I read some really interesting books this past month, so I thought I would share them, along with a few of my thoughts. You can also "look inside" each book by following the links to Amazon. Sometimes its nice to get to read a few pages, even with someone's recommendation.
I enjoy a great deal of C. S. Lewis's books. Till We Have Faces probably does not make my top 5 Lewis books, at least after the first reading. I think a lot of it just went over my head, but that I would get a lot more out of it on a second reading. I'm going to wait a year or so and then dive back in, I think.
I really enjoyed reading this book! Its the story of a man whose father was one of the 7 founders of Hamas, but converted to Christianity. His life changed so drastically, and the book is basically the history of growing up in a devout Muslim family, being imprisoned as a terrorist, working undercover in Hamas as a spy for Israel (thus thwarting many terrorist activities), and then converting to Christianity. He has so much insight on what has been happening in the Middle East over the last 50 years or so, and the book is well worth a read. Just yesterday the United States government dropped a deportation hearing against Mosab and has granted him asylum in the US (
read more in this article).
I've enjoyed a number of John Grisham books over the last year and half, and while this was not my favorite, it was very good. I usually get them on audio book from the library, which is how I read The Last Juror. This one is set in Ford County, Mississippi during the 1970s and has some interesting commentary on small town life, Vietnam, and especially the penal system. I also enjoyed that it was hard to tell exactly where the book was going, as the "main" story (the trial) ended around a third of the way through the book.
And finally, I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society yesterday. This is one of my new favorite books! It is entirely fictional letters written in the aftermath of World War II, and really reminded me of a Jane Austin novel, just set in the more modern era. Because it is made up of letters, many of which are just a few sentences long, it was easy to pick up and read just a few pages...but also easy to keep reading long after a few pages had passed! This is another one that I will plan to read again. It would make a great beach book for the summer too!
), and I've even asked Martin what he thought about the middle name of Darcy for our yet to be born son, but I would not wear a shirt with Darcy's proposal, no matter how eloquent it is...
is also a current favorite. She puts all manner of toys inside and then pushes it around the room making car noises. She's also great at opening and closing the doors of the school bus, and trying to get her chosen items out through the doors. This doesn't work so great with many of the things that often end up in the bus!
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