first read The Scarlet Letter as a Junior in high school: American Lit. No one had previously bothered to tell me that classics endure because they are so readable and have something to say that is worth listening to, so I procrastinated…
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoyed listening to this. The reader was very good. The text was enthusiastic and interesting. The production was generally well done (but occasionally annoying – music from nowhere and a reminder that this was…
World War One: A Short History by Norman Stone My rating: 3 of 5 stars I finished this as part of my Schole Sisters 5×5 challenge topic of World War I. There are absolutely flashes of brilliance in this book, including the entire final chapter “Aftermath.” I think part of my problem with this book…
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is one that will stay with me. It defies the descriptors – beautiful, yes, but spare; evocative, yes, but universal; finely wrought, yes, but poured out in one extended cry for justice. Paton weaves together parallel lives; an odyssey or…
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver I finished this today. I understand that these are Oliver’s personal selections for anthology from a lifetime of writing poetry. Presented in reverse chronological order (newer poems first), I definitely preferred the newer, beginning poems to the older ones at the end. In fact, my…
We don’t actually have a lot of real hills in Central Ohio. I took an hour long walk in the neighborhood this morning and Strava tells me I had a 39 foot elevation gain. The local state park where we do most of our hiking has slightly more varied terrain. It’s around a reservoir and…
Sex and the City of God: A Memoir of Love and Longing by Carolyn Weber My rating: 5 of 5 stars “The course of true love never did run smooth.” Nothing I can articulate about this book is as witty or well considered as Weber’s own words. Her ability to look at life and –…