Books I Liked
The Nature Of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant - I read These Silent Woods by Grant earlier this year, and was excited to pick up her next book. In this book, our main character, Emlyn, is hiding from her ex-boyfriend Tyler, who left her for dead three years before. But when their mutual friend turns up missing, they work together to find out what happened to her. I love the picture Grant draws in this book of the wilderness, and the treacherous nature of backpacking. There is a sweet love story that is drawn out by the end of the book, but not overdone. I am looking forward to seeing the next book Grant writes. Content Notes: The characters talk at one point about how Emlyn was found naked when she almost freezes to death. It's a weird phenomenon, but people who are on the verge of death from hypothermia actually do often undress as they suddenly feel very warm - often without realizing what they are doing.
Daughter Of Mine by Megan Miranda - Hazel returns home for her father's funeral, and finds out that he has left her the house - but her brothers are not happy about it. From the start of the book we get the feeling that something is off with this family, and as the tensions in the relationships start to rise, we wonder who to trust. I find Megan Miranda's books just the right mix of mystery and suspense - she knows how to instill that uneasiness in the reader in a really subtle way that I find interesting. This book's ending was more hopeful than some of Miranda's other books, and I enjoyed it. Content Notes: Some curse words, vague references to a sexual relationship between two characters in the past, murder.
True Grit by Charles Portis - If you have ever seen the old John Wayne True Grit movie, you will enjoy this book. The book has the same flavor as the movie, but even more enjoyable. Mattie narrates the entire book, and her independent spirit comes through in her frequent diatribes as she's narrating - I thought it was very funny and also fun! The plot and characters are very similar between the movie and the book, and there was even some Christian content that you wouldn't expect. I also loved that we got more details about what happened to all the characters after the adventure they had together. Highly Recommend!
Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt - It honestly took me forever to get through this book. I think it is because the subject of death was hanging over me a bit this summer, and then I started this book without realizing that grief was a huge theme. Meryl Lee is sent to boarding school as she is morning the death of her friend Holling, and later the divorce of her parents. She wants to become "accomplished" at something, and along the way she learns how to connect to others and see the grief they are dealing with as well. She also connects with an orphan boy named Matt, who is running from a gangster who wants to kill him as he is also morning the death of his own friend. This book felt heavy, and it took me months to get through it. I did find it interesting how Schmidt connected separate worlds that he built in his other books - The Wednesday Wars world, and Lizze Bright And The Buckminster Boy (which is actually my least favorite of his books that I've read - I didn't like that one). Just Like That had the same flavor as his other books, just sadder, and I probably read it at the wrong time, but I'd still recommend it if you've read his other books. I'll probably have my kids skip it unless they're ready to be sad though.
The Full Cupboard Of Life by Alexander McCall Smith - This is part of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which is like a cozy mystery series set in Botswana. McCall paints such a lovely picture of Africa in these books, and all the characters are lovable, with friendly little mysteries to solve. These are my bedtime, comfort-reading books, and I recommend them!
Bread Of Life by Abigail Dodds - I've been reading this book as part of my devotions lately, and Dodds' reflections on spiritual topics related to bread are very inspiring. I found myself with alot to ponder as I read this book, and each chapter ends with a bread recipe that Dodds has developed. Recipes are not a main feature of this book, the focus is on pointing you to Jesus, the Bread of Life - so even if you can't eat wheat, you will find plenty to love about this book. Highly recommend.
Cinderella and Other Stories From The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang - I read this book with my girls for literature in our homeschool. Fairy tales are weird, but we enjoyed most of these. The Bronze Ring we found to be the weirdest story, but the rest were a little more enjoyable with happy endings.
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater - I read this one with my little girls for school. Some books are not enjoyable to read aloud, and some books are written in a way that makes reading aloud just flow - this one is the latter. I enjoyed every chapter with my girls, and they were very invested in it. We all thought the ending was a little absurd, but my daughter wrote an alternate ending as a school writing assignment, and I quite enjoyed what she came up with!
Transformed By Truth by Katherine Forster - Full review of this book here.
I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge - This is a sweet, short Christmas book. A little girl who is being raised by her elderly aunts begs to leave the doors unlocked on Christmas Eve so the Wise Men can visit. The aunts tell her they definitely will not leave the door unlocked, but when the window is left open, wonderful things do happen.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson - This was a re-read - I read it again to the kids before we went to see the movie! My kids find this book very funny because of how awful the Herdman's are, but their change of heart at the end of the book is so heartwarming. Content Notes: A few uses of God's name in vain (by the Herdman's), and one (humorous, because it was ridiculous) mention of sex - I kind of skipped over those for the sake of my little girls. This book is a good one to read aloud.
The War On Children by John MacArthur - I received this book a while back and finally picked it up to read this month - MacArthur outlines all the ways the culture is currently attacking the family and especially children, and how Christian parents can respond. I always love how MacArthur says it like it is, and this book was full of good reminders for me.
A Little Book On The Christian Life by John Calvin - This is the first time I've picked up any of Calvin's writings, and I was so pleasantly surprised. Since John Calvin is so often discussed in the context of Calvinism, you start to get the idea that it's all he ever talked about. This little book will cure you of that notion. I found Calvin's advice for living a Christian life so compelling and encouraging, and I looked forward to reading this book after my Bible each morning. So much of this book was timely for me, and providentially spoke to things I was currently working through. I know I will be reading it again.
Books That Were Okay, With Some Content Warnings
The Hot Zone : The Terrifying True Story Of The Origins Of The Ebola Virus by Richard Preston - This book tells the story of the first Ebola outbreak in history. It is nonfiction, but it is written in the style of fiction, and I could not put it down. I was equal parts horrified and fascinated. Ebola is a brutal virus, and its effects on the human body are horrific. I learned so much from this book, and it indulged my slight tendency toward germaphobia. If you are even a little interested in infectious micro-organisms, give this one a go. Content Notes: Very graphic descriptions of the effects of ebola on the body, mentions of prostitutes as a way the virus might have spread, some curse words. Not recommended for youth or the squeamish.
Crisis In The Red Zone by Richard Preston - This book is a follow-up to The Hot Zone, as it was written after the Ebola outbreak that happened in 2014. I remember that outbreak as I was pregnant and still working as a dental hygienist, and feeling relieved when they contained the outbreak in the U.S. An interesting aspect of this book was the ethics of handling the limited number of ebola treatments that were developed at this time. It also made me not trust NGOs. Content Notes: Same as the previous book. These books are not for weak stomachs.
The Rom Commers by Katherine Center - In this one, Emma, a floundering screenwriter, gets the chance to work with screenwriting celebrity Charlie Yates - unfortunately, he doesn't realize what he's agreed to until Emma shows up on his doorstep. Tensions are high, but sparks start to fly between the two as they learn to work together. Old-school rom-com vibes throughout the plot, with a happy ending, so I enjoyed it, even though some of the content I wish was left out. Content Notes: It's been a while between reading and writing this summary, but I remember a smattering of curse words, some involved kissing scenes, references to sexual relationships or thoughts about those sorts of things (I don't remember it being too explicit). I enjoy Center's books, but there is always the sort of thing that I have to skip past a bit. I usually equate it to what you'd get in a PG-13 movie, maybe pushing it a little more than that. I wish it wasn't in there so I could recommend her more generally, because her characters and plots are always so fun.
Books I Wouldn't Recommend
I was trying to decide whether to mention these books, since I wouldn't actually recommend them. Usually if inappropriate content pops up in a book, I'll just quit it, since I don't like to waste time on books I can't even recommend. This is one of those situations where the scenes or content I didn't appreciate came up further along in the book, and by then I was invested in seeing how the story turned out, so I skimmed past and finished them anyway. Sunk cost fallacy, I suppose. I've heard feedback that people still appreciate knowing my content notes anyway, so here they are.
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware - I was intrigued by this book since I heard that it was inspired by And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Admittedly that is one of Christie's more disturbing novels, so I should have been expecting this book to be disturbing - it definitely was more twisted than I thought going in. It was filled with twists and turns, abusive behavior from one of the characters, lots of murder (if you're not familiar with And Then There Were None - spoiler alert - everyone dies in that book). I didn't like the ending and how morally twisted it was. Not my favorite. I should have realized what I was getting into, honestly, but sometimes people mention Agatha Christie and I lose my better judgement for a minute. Content Notes: Lots of violence and murder, quite a bit of cursing, some feminist ideology, no good male characters at all, morally twisted ending.
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty - A mysterious lady who appears to be a psychic boards a plane - she starts having some sort of episode and handing out "age and cause of death" predictions for all the passengers. The rest of the book is about how the passengers deal with the predictions they've been handed. I went into this book not really knowing much, and I don't love that so much of the plot of this one centers around psychics - it's a little more central than I anticipated, though in the end the lady doesn't actually end up being a psychic but an insurance actuary. Content Notes: References to psychic abilities and visiting psychics. References to sexual relationships. One scene briefly describing a man's private parts that was too much, and might have made me quit if it hadn't occurred so far into the book, since I was pretty invested in how it turned out by then.
I am reading several books currently that I am quite enjoying, so come back at the end of December to read about those. If you would like to know which Christmas-themed books I liked, I'll share them on Instagram as I finish them.
What books have you loved recently?
What a great quarter of reading! I loved The Rom-Commers and my boys and I have read Mr. Popper's Penguins too.
I haven’t thought about True Grit in ages! And while it makes sense didn’t realize there was a book. I read the Hot Zone many years ago. Now I need to read The Red Zone.
I like both the True Grit movies and always wanted to read the book.
Have a great December reading month.
November wrap up
Callie, I appreciate your reviews and recommendations. I'm always on the lookout for clean non violent reads. So this is really helpful.
Thanks so much for sharing with Bookish Bliss Musings & More Quarterly Link Up dear friend.
Hey Callie, just popping over to let you know that I'm featuring your post as one of that caught my eye from last quarters Bookish Bliss Musings & More this quarter which opens Feb 5, 2025.
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