Catholic Wife and Mother: Books Read in 2020

Ah, 2020. At least I can say I read a lot this past year.

January

The saints have called this the "marvelous exchange". God assumed our human nature in order to give us his divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4). - From p. 151

February

John*

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hueston**

They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God. - From p. 160

Henry V by William Shakespeare

Acts of the Apostles*

March

Romans*

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we ma also be glorified with him. - Romans 8:14-17

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott**

"Have regular hours for work and play, make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty." - Marmee to girls From p. 121

Ember Falls by SD Smith (Audio)

The House on Pooh Corner (Audio)

April

1 Corinthians*

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all tings, endures all things.

Love never ends; as for prophesies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13

The Burgess Bird Book by Thornton Burgess (Family Read Aloud)

May

Angel of Repose by Wallace Stegner**

One result of throwing away all the maps of human experience and the guides to conduct that a tradition offers, and flying by the seat of your moral and social pants, is that you fly into situations that are absurd or pitiful, depending on how indulgently one looks at them. - From p. 569

Middlemarch by George Eliot (Audio)**

2 Corinthians*

Galatians*

June

Ephesians*

Philippians*

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. - Philippians 4:8

Mary Poppins by PL Travers (Family Read Aloud)

Song of the Lark by Willa Cathers**

Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is. - From p. 421

Colossians*

The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson (Re-read)

My success in life or in motherhood or as a Christian is not dependent on my being perfect, but on allowing God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, to work through me to accomplish his purposes. - From p. 132

July

1 Thessalonians*

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers**

2 Thessalonians*

Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells by Opal Wheeler (Family Read Aloud)

Theology of Home by Carrie Gress

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home. - Quoting Confucius p. 161

1 Timothy*

2 Timothy*

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee**

"...before I can live with other folks I've got to live with yself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." - From p. 120

August

Titus*

September

The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (Family Read Aloud)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

October

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (Re-read)

We often combine frustrating skill-learning techniques with sawdust books. Try instead this other, Christian approach. Expect high standards, but let them be appropriate to the individual who is progressing at his own rate of development. Make the lesson a short one, so that inattention does not become a habit. Follow the "skill lessons" with a varied diet of mind food. - From p. 36

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen** (Re-read)

Antigone by Sophocles**

It wasn't Zeus, not in the least, who made this proclamation -- not to me. Nor did that Justice, dwelling with the gods beneath the earth, ordain such laws for men. Nor did I think your edict had such force that you, a mere mortal, could override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakeable traditions. - Lines 499-505

December

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (Family Read Aloud)

I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge (Family Read Aloud)

Ember Rising by SD Smith (Audio)

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry