Good Reads

          Since early days I have loved my books; I have secretly mourned for friends who have told me that their childhood was devoid of them.  Then when my own children came along, reading aloud was one of the joys of parenting.  The Chronicles of Narnia, Little Britches, The Hobbit - the characters within those pages all helped shape my children's imagination and their character as well.
          That is what good literature does.  It speaks of more than stories.  It guides us through the rocky terrain of human behavior and leads us closer to the One who made us.  There is a reason the Word became flesh.  There is a reason that Scripture is more than a list of commandments or a collection of "begats."  There is a reason Jesus spoke in parables.  We love our stories.  Some authors are able to use their readers' curiosity to explore Biblical truths and grow those adventurers into better people.
          In the spring of 2009 a few friends and I convinced a dear woman to start a reading group.  We first looked at a few notable British authors and that sustained us for a little over a year.  This summer we tackled a couple Russian writers.  Where we'll go from here, who knows.  But I want to give some highlights of the journey that we've taken thus far.  (Reviews to come later...maybe!)
August 1, 2010


Mansfied Park by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoesvsky

Adam Bede by George Eliot

Silas Marner by George Eliot

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy