A Reading Wrap-Up...and an Invitation

As summer nears its end, I find my year’s reading list down from my average number. But then, when I look over the list and realize how many of the books read thus far in 2023 have been particularly hefty -- over 600 pages in Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop, the entire canon of Sherlock Holmes which goes over 600 pages, the nearly 1300 pages of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and the over 1500 pages of the JRR Tolkien saga -- I may be actually higher than my normal page count. So that’s an encouragement -- as is keeping a list in the first place. And, let’s face it, maintaining a successful “reading life” needs every bit of encouragement, accountability, good recommendations, and whatever other motivations we can get.

My most recent reading has all been of exceptional quality. I finally got through (for the third or fourth time in my life) William Shirer’s epic The Rise and the Fall of the Third Reich. Then there was Paul Tournier’s The Strong and the Weak. Tournier is a Swiss psychiatrist who wrote in the 1940s into the 1970s with insights and wise counsel derived from his Christian worldview. He is one of the “old friends” in my library as I’ve been reading his books since my very early days as a Christian. This particular book was a challenging study of how a Christian properly responds to his natural personality and tendencies. (By the way, I shared a few stimulating quotes from that book a few days ago in this post.)

Next up? After watching a couple of extremely interesting interviews with novelist and Civil War historian Shelby Foote, I was prompted to spend a little time in the War Between the States -- more specifically, in the 3-day Battle of Gettysburg which was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. That trip started with Gettysburg: The Confederate High Tide by Champ Clark; then I went on to Michael Shaara’s highly-acclaimed novel, Killer Angels (my 3rd or 4th time through); and finally, I took up Shelby Foote’s Stars in Their Courses, his very detailed history of the battle’s prelude, action, and aftermath.

But now it’s time to move on. First, I’ll be finishing Cal Thomas’ Watchman in the Night and Raphael Sabatini's novel set in Portugal during the Napoleonic wars, The Snare. But what of my reading plans for late summer and fall? Well, they include David Limbaugh’s Jesus Is Risen: Paul and the Early Church; Tim Tebow’s Shaken (which is the book to be discussed at the next Vital Signs Book Brunch at our place on Saturday, September 23 at 10:30); and re-readings of Randy Alcorn’s Heaven, Lauren Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, General Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur, and the C.S. Lewis series, The Chronicles of Narnia. 

Want to join me with any of these terrific books? Just let me know.