I have been reading Is Your Lord Large Enough?  How C. S. Lewis Expands Our View of God by Peter J. Schakel. I recommend this book by my former professor very highly.  There are many topics covered including prayer, love, God’s grace, and there is much discussion on how they relate to C. S. Lewis’s books, which include The Chronicles of Narnia.  I read that Dr. Schakel passed away a few months ago, and I am sure he will be greatly missed as an excellent scholar of Lewis’s writings. His other book The Way Into Narnia, is also a very well written exploration of the Narnia stories. I highly recommend both of the books for thoughtful reading. 🙂

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

I've read a book called Titus: Comrade of the Cross. It is about the thief on the cross. It's really moving.

Oh, I think I read that one in high school. 

Nonfiction I'm still reading The Case for Christian Nationalism and the Stonewall Jackson biography, I'm about a third of the way through both books. I've been pretty busy lately and hadn't been making much progress on either book, but I've read a fair chunk of each the past week.

Fiction I am bouncing back and forth between rereads and new books. I reread Homer Price, then a western, next was The Shepherd of the Hills. and currently another western. The westerns have just been okay, but I really enjoyed reading both Homer Price and The Shepherd of the Hills again. I'm thinking about reading The Mark of Zorro or Where Eagles Dare next.

SnowAngel

I wondered how bookstores are doing in the locations where people live.  In the next town from where I live there are at least four bookstores and at least one or two that are not far away. I am assuming that they are doing well.  There was even a Christian bookstore which opened in the next town about three years ago. I was kind of surprised that it opened when there was one that closed about fifteen years ago because of a recession.  I thought the new store was quite nice, and I hope they will stay for a long time.  There is another store that survived a couple of recessions which closed stores in nearby malls.  It has been around since 1967, which shows that people like to shop at small businesses in towns of about 30,000 residents. 

@narnian78 honestly I don't think we have a good bookstore population in my city. Both our Christian stores have shut down (we had one chain and one independent one when I was a kid), we have a big chain outlet for secular, and a little used book place, but no independent stores secular or otherwise that aren't used.

---

As for what I've been reading lately...

I read a couple of the Castle in the Stars graphic novels by Alex Alice. The art is very pretty, and it's kind of an interesting alternate history timeline.

I just finished The Nightsilver Promise by Annaliese Avery, which is a middle-grade fantasy novel. I'm still parsing what I think of it philosophically but it has an interesting imagined cultural atmosphere and made me sufficiently interested in the characters I suspect I will seek out the sequel.

And on the picture book front I read and enjoyed

Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, A Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion by Shannon Stocker and Devon Holzwarth

and

Knight Owl by Christopher Denise.

@silverlily 

It’s rather sad that you don’t have a really good bookstore near you.  There were two Christian bookstores before the recession of 2008 which shut down, but I’m glad that we have another one to take their place. I am also glad that Barnes & Noble is still in our area, and even though it is not a religious bookstore it has a large selection of excellent books.  I think we are fortunate to have a good choice of stores. 

We've got a major chain bookshop (Waterstones) in the centre of my town, and a couple of other chains that sell books as well as stationery etc. No independent bookshops locally, but I've found quite a lot of good ones in other towns that I've visited, in various parts of the UK, and I do try to buy from them when I can. There are also plenty of second hand bookshops around, including ones run by charities. I just donated a big bagful of books to one of those earlier today!

Christian bookshops aren't a big thing in the UK (or Australia for that matter), other than ones run by specific denominations — independent ones aren't very common. English cathedrals nearly always have lovely gift shops on site, though, and they generally have Christian books. There used to be an excellent independent / general Christian bookshop in a deconsecrated medieval church in Norwich, which I loved visiting, but I haven't been out that way for some years now and I don't know if it's still open. 

I've got just the Stonewall Jackson biography left to read for nonfiction, currently on page 282 of 742. For the year it will be my twelfth nonfiction book and the last of my nonfiction goals.  

I've read Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean, two westerns by Ernest Haycox, and The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley over the past few weeks. The westerns I was once again unimpressed with, will not be keep them. On the other hand I really enjoyed reading Where Eagles Dare (third time) and The Mark of Zorro (second time) again.

Going to change gears from historical fiction and read the Section 13 series by James R. Hannibal next, I received the final book in the series for my birthday earlier this year, so it's been on my list to read again since then.  

SnowAngel

Posted by: @courtenay

English cathedrals nearly always have lovely gift shops on site, though, and they generally have Christian books. 

York Minster used to have a Christian bookshop - I went there in 1976 (as a student), but when I went to the Minster again five or six years later, the bookshop was gone.

My visit in 1976, my first visit to England, was when I discovered the Chronicles of Narnia in that bookshop. I already  owned LWW, so I knew there would be a series. But I didn't trust that the other books could be as good as the first one, so I only bought MN.

I finished it overnight, and went back and bought the last five books the next day.

I recently bought an illustrated edition of Walden by Henry David Thoreau.  It’s one of the most beautiful books that I own and I paid only ten dollars for it. I wonder if Walden is still required reading in American Literature classes in high school and college.  I think it should be because schools should offer a strong literature background for their students. Today people do not have a good understanding of the classic as they did decades ago. It is a sad thing, although people can read the books for themselves in later life.

I love classic literature and have been reading it for pleasure since I was 8 years old, I was always considered odd by my peers but in recent years there seems to be a slight renaissance of interest in classic literature with the rise of social media and the ability for likeminded readers to connect. I am currently participating in Victober, a month long global celebration of Victorian literature, by reading The Law & the Lady by Wilkie Collins and Tennyson's Idylls of the King, both of which I am enjoying.

After reading Section 13 series, I also read The Case of the One-eyed Witness (a Perry Mason novel). I am really enjoying alternating between old and new reads.

With the fall weather it seemed like a good time to read some George MacDonald again. So I pulled The Fisherman's Lady off the shelf and after a rather slow time reading (not due to the plot) through it, I've now started The Marquis' Secret. Still some of my favorites.  

How did Victober go, @Narnian-in-the-North? I've read Idylls of the King (or parts of it - older copies seem to be unclear about whether they're abridged) before but not the Collins.

It's fun to have a mix of new reads and rereads, @SnowAngel! How is your yearly book goal looking?

I've had a number of busts in reading over the summer and fall, but have been having fun with a number of mysteries and children books (mostly rereads but not quite all) of late. A recent booksale undid most of the progress I made over the summer on reading books I owned but hadn't read or needed to reread, but I've been doing pretty well at reading those new books and am hopeful I'll have regained my progress in the next few months or so (right in time for another booksale ). Currently, though, I'm reading a library book: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Not quite a quarter of the way in yet, but the odds of me finishing it are looking much more promising than a number of other biography/history books I've tried of late.

It was a rather mediocre Victober this year, @valiantarcher. The Law and the Lady ended up being a book I finished but won't be rereading anytime soon or even recommending. I know a lot of readers of classic literature enjoy Victorian sensation fiction but it's not a subgenre I usually like. I did enjoy most of Idylls of the King but I can see why it isn't for everyone. I also read The Wouldbegoods by E. Nesbit, which made me laugh multiple times, her books always remind me of C.S. Lewis but I seldom like them as well as I like his, the Bastable trilogy is by far my favorite of her books that I have read.

I am currently reading Lewis's Letters to Malcolm and Early Days by Miss Read for Nonfiction November plus Touch Not the Nettle by Molly Clavering, I really loved the book it is a sequel to so I am hoping I like this one too.

Sorry to hear it wasn't terribly successful, @Narnian-in-the-North, but glad that you enjoyed at least a couple of your reads. It's been a long time since I read The Wouldbegoods (or The Treasure Seekers - I actually just learned within the past couple of weeks that there was a third one in the series!), but I remember it being fun.
Ooh, I can't remember which ones but I did read a couple of Miss Read books years ago; I remember enjoying the ones I read but never got around to reading all of them for some reason. I hope you enjoy it and the Molly Clavering book as well as you hope!

Posted by: @valiantarcher

Currently, though, I'm reading a library book: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

Ahhh, yes, Unbroken. I appreciated that biographical book. Louis Zamperini, the Olympic track star (Berlin, 1936),

Devil at My Heels is Zamperini's recount of his life, his autobiography. I love that this fascinating and broken man  committed his life to Jesus Christ at the 1949 Los Angeles Billy Graham meeting ('though at first, he was very reluctant to attend), after his wife, Cynthia, became a Christian under Graham's preaching.

Posted by: @narnian-in-the-north

by Miss Read

I had someone recommend these books to me, but I have not yet had the opportunity to dig into them. From what I gather, the Fairacre novels are the best known. Which book of Dora Jessie Saint (Miss Read) do you recommend for starters, narnian-in-the-north or @valiantarcher?

I have just started reading Facing the Mountain: an inspiring story of Japanese American Patriots in World War 11, by the same author of The Boys in the Boat (a fascinating read!), Daniel James Brown. Thus far, Facing the Mountain is another great, informative read ('though difficult, emotionally) by this engaging author.

A short while ago I finished We Shall All Be Changed: how facing death with loved ones transforms us, by Whitney Pipkin. Excellent and moving and rich on all counts! Particularly since we cared for my beloved 95 year old father for six months in our home until his death a couple of years ago.

I finally delved into the Mistborn series, and have completed book 1, Mistborn: The Final Empire and book 2, The Well of Ascension. I will begin book 3, The Hero of Ages, in another month or so. The series definitely pulls one along, although I think I prefer book 1 slightly above book 2. I don't have much desire to go on with the books after book 3, but am glad I have read the origiinal trilogy. They may be worth a re-read at some point.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz just arrived, so I will be plunging into that challenging book in the next while. It is an historical fiction book, based on the memories of a holocaust survivor, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew.

My annual re-read of Dickens' A Christmas Carol is coming up in December. To enhance this year's re-read, I have joined a reading group, given by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and hosted by Sarah Stonestreet. Should be great! Last year, with this same group, I went through The Man Born to be King by Dorothy Sayers. Fascinating!

It is time I re-read The Silmarillion, so will begin that early in 2025.