What's On My Nightstand | September 2011

Missing last month's Nightstand post was not fun at all, so I knew I had to write one this September! As I've mentioned in previous posts, school has kicked in and I've lost most of my recreational reading time. My amazing reading groove I got into over the summer has long gone. At least I have some good stuff from the past two months!

(Some titles are linked to my reviews or ramblings.)

Fiction

The First Gardener by Denise Hildreth Jones is a lovely story about how a gardener named Jeremiah Williams greatly affects the governor's family that he works for. I really enjoyed this one!

The Final Hour by Andrew Klavan is the fourth and final book in YA series The Homelanders. It nicely wraps up the story of Charlie West and his patriotic defense of America. It has all the heroism, excitement, and suspense that this genre begs for.

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis was my choice for Carrie's Narnia reading challenge. I liked seeing another side to Narnia (the underground world). And I was so happy to see Eustace again!

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was an interesting read, for sure. The ending is rather depressing, and it greatly reminded me that, though we cannot overcome our shame and guilt on our own, there is One who can wash our sins away! The Scarlet Letter is an interesting look at the time period's beliefs, and a nice bit of mystery thrown in (though I do admit I had it pegged a few chapters in).

Steps to Courage by Sandra K. Stiles. It's an interesting YA novel about three teens and their 9/11 experiences. It screams for more, though.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I would be shocked if you haven't heard about this book! I wasn't incredibly interested in reading it until I saw the movie trailer. Interesting, I thought. My mom thought it looked interesting too. The movie was about to hit theaters, and we knew we had to read the book before seeing the movie! We bought it, read it within a week of each other, watched the movie, then discussed and compared at length. I love this book. I didn't write a review of it because I just didn't know how to express my feelings about it. It does contain some crude and unecessary language (but as I heard one reader explain, the language seems rather appropriate for the time and all; not that I consider that as a good excuse or anything), it does have a rather graphic sexual reference (though the point of the scene, I fell, is key), and it does deal with the very real topic of discrimination and segregation. But, I love it. And this is one time when I think the book and the movie equal each other.

Non-Fiction

Life, In Spite of Me by Kristen Anderson with Tricia Goyer is a riveting memoir of a girl who tried to take her life by quite literally flingin herself in front of an oncoming train. (She survived.) I have mixed feelings about this one. It was definitely an interesting story, and the writing is very good, but some parts of it just didn't click with me and by the end I felt sort of strange.... I know there are some who really enjoyed it, though, so don't let my opinion stop you from picking it up!

Unplanned by Abby Johnson was a book that I had on my TBR list for a while. I didn't end up reviewing it, but, let me tell you, it is a good one! Abby Johnson recounts her story from young college student to director of a Planned Parenthood clinic to pro-lifer. It's a fascinating read, and her explanations for why she believed abortion to be okay and why she stayed with Planned Parenthood so long are intriguing. I learned quite a bit from this book.

Answering the Guy Questions: The Set-Apart Girl's Guide to Relating to the Opposite Sex by Leslie Ludy. If you spend much time talking with me about thinks like femininty, young womanhood, dating, and the like, I'll most definitely point you in the direction of Leslie Ludy. I know some don't like her views on femininity (although I think most are taken straight from the Bible; yes, some is opinion, and she does recognize that!), but I've found her books to be good sources for practical advice on how to be a godly young woman living in the twenty-first century. This book, geared towards older teens and young women, holds some great advice for how to behave around and encourage guys.

Titles not shown are actually in that purple thing, my Kindle. :)

Currently my nose is stuck in Uncompromising: A Heart Claimed by a Radical Love by Hannah Farver, an encouraging book for young women; Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, of course; and Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different by Gordon S. Wood, a very intriguing book that I'm reading for my history class. I'm also finishing up some selected readings from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. (It's also for a class; I just wanted to throw that in there to amaze you with my diverse readings. ;) I'm actually enjoying it.)

What have you read this past month? What are you reading now? Join the What's On Your Nightstand? party by visiting 5MinutesForBooks.com.

By the way, a little shout out to the bloggers who post pictures of stacks upon stacks of books. I've decided that I must do this from now on. I love looking at stacks of books! Thanks for the inspiration.