Love Is a Verb (& More February Reads)
For such a short month, I sure got a lot of reading done. Probably because it was such a cold month, too — good motivation for bundling up under a pile of quilts and turning pages to my heart’s delight. I finished seven books in the course of four weeks: Love Is a Verb plus six others. Read on for my impression of each.
How to Say It by Allison Friederichs Atkison
Allison Friederichs Atkison’s How to Say It: Words that Make a Difference is based on a series of lectures she did for The Great Courses on the topic of communication. No earth-shattering revelations here, but a good reminder nonetheless to choose your words with care and precision.
I especially enjoyed the chapter on etymology. Her comments on masculine and feminine ways of communicating were also very interesting. If you love words and writing (like I do), you may want to give this course a listen (included free with Audible plus). If not, skip it.
Suffering by Paul David Tripp
Suffering is the kind of book no author is eager to write — a powerful testimony forged in a season of excruciating pain, pointing the way to a closer walk with Christ and a deeper dependence upon His sustaining grace.
A friend recommended this book to me as soon as she found out I’d been diagnosed with cancer.
It is such an exquisitely encouraging book on suffering: How to think about suffering. How to respond to it. How to cling to God in the midst of it.
And How to submit to the gracious and purposeful way God uses hardships in our life to cultivate in us the character of Christ.
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
My youngest daughter and three oldest grandsons took turns reading Elizabeth George Speare’s Sign of the Beaver aloud with me during our homeschool lessons last month. The story kept us all on the edge of our seats.
A pioneer leaves his thirteen-year-old son to guard their new log cabin in the wilderness while he goes to retrieve the rest of the family. During the long months of his father’s absence, Matt must fend for himself.
He soon meets a native boy from a local tribe, and the two eventually become friends.
Mandie and the Secret Tunnel by Lois Gladys Leppard
Much of my reading time has lately been spent evaluating risks/benefits for various cancer treatments and delving into whatever clinical studies I can find that discuss such things.
So I didn’t finish all of my own books-in-progress last month, but I did complete a couple of read-alouds with my kids and grandkids, plus an audiobook with my youngest called Mandie and the Secret Tunnel.
My oldest daughter read and loved all the Mandy Mysteries when she was younger, but this was Abby’s first foray into Lois Gladys Leppard’s beloved series.
The book begins with a funeral and frightening changes for Mandie, then follows her adventures as she finds and explores a secret tunnel in a relative’s house and makes several other surprising discoveries, as well.
Love Is a Verb by Gary Chapman
Love is a Verb by Gary Chapman isn’t at all what I was expecting, which was another marriage book along the lines of 5 Love Languages, also by Chapman.
Instead, this is a collection of letters the author has received from his readers detailing life lessons they have learned about love in a format reminiscent of Chicken Soup for the Soul.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading their stories, which are interspersed with generalizing comments from the author. While many of the stories do deal with marital love, others address love for children, parents, siblings, neighbors, coworkers, and even strangers.
The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster
I’ve been using Genevieve Foster’s amazing books to teach history to my homeschooled children for the better part of three decades. The thing I love about these volumes is the fact that Foster not only chronicles the life of her title character, but also follows the timeline of all his contemporaries.
In the case of The World of Columbus and Sons, that means readers also learn what was going on in the lives of Prince Henry the Navigator, Queen Isabella, Johannes Gutenberg, Leonardo da Vinci, Mohammed II, Martin Luther, Erasmus, Copernicus, Michaelangelo, Queen Elizabeth, and many, many more men and women of influence who lived during the years 1451-1539.
The Universe in Verse by Maria Popova
Amazon suggested The Universe in Verse as a book I might like, and they were (mostly) right. As somebody who loves science, poetry, obscure historical vignettes, and beautiful artwork, I found the idea of melding all these elements into a single volume intriguing.
But reading Popova stirred in me a profound sadness, as well. Marveling over creation without mentioning the Creator misses the point entirely. The author does a decent job of describing more than a dozen intricately designed systems, but she credits their development not to an infinite Designer, but to evolution and chance.
Do you love to read as much as we do? I’ve gathered all my best resources for bibliophiles onto this page, or you can read more of my book reviews by following this link .
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