Life changed dramatically in the last month. I’m still reading, but I think I would have done better with my reading without all the drama. We all are concerned about health right now, and so we should be. I see this as a good time to set aside differences and do what we can to care for and support others regardless of religion, political affiliations, and reading speed.
My Word of the Month
Unexpected
My Haiku of the Month
We did not expect
this new change in direction.
The path continues.
Bible Verse of the Month
The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
I have another blog with a daily to-do list, gratitudes and a reading list: Linda’s Life
What I’m reading during April 2020
Hold-over books from last month:
★★ Classic Fiction: Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson
I’m reading this with my local book club. It is a classic, originally published in 1884, about a half-Native American, half-Scottish girl living in Southern California.
Helen Hunt Jackson left this world in 1885, a year after this novel was published. This is a great biographical reenactment.
★★ Nonfiction: Abandoned Parents: The Devil’s Dilemma: The Causes and Consequences of Adult Children Abandoning Their Parents, by Sharon A Wildey
I’m reading this because I’m an abandoned parent. (Two out of five kids think I’m not worth talking to but refuse to tell me why. They were estranged from me early on when their father took them away.) After all these years I’ve recovered from the hurt and pain (thank you Jesus for loving me the way You do) but I got this book because the author says she’s an attorney and pastor. I’d like to read her special insights and from what I’ve already read, I’ve not been disappointed. I was hoping it would be more biblically based but it seems she’s mainly writing from her attorney and parent-experiencer points of view. Abandonment of parents is extremely common these days. It doesn’t make it easier for bereaved parents. However! I was not made to live in perpetual grief because someone else wants to be cruel to me. Jesus Christ helped me forgive and love and live in peace again. Hallelujah!
✓ Western: Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
What a pathetic group of degenerates these characters are! However, there’s humor, and that makes the book a delight to read. I’m almost half-way through this 800+ page tome… reading via audiobook or I’d probably never ever get through it. [Finished reading this on April 19, 2020.]
Other hold-overs…
An art book: Creative License, by Danny Gregory
A writing book: Wild Women, Wild Voices, by Judy Reeves
A one-year Bible: Pray For America
Two devotionals: Jesus Always, by Sarah Young
Praying Through the Bible for Your Kids, by Nancy Guthrie
Books I’d like to read in April:
☆ Classic Fiction: The Way We Live Now, by Anthony Trollope
I need to read this classic novel because it is #34 on the list of fifty books to read before you die, and because of the 2020 PopSugar Reading Challenge – it will be for prompt #27: a book featuring one of the seven deadly sins. In this book, the sin is greed. The book is said to be a satire, full of humor. Exactly what I wanted… a classic novel about greed. So glad I found this book. It was originally published in 1875 in serialized form. It is called “…a sweeping panorama of vice for the sake of monetary greed” on Amazon. Perfect for this prompt.
My April 2020 Reading Diary
April 1 – I need to buy more books! (April Fool’s) Have a nice day. [later] … I’m in chapter 38 of Lonesome Dove. I hope I can finish it soon. Then I’ll be audio-reading some of the mystery books I intended to read last month.
April 2 – I listened to more of the Bible on the You-Version app today (Psalms 55-65) and made my Booktube end-of-month & TBR video.
April 3 – I made this bullet journal border art video.
April 4 – Today I made a new schedule for video production. I woke up this morning and started reading Revelation in the Bible…. got about five chapters in and decided my comprehension was lagging. Still reading Lonesome Dove… comprehension is lagging there too. I’m going to reread a few chapters starting at 43. I must focus! It is easier for me to focus on an audiobook when I’m doing some right-brained activity along with it… like crochet, drawing, or playing a simple online game of some kind, like Mahjong. I’ve also listened while walking/hiking, or while doing housework, and that helps too. Late in the day I recorded this video. It was dark and I had to lighten it to be seen so the video quality is bad but the message is from the heart.
April 5 – I read quite a few chapters in Lonesome Dove and am now more than half-way through it. I always find the second half of a book easier to read. It is like going downhill after a long, steep climb. Of course, with a book like Lonesome Dove, the fear is that when it ends I’ll miss reading about the characters… the crazy circumstances, and their simple but often ridiculous approach to life.
April 6 – This morning I listened to the YouVersion app read six chapters from the book of Deuteronomy. Just a note: I’m keeping my gratitudes and to-do list on another blog: Linda’s Life. I made this video today.
April 7 – Today I’m starting the 100 Day Project… my project is story illustration. Today I located a manuscript I want to illustrate – it is a free-verse poetic short story I wrote twenty or thirty years ago: My Grandmother’s Path – this is something I saw in a dream and rendered into literary form. It is only one of several illustration projects I want to work on during the next 100 days. I’m more than halfway through Lonesome Dove and am at the point in the story where it has grabbed hold of me and I want to keep reading. I also listened to four more chapters of Deuteronomy.
April 8 – Time for Bible reading, then art! [Later…] Also made some progress reading Lonesome Dove, and created this video.
April 9 – Another wonderful at-home day. Cats are fed. Sun is shining. Books are available for reading.
April 10 – Reading continues. Deuteronomy and Lonesome Dove.
April 11 – I’ve read 70 chapters in Lonesome Dove and have 32 chapters left to read. I read a few paragraphs in Wild Women, Wild Voices today, and did one of the “Exploration Exercises” (on page 27) . . . also worked on cleaning off the front porch. I haven’t lived here long. The place came with two cats and a lot of old, dusty cat bedding on the porches. I bought two new cat beds from Chewy.com and put one on the back porch and one on the front porch. Now that the cats are used to the new things, I’m removing the old things that were there for them. Cleaning the place up. One of the locals gave us all the challenge of cleaning up our yards for 30′ around our homes this week. I am starting with the front porch. Already did the back porch, though I’d like to paint that. Anyhow, got started today and also did some organizational work in the master bedroom, which I do not sleep in. I use it as a “dressing room” next to the bathroom with the shower. I’m still sleeping in my van, where there’s a bed. There’s no bed in this dwelling. I also finished listening to the YouVersion Bible app read Deuteronomy to me. Next: Luke, have to finish that, then Joshua.
April 12 – Happy Resurrection Day! Praise the Lord! Christ is the living king!
April 14 – Now starting the day on chapter 86 of Lonesome Dove, out of 102 chapters. Currently on Luke 12 in the Bible.
April 19 – I’m closing in on the final chapters of Lonesome Dove. Currently on chapter 98 out of 102. Today I found the Read the World collection of free Kindle books – international fiction, mostly. They’re on sale for World Book Day. I downloaded all of them – the Kindle books are free – and I got the $1.99 audio narrations to go with them. [Later] I finished reading Lonesome Dove! So happy… it is over. Great book, but I want to move on to something else. Not sure yet what that will be.
April 20 – I have decided to start reading another classic: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I have both the Kindle and audio versions so . . . immersion reading. Right now I’m in chapter two. It is a very short novel.
April 21 – Finished reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. My next audio-novel is American Dirt.
April 23 – I’m really enjoying reading American Dirt so far. I know about the controversy, but that won’t stop me from reading a book. I want to decide for myself about a novel rather than letting others influence my opinion.
April 24 – I’ve been reading more of American Dirt. It is ah-mazing… though I’m wondering if this journey the woman and her son are on will become monotonous after a while. When she starts using fear of rape as a plot point, I wonder if it will get to the point where I just can’t read anymore. I know others have DNFed this book, and I don’t want to be one of them. Meanwhile – I made this video today.
April 25 – Still reading American Dirt when I can. She’s in Guadalajara now. Today I chose the books I’ll be reading during May for the Asian Readathon.
April 27 – I made this video today..
April 28 – Currently 25 chapters into American Dirt which is way too intense at times. There are 38 chapters.
April 30 – I have mixed feelings about American Dirt. I need to write more book reviews on this blog. Maybe this will be one of them.
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