What I’ve Been Reading Lately

One of these days I’ll get caught up on my regular posts about our life. Having a lot of computer trouble has put a damper on that project. I think my computer is working right again, and most of the programs I use are back in it. For tonight, though, I thought I’d just share a few of the books I’ve read recently and really enjoyed.

Mr. Intellectual was given the book Returning Home, by Loreen Plett, for Christmas. I finally read it a few weeks ago and loved it! I wrote a long review of it for IgniteLit, so I won’t write a lot here, but it is a great book. It’s not quite a biography, but based on family history. It almost reads like an epic novel, though! It follows the life of Johann Plett, born into a Mennonite family in Prussia in the late 1700s. His life was one long series of tragedies and disappointments. He became more and more bitter against God, who never gave up on him. I definitely recommend this book, as well as its sequel, Crossing the Distance. This book, which I finished reading a few weeks ago, tells the story of Johann’s son Knals (Cornelius). He was born in Prussia, but grew up in Russia only a short distance from the Crimea. After watching his father’s life, he  became a Christian at a fairly young age, and was baptized into the Kleine Gemeinde church—an offshoot of the Old Colony Mennonnites. His strong, forceful personality caused some major problems and heartache in his life, but was also used greatly by God to strengthen the church and aid in the migration of the Mennonites to Canada. His actions were not always right, but his heart was in the right place and eventually he made right what he had done wrong. Both of these books are very inspiring.

I’ve also been enjoying a lovely series of fiction books. I read the three Aggie’s Inheritance books a year or more ago, and loved them! In fact, Ready or Not was the first modern Christian novel I have found that I was interested in rereading. For Keeps and Here We Come are just as good. They tell the story of Aggie Milliken, who at age 22, fresh out of college, inherited her sister’s eight children when Allana and her husband suddenly died. Through reading this series of books, I discovered a new favorite author, Chautona Havig. She has let me be on her launch team now when she publishes new books, and since the fourth Aggie book is publishing this month, I reread the first three. They are just as good as I remembered, and every bit as engrossing the second or third time through! This week, I got to read the advance reader copy of the fourth book, Ante Up! It is great, too. It’s not necessarily a fun read; Aggie has some major struggles. There is a lot of food for thought in it, though, which is something I really love about Chautona’s books. There is some humor, too—I love the scene in which Kenzie is aghast at the thought of using stitch witchery (Maybe we should pray over it), and Ellie’s attempt to bake rolls is quite funny, too.

If you’re looking for a good read, check out one of these books. They are all well worth your time.