It's already mid-March, and I've only just finished the first of the eleven books on my "to-read" list for 2011.
Yesterday I finished Great Expectations, by Dickens. WAY easier read than A Tale of Two Cities, but lacking the huge payoff at the end. Don't get me wrong, it still had a nice ending, but not one that lingers in your heart and mind for days and weeks afterward.
Last night I started Robinson Crusoe. I have my fears about this book, but I chose it next because Joe just had to read an abridged version for school and I want to share it with him to some extent. Like Great Expectations, I am reading it on my iPhone. I am reasonably sure that I will be legally blind by age 42 if this phone-reading keeps up, but I don't feel the strain, so I can't forego the convenience.
In addition, for some Lent reading, I have chosen "The Way," By St. Josemaria Escriva. It's more of a booklet, really, and after I complete it during Lent, I imagine keeping it in my purse, or with my Bible. Here's a sample of today's reading: "May your behavior and your conversation be such that everyone who sees or hears you can say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ." (Yes, the gender-neutral patrol would have a heyday with this booklet, and two notes later, Escriva writes, "Be a man!" - I'm translating that one myself.)
Along with "The Way," the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska is on my "bedside patch of floor" (my nightstand is rendered useless since it's across the room and I'm not using my bed, remember). St. Faustina had a remarkable relationship with Jesus and was the "apostle" for the Divine Mercy, which has become more and more captivating for me lately. So I want to know more. (And I always think it's really cool to read diaries.)
Finally, I read of one or two or three saints a day from my "Treasury of Women Saints." Typically, the phrase that runs through my mind after I read about saints is, "These people are crazy!" So how can I be more like them? How can I be crazier for Jesus?
6 comments:
Can I borrow your i-phone? For about a month? Now that you're done with Great Expectations, I thought I'd "borrow the book" from you so I don't have to get my own copy (which I tried to do, but they were all checked out at the library - how big is your book group anyway? It's reaching city-wide!)
You are doing great! I am still working my way through "A Tale of Two Cities" but your comments encouraged me for the ending. I'm not sure I will be working through any more Dickens too quickly!
Teri, put Born to Run on the list. You won't regret it. And you may be running shoeless soon thereafter!
Hello, I landed on your blog through the 'next blog' button. I often read through my son's English Lit. list. We listened to Tale of Two Cities on tape. It seems to help discussing the stories before tests. I'm impressed with your bedless sacrifice and wish you well through it.
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