by Patrick Svensson, 2019, translated from the Swedish by Agnes Broome 2020 Surprising that a book about eels would be so interesting, but it was! Every other chapter is his personal experience fishing for eels with his Dad in Sweden. I liked those chapters the best. He loved fishing for eels with his Dad. What […]
Author: bookhound
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
by Timothy Keller, 2013 The definitive book on pain and suffering and God. Why suffering exists (why does God allow evil), the different types of suffering, suffering in history, how to suffer, where is God in the suffering. It used to be that people did not find suffering such a shock or something to be […]
The Family Clause
by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, 2018 (English translation from the Swedish by Alice Menzies, 2020) This was one of the books Fredrik Backman, the author of Anxious People, recommended. The whole time I was reading it, I thought the title was ‘The Father Clause,’ but now see that it is called, ‘The Family Clause.’ It’s about […]
Rock Crystal
by Adalbert Stifter, translation copy 1945, originally published 1845 Novella about two children, brother (Conrad) and sister (Sanna), from the village of Gschaid, who walk through the Alps to their Grandparent’s home in a neighboring village (Millsford) on Christmas Eve. Grandmother sends them home early and they get caught in a snowstorm on the way […]
More Than Meets the Eye
Fascinating Glimpses of God’s Power and Design, by Richard A. Swenson, M.D., 2000 The intricacies of our bodies and the cosmos all point to an amazingly powerful and wonderful Creator. All of the things scientists discover after painstaking research and years and years of study, God spoke into being out of nothing. And it is […]
She Come By It Natural
Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh, 2020 Short biography of Dolly Parton written by a young feminist who grew up poor in Kansas and likened her grandmother, Betty, to be the real Dolly Parton. In the acknowledgements, she writes: “Thanks especially to the real Dolly Parton, my grandmother Betty.” […]
Anxious People
by Fredrik Backman, 2019 (translation to English by Neil Smith, 2020) I LOVED this book! I started out not liking it at all – not liking the characters except for Jack, the young policeman, and his father, Jim, also a policeman. But then, you gradually come to love each of the characters: Jack and his […]
The New Map
Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations, by Daniel Yergin, 2020 Informative book. Learned that we’ve gone from being worried about running out of oil to being a major exporter of it, mainly as Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). We are one of the big 3 oil producers: USA, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Also learned that […]
Virgil Wander
by Leif Enger, 2018 Very disappointing book. It’s set in small-town Minnesota along Lake Superior. The main character drives off a cliff into Lake Superior and is rescued by Marcus Jetty, an old junk collector. Virgil’s life changes drastically after the accident. He meets a Norwegian kite flyer, Rune, who is the long lost father […]
The Sea and the Jungle
by H. M. Tomlinson, 1930 This was a book recommended on the book-a-day calendar that Christie gave me. I almost gave up on it at the start because it was so difficult to read – big words I didn’t know the meaning of, long sentences, etc. But, I hung in there and I’m so glad […]
Hurtling Toward Oblivion
by Richard A. Swenson, M.D., 1999 Wayne read this book; I only read the last chapter (at his instruction) and skimmed some of the other chapters. It’s an interesting theory – as we “Progress,” we also increase the “fallenness” in our world: “Because our world is fallen there is at least something wrong with everything.” […]
Cancer Hates Tea
by Maria Uspenski, Founder of the Tea Spot, 2016 Jennifer bought this book for Chris and Stufi and it looked intriguing so I got it from the library. She recommends 5 cups of green tea per day. She lists food high in Polyphenol antioxidants: Spinach, Acai Berries, Walnuts, Wild Blueberries, Tea Leaf, Goji Berries, Broccoli, […]
Mrs. Pollifax on Safari
by Dorothy Gilman, 1976 Fun mystery set in Zambia in the 1960’s. Mrs. Pollifax is sent on safari to take pictures of all the others on safari in hopes of finding the assassin, Aristotle. She does eventually much more than that and saves the beloved Zambian President from being assassinated. Loved the characters, the setting, […]
The DNA of You and Me
by Andrea Rothman, 2019 Our neighbor, Kim (of Kim and Richard), gave me this book to read because it was recommended for people who liked Lab Girl. It was a very quick read, a novel, a love-story, about scientists investigating the DNA of the sense of smell. The author was a research scientist who studied […]
This Beautiful Book
by Steve Green with Bill High Steve Green is the president of Hobby Lobby. This book was recommended by Al. It’s a short, sweet little book about the Bible. You can tell Steve Green loves the Bible. I think it would appeal to brand new Christians. It’s a chronological recap of the most important stories […]
Islands in the Stream
by Ernest Hemingway, 1970 (Ernest Hemingway shot himself in July 1961 with his favorite shotgun in the entryway of his Ketchum, Idaho home. Mary Hemingway, his 4th and final wife, and Charles Scribner, Jr. published this book from Ernest’s original manuscript: “Charles Scribner, Jr. and I worked together preparing this book for publication from Ernest’s […]
The Book of Job
by Stephen Mitchell, 1979, with Introduction 1987 A translation of the book of Job, but he doesn’t include Elihu, saying that it was a later addition and of inferior writing. He also leaves out Chapter 28, the Hymn to Wisdom. He calls God the “Voice in the Whirlwind.” In his Introduction, he talks about the […]
A Hole Is to Dig
by Ruth Krauss, 1952 Adorable little children’s book, full of adorable illustrations and cute definitions like, “A hole is to dig…Hands are to hold…Mashes potatoes are to give everybody enough…The sun is so it can be a great day.” Recommended on the book a day calendar that Christie gave me.
Rough Magic
Riding the World’s Loneliest Horse Race, by Lara Prior-Palmer, 2019 This was the first book for the 2020-2021 Old Town Library Book Club. It was a fast read, like the 1000-kilometer horse race over the Mongolian Steppe it describes, in which 19 year-old Lara incredibly wins. She competed in it on a whim in the […]
The Giver of Stars
by Jojo Moyes, 2019 Fantastic book about pack-horse librarians in Kentucky during the Depression. This book has everything: Characters you love, characters you hate, a couple of mysteries, well-written, deep sense of place, and a very good ending. Loved this book! It was recommended to me by Christie.