2022 Reading Notes

Moms have brains and need brains, and brains need to be fed just like bodies. That’s why it’s important we read. Mothering and homemaking are not jobs for slackers. It’s not mindless work. When our minds are active and exercised, we can apply more of ourselves to our work with creativity and intelligence, deriving more satisfaction from our work the more cultivated our attention and intelligence is. Being smarter and more well read will not make us less content with our work, but more.

I started the 5×5 Reading Challenge three years ago with Scholé Sisters in order to intentionally read books in categories I tend to collect but not read. By choosing 5 categories and 5 books for each category, we read both broadly and deeply without getting overly ambitious. Click here to join the 5×5 Reading Challenge any time! The categories you see listed are my 5 chosen categories, plus extra are books beyond my 5×5 I’m reading.

Yes, audio books count as reading just as much as reading a paperback, and books read with or to the children or in our homeschool also count.

NB: The numbers given on the list of finished books indicate order and total books I’ve finished this year.

Currently Reading

last updated October 22, 2022

• Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset – Audible – Fiction category – Reread – reading with one of my book clubs
• Foundations of Christian Education: Addresses to Christian Teachers, Louis Berkhof and Cornelius Van Til – paperback – Education category
  I’ve owned this book for a long time, but after hearing about Berkhof and Van Til in Frame’s History of Western Philosophy and Theology, I was motivated to tolle lege.
• Rise & Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer – Audible – History category – Because I am weak on modern history
• Superfans, Pat Flynn – Audible – Business category
• Nuclear Effect, Scott Oldford – Paperback – Business category
• Building a Second Brain, Tiago Forte – Paperback – Business category
• Law & Liberty, Rushdoony – Canon+ audio – Theology category
• The Great Tradition, Richard Gamble – paperback – Education category
• Guilt, Grace, Gratitude, George Bethune – hardback – Theology category
  Rev. Bethune was a nineteeth-century American pastor in the Dutch reformed tradition, and these volumes gather his sermons through the Heidelberg catechism together.
• Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle – paperback – Philosophy category
  I started this in 2020, set it aside, and am only now picking it back up. I am in book 3 and reading a section during my morning reading time.
• Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, Werner Jaeger – hardback – won’t finish this year
  Another neglected friend I’m picking back up. I started reading this with Brandy Vencel 3 years ago and only got to chapter 8 in volume 1 (of 3). I added it to my morning stack and plan to start back up again and read a chapter a week.
• Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin – hardback – homeschool read-along, won’t finish this year. It’s on pause now for the summer, but we’ll pick it back up again in the fall.
  I’m reading this with my 8th grader, taking 3 years to read it together; I read it over 2 years with my previous high schooler.
• Commentary on the Whole Bible, Matthew Henry – hardback – won’t finish this year
  My goal is to finish it before I’m 50; I finished Job and am now reading Matthew.

Finished in October

32. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, John Bunyan

Paperback & Audible – Book Club category ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished in September

31. Atomic Habits, James Clear

Hardback – Self-Discipline category – Reread ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Read in preparation for the Scholé Sisters retreat

30. The Life of St. Teresa of Avila, Teresa of Avila

Paperback – Book Club category ⭐️⭐️ – The cover image is quite appropriate

29. Learning Contentment, Nancy Wilson

Canon+ audio – Self-Discipline category ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

28. The One Thing, Gary Keller

Audible – Self-Discipline category ⭐️⭐️

27. Answered Prayer, Jim Wilson

Canon+ audio – Self-Discipline category ⭐️⭐️

Finished in August

26. Angels in the Architecture, Doug Wilson & Doug Jones

Paperback – Book Club category – Reread ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

25. Federal Husband, Doug Wilson

Canon+ audio – Book Club category ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Matt read this for a men’s book club and so I listened to it in a day as well since he wanted to talk about it and it was the only book in the family series I haven’t read before.

25. Confessions, St. Augustine

Paperback – Book Club category ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

23. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles

Audible – Fiction category ⭐️⭐️⭐️

22. Strange New World, Carl Trueman

Paperback & Audible – Anti-Marxist category ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished in July

21. How to Be Happy, Matt Fradd

Audible – Philosophy category – A short but pointed philosophical introduction to the concept of Christian flourishing & happiness with personal stories and anecdotes to keep it from being too heady. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

20. Free to Focus, Michael Hyatt

Hardback – Business category – I read this with my business mastermind group and applied several principles to how I arrange my work in my new environment and schedule.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished in June

19. The Conservative Mind, Russell Kirk

Audible – Anti-Marxist category
I heard of this book from some other ladies reading similar books and added it to my listening queue.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

18. The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton

Audible – Fiction category – Reread
I reread this for one of my book clubs
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished in May

17. Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton

Paperback + Audible audiobook – Philosophy category – Reread
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

16. Christianity and Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen

Audible audiobook – Anti-Marxist category
I listened to this 5 hour audio in a day during a drive to and from Kennewick. It was refreshing to ruminate in the most valuable truths rather than in the mindset of those who deny them. Machan saw what was what 100 years ago, but his voice went unheeded and here we are. Liberalism, he demonstrates, is a different religion altogether from Christianity, and ought to be banished from the church. Because liberals tend to wrap their beliefs in Christian verbiage to deceive and destroy the church from within, we have to know and firmly hold the truth of Scripture about Christ, sin, and salvation. It was such a good book. Highly recommended. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished in April

15. Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl Trueman

Audible – Marxism category
The audio version is read by the author, so there’s the bonus of the British accent. Wow. If you want to understand the twisted way modern transgender thought makes sense or at least how it came to be and appeared to happen so quickly, this is your book. Trueman approaches it as a historian, elaborating the godless philosophies that have shaped the West dispassionately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

14. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

Audible & paperback – Marxist category (or fiction)
I read this for a local book club. The hero is spoken of like he’s an animal and his turning-point is rage. His redemption comes by stealing and destroying.⭐️⭐️

13. That Hideous Strength: A Deeper Look at How the West Was Lost, Melvin Tinker

Paperback – Marxism category
I heard about this book on the podcast Mortification of Spin and was intrigued and delighted by Tinker’s succinct demonstration that cultural Marxism is, by its own definition, anti-gospel and therefore the battle ground of spiritual warfare today. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Discuss this book with me in the Excellent Marxmanship study inside Sistership!

12. A History of Western Philosophy and Theology, John Frame

Audible – Philosophy category
I am absolutely loving this book! It has the best summaries and evaluations of the major philosophers, starting with the pre-Socratics, that I have read yet, and I’ve read half a dozen. It is a lot more approachable than I was expecting. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

11. What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done, Matt Perman

hardback – Self-discipline category – This is a reread for me and has replaced GTD as my favorite go-to book on productivity. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

10. A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer

paperback – Anti-Marxist category
Schaeffer cuts right to the chase. In the early 80’s he foresaw the “open window” for the religious right was not likely to last long and explains why Christians must be ready and willing to take up civil disobedience against political powers that take god-like prerogatives to their office. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished in March

The Greek Way

 

The Rector of Justin: A NovelLimitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life

 

9. The Greek Way, Edith Hamilton

Audible – History category – Edith Hamilton’s classic is surprisingly refreshing! She has no qualms about being judgy against the Egyptians because of their religion and priests. She cuts right to the chase about the stark differences between the Greek outlook and every other preceding it. It’s an enjoyable listen, particularly because it’s also my favorite reader, Nadia May. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

8. Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life, Jim Kwik – extra

Audio. I listened to this non-fiction self-help book at 2.2 speed and it sounded as other books do at 1.5. He was not saying anything so profound or complex as to require speaking so slowly. Between that and adding in basically a podcast recording between each chapter, one senses he was simply bulking up the audiobook to make it appear worth a credit. There were a few good tips in the book, but they weren’t ones you can’t find elsewhere and I found his personal story wrung out by the end of the book and the superhero motif overblown.

7. The Rector of Justin, Louis Auchincloss – fiction category

Paperback. This novel is mentioned in Norms and Nobility, which is how it made it onto my TBR pile. Although the setting is in education, the theme really is leadership, righteous ambition, pride, and personality. The narrator’s favorite novel, referenced throughout, is Clarissa, an epistolary novel where you see the same event from multiple perspectives. Likewise, other people’s notes are inserted, unamended, and so we observe a life and a life work unfold from a variety of perspectives. No one person has the whole story and no one person’s perspectives is fully true – even (or especially, perhaps) the main character’s view of his own self and life work. Still, it remains a hopeful novel, even amidst its realism.

Finished in February

The Communist Manifesto: A 1888 Translation Edition (The Political Philosophy of Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels)The Rule of Saint Augustine: with Commentary by Hugh of St. VictorMarxism: Philosophy and Economics

 

6.

Marxism, Thomas Sowell – Marxism category

Audible. Sowell begins by saying that not all that claims to be Marxist or explain Marxism is based upon Marx’s writings; his book uses substantial quotes from Marx and Engels to demonstrate what they actually believed as opposed to how their thoughts were later developed and applied. The book primarily is an explication of Marx’s thought, not a commentary upon it or an analysis of it. It was dense and difficult to absorb by audio, but a helpful addition to my understanding of Marx’s theories.

5. The Rule of St. Augustine with commentary by Hugh of St. Victor – self-discipline category

Paperback. Augustine’s rule is for a convent and is very basic and brief. Following the rule, Hugh’s commentary restates the rules almost sentence by sentence, drawing out the reasoning and benefit of following the rule in a monastic setting.

4. The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx – Marxism category

Paperback. Marx makes some pretty fundamentally flawed assumptions and then does not propose but presumes as inevitable a sweeping overturn of society. All history is the story of class struggle. Get rid of all classes but one and give them equal part of all things (and one another), and world peace and equality (not prosperity; prosperity is so bougie – they created prosperity so that the one world workers can now live off of it. Thank you. Go away.). When you deny God and sin, you have to resort to crazy ideas to make things work without acknowledging either. There is a God and sin, thus communism cannot work. Study this with me inside Sistership!

Finished in January

Leave It to PsmithLord Emsworth Acts for the BestA Tree Grows in Brooklyn

 

1. Leave it to Psmith, P.G. Wodehouse – fiction category

Audiobook. Reread. We listened to this title in the car on a trip back and forth from Kennewick to Moscow while moving. This title is Wodehouse’s best and one not to miss.

2. Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best, P.G. Wodehouse – extra

Audiobook. Reread. We listened to this title in the car on a couple trips back and forth from Kennewick to Moscow while moving. Martin Jarvis is definitely our favorite Wodehouse reader.

3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith – fiction category

Audiobook. I enjoyed this well-told coming-of-age story about the pluck and grit of immigrants, even as it diminishes through the generations as those immigrants do succeed in building a better life for their families against hard odds.

Books begun but not finished in 2022

• Ordering Your Private World, Gordon Macdonald – hardback – Self-discipline category (reread)
  I last read this about 15 years ago. What strikes me now is how little Scripture and the gospel seems to factor into his description of a pastor’s life. I remember thinking it was great 15 years ago; we’ll see when we get to the practical part. His theoretical basis is weak and self-focused. I would prefer more principles and fewer anecdotes. Update: Halfway through the book I realized this wasn’t the book I was thinking of when I pulled it off the shelf. I’m not finishing it. It’s shallow while thinking itself deep; it’s not worth my time.
• Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster – hardback – self-discipline category
  I’ve heard this book references many times over the years, so with a category like “self-discipline” happening this year, it seemed like one I should read for myself. I read a little bit more than half, but it was weakly argued with no distinction made between biblical arguments for a practice and anecdotal arguments. Foster used Scripture poorly, relying mostly on emotional appeals without providing real backing for his claims. He had a few good thoughts or quotes scattered in a sea of meh.