a little more book talk...

I finished re-reading Shepherd's Abiding last night.  It is such a nice story, I want to live in Mitford at Christmas time!  :)

My other reading between Thanksgiving and Christmas? 

To be honest, I watched more movies and cooking shows than usual since there were so many good offerings for this Holiday season.  However, I did get in some more reading.

I finished Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter a few weeks ago.  I had just a little bit of a hard time getting into the book at first but once I became accustomed to GSP's writing style, it became much easier to read.  What a lovely book!  No wonder it is such a classic.  Now I must read Freckles!

Yes, there is another Miss Read Christmas book!  Hmmm... I think it is called Village Christmas?  I read it a few years ago and remember enjoying it at the time and it was also a "stand alone" book that one need not have read her other books to enjoy.

As for my recent non-Christmas reading, I pulled Stand off the shelf again to re-read as I needed some spiritual encouragement.  I love this book which I stole borrowed from Christopher after his sister sent it to him when he was recovering from surgery last year.

The book is edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor and contains chapters written by... shall we say mature Christians (Randy Alcorn is the youngest and he is around my age) about persevering in the Faith (having done all... stand!).  I re-read the chapter written by Randy Alcorn, which includes his testimony and why he has to live on a minimum wage salary.  Very, very good book... I will keep it out to read some more.

I just started Talking About Detective Fiction by P. D. James (a library book).  In it, she talks about the genre from the works of Dickens through today's American and English writers.  I'm interested to see what she has to say.  Hopefully I will start it after dinner this evening.

Christopher asked me a question about C. S. Lewis, which led me to pull Surprised By Joy off the small shelf which contains favorite books in my bedroom.  While I had to go online to answer the question (what was the name of the pub where the Inklings used to meet... can you remember without looking it up... I should have),

I found myself reading through the book again and left it out to re-read soon.  If you have not read this book, his autobiography, it is very good and I find it inspiring. 

I checked out three other library books that I enjoyed this month:

The Reluctant Entertainer by blogger Sandy Coughlin.  Very good!  This would make a wonderful gift for a new cook or bride.  I have long enjoyed Sandy's blog and wondered if her book would just be "blog re-done".  Not at all!

Sandy gives her personal story as well as many chapters of advice about entertaining and showing hospitality.  There are also some of her favorite recipes.  Another nice thing about this book should you decide to purchase it... it's surprisingly inexpensive for a book of this quality and with so many photographs!

Barefoot Contessa's How Easy Is This by Ina Garten.  All of Ina's cookbooks are good but what I liked most about this book is her list (in pictures) throughout the book of her favorite utensils, cookware, and pantry items.

Country Living's Merry & Bright... a beautifully written book full of ideas for Christmas decorating by Country Living magazine.  I found many practical ideas to use next year, many costing no money.

As for the above picture... I'm thinking January is going to be a Return to Schaeffer, Francis and Edith.  We'll see...