Living Unabridged

I'm always fascinating by the discussion of what makes art.

I first saw this quote from Raymond Chandler in Lucy Worsley's book about murder mysteries: The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock.

"The quality of redemption" makes sense to me. And it can apply to art or literature.

For another definition of what makes art see this Words on Wednesday post: Brilliantly Managed Tension.

What I'm Reading:

I haven't actually read that many books this month, or added that many to my stack. But you can see what's occupying my reading time right now in the right hand corner of the picture: curriculum catalogs and another flip through The Well-Trained Mind.

Our co-op is getting classes for next year lined up and our first used curriculum sale is this Saturday, which made me realize that I really need to know exactly what I'm needing for our oldest.

She will be - deep breath - a freshman this fall and that means we need to have some idea of what we're aiming for as far as her complete high school transcript and credits and all that.

No big deal. (Except it totally is.)

I'm feeling a bit of pressure from that, but I also know I need to enjoy the journey.

But I'm still sitting there with a stack of curriculum catalogs, Susan Wise Bauer's recommendations, a notebook and pen.

The fiction in my stack has dwindled to practically nothing. I gave up on:
After the War Is Over: A Novel. Loved the cover and the time period, but that's about it.

The main character was a "Mary Sue". (Annoyingly perfect in every way.)

There wasn't enough meat to the story or conflict for the characters to deal with. I gave this one several chances but, ultimately, life is too short and there are way too many books to read to stick with something that's not working for me.

Recently Finished:

The Magic Apple Tree: A Country Yearby Susan Hill. Lovely. If you enjoyed the Anne books or any sort of gentle British fiction (like the Miss Read books or anything by D.E. Stevenson), you might like this non-fiction look at a year of village life.

Recently Added:

The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menuby Dan Jurafsky. Food and words, two of my all time favorite things united in one book. Loving this one.

Recent Kindle Additions:

The Buried Giant: A novelby Kazuo Ishiguro. I got this one through our library's digital library program. Haven't really loved it so far, but I think my husband would enjoy it so I may order him a physical copy. It kind of reminds me of Neil Gaiman in some ways, but it's a slow starter.

Current Read Aloud:

We have another couple chapters of Betsy-Tacy. We may go on to Betsy-Tacy and Tibnext since we own a copy, or we may try something else. We haven't decided yet.

Current Book to Review:

Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Mindsby Jen Wilkin. I recently joined the Crossway books review program and this is the first book I've reviewed for them. I had a little trouble getting the book on my Kindle at first, which worried me. But once I got that all figured out I dove into this one.

I have loved every bit of it and I HIGHLY recommend it. I'll post a more complete review once I've completely finished.

Another program I do reviews for is supposed to be sending me Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Areby Shauna Niequist, but it hasn't come in yet.

What are you reading right now?

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