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 –…
Most of the trails we follow are “in and out.” We walk in, there may be a loop, but then we follow the initial trail back out. It isn’t unusual that we follow the trail in and then turn around and follow the same back out. Have you ever read a book that was ……
I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel My rating: 4 of 5 stars Truly this is a 3.5-3.75 star. I did enjoy this read. I laughed often, I felt a kinship often. Anne talks of the idea of the reader and how the reader lives her life;…
When in Rome by Ngaio Marsh My rating: 3 of 5 stars Two years and six days later, after at least 2 restarts, I’ve finished. It isn’t that I didn’t want to read it, or that I wasn’t enjoying it, rather it wasn’t a priority and I wasn’t entirely engaged. It would fall down below…
When we first started walking in the late winter, all was brown – except when it was white with snow. Variation on the theme of brown was cause for notice and celebration. When the harbinger of spring and ramps were out and noticeable, they were noticeable specifically because all else was sameness. But as the…
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L’Engle My rating: 5 of 5 stars Twenty years ago when I first read this book, I loved it. Admittedly I loved the feel, the atmosphere of it, but struggled more with the ideas and ideals. I didn’t have the relational background for many of…