Across the Page

I’ve missed the last several Nightstand carnivals over at 5 Minutes for Books. The last time I participated was in November! I think I need the inspiration of others’ booklists.

I’ve only read two books in February, though I have a long string of tried-and-derailed titles. I’ll probably finish my current read, The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia, in time to raise the tally to three. Not sure what’s causing the malaise, but I’ve missed taking the time to reflect back over the literary terrain. Without further ado, here’s a list of the books read in the last several months, with links to my reviews.

February:

A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini): “By turns, this story of two women living against the backdrop of the last 40 years of Afghanistan’s turbulent history horrified me, inspired me, informed me, and broke my heart. In a few spots, I felt physically sick with tension. Once, around 100 pages short of the conclusion, I gave in and read the last page. A few times, I wept.” Rest of my review here.

Westmark (Lloyd Alexander): “The effects of propoganda, war, and corrupt governance all figure into the story, as does the question of whether killing is ever justified or right.” Full review here.

January:

The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins): “Though I liked this novel and thought it was very readable and well-paced, it didn’t hit me as hard as I expected. Maybe all the association, instead of making it richer, made it seem like a mere intersection of other books and movies.” Rest of my thoughts here.

Brother, I’m Dying (Edwidge Danticat): “A memoir as absorbing and beautiful as the best novels, this book is an unsparing introduction to the complex reality of the ‘poorest country in the western hemisphere.’” Full review here.

Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll): “It’s all quite dazzling. To me, it doesn’t make for a terribly engaging story, but it’s a great show.” Full review here.

Christian History Made Easy (Timothy Paul Jones): “There’s an unintentional (I think) irony in this title, because there’s nothing “easy” about this whirlwind voyage through church history.” Review here.

On the Incarnation (St. Athanasius): “Reading Athanasius alongside the book of John had the effect of putting on 3-D glasses and looking at a picture that had appeared merely 2-dimensional before.” Review here.

December:

God in the Dock (C.S. Lewis): “What makes this collection distinctive is the picture it develops of Lewis as a social entity, a person attuned to the issues of his age and engaged in discussion about them.” Review here.

Hiding from Love (John Townsend): “Written by one of the authors of the bestseller Boundaries, it… focuses on how sometimes, we respond to injury in ways that build defenses against the very things that bring healing.” Review here.

Orthodoxy (G.K. Chesterton): “I admit that at times I found his writing wearying: it’s relentlessly epigrammatic. I learned to set the book aside when my mind clenched into a single spasm of simultaneous hard thinking and laughter, and my eyes glazed over.” Review here.

Tags: what's on your nightstand?