In Common – November 1st Edition – Michelle Home Scholar

In Common is my (mostly) weekly Commonplace roundup – notable quotes from the previous week, and current reading list.

My reading slump continues. I don’t know if it is because school is in full swing, the seasons are changing, or if I just overloaded my reading pile.

To be honest, I’ve put several books in my stack on the back burner and have focused on just one or two, while I have gotten caught up with the C.J. Cherryh Foreigner series. I’ve got the final two books arriving tomorrow (actually there is one more, but I make it a rule to wait until the paperback comes out for most of my fiction books, and the newest book comes out in paperback in January…).

I think the break has been helpful and I am trying to finish up my current stack for 2017. I might get a couple smaller titles squeezed in before year’s end, but I don’t expect to tackle any more from my 2017 list – they’ll just have to wait for 2018.

This week I am wrapping up Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well-educated Mind. Along the same lines as Adler’s How to Read a Book, Bauer’s book goes through different genre’s and the different approaches to actively read each. At the end of each chapter, she includes an extensive annotated book list, which includes recommendations for best editions to choose. I have really enjoyed this book, and my TBR list has become, to be honest, unwieldy at this point. Now that I am finishing up the book, I may go back, and focus on one genre’s annotated book list at a time.

This week, I started a new book (I know, I know…). I’m reading The Life-giving Table by Sally Clarkson. I have loved her other books, and I am so excited to get into her new book.

“Through our careful preparations, our attention to tone and atmosphere, our gifts of loving touch, our example of humble service, and the provision of satisfying food, we can bring ourselves and those we love closer to Christ and foster growth of body, mind, and spirit. ” The Life-giving Table, Sally Clarkson

This is an excellent follow-up to The Life-giving Home, where she focused on traditions and family functions. Her new offering covers feasts and meals as a way to minister to family, friends and community. Hospitality is an area I want to improve upon in 2018 (being an introvert is hard!), and Clarkson is an excellent mentor for this.