What are You Currently Reading?

I just finished reading No Life for a Lady and A Bride Goes West.
Both books were true stories from women who lived out west in the 1800's. Lots of rich descriptions, funny stories, and harsh realities of frontier life. These gals lived life to the fullest and I learned a lot from their stories.

I'm also reading Covered Wagon Women, stories and letters from women who helped settle the west in the 1800's.

 

1.The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the third volume of the trilogy by Stieg Larsson.
2. Stories by English Authors - Orient. (Selected by Scribners Monthly).
3. Sleep Trails by John Muir.

 

"The Rook" by Steven James

 

Okinawa by Robert Leckie.

 

King Henry VI, Part 2 by William Shakespeare.

Here are a few quotes:

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” (Act IV, Scene 2)

“But then are we in order when we are most out of order.” (Act IV, Scene 2)
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Listen online for free at LibriVox

...Bob

 

Andersonville Diary by John Ransom

Amazingly Ransom survived the horrible conditions at Andersonville and amazingly the diary he kept survived. Fascinating and troubling reading of man's inhumanity to man.

 

One Simple Act. It talks about the blessings on kindness

 

Empire of Gold: A History of the Byzantine Empire

a series of lectures by professor Thomas F. Madden

 

Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre.

Very simple summary: It is about WWII spies, lies, and a corpse. A true story.

 

Dead Souls by Gogol.

Just finished: 1864, Lincoln at the Gates of History by Charles Bracelen Flood.

About to finish: Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol. If you believe that all the great Russian novels are dark, brooding stories then try "Dead Souls". It is actually quite humorous and not dark as the title suggests.

Gogol was Tolstoy's favorite author.

 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

The cells taken from Henrietta Lacks and cultured were the first not to die. She died in 1951. They continue to this day to be used in research around the world. There is probably not a person in the world who has not benefited from this research. The author explains the science very clearly and also raises disturbing ethical issues. Henrietta was not ask if the cells could be taken. Her family were not informed and though biotech companies have made billions of dollars from her cells the family has never received a penny.

This is a very interesting and, at the same time, disturbing book.

 

Created To Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl

 

Peking Dust

Peking Dust by Ellen Newbold La Motte and available free to download from Project Gutenberg

Published in 1919 this is an very good, balanced book on La Motte’s experiences in China. She sees clearly and is not afraid to talk about the double standard imposed by countries from the West. An example of this is when she says in effect, it is called tyranny that Japan is trying to gain control parts of China, but the same European governments call it bring civilization to China when they are doing the same thing.

From the introduction:

 

I'm reading Decision Point by George W. Bush.

 

Difficult book for many women to read.

I think Pearl has good concepts, but perhaps she takes things a tad too far in her obedience. I don't hold that men are designed to be the owners of female (married) slaves called wives. We are called to be mutually loving and respectful, each operating within their own giftings to make the two become one.

i recently finished Reymond's Systematic Theology, and I just finished with Gerald Schroeder's God According to God: A Physicist Proves We've Been Wrong About God All Along, an interesting take on creation and God's purpose from a distinctly Jewish and high-level cosmological vantage point and Bush's Decision Point.

I also just re-read J.I. Packer's Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, and I'm in the midst of a Porterbrook series on pastoral counseling (http://www.plntd.com/_blog/PLNTD_Church_Planting_Network) and John Maxwell's, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (again). Coming up, a series of 4 "self-help" books on shaping a positive personality. Work-related stuff that hopefully will have a practical application.

Magazines each month include: Bible Study, Turf Pro, Landscape Contractor, Sno Pro, Irrigation Pro, Outdoors, Field and Stream, JP, 4-Wheeler, Inc., Entrepreneur, Nat. Geo Traveler, Nat. Geography, Time, and PC Magazine.

 

"Blink" by Ted Dekker. A book from about 10 years ago when Dekker could still write well and didn't have such dark themes.

Tells the story of a Saudi princess who runs away to America to escape an arranged marriage and meets up with a physics genius who has gained the ability to see all possible outcomes to any imminent event or action. Together they run to escape Saudi agents, U.S. Marshalls, Saudi assassins and others. A plot to overthrow the king of Saudi Arabia and turn the country to fundamentalist Islam depends on the fate of the princess.

Fascinating exploration of free will and determinism.

 

As usual, the Bible.

 

A Visual History of the King James Bible: The Dramatic Story of the World's Best-Known Translation by Donald L. Brake (with Shelly Beach) pub. by Baker Books, 2011.

This is just one of the multitude of books about the KJV that will be published during the four hundredth anniversary year of this Bible. What may set this book apart from many of the others is that its author is also a well-known Bible collector.

Being a history buff and one who's interested in the history of English Bibles, I had to snatch up this book.

The author is by no means a KJVO advocate (neither am I). OTOH, I heartly agree with his closing words:

"The translators themselves spurned the worship of the text they produced, for God alone is worthy of our worship. Yet the King James Version stands as a translation of unparalleled influence; it truly is the crown jewel of the Golden Age of English literature. As such, it is certainly worthy of the valued place it holds in the history of Christian faith and the history of the world."

 

I finished this a couple of weeks ago and found it to be a really great read for Christian wives. She taught me a lot about having respect for my husband and what it truly meant to be a Helpmeet.

I'm currently reading 2 books by Cindy Schaap, A Wife's Purpose and A Meek and Quiet Spirit and am on my 3rd readthrough of the Left Behind series.

 

Reading,,,,Heaven; the Last Frontier by Grant R. Jeffrey. It is decidedly dispensational, but I found some interesting material such as Jesus Christ, censored for 700 years.

Cheers,

Jim