Here we go again, let’s get this TBR down to a realistic list…
How it works
- Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
- Order on ascending date added
- Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
- Read the synopses of the books
- Decide: keep it or remove it?
Note: A little rule for myself, I must remove at least one book.
Date Added 1 January 2017
Owned Yes
Synopsis
“This famous story of man’s progress through life in search of salvation remains one of the most entertaining allegories of faith ever written. Set against realistic backdrops of town and country, the powerful drama of the pilgrim’s trials and temptations follows him in his harrowing journey to the Celestial City.
Along a road filled with monsters and spiritual terrors, Christian confronts such emblematic characters as Worldly Wiseman, Giant Despair, Talkative, Ignorance, and the demons of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But he is also joined by Hopeful and Faithful.
An enormously influential 17th-century classic, universally known for its simplicity, vigour, and beauty of language, The Pilgrim’s Progress remains one of the most widely read books in the English language.”
Opinion
The only reason I want to keep this book is because I am trying to read more classics and this one sounds interesting, and because it is well known, so I want to read it.
Verdict
Keep
Date Added 1 January 2017
Owned No
Synopsis
“At one time Corrie ten Boom would have laughed at the idea that there would ever be a story to tell. For the first fifty years of her life nothing at all out of the ordinary had ever happened to her. She was an old-maid watchmaker living contentedly with her spinster sister and their elderly father in the tiny Dutch house over their shop. Their uneventful days, as regulated as their own watches, revolved around their abiding love for one another. However, with the Nazi invasion and occupation of Holland, a story did ensue.
Corrie ten Boom and her family became leaders in the Dutch Underground, hiding Jewish people in their home in a specially built room and aiding their escape from the Nazis. For their help, all but Corrie found death in a concentration camp. The Hiding Place is their story.”
Opinion
I think this book will go back on my TBR if I get a copy, but for now, I am not wanting to read it at this point in my life, but in the future. So I will take it off for now, and probably will add it back on if I get a copy.
Verdict
Go
Date Added 1 January 2017
Owned No
Synopsis
“”For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12
Ashton is just a typical small town. But when a skeptical reporter and a prayerful, hardworking pastor begin to investigate mysterious events, they suddenly find themselves caught up in a hideous New Age plot to enslave the townspeople, and eventually the entire human race. The physical world meets the spiritual realm as the battle rages between forces of good and evil.
This Present Darkness is a gripping story that brings keen insight into spiritual warfare and the necessity of prayer. Since its original publication more than 2.7 million copies have been sold. The companion volume, Piercing the Darkness, continues the story of the battle between spiritual forces.”
Opinion
Ok, so my dad told me to ready this years ago, and I tried. I didn’t get past the first few chapters. I think I was too young for it, so I never finished it. I have always had the curiosity to finish it, but I don’t think can be bothered to finish it.
Verdict
Go
Date Added 1 January 2017
Owned No
Synopsis
“Written with love, humility, and faith, this brief but poignant volume was first published in 1961 and concerns the death of C. S. Lewis’s wife, the American-born poet Joy Davidman. In her introduction to this new edition, Madeleine L’Engle writes: “I am grateful to Lewis for having the courage to yell, to doubt, to kick at God in angry violence. This is a part of a healthy grief which is not often encouraged. It is helpful indeed that C. S. Lewis, who has been such a successful apologist for Christianity, should have the courage to admit doubt about what he has so superbly proclaimed. It gives us permission to admit our own doubts, our own angers and anguishes, and to know that they are part of the soul’s growth.”
Written in longhand in notebooks that Lewis found in his home, A Grief Observed probes the “mad midnight moments” of Lewis’s mourning and loss, moments in which he questioned what he had previously believed about life and death, marriage, and even God. Indecision and self-pity assailed Lewis. “We are under the harrow and can’t escape,” he writes. “I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace.” Writing A Grief Observed as “a defence against total collapse, a safety valve,” he came to recognise that “bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love.”
Lewis writes his statement of faith with precision, humour, and grace. Yet neither is Lewis reluctant to confess his continuing doubts and his awareness of his own human frailty. This is precisely the quality which suggests that A Grief Observed may become “among the great devotional books of our age.””
Opinion
I really want to read all the C.S. Lewis books. That’s all the reason I need to keep it. Even though I had to take off Mere Christianity in the last post.
Verdict
Keep
Date Added 1 January 2017
Owned No
Synopsis
“Anglican Mary Langton longs to marry for love. Puritan Barnabas Horton is still in love with his deceased wife and needs only a mother for his two young sons.
And yet these two very different people with very different expectations will take a leap of faith, wed, and then embark on a life-changing journey across the ocean to the Colonies. Along the way, each must learn to live in harmony, to wait on God, and to recognise true love where they least expect to find it.
This heartfelt tale of love and devotion is based on debut author Rebecca DeMarino’s own ancestors, who came to Long Island in the mid-1600s to establish a life–and a legacy–in the New World.”
Opinion
So, this is one of those ones I just added when I first started Goodreads just because I was excited. I now have no desire to read this. So off it goes.
Verdict
Go
Total Books at Start 994
Books Read 9
Books Started 1
Books Removed 3
Books Added Since Last Post 13
Final Books on TBR 994
So it didn’t go down… I guess I need to try harder. Wow, it is hard to not get interested in lots of books. I will try not to do anymore from now on.
Guys, I really have a problem. Do you get excited about a book, then later go back and ask, why did I want to read that?
I've Been Booked 