VT Christian Reading Challenge discussion

New season, new opportunities to read! How y’all doing? Still have sunshine? We are ramping up for back-to-school time here. Last minute shopping and some butterflies from kids going to in-person school.

I’m reading Conversations on Writing by Ursula K. Le Guin for _ A book about writing

I’m also reading Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier for _ A book about a current issue

I would also love a suggestion for the prompt: _ A book written by a Puritan. Any suggestions?


That’s it, here! What is everyone else reading?

I got Holy Sexuality by Christopher Yan for a book about sexuality, Uprooting Anger by Robert D Jones (IP right now) for P&R Publications, and The Story Behind the Images by Corey Rich for a photo essay book. I also got Holiness by R C Ryle for a book about holiness.

For Puritans, I found a list of authors and R C Ryle's Thoughts for Young Men and Keeping the Heart by John Flavel stood out to me. The nice part is all those books are in public domain and easy to get digitally.

Thanks for the suggestions! I read the parenting book Ryle penned and was pretty taken by it. I like the idea of grabbing books out of the public domain! Also, would Thoughts for Young Men at all be interesting/appropriate for someone of the opposite sex?

It might be as there are section on raising and guiding young men. I did not read it with that in mind, though. PDF I found is only 38 pages, so you are not going to have to slog through it.

Awesome! I might look it up.

I'm still reading but keeping very busy with all the other things that I try to do. I just started back to school part time studying Spanish, so I've added some of my required reading to my list--listed as a book of my choice but the choice may have been more in taking the class than in selecting the book.

Communication Between Cultures for my World Cultures class.
Esperanza--a novella in Spanish for my Spanish class.

Books in my currently reading stack:
4 Chair Discipleship--pastor recommendation
When One religion isn't Enough--theology I disagree with
Luke--Commentary

Just finished:
4000 Weeks--time management/productivity

On my list for the month
My Alabama: John Dersham Photographs a State--for photo essay
Radical--a book I started but didn't finish
Same Kind of Different as me--book I own but haven't read
The Tempest--Shakespeare play

This month I'm reading
The Great Bridge by David McCullough
The Gift of Fear: and Other Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence, by Gavin de Becker
The World of Urban Sketching, by Stephanie Bower
...and a few other books. I'm really not trying to fulfill all the requirements of the VT list but am including whatever fits on my list here.

For a book written by a Puritan, I liked the Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. It is a memoir, and not theological, so maybe that defeats the purpose of this prompt, but she was a Puritan and it was something I'm glad I read a few years ago.

Happy October, y'all.

Best Book: City of Broken Angels by Alan Janney. The second book of a super hero trilogy within a 7 book series. I cannot really describe it as there would be a lot of spoilers. The trilogy is great. I finished the last book today: though not overly Christian, there are the themes woven through out the series.

Worse: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. The author tries to write military science fiction but knows nothing about the sub-genre. This was a book club and the other people, who are not familiar with the sub-genre, enjoyed it. So, my displeasure comes from the discord my familiarity.

Surprise: Holiness by J C Ryle.... It is surprising how he writing over 100 years ago deals with similar problems faced today in Christianity.

Best book: To Kill A Mockingbird. I guess I just wasn’t prepared for how well put together it was.

Okay book: The Ark and the Dove. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this retelling of the Biblical tale from Noah’s wife’s perspective, it just wasn’t as good as the others this month.

Surprise: The Women. I had no idea how much the women who went to Vietnam went through. To be honest, I had no idea there WERE women who served so close to the fighting. It made me appreciate the people and the era. I’m very grateful.

Best: Chasing Sacred: Learn How to Study Scripture to Pursue God and Find Hope in Him really enjoyed this one on inductive bible study

Okay: Crown of Secrets this was a young adult fantasy series

Surprise: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones