I've been looking forward to this post! Such excellent books you read this year. I read Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand in high school and was similarly unimpressed by it. Kristin Lavransdatter is high on my list, and your description only bumped it up! I've been concentrating Middlemarch for a few years now so this might be the year... Have you heard of The Marriage Question: George Eliot's Double Life by Clare Carlisle? It came out recently and has been on my tbr. It looks excellent and addresses the complexity of Eliot's thoughts around marriage and her own unorthodox situation. And I have a Christopher West book on my list for this year too!
So fun to have so many similarities in our reading/reading plans!! I have not but I’d love to read that! It’s fascinating how many authors never married and yet made such apt observations about the nature of marriage. Eliot’s situation is particularly interesting to me so I’ll have to take a look at that!! I’m curious to see what you think of West’s book!
Why is it so dang fun to read about what others are reading?! Middlemarch and Kristin Lavransdatter are both on my TBR this year, and after reading this I’m really looking forward to opening them up!! I’m also hoping to read more Christian nonfiction this year and have seen Rosaria Butterfeld in a couple Christian documentaries and always loved what she’s had to share, so I’ll have to get my hands on her book you mentioned here! Have you read The Gospel Comes with a Housekey by her? I’d really like to read that one, I think it’s something like a theology of hospitality.
P.S. the two grape account actually made me laugh out loud. Like, what in the world? Why specifically two?
It's so fun!! One of my favorite parts of ringing in the new year is reading what others are reading. The Gospel Comes With a Housekey is great and much more convicting than I expected. From what I remember, I do not think everyone is called to the kind of radical open-door hospitality she puts forward - but I do think it is something we all could grow in and discomfort is part of the process. All that said, Rosaria Butterfield is great and I love how well she interacts with various Christian circles.
Seriously. There were a ton of anecdotes in that book like that. The grape one was particularly silly after all the reading I've done about the importance of protein in pregnancy. I was like who is this man and is he making this up? lol
Loved hearing your thoughts here! I had heard some of them in the time I've followed you but it's fun seeing the whole year laid out. Middlemarch was a first-time read (listen) for me a year or so ago, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved it. Can only imagine what a re-read will do for the story. :)
Also, I'm reminded that The Betrothed was also great!! Maybe I'll revisit that one this year, as well. Here's two links I included in the newsletter when I completed it (the audio is great).
I've been looking forward to this post! Such excellent books you read this year. I read Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand in high school and was similarly unimpressed by it. Kristin Lavransdatter is high on my list, and your description only bumped it up! I've been concentrating Middlemarch for a few years now so this might be the year... Have you heard of The Marriage Question: George Eliot's Double Life by Clare Carlisle? It came out recently and has been on my tbr. It looks excellent and addresses the complexity of Eliot's thoughts around marriage and her own unorthodox situation. And I have a Christopher West book on my list for this year too!
So fun to have so many similarities in our reading/reading plans!! I have not but I’d love to read that! It’s fascinating how many authors never married and yet made such apt observations about the nature of marriage. Eliot’s situation is particularly interesting to me so I’ll have to take a look at that!! I’m curious to see what you think of West’s book!
Great selections here - with quite a few huge tomes to boot! Been a decade since I read Middlemarch and I look forward to a second read.
Why is it so dang fun to read about what others are reading?! Middlemarch and Kristin Lavransdatter are both on my TBR this year, and after reading this I’m really looking forward to opening them up!! I’m also hoping to read more Christian nonfiction this year and have seen Rosaria Butterfeld in a couple Christian documentaries and always loved what she’s had to share, so I’ll have to get my hands on her book you mentioned here! Have you read The Gospel Comes with a Housekey by her? I’d really like to read that one, I think it’s something like a theology of hospitality.
P.S. the two grape account actually made me laugh out loud. Like, what in the world? Why specifically two?
It's so fun!! One of my favorite parts of ringing in the new year is reading what others are reading. The Gospel Comes With a Housekey is great and much more convicting than I expected. From what I remember, I do not think everyone is called to the kind of radical open-door hospitality she puts forward - but I do think it is something we all could grow in and discomfort is part of the process. All that said, Rosaria Butterfield is great and I love how well she interacts with various Christian circles.
Seriously. There were a ton of anecdotes in that book like that. The grape one was particularly silly after all the reading I've done about the importance of protein in pregnancy. I was like who is this man and is he making this up? lol
Loved hearing your thoughts here! I had heard some of them in the time I've followed you but it's fun seeing the whole year laid out. Middlemarch was a first-time read (listen) for me a year or so ago, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved it. Can only imagine what a re-read will do for the story. :)
Also, I'm reminded that The Betrothed was also great!! Maybe I'll revisit that one this year, as well. Here's two links I included in the newsletter when I completed it (the audio is great).
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2022/12/86320/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcLsUeuvzUo&t=1203s
Yes, Middlemarch is lovely!!
I'm excited to read it! Thanks for the links!!