What I'm Reading/Connect Five - January 13, 2020

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This weekly reading list meme is hosted at Book Date. Join in to see what others are reading and maybe get some ideas of what to read next! Although the Book Date link-up happens weekly, I don't manage to post that often. All the same, I was shocked to realize that it's been a month since my last one! Over the holidays, I really was very busy and didn't read that much, so I guess it makes sense. Anyway, over the past month or so . . .

I finished reading . . . 

The Rebel Bride by Shannon McNear - Staunch Rebel Pearl McFarlane is pressed into hosting and nursing captured Union soldiers in her home. One of them, Joshua Wheeler, earns her respect and friendship, but can there be any hope for more? (Read my full review HERE.)




Tiny Tim and the Ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge by Norman Whaler - In this short novel based on the Dickens work, Tiny Tim is all grown up but the death of his elderly friend Scrooge shakes his own faith. (Read my full review HERE.)




Penny For Your Secrets by Anna Lee Huber - Verity's friend is the likeliest suspect in her husband's murder and asks Verity and Sidney to help. They follow a trail that leads through conspiracies, fraud, smuggling, and other murders. (Read my full review HERE.)




Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie - My homeschool co-op Lit class read this classic and just finished our discussion of it last week. We were all a little surprised at how differently Peter is portrayed in the book compared to our impressions from the Disney movie. (My full review is coming - in a day or two, if all goes well!)

She Laughs by Carolanne Miljavac - This is part memoir and part faith lesson, but throughout it the author's stories and writing style are both humorous and heartwarming. Fantastic book - a must read for Christian women, in my opinion. (Read my full review HERE.)

I'm currently reading . . .

The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West - I had to table this selection from our Lit class so I could keep up with all the other reading I had. I just picked it up again to finish the last couple of stories and am loving it.

Until the Mountains Fall by Connilyn Cossette - Just got started on this one from a favorite series by a favorite author. Rivkah is a new widow and Jewish law requires her husband's brother to marry her, but she is not interested in this arrangement at all.

The Blizzard Bride by Susanne Dietze - Another read I just got started with, it's the newest in the Daughters of the Mayflower series. Abigail Bracey comes to town as a schoolteacher with a secret mission that will help bring her father's killer to justice, but she is not happy about having to cooperate with the agent in charge of the case, since he happens to be an old flame.

Next on the stack... 

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals
Emma by Jane Austen

   

On my blogs recently . . . 

Here on Just A Second:

Scripture and a Snapshot posts
Wordless Wednesday - First Snowfall of 2020
Share Four Somethings - December 2019
Monthly Bookshelf Review - December 2019
Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Cookies


And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:

Homeschool Highlights - Snow and Cold
Twenty Six Lists - Goals for 2020 #twentysixlists
Coffee Break Reading List - January 7, 2020
Homeschool Highlights - Beginning the New Year
A New Year: An Old Celebration
Homeschool Highlights - Christmas Week
Homeschool Highlights - Holiday Prep Week
A Concert PhotoJournal
Homeschool Highlights - Concert Week

What I'm Highlighting . . . something new over at Homeschool Coffee Break! I started a new link-up that I'm hoping will be simple and fun. Every other week I'll share a list-style writing prompt and invite you to link up your list, and wherever the prompt takes you. Join in - Twenty-Six Lists - Goals for 2020

What are you reading?

The Friday Five Link Up is a List Link Up hosted by The Book Date. It can be five connections of any kind. Books can have been read last year or any year. Books can be used more than once. They may not have been read yet. . . It can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Maybe it's not a list of actual books, but things connected to books - e.g. favourite book shops, recipes etc. It might even be five movies related to books or five poems or five poets or five bookish moments, five thoughts about reading - be creative! The link-up will be open each Friday and will close on Thursday. Use the hashtag #connect5books

I'm not sure how often I'll be joining in with the Friday Five, and since my time was short this week I decided to combine it with my reading update.

Connection: Five Books I Read So I Could Teach

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie - I remember reading this classic several times over when I was in middle school or so, but that was many years ago! It's the book we finished most recently in my high school literature class and it was a delightful re-read!

The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West - I am quite sure I'd never heard of this book before encountering it in the Literature class I teach, but I've loved reading it. The warm, gentle humor and lyrical style means this collection of short stories about a Quaker family is becoming one of my favorite books!

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells  (reviewed HERE) - This was another Literature class selection that I read way back when I was in school, but I barely remembered it. Science fiction isn't my usual genre of choice, so it was a stretch for me, and I found it a slow starter, but still a very good story.

   

Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain  (reviewed HERE) - Had I read this before Lit class? Honestly, I'm not sure! I'm familiar with the story, but I really wasn't sure whether that was because I had read it or had read and heard references to it. It's a very clever story, despite the sad commentary on prejudice and racism, and I was surprised to realize just how ground-breaking the fingerprint identification idea was at the time.

The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick (reviewed HERE) - Last year I taught a fiction writing class for high schoolers at our co-op, and this YA novel was part of the course. It was new to me, but was a quick and entertaining read, and I really enjoyed it.

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