The Books of 2022

I didn't read as much this year as I have in past years, but I did average about 1.2 books/week. These are the ones I enjoyed and/or learned from the most.

As always, these are the books that I enjoyed in 2022, not books that were published in 2022 (except for one, or maybe two, but you get my point).

Nonfiction

-About Learning/Teaching

The Core by Leigh A. Bortins

The Question by Leigh A Bortins

Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson

King Alfred’s English by Laurie J. White

-About Current Issues

Christianity and Wokeness by Owen Strachan

fault lines by Voddie T. Baucham Jr.

God vs. Government by Nathan Busenitz and James Coates

-A Variety of Topics

Preaching and Hearing the Word by James Coates

Kiss the Wave by Dave Furman

The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard

2000 Years of Christ’s Power Volume 2 by Nick Needham

The King and His Glory (and part 2) by Greg Harris

The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson

The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson

-Biographies and Memoirs

Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas

Home by Julie Andrews

Hudson Taylor: Deep in the Heart of China by Geoff and Janet Benge

Better Than We Dreamed by Simona Gorton

Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson

The Enchanted Places by Christopher Milne

Writing Places by William Zinsser

Mysteries

 Agatha Christie

    Mrs. McGinty’s Dead

    Midwinter Murder 

    Elephants Can Remember

    Five Little Pigs 

Frances Brody

    Death of an Avid Reader 

    The Body on the Train

    Dying in the Wool 

Richard Osman

    The Man Who Died Twice 

    The Thursday Murder Club 

JoAnna Carl

    The Chocolate Pirate Plot

    The Chocolate Book Bandit

    The Chocolate Racoon Rigmarole

WWII Historical Fiction

The Wives of Los Alamos by Tarashea Nesbit

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin 

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

Because Sometimes You Don't Feel Joyful and Triumphant...

Christmas!!!

 Yes, yes, it's been forever, but I'm starting to organize the Christmas concert, so it's time for....

Uncle Jim

 Last Saturday my sister called to tell me that my Uncle Jim had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. I hadn't seem him in about 8 years, but I loved my uncle very much. He was so big and strong and happy and loving. I was the flower girl in his wedding to my Aunt Sarah many years ago. When he and Aunt Sarah were expecting their first child, they were visiting and he asked my opinion about the name they had chosen. I felt very grown up and special when he asked me, and I assured him that I liked the name. I never doubted that he enjoyed spending time with me whenever we go to see each other. He knew how to listen well and treated everyone with respect.

Grief is weird. When I hung up with my sister, I called my mom so we could cry together for a while. I cried on and off for the next couple days as the grief was huge, and then it settled a bit. Now I go through the days fairly well until I think, "Uncle Jim is dead," and then I cry again. It seems random; I have no idea what triggers the reminder and the tears. Sometimes the grief hits hard and it's difficult to focus on anything much for a while; sometimes I can keep doing whatever I was doing and the grief subsides quickly. I just accept that random tears are normal right now.

Sometimes I cry for myself, and sometimes I cry for my aunt and cousins (and my cousin's wee baby who will not remember her grandfather), and sometimes I cry for my mom who has outlived her parents and her brothers and is the last one in her immediate family (and I don't even want to imagine what that is like).

I loved my uncle very much. I wish I could tell him that again. I wish I could see him one more time.

A Wee Bit of Happiness

 A tiny bit of happiness came my way 10 days ago: 6lbs and 14oz of happiness, to be exact! That bit of happiness came in the form of a wee little girl baby who is all cuteness and sweetness and adorableness and the most wonderful baby ever. (And lest you think I'm biased, I would like to point out that many people agree with me: her parents, her grandparents, her aunts, and her uncles!)

I love all the church babies, of course, but this one is extra special. Her mom was one of my church kids many years ago when she was 6 and I've watched her grow up in the church. This tiny girl-baby is the first of my GraceLife Sunday School grandchildren, so she's already extra special.

But to add to my joy, it was decided early in the pregnancy that this wee one would call me "Grandma Dorothy", so I get to refer to her as my wee granddaughter, and that is something that I thought I would never have. After all, not having children generally means not having grandchildren.

And yes, she's not technically my granddaughter, but I'm happy to ignore technicalities and enjoy being part of her family instead. Plus, I have had to explain to people that her mom is not my daughter!

Sometimes I feel incredibly overwhelmed by how much God has blessed me. It's true that He did not give me a husband and children of my own, but He has given me so many families to be a part of and so many children to love: babies and bigger kids and my high school kids. It's a lot of family and I am so blessed to have all of them. 

And now, just to add to my joy, a wee granddaughter to love.

Last Year's Books

My poor, neglected blog. One of my goals for this year is to write more; we'll see how that goes. To start:

Last year was a very long, strange year, and I kept terrible track of what I read. I also have a lot of started books, either because they are for my church history classes (homeschool and high school) and we're not through church history yet, or because I had trouble focusing on finishing books for a while (a long while, so I have a lot of partly-finished books to read this year), so this book list is just a mix of what I read that I remembered to record and that I enjoyed.

In no particular order:

1. I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider. It's true; I judge a lot of people by their bookshelves.
2. The Law of Kindness by Mary Beeke
3. Royal Deceptions by Fred Butler, about the King James Only controversy
4. Trusting God by Jerry Bridges. I think I've read this 4 times (or more), and every time there's something for me to gain.
5. The Battle of Seattle by Douglas Bond. This was really fun to read.
6. Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. I enjoyed the story and learned more history.
7. On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, one of the sequels to My Side of the Mountain
8. Side by Side by Edward Welch
9. The Crystal Tree by Jennie D. Lindquist. This is the third in the series, and I have loved them since I was a child.
10. Applesauce Needs Sugar by Victoria Case, a lovely and often humorous memoir of farm life a hundred (or so) years ago.
11. Brother Hermitage’s Christmas by Howard of Warwick
12. The Short, the Long, and the Tall by Jeffrey Archer
13. Anatole by Eve Titus. Actually, I read 4 Anatole books this year, and read them regularly. They are popular books with my friend's children, and I read them to the kids every time I visit.
14. Getting Over Yourself by Dean Inserra. I wrote a book review on this. Go find it.
15. Being a Writer by Travis Elborough and Helen Gordon
16. Lord Brocktree by Brian Jacques
17. The Tunnel King by Barbara Hehner, about the Canadian involved in the Great Escape (the movie is good as well).
18. What’s Your World View? By James N Anderson
19. Why Children Matter by Douglas Wilson
20. A Vessel in the King’s Hand by Abigail Froese. One of my former Sunday School students wrote this. It's very good; go read it.
21. Kings and Queens of England, A Dark History by Brenda Ralph Lewis. There is, of course, a lot of torture and beheadings. Also, my high school history class now uses "hunting accident" as a euphemism for "killed by a sibling who wanted the throne".