I am a bit late posting my spring reads, but I blame the weather. I am guessing when it feels a bit more like spring, it will actually be technically summer. Try explaining that to a five-year old, like I have been for the past few months. ‘Yes, I know it is spring by the calendar, but no, a tank top is not appropriate when the weather is 16C and raining.’
So despite the wintery weather (yes it rained today), here are some of the books I have been reading this spring.
Firstly, my good friend Elaine Fraser has recently released the third book in her Beautiful Lives Series, Amazing Grace. This Young Adult novel tackles the story of Grace, a 17-year-old struggling with questions of faith and sexuality. The characters are believable and complex. And the prejudice and misunderstanding that Grace faces is quite confronting at times. This book does not give any neat answers but instead provides a great platform for further discussion.
One of my unexpected joys this year has been reading once more to my children. As we have progressed through our Roald Dahl collection we finally hit the classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They were absolutely delighted to meet Mr Willy Wonka and follow the journey of young Charlie Bucket through the mystical chocolate factory. So much so that as soon as it was finished we started Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.
Speaking of children, another book I read this spring was Clutterfree with Kids by Joshua Becker. (I know I know it sounds like a fiction book!) But Joshua Becker starts with the premise that we enjoy the people we live with, more than the things we surround ourselves with. Thankfully, he doesn’t just leave us with airy fairy ideals, but he includes a lot of practical, no-nonsense advice on how to work with your children to achieve this. I think this book is going to be one we revisit from time to time.
Finally my last book also has its focus on home. Christie Purifoy’s Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons is a beautifully written exploration of the themes of home and the seasons. This book is speaking deeply into my soul. I am reading it slowly, more like a devotional than a book. The best way to describe this book is to actually leave you with an excerpt from it:
As humans, we roam the entire world. We even venture beyond it into space. The whole planet is ours, but the whole planet is not our home. Instead, home is the ground we measure with our own two feet. And home is the place that measures us. Home is the place that names us and the place we, in turn, name. It feeds us, body and soul, and if we are living well, we feed it too.
Home is the place we cultivate with our love.
See! A slow beautiful read. I am going to be sorry when it’s finished.
How about you? Any good reads this spring?
Let me know in the comments below, and join me for the (reading) journey,
Jodie
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PS: And a big apology to any who received an earlier, unfinished version of this post, due to my incompetence with the keyboard, and inability to distinguish between publish and save!