VT Christian Reading Challenge discussion

This is the time of year when I focus in on the remaining prompts. I've done annual challenges of 50 prompts before but not one with 104 prompts so I'm doing my best to race through this as much as I can.

I'm looking at my remaining 35 prompts and trying to choose books to fit each specific prompt... this is the challenge. Then I figure out how many of those I have to read each month, at minimum, to finish the challenge before the end of the year.

For example, prompt #56 is to read a book about animals or geography - things I normally wouldn't read about - I am doing this now... I'm reading All Creatures Great and Small, by James Herriot- I've never read this before and it has been on my mind.

I am in the same boat. The last couple hard topics for me are Based on a True Story, based on a book in the Bible, and Self Improvement.
I am going with a strange Best Seller as Pilgrim's Progress is a best seller over all time.... So I am going to count that.
What do you think will be the hardest to find a book for?

Here are a few prompts I haven't chosen books for yet. I don't know which of them will be hardest to find a book for as I haven't tried yet.

Let me know if you have any ideas on what to read for these.

☆ 31. A book by Jane Austen or one of her contemporaries
☆ 66. A book about business OR generosity
☆ 70. A book about the local church
☆ 83. A book about a leader
☆ 87. A book you think your mom or dad would enjoy
☆ 90. A book about a non-controversial subject
☆ 95. A book about something virtuous

Local Church - I have a friend who is writing a book about the local "log church" ... I live in a backwoods town. Maybe I could ask her to let me read her unpublished manuscript! There's this: The Local Church: What it is and why it matters for every Christian published in 2021. What are you reading for that prompt?

Something virtuous - wow, I have no idea - that seems very open-ended. Maybe something about a missionary?

A non-controversial subject? Then why write about it?

A leader - I avoid books about politicians of all types. LOL ... but I'm considering reading Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce as he was related to one of my ancestors, so I have the book and I might as well read one I already own.

My mom and dad ... that's a hard one. Toward the end of her life I saw my mom was reading what I think was a John Grisham novel and ... I've never read anything he wrote and am not sure I want to. Are they clean? And I have no idea what my father was reading, if anything.

What prompts are you still looking for books for... if any?

For best seller I chose something listed as a best seller at the Christian Book website and it was ... well, not the most exciting book I've read all year but I got through it. At this point I'm not too excited about reading more theology books but I do have to read a few more for this challenge. I do think Pilgrim's Progress is good for a best seller, and I haven't read it yet.

For me,
Local Membership by Jonathan Leeman. I found it on our library's lending app. Our pastor also has been suggesting the FOR movement book which talks about how the church should be For the local town and be known for that.
Virtuous was on one of the Fruits of the Spirits: Crazy Love was the one I found.
Non-controversial for me is something that everyone agrees is a problem but disagree on the solution. I got Regaining the Lost Art of Reading for it.
It does not say what kind of leader: pastor, captain, general or CEO. Wilberforce might work. Luther or Calvin were more direct leaders though. Spurgeon might be more interesting as his autobiography is good.
My grandma really enjoyed Grisham. The one I read was clean in romantic stuff but it was very detailed on the effects of tobacco and politics.

Any good Based on True Story(33) or Self-Improvement(46) would be helpful.

Thanks for the great ideas... they expand my understanding of the prompts!

For self-improvement I'm reading a book called Find Your Artistic Voice - I'm almost done with that. I didn't want a traditional relationship/psychological self help book, but I appreciate help with artistic development. I guess you could start by thinking about what you want to improve on, then find a book that fits your need.

My true story was a Newbery Honor Book - Heart of a Samurai - about a Japanese boy who was stranded on an island after a shipwreck. He was rescued by men from a whaling ship which for him led to working in the whaling industry. True story - and I enjoyed it. I think there have been other books written about him. Manjiro Nakahama.

A Goodreads list - Books About Church ... might get some inspiration here...

Mother Kirk: Essays And Forays In Practical Ecclesiology

I think this book would be a great choice for a book on the church.

Mother Kirk is an interesting book - I like books that have humor. I will have to investigate it more to see if I can find a copy.

I am considering Letters to the Church by Francis Chan - I've never read a book by him before and I could get a copy from Audible with points I already have, so no extra purchase price right now. Has anyone here read that one?

Mother Kirk could be used for the theology prompts - I still have two of those.

Do you know why he named it Mother Kirk?

Edited to add: I looked for that answer and found that in the Scottish language (Scots Gaelic) the word kirk means church.

“Our pastor also has been suggesting the FOR movement book which talks about how the church should be For the local town and be known for that.”

I’d like to read this! Can you give title or author?

Thank you!

I had to ask: Know What You're FOR by Jeff Hendsen.

Here's the first video in the Know What You're FOR series with Jeff Henderson. I think it would be a good choice for the prompt, "a book about Christian living." I still have two of those to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pzrQ...
There are a lot of other videos on YouTube with Jeff Henderson talking about Know What You're FOR.

The book I'm reading right now is good for "a book about Christian living." It is fiction but still perfect for that prompt. It is "The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip." The publication date is 7/5/22 - tomorrow. I got it through NetGalley.

If you are still looking for Mother Kirk, you can listen on Canon+ which is the app of the publisher. They have deals all the time of the first month for $.99 if you can't find it anywhere else. If you need one of the promo codes let me know.

If you are still looking for a book about business. I read the E Myth before I started my business and it was an awesome book that taught me a lot.

Ian, if you are still looking for a book about a book of the Bible, I read "When the Man Comes Around" last year and it was a really interesting take on the book of Revelation.

Happy August. What was your best, worse, and surprise for July?

Best- The Men We Need by Brant Hansen. I loved listening to him on Air1 and he read for the audio book. It is geared for all listeners not just men and boys.

Worse- The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick. This is a slice of life about a librarian who goes to find her grandmother she thought was dead. The characters were unsympathetic and narrative took too long to get going.

Surprise- Pennyroyal Academy by M A Larson. This tries to be a bootcamp training for princess and knights to protect the world from the evil witches but reads more like an abridge HP book without the interesting classes. The characters are great and world seemed cool but the set up spoiled the good parts.

Hi there - sorry I'm late to this party... I've been distracted to the max by a local forest fire that was threatening my existence just about. (As in I don't want to pack and evacuate for the third year in a row.) Food for thought, for anyone who thinks they'd like to live in a forest.

Best: Tie between All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, and a 2022 newly published Christian novel called The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip, by Sara Brunsvold. the latter is about a woman dying in a hospice care facility and a young Christian reporter who is assigned to write her obituary. This was very inspirational, morbid though it may seem.

Worst: This is an easy choice. I didn't like reading Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca. It is a Newbery Honor Book this year - but I was bored. First I was bored because this is the FOURTH book I've read in the last few years that's a YA type memoir/novel written in free verse about an immigrant family. Why do immigrant family books get written in free verse? I don't know. Plus two of those books were already on the Newbery list so I guess the Newbery committee just likes promoting these types of books. This one was promoted as a novel but clearly is a memoir with some details changed. Second, I was bored because in the first part she wrote about family cultural considerations, and didn't get to the plot until page 100 or so. I prefer novels that introduce the plot in chapter one. To be honest, I soft-DNFed this because I was so bored with it. I'll likely get back to it some other time because I have a goal of reading all the Newbery books.

Surprise: A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes was more entertaining than I expected. It is YA Christian dystopian post-apocalyptic... I read it for the dystopian prompt. A young woman lives in a future civilization where everyone must carry a clock that states what day they will die. She has to share one with her twin brother which causes all kinds of problems. Anyone caught without a clock is considered a "radical" and is sentenced to go through a tunnel in a wall, to oblivion.