Books in Review for 2015

On the lighter side of life, let’s talk about books that I have been reading lately. 

During the winter I idled away some cold afternoons with really old books that I got for free on my Kindle.  I had a marathon read of Grace Livingston Hill and Gene Stratton Porter, both authors from the early 20^th century and Grace in particular was a “Christian” writer.  I found the books soothing and simple reading and yet there were thoughts in most of the books that I read that triggered questions in my mind.  I was surprised that in the early 1900’s writers were already indicating how few people were attending church and when they did they didn’t seem to get anything out of the sermons they supposedly listened to.  It surprised me because of all the television viewing I did in my childhood where it seemed that everyone in America went to Sunday School or church and I just assumed that when people did that they were naturally disposed to have a “Christian attitude”.  In the case of Gene I felt as she got older her books took on a more sanctimonious tone where her early books were strongly nature based stories.  I really enjoyed her books “The Harvester”, “The Girl of the Limberlost”, “Freckles” and even “Daughter of the Land”.  I think I have read almost everything both authors have written and certainly recommend them for entertainment value.  A current light read would be Susanna Kearsley’s “A Desperate Fortune”.

Funniest book this year has been the old “The Egg and I” by Betty MacDonald, sheer laugh out loud moments.  And I am still jealous that she hogged such a good title!

I read two biographies “Wait for Me” by Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire which I found delightful and “A House in the Sky” by Calgary’s Amanda Lindhout which I found a little off-putting by the fact that I really thought she put herself in needless danger by being heedless to warnings.  However, it is well written and worth a read.  Pseudo-biography by Sue Monk Kidd’s “The Invention of Wings” is another really good book.  I liked it very much and felt she had done quite a lot of research on her topic.

The most satisfying book of the year has to be “All the Light You Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr.  I simply couldn’t put it down and became completely stressed to discover if the two characters would every meet.  Highly recommend this book to everyone.  In sync with this book, “Every Man Dies Alone” by Hans Fallada is another page turner and really worth reading from several points of view.  It is written in 1947, by a German, about Berlin during the war, and really nails the feeling of the time.  It helps put into perspective the question we often ask ourselves “how could good people let the Nazis get so out of hand”?   

“Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee is worth reading only because it is the book she wrote prior to re-writing it into “To Kill a Mockingbird”.  I am sorry to say that it is not really a great book although it is readable.  I would have to say it is a bit of a letdown especially given all the hype for months in advance.

Finally to round off the reading so far, I had a good laugh and my eyes opened with “An Idiot’s Guide to the Great Depression” which was well worth the two dollars I paid for it.  Try it, you might like it.