Bookin' Along

Spring and summer are always especially busy times for Claire and I for, in addition to our Vital Signs Ministries duties, there is the lawn and garden work, extra exercise activity, and a quick trip to Colorado. And this year there were the trips to Fremont twice a week and the twice-daily exercises to deal with my torn calf muscle and lower back pain. Therefore, I’m not too surprised that my reading regimen dipped quite a bit from the first quarter of the year. Indeed, in the first 3 months of the year I read 38 books; the last 3 months only 18. I’m also not surprised that I have fallen behind in writing reviews here on The Book Den of the books thus read. So, like frequently happens, I’m cleaning the slate with a very brief catch-up list.

As is always the case, the books I read involve different genres, times, and topics. Also, about 50-65% of the books I read are ones that I have read before…sometimes several times.

So what pages have been turned since the last catch-up post here? Well, there were several pleasurable diversions: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (2 of 4 stars possible); Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (1 star); 3 adventure novels from Alistair MacLean (none of the 3 being anywhere as good as his best stuff); one of Donald Bain’s Jessica Fletcher mysteries (2 stars); the first of Fran Striker’s Lone Ranger novels (2 stars); and the 5 volumes of Conan Doyle’s superb Sherlock Holmes short stories. They all earn 4 stars.

My historical interests were well served in Deadly Times: The 1910 Bombing of the Los Angeles Times and America's Forgotten Decade of Terror by Lew Irwin (4 stars) and a re-reading of Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (4 stars). And history was front and center in two excellent novels as well: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (4 stars) and The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monserrat (4 stars).

I read another Jan Karon novel this quarter (A New Song, 4 stars) which is her 5th in the series.

And finally there was inspiration, challenge, and spiritual blessings aplenty to be found in my reading of The Adventure of Living by Paul Tournier (4 stars), Creed or Chaos by Dorothy Sayers (4 stars), The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn (4 stars) and Walter Wangerin’s unique novel, The Book of the Dun Cow (4 stars).

Okay, enough of what’s been read. It’s time for me to finish my day’s tasks so I can start in on some news stuff tonight!