The Improvement Of Her Mind

"...by extensive reading." Tradition has it that we do this thing around this time of year. We look back on the books we read in the past twelve months, and feel very good about ourselves. At least, I do. The list usually ends up being longer than I had hoped and it always makes one feel cultured to see a piece of paper with The Weight of Glory and Psmith, Journalist chivvying for mention. So without further commentary, my list:

Tramp For The Lord by Corrie Ten Boom

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (reread)

Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque

The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Notes From The Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse

Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers

Mr. Popper's Penguins by the Atwaters (reread)

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace (reread)

Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (rearead)

Stuart Little (by “Whatshisface” is what I had written on my list) (reread)

True Men And Traitors by David W. Doyle

Schindler's List by Thomas Kenealy

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Wordsmithy by Douglas Wilson

Cocktail Time by P.G. Wodehouse

Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Always Pack a Party Dress by Amanda Brooks

Dearie: The Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

How To Get Dressed by Alison Freer

My list rounds out with The Whimsical Christian by Dorothy Sayers, which I will finish shortly after the new year. I love how, with my governess-ing job picking up this year, I got to include re-reads of some of my childhood favorites with the girls! I hope to include a lot more this coming year. I am also happy with the balance of ten non-fiction titles out of twenty-four. That's nearly a fifty-percent non-fiction ratio, which is the highest I think it has ever been, and the strength of my brain feels it. Hurray for challenges accepted and completed! I can't wait to see what titles will make it onto my list for 2016! And now I want to know: what was your favorite book read this year? For me, I would choose Always Pack A Party Dress, which was basically The Devil Wears Prada incarnate. Just a fascinating read for anyone interested in the wide, intricate world of designer fashion.

Twenty-Fourteen: A Behemoth Year

"The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year's resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective."

-G.K. Chesterton 

TWENTY-FOURTEEN

It's been a monumental year for me as a writer. So huge I wonder if I'll ever have another quite as big. See, this time last year, I was still entirely unpublished with a cover design in hand and an email into Createspace. By Valentine's Day, I had released my first novel, Fly Away Home. In January, I received word that I was a finalist in the Five Glass Slippers contest and saw my first novella published in June. The rest of the summer was spent finalizing cover design for my first mystery and second full-length novel, Anon, Sir, Anon. Throughout the early fall I put that novel through my trusty editor, Rachelle Rea, and the first Vivi & Farnham mystery debuted to quiet applause on the Fifth of November. In early December I finished the first draft of my children's novel, Cottleston Pie, and sent the first three chapters to beta-readers before polishing them up. By the time you read this, I will (hopefully) have sent Cottleston Pie to its first publisher to be looked upon with a savage eye. And we mustn't forget the twelve-day wonder, John Out-the-Window, which astounded me by coming out to nearly 18,000 words  (each letter being written the day it was posted) and being acclaimed by some people as one of their favorite things I had ever written. In all seriousness, you are the best group of readers I know. The fact that you spent time every day in the hugely busy holiday season to drop by The Inkpen Authoress (some of you several times a day) and read something that was unpolished and unedited surprises and delights me. Thus, the year in writing. As for the year in reading? Well, I keep a list taped to my Wall of Inspiration. The wall currently looks like this:

Please forgive the overflowing trash can and busy-looking desk. We can't all be tidy.

It was not an exceptional reading year as far as numbers go. I was far too busy juggling the strange new world of Nanny vs. Novelist and trying to keep up with my family in the spare times. But if I did not read many books, the quality was high and delightful. From Plenilune to The Grand Sophy; from Eric Metaxas' giant and heart-wrenching biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer to a Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon; from The Man Who Was Thursday to Stephen Lawhead's Hood trilogy, it was a year of growth for me as a reader. The complete list is as follows, and my favorite titles are emboldened:

Outcasts by Jill Williamson
The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
Hood by Stephen Lawhead
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Forget-Me-Nots by Amber Stokes
Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead
On Distant Shores by Sarah Sundin
Once on a Time by A.A. Milne
The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
Duty by Rachel Rossano
Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas
Violets Are Blue by Elizabeth Rose
Tuck by Stephen Lawhead
Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer
Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
Only a Novel by Amy Dashwood
Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag
P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters edited by Sophie Ratcliffe
The Mrs. Meade Mysteries Vol. I by Elisabeth G. Foley
The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler
Leave it to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse
Aunts Aren't Gentlemen by P.G. Wodehouse
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
Corral Nocturne by Elisabeth G. Foley
Have His Carcase by Dorothy Sayers
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shafer
The Book Thief by Markus Zusack
Murder Must Advertise by Dororthy Sayers

As you can see, I was able to fit in quite a few indie novels, which was a lovely switch-up. The reason I do not have Five Glass Slippers on the list is because I still have not read one of the five stories and didn't feel I justified in listing it until I had. Before 2015 begins, I hope to be able to add The Hobbit into the list. It was one of my Christmas Break goals. Phew. Twenty-Fourteen sits heavy on the shoulders. Let's see what lies ahead in the twelve-month to come!

Hail the New, Ye Lads and Lasses!

So we're saying goodbye to 2013, aren't we? Goodbye to a year full of firsts and lasts and possibly more heart-ache and heart-balm and heart-lessons than any year I have yet lived. I don't think I wrote quite as much this year as last or even the year before, but I sure as heck lived and living is always the better half of writing. In numbers, I:

Read 44 books
Rode 10 planes
Touched down in 3 foreign countries (France, Hungary, Romania)
Counseled at 2 camps
Led 2 Student Action Teams
Wrote 90 posts here (this makes 90! I love even numbers)
Baked 1 cheesecake 
Listened to 4 seasons of Cabin Pressure
Watched 3 seasons of Downton Abbey
Read 6 Penelope Wilcock books
Went to 1 wedding
Went to 1 funeral

So much life was jammed into this last twelve-month. So many good things among the tough that I can't help but thank God for it and ask for another year of such productive, adventurous, tumultuous soul-growth. Yes, bits were hard but bits were beautiful too and I'm not sure but the beautiful bits far outweighed the rough. There is so much to look forward to in 2014! For one thing, the publication of Fly Away Home! In six weeks (please God) you'll be able to buy a copy of this book...so many of you have been around since I first started writing it; I consider you its dear aunts and uncles and it's been a treasure to have your support.

"Adventura". That was the word for 2013, though I didn't set out to choose a word. I love it when people choose a theme for their year, but I am a sensible soul, all things considered, and I prefer seeing what the year handed me at the end. Adventura = adventure with a lot of soul things attached to it. That's not the literal translation but that's what it means to me and my friends and family. I am excited to live 2014 and see what I'll be telling you a year hence. What things will have changed? What things will be the same? I don't know. But what I do know is that it is a year planned in the Book of History. A year that has been in God's view since time before time...and I cannot wait to take part in it. :)

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord God has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of our Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all those who mourn, to grant to those in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes." -Isaiah 61:1-3

Have a lovely New Year, darlings.

2013 in Readables

Per usual, Abigail beat me to the punch with her 2013 Books-Read list, so if it looks like I'm being a copy-cat, fie upon that. This year was actually a rather productive year, reading-wise. I always forget to update my Goodreads page, preferring to keep a hand-written sheet of the titles I've read. There is something so much more satisfying about chalking up another one by hand over just typing in a few more words on my laptop.

Forty-Four, that page says. And forty-four good ones, I think.

//Highlights//

Penelope Wilcock's Hawk & Dove trilogy

(I devoted an entire post and a guest-post to these books. Read them.)

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers

(I need say very little more except that it is thoroughly underlined by now.)

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

(Read it and weep and hurt and love.)

I'm going to categorize the rest of the list. This was a good year, book-wise, and I would recommend pretty much any of the books I read as being clean if not terribly captivating. (Looking at you, Beverly Lewis ;) Of course you must use your own judgement, but as I'm not in the habit of reading Twilight or stupid Harlequin romances (and not much fluffery either) you can be pretty-well sure I'm not going to recommend trash. If you don't have time to read the whole list just pick your favorite category and have a look at the books I read there this year. :)

//History//

1066 And All That by RJ Yeatmen, W.C. Sellar

The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir

Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.

The Secret Armies by Albert Merrin

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

//Theology & Life//

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper

Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist

The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

Every Living Thing by James Herriot

//Learning//

Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

P.D. James Talking About Detective Fiction

//Mystery//

The Final Crumpet by Ron & Janet Benray

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

//Historical Fiction//

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite d'Angeli

The Hawk & the Dove by Penelope Wilcock

God's Wounds by Penelope Wilcock

The Long Fall by Penelope Wilcock

The Hardest Thing to Do by Penelope Wilcock

The Hour Before Dawn by Penelope Wilcock

Remember Me by Penelope Wilcock

//Romance//

Songbird Under a German Moon by Tricia Goyer

The Covenant by Beverly Lewis

The Betrayal by Beverly Lewis

The Sacrifice by Beverly Lewis

Fire by Night by Lynn Austin

//Fantasy//

The Orphan King by Sigmund Brouwer

The Fellowship of The Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Dragonwitch by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

//General Fiction//

Bertie Wooster Sees it Through by P.G. Wodehouse

Carry on, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Spring Fever by P.G. Wodehouse

The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

//Classics//

Manalive by G.K. Chesterton

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

As I look back on this year, the list pleases me. There are so many memories tied into the books themselves or my reading of them, and I am glad to see I have rather a balanced diet of weighty-to-fluff, though I am sad I didn't get to Dickens this year! For Christmas I was given Orthodoxy by Chesterton (at last!) and The Red House Mystery of A.A. Milne (thrilled about this one) along with a gorgeous hardbound, illustrated copy of The Hobbit by Tolkien, and I have promised to read Jill Willliamson's newest novel, Outcasts, by the end of January so my reading will continue! If I finish any others by the end of the December, I shall certainly let you know. :) What do your reading lists look like?

A New Year's Poem

Enjoy this lovely poem for the New Year! :) ~Rachel

"Ring Out, Wild Bells"
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.