2024 Reading Wrap Up

I have participated in reading 52 Books in 52 Weeks again. Here are answers to the Wrap Up questions:

How was your reading year? 

I liked it. I didn't like some of the 1000 Books to Read List books. Mustich is scraping the bottom of the barrel on some of these books. Why did he include them on the list?

I read 8,000 fewer pages than last year! I was busy. I finished some certifications: Restorative Pilates, EMDR, and Spiritual Accompaniment of Children. There was a lot of online reading with all three, but those don't count as "books"!

Did you follow a plan or go with the flow?

I am continuing to work through the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die List (read 21, about 1/2 of last year). I also had Renovare Book Club Books, and spiritual direction books that I am reading to decide if I would include them in the curriculum I am writing for the training I am starting in the fall of 2025.

Did you stick to tried and true authors or genres or explore outside your comfort zone?

Many books on the 1000 Book to Read List are outside of my comfort zone. So, I tend to read new authors all the time! I read one Science Fiction this year. It still isn't my favorite, but it is on the list. 

Where did your adventure take you? Outside of time and into space? 

I went to England (The French Lieutenant's Woman, Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman),  India (Midnight's Children), Michigan (The Virgin Suicides), Birmingham (Why We Can't Wait), the Sahara desert (The Sheltering Sky) Swiss Alps (The Magic Mountain), New York (The Bell Jar), Chicago (Sister Carrie),  France (The Day of the Jackal, Germinal), Space (Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey), 

There are more places, but that is enough.

Which stories made your heart sing or cry or laugh or fly. Do you want to hug the author or country or city or state?

CRY:  

A Well-Trained Wife

I know the author, and I have hugged her. To read all the details was devasting for me. I was a wreck for a week. I highly recommend the reading of this book. 

I loved Why We Can't Wait by Martin Luther King, Jr. I think everyone should read this book. It shows how far Black Lives Matter has strayed from this man's amazing vision. 

I liked every single memoir/autobiography I read. It is one of my favorite genres (because I am a people person and love to see what makes people tick). 

I also loved the books I read on "neurotheology" and the influence of brain science on spirituality: Practice the Pause. 

Which stories made you want to throw it across the room in disgust?

I didn't have any ones that disgusted me this year. Some I couldn't wait to finish, but none that disgusted. 

Which authors did you add to your "I want to read more or again pile"?

Practice the Pause (I learned so much from it.) 

This was my favorite cover:

Next year, I plan to read Jean-Pierre de Caussade's Abandonment to Divine Providence, the last Renovare Book Club book, and continue on my journey with the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die List (I am 35 books away from first on the List Challenge List and 43 away from 500 books. I will stop after that because I do not like the remaining books and sometimes really question why they are on the list in the first place. Sometimes, I find a gem on the list though.)

The French Lieutenant's Woman

I am just getting to this review of this book. I read it in October but forgot to review it. I have very little memory of it! So, here is why James Mustich thinks it should be one of the 1000 Books You Read Before You Die:

James Mustich

The story John Fowles tells in his third novel begins on the English seaside at Lyme Regis, Dorset, in 1867. Yet it is told by a wry, erudite narrator who lets readers know he is writing exactly one hundred years later. In a tour de force of storytelling that is transporting, intriguing, and breathtaking in its shifting perspectives, Fowles combines suspense, romance, and invention into an emotionally satisfying and intellectually engaging whole. A master of a storytelling resourcefulness that always has us asking, “What happens next?,” Fowles here recasts the pleasures of the Victorian novel into modern literary dress in a way that only enhances their allure. To cap it off, he offers two endings, challenging the reader’s own ideas of romance, of the rights and wrongs of society’s whims, even of the nature of fiction itself. 

The Third Gilmore Girl

I read this in a day. It was a delightful read. If you are a Gilmore Girls fan, you will love it. 

The Day of the Jackal

Wow! It is so compelling, well-written, and the epitome of a page-turner. I loved it. It is totally worth your time. 

There is some sexual content, so I am a bit leary of the new mini-series coming in November 2024. But the whole time I was reading, I was imagining Eddie Redmayne. 

Here is why James Mustich thinks it should be one of the 1000 Books You Read Before You Die:

James Mustich

Jul 31, 2018

This taut narrative of a 1963 assassination attempt on French president Charles de Gaulle proves that drama, like the devil, is in the details; throughout his intricate chronicle of the techniques and activities of a professional assassin, hired by a homegrown terrorist group incensed by de Gaulle’s decision to grant independence to Algeria, Frederick Forsyth exhibits a peerless gift for spinning facts into suspense. The preparations of the Jackal—the killer’s code name—are enthralling in their relentless ruthlessness, and the investigative research and desperate energies of the detectives on his trail are equally absorbing. Forsyth’s work has spawned a tribe of imitators that is now in its second generation, but the original article has lost none of its appeal. The Day of the Jackal is the epitome of a page-turner.

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen

I wish I could remember how I came across this book. I put it on hold and had to wait many months. In the meantime, I had forgotten why I put it on hold!

All that to say I LOVED this book. It might rank up there as one of my favorites of the year. It is so insightful and so what spiritual directors do as what David Brooks terms, illuminators. It was great, and I might put it in the training that I am starting for spiritual director in September 2025.

The Bell Jar

Hahaha. The whole time I was reading this, I thought it was on my 1000 Books to Read Before You Die List, and it had just been forgotten from the list on ListChallenge, it was never on the list but recommended that it should be on the list by someone on James Mustich's website! It is on many other lists though. So, I am glad I read it. 

I am only 25 books away from the next spot on ListChallenge! WOOHOO! (I love to challenge myself.) 

It is semi-autobiographical about a girl who has a breakdown and tries to end her life. In the end, she decides to live, but sadly, the author killed herself a month after publication. 

It is another sad book. I am going to read some happier books for a while! 

Spiritual Direction: An Introduction

This is my third reading. It is my favorite book on spiritual direction. It is very detailed and practical. During my training, we read it in one sitting. This time (in my training to be a trainer), we are reading it one chapter at a time in the second year. I think this is better.

It is so full of resources! It also has examples of actual direction sessions that can be very helpful. 

Noticing

I loved this little book! The illustrations are so beautiful. It is all about noticing the beauty all around you in nature and people. 

I will use it with both adults and children!

Praying In Color

 

I had read the Kid's Edition of this book. I liked reading the adult edition to give more background to the whole thing. It is a great thing, and I actually was able to try it out with three delightful sisters ranging in age from 5-10, and it was SO FUN!

Then I had one of my directees. Her pastor had given it to her when she was a teenager. It is a great thing to do for adults and kids alike! 

Some Said They Blundered

I saw a podcast on YouTube with this author. I finished his book within 24 hours. He has a unique perspective having been Mike Mickle's brother-in-law and friend from an early age. He gives such valuable insight into the initial forming of the IHOPKC. Worth the read, in my humble opinion.

Here is the podcast I watched: 

He helps people who are part of the trail of dead bodies that have resulted from spiritual abuse. He has some really great insights into how to heal (as he had to heal).

Here are eye-opening statistics from his book:

Ministry Burnout Statistics 

Warning, reality check: In their book, Finishing Well in Life and Ministry,  Bill Mills and Craig Parro share some startling ministry statistics. 

•   1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches. 

•   80% of pastors and 84% of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.

•   50% are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could but have no other way of making a living. 

•   70% said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons. 

•   Almost 40% polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry. 

•   80% of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years. 

•   90% of pastors said their seminary or Bible school training did only a “fair to poor” job preparing them for ministry. 

•   Pastors are 35% more likely to be terminated if they work less than 50 hours weekly. 

•   80% of pastors believe their ministry negatively affects their families. 

•   80% of pastors say they do not have sufficient time to spend with their spouse. 

•   55% of pastors receive support and accountability from a small group. 

•   45.5% of pastors have experienced burnout/depression and had to take a break from ministry. 

•   57% of pastors do not have a regularly scheduled and implemented exercise routine. 

So, what’s behind these grim numbers? A broken system and unrealistic expectations on both sides of the equation. Those who chose the ministry to gain significance and security wake up one day and realize they have neither. Those who look to church leaders to give them significance and security also find themselves disappointed as those two things can only come from a relationship with God.

Scott, Bob. Some Said They Blundered: Breaking My Decades Of Silence On Mike Bickle, The Kansas City Prophets and International House of Prayer- Kansas City (pp. 172-174). Joseph Company Global. Kindle Edition. 

Worth Celebrating and Celebration of Discipline

 

I totally forgot to review this book last year. It was read in tandem with Celebration of Discipline (I think this is my fifth time reading it. So, I am including it in the title but you can CLICK HERE for other times I reviewed it.)

This book tracks the journey of Richard Foster's classic book on the disciplines. It was lovely to read. I read  it right after he wrote it. So, I feel like I was part of this journey.

I loved reading more about Richard's life story. He is a REAL DEAL follower of Jesus and not in it for the glory and fame.

His book is the FATHER of them all. I love Sacred Rhythms because it is from a woman's perspective and I love Practicing the Way because it is written for a younger generation, but Richard's book was the FIRST! :) 

The Virgin Suicides

Haunting and brilliant.

This book was beautifully written. It is a depressing subject but such a page-turner. I could not put it down. 

Since my "coming of age" was also around this time, it made it that much more intriguing (and I went to Detroit for the first time this year). 

Here is why James Mustich thinks it should be one of the 1000 Books You Read Before You Die:

That Jeffrey Eugenides has made something magical and rare out of subject matter on the one hand so sensational—a quintet of suicides all in the same family, all in the same year—and so banal—coming of age in a suburb of Detroit in the 1970s (complete with soundtrack by Jim Croce, Bread, Carole King, and their contemporaries)—is a source of lasting wonder. The story is told by a collective narrator, a “we” who speaks for a group of boys who, as adolescents, are besotted with the mystifying Lisbon sisters, and, as adults, have remained transfixed by memories of the girls’ mysterious lives and unfortunate ends. Summoning a voice that embodies with expressive exactitude a quality of growing up that has slipped through the sentences of most novels concerned with it, Eugenides captures its nature as a communal experience with breathtaking, heartbreaking sympathy.

Carrying the Fire (1000 Books to Read)

I loved this book. My dad's company was one fo the contractors for the space program. So, this look at NASA in the 1960s was delightful. 

Collins is an amazing writer too. Loved it!

Here is why James Mustich thinks it should be one of the 1000 Books You Read Before You Die:

James Mustich

Jul 31, 2018

An unrivaled account of the greatest adventure of our time—perhaps of all time—told by one of its protagonists, Carrying the Fire remains too little known. Collins was a member of the three-man crew of Apollo 11 on the first lunar landing mission, in July 1969; while his colleagues Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin explored the moon’s surface, Collins remained aboard the command module, circling in space and preparing for the critical re-docking maneuvers. Alert to the anxieties and apprehensions of both astronauts and engineers, Collins tellingly communicates the human drama of the historic flight even as he commemorates the heroic dimensions of a feat of physical, technological, and personal daring that the vagaries of modern wonder still keep us from aptly honoring. A man on the moon—imagine that!

Germinal (1000 Books to Read)

I watched a movie about Zola many years ago because I watched all the Oscar winners. The film about his life won in 1938. I have always wanted to read a book by him, so I was delighted to see it on Mustich's list.

The guy can write. It is depressing. Why are French novels often so depressing? 

The cry of the poor is the theme. 

Here is why James Mustich thinks it should be one of the 1000 Books You Read Before You Die:

James Mustich

Aug 9, 2018

You don’t write a cycle of twenty novels unless you’re an uncommonly ambitious writer. And Émile Zola, the engineer of literary naturalism in nineteenth-century France, was nothing if not ambitious. He wanted to capture in prose the entirety of French society—rich and poor, urban and rural—under the Second Empire. The outstanding novel of Zola’s cycle is Germinal, a gritty portrayal of a coal miners’ strike in northern France in the 1860s. Germinal, with its unsparing look at lives and labors of the working class, is an exceptionally gripping novel. In the darkness of the coal pits it illuminates signal battles of the coming age: between labor and capital, between nature and industry, and between the promise of socialism and the hazards of its practice. The author’s contemporaries certainly bore witness to its impact: When Zola died in Paris in 1902, crowds followed his coffin as a parade carried it to the Montmartre cemetery. As the cortège passed, they shouted one word: “Germinal!”

Journey to the Heart: Centering Prayer for Children

I loved this book. I am looking forward to my library getting it so I don't have to buy it. I watched someone reading it to me on YouTube. :) 

(This is another book for my Spiritual Accompaniment of Children Course.) 

What is My Song?

It is a sweet story. I like their other books better, especially Sleeping with Bread. 

Let Your Life Speak

I loved this book. I have read so many quotes by this guy. It was about listening to your life to see your vocation.

This is a lot of what I do in spiritual direction - creating an environment of discernment where people see from their life where God is directing them.

It is so readable. Loved it. 

Sailing Alone Around the Room (1000 Books to Read)

Some of these poems made me laugh out loud! Most were delightful. Poems are not meant to be overanalyzed and just enjoyed. 

These are the ones I liked (some are linked):

Walking Across the Atlantic

Books 

Introduction to Poetry

The Dead

The History Teacher (my favorite)

First Reader

Nostalgia (this link has the author reading it to a laughing audience)
Consolation 

"Why feed scenery into a hungry, one-eyed camera

eager to eat the world one monument at a time?" 

Osso Buco

Directions

Tuesday, June 4, 1991

The Blues

Strauss

I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of "Three Blind Mice"

Marginalia

Lines Lost Among Trees

The Death of the Hat

Sonnet

Here is why James Mustich thinks it should be one of the 1000 Books You Read Before You Die:

James Mustich

Jul 31, 2018

Billy Collins is a very funny guy, and there aren’t too many former Poet Laureates of whom that can be said. Be his subject poetry workshops or forgetfulness, saxophones or cows, canceling a vacation or nursing a hangover, Collins shapes his poems with a gentle but incisive humor that is ingratiating, intelligent, and, with delightful regularity, inspired. In his work the immediate genius of a stand-up comic is allied with the slow intelligence—the layering of life, learning, and lyrical intuition—of an accomplished poet, so that the reader is transported over the edge of understanding and, for a moment, suspended in the freedom of an imaginative leap.

The Sheltering Sky (1000 Books to Read)

Excellent writing. Depressing story. 

From the Introduction by Tobias Wolff:

The Sheltering Sky has been called nightmarish. That description lets us off the hook too easily because it implies a fear of the unreal. The power of this novel lies precisely in the reality of what it makes us recognize: the seductive voice in each of us that promises freedom through refusing responsibility.

So true. The whole time I was thinking, "Why is he doing that? Why is she doing that?" But they were both listening to the seductive voice. Chilling and yes, nightmarish!

The title comes from this quote:

This one also mentions it:

The supreme moment, high above the desert, when the two elements blood and excrement, long kept apart, merge. A black star appears, a point of darkness in the night sky's clarity. Point of darkness and gateway to respose. Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose. (p. 185)

Here is why James Mustich thinks it should be one of the 1000 Books You Read Before You Die:

James Mustich

Jul 28, 2018

The Sheltering Sky is the story of a New York married couple, Port and Kit Moresby, who bear some resemblance to Bowles and his brilliant, troubled wife, Jane, whose long physical and mental decline would occupy the author for years. Traveling in the Sahara with a friend, hoping the journey will impart some emotional momentum to their inert relationship, the Moresbys fall further and further away from each other, both losing themselves in a kind of primal surrender. The extremes of detachment and mortification Bowles’s characters pursue and endure give their story the horrific beauty and otherness that other eras might have found in the lives of the saints. His unsaintly couple, neither holy nor blessed, lead our thoughts toward first and last things with an eerie surety.

Bad Mormon

Since I almost became a Mormon in 1977, (I am happy to tell you my story privately) I was intrigued by this title.

It is informative to hear it from someone raised in the culture of this religion. I agree with most of the things she says regarding this. 

This memoir is from her perspective, but she wants to diss her husband at the end (so what if he is frugal and wants to fly Southwest Airlines, really?) when it seems more like incompatibility from the get-go (she was bored on the honeymoon) than how she paints him as the "bad guy" in the relationship and "patriarchal."  That made me sad. Marriage is about compromise, and his giving up because she is just going to do it "her way" anyway reflects poorly on her more than on him. He remains quiet. This is admirable. Is he really such a bad guy when he has not said anything to denigrate her character?

Other than this part, I felt like it was a good and informative read.