No more summer heat! Lovely cool days, leading to winter! Sometimes a little snow! Are we ready for November? I certainly am. I love this month that concludes with a day of Thanksgiving. Gratitude is a beautiful thing and we all can find something to be grateful for even if it is only the breath in our lungs and another day of physical earth life. Every day is an opportunity to start over and show some gratitude for the blessings we’ve been given by God Almighty.
Word of the Month
Thankfulness
Bible Verse of the Month
Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” – (Psalm 100:4 NLT)
Prayer of the Month
Lord, Abba Father, I pray for the joy of families reunited in Your love and in the spirit of gratitude. Lord, grow them in faith, rain down Your blessings and healings on them, and help them to always remember to honor Your presence and Your holy name. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!
My Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/lindajm
★ – I’m reading it.
✓ – I finished reading it. Yay!
⇗ – Still reading at the end of the month.
⇓ – I did not like it or finish it. (DNF = Did Not Finish)
∅ – Stalled – I started but didn’t finish. (Soft-DNF)
Finished Reading in November
Nothing finished yet!
Reading Intentions
Here are a few books I’m currently reading and making progress on.
★ Classic Fiction: To A God Unknown, by John Steinbeck
Very interesting fiction by a favorite author. This is the November book for the California Reading Group at Goodreads.
★ Nonfiction: The Library Book, by Susan Orlean
Fascinating nonfiction about the Los Angeles Central Library. I started reading this last month for the California Reading Group at Goodreads, and I’m nearly to the end now. It has been fascinating thus far.
★ Ancient History: The History of Herodotus, volume 1, by Herodotus
I’m still reading this but not often. There were a lot of wars back then! My link goes to the free Kindle version. Just a note to remind everyone, I’m no longer receiving $ from the Amazon affiliate program, by my choice, but am still recommending books on their site.
★ Comparative Religion: The Kingdom of the Cults, by Walter Martin
I used to belong to one of the cults mentioned in this book (see chapter 10) and at the time I was a member, I knew about this book but refused to read it. Back then we laughed about how people would write false things about our group, and usually they couldn’t pronounce the name of the founder correctly. Well, after I recovered from being in that group I finally listened to Walter Martin interview a few of the cult members, and was surprised that he was spot-on with everything he said and did not have a pronunciation problem. So, convinced of his wisdom, I decided to finally get around to reading this book. I’m not very far into it yet. I’m still reading the chapter about Jehovah’s Witnesses right now.
★ Literature: The New Lifetime Reading Plan, by Clifton Fadiman
Like most book people, I love a book about books. This one is awesome and recommends good literature including the History of Herodotus mentioned earlier on this page. This book is good enough that I’m reading it from one end to the other. Yes, I’ve already read some of the books. I like that his reviews do not give spoilers.
★ Psychology: The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, by Eric Hoffer
This is not difficult reading when I take it slow and easy. I’m trying to learn more about the mass movements we’ve got going on inside my country right now. I want to know why people get caught up in participating in them to the extent that their thinking becomes black and white, and they are completely dismissive of any other opinion! I find this shocking and distressing, so I’m trying to learn more so I can understand the issues my much loved relatives deal with. As for me I’ve become politically moderate as I put my trust in God and feel led more by Jesus than by any political ideology. Simply put, Jesus is King, and elections are won or lost by the Will of God. Read Romans 13 to understand this.
★ Creativity: Syllabus, by Lynda Barry
This book is wild. Every page resembles the cover. The book does actually give her syllabus and class notes for classes she taught. I’m trying to follow along with the assignments as much as I can. Great fun. I’m getting very close to the end now.
★ History: Letters and Papers From Prison, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
On a much more somber note, I’ve decided it is my time to study the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in part, by reading this book. It is a strange feeling to read his letters of expecting to be able to go home to his family when I know what I already know about how this all ended for him.
November 1 – I’m about halfway through this book right now.
★ History: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas
This is the other half of my study of Bonhoeffer’s life.
★ Classic Fiction: Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen
This is one of my current audio-reads. I own this annotated paperback copy as well. I very much enjoy listening to a chapter and reading it in the book at the same time, stopping to read all the annotations as I come to them.
Did Not Finish – aka: DNF
No DNF’s yet this month.
November 1 – All Saints Day has been lovely, but not very sunny. We’ve got the cold and overcast version of the world right now.
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