What didn't make the list: #31Days of Books

I'm sure you're wondering what didn't make the list of 31 books. There are so many great books that I have read and loved, and even if I wrote for 365 days for years on end, I'd still never run out of books. My annual reading goal for the past ten years has been to read 100 books per year. Most years I exceed that goal.

My criteria for choosing the books for October was narrowing down the list to the books that have had the most influence on me personally, and that hold special meaning for me in some way. This included many books I read in my teens and twenties.

October 31st: Hamlet

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

Shown: My antique volume of The Complete Works of Shakespeare,

with a cartoon I found in college that was used as a bookmark.

"Hey, Hamlet, who were these?" showing a smiley face and Killroy.

Renowned Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom, in his book Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, notes, "After Jesus, Hamlet is the most cited figure in Western consciousness" (xix). We are aware of Hamlet, even in the 21st century, as we are aware of Jesus--specifically His words in the King James Bible. All that said, we know Hamlet. It has become ingrained in our Western culture and thought. To read it is to think about humanity, revenge, parent-child relationships, love, romance, insanity, and friendship.

October 30th: Joy for Beginners

Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister

I enjoy Erica Bauermeister's work. She does a wonderful job in her novels of switching points of view.

From my new smartphone Kindle app.
I'm still trying to learn this
new technology!

Summary on Goodreads: At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting. But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they'd never do-and Kate is going to choose their adventures.

October 29th: The Contemplative Mom

Restoring Rich Relationship with God in the Midst of Motherhood. It's possible.

The idea of having a consistent quiet time when my children were tiny and I was working full-time was completely overwhelming to me. This often-undone task made me feel as if I was a failure as a Christian and as a mother, when I could barely find time to read a verse or two some days, or pray while I was driving to work.

Enter Ann Kroeker and her wonderful book.

October 28th: A Wrinkle in Time

Gosh, I loved 5th grade.

I had the best teacher, Ms. S., for the second half of fifth grade (we moved from Iowa to St. Louis in January, so I don't remember my Iowa 5th grade teacher. I'm sure she was a good teacher, though.) Ms. S. was not only my first teacher who went by "Ms." but also she had a great habit: she read aloud to our class every day the last twenty minutes.

Of course, moving is always awkward and adjusting is not easy, so when we finally got into school, it was midway through the month and midway through the readaloud book, which was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I was fascinated, but lost, so Ms. S. suggested I check the book out at the school library. It was checked out. Then the bookmobile, that magical library-in-a-truck, arrived, and I was able to get it there.

To say I devoured the book is probably an understatement.

October 27th: The Best Yes

"Just as our bodies need oxygen, our souls need truth flowing steadily in and out."
from The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst

 {This is my second Lysa book this month, if you didn't notice. The first was Unglued.}

I read this book this summer after reading The Cure for the 'Perfect' Life (also a favorite book choice this month), and it was the best follow-up ever.

I love this book for many of the same reasons I loved Unglued. Biblical, practical, helpful, and real. She has a nifty process (with a super-nifty chart on her website) for planning whether something is a yes or a no or a Best Yes.

October 26th: Betsy and Tacy in Deep Valley series

Betsy and Tacy and Tib and Minnesota. 

Who wouldn't love them? Turn of the century grade school and then high school and then college and marriage and Europe and adulthood...

I discovered Betsy Ray and her besties--Tacy and Tib--after moving to Missouri in grade school. I found Heaven to Betsy in the library stacks and I was hooked! I started in the middle and had to work backwards, then forwards, to read Betsy's entire story. I used to have to request Maud Hart Lovelace's books from other library branches, because they were out of print and the entire St. Louis County library system had only one set among all the branches. It's wonderful that they've now been reprinted in paperback more than once (you can see the two styles of cover in my photo--I did have most of them in the style on the right, but when they reprinted two novels per volume in the style on the left, I took the opportunity to replace my older set with fewer books for obvious reasons).