What I'm Reading

Every once in a while I get asked what I am reading. Here's my current list. Well, the fiction portion anyway.

Descent into Hell by Charles Williams

I have actually finished this one. Charles Williams was one of the Inklings, a friend of J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis. While this novel is set in a real time and place, it is quite strange, exploring spiritual realms. It reawakened me to the ongoing spiritual battle around us. Some passages I find incomprehensible. I am not alone in this, Tolkein said the same thing about much of William's work. Also, William's belief in purgatory, which I don't share, plays strongly in the plot. But the novel affirms God's strength and grace. It was the "Doctrine of Substituted Love" around which the plot centers that really caught me. I'll be reading more of William's work -- War in Heaven next, I think.

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

I am actually re-reading this series, which was recommended by several friends. I am enjoying it, although it drew me in more the first time around. I am back up to book eight and the plot has gotten crazy. I am looking forward to the new books, twelve and thirteen, which I am told wrap things up and draw the ends together. When I finish Wbeel of Time, I am going to try the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson which is recommended by the same group of friends. We also read Stephen King's Dark Tower Series. We're kinda into fantasy stuff. We love the Lord of the Rings, too. Books and movies. We've spent entire weekends rewatching those movies together. In fact, I'd like to do that again.

Mongoliad

This is an internet novel that was written by a team of writers which happens to include a friend of mine. It's put out by the Subutai Corporation. The story has captured my imagination and I like the plot, the characters, the setting. I do struggle with the ...format? media?....I don't know what word works here. What I mean is that I like to curl up in my bed with my stories and reading it on my laptop doesn't allow for that. Still, I'll keep going. I want to know what happens next.


The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This is a historical novel about black maids and the families they worked for, set in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It's really well done and a bit different from my usual fare. I am enjoying it and it was recommended by my Mom and sister. It's an exciting plot, with twists and unexpected turns. Some events were certainly added for dramatic purposes but most of it has the flavor of realism. It's gritty in many ways. There are realistic, graphic descriptions of a late term miscarriage, domestic violence and a stymied sexual assault that might give some readers pause.


Anyway, there is the answer for any of you who might be wondering. Or if you just want a book recommendation.

Hope you're reading good stuff too. Merry Christmas!