No.805: What I Read in February 2024

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#10. NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS // ★★★★☆
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

I read this short autobiography as a kind of off-shoot for my American history studies.  Heart-breaking and powerful.

#11. A CAPITALIST MANIFESTO: UNDERSTANDING THE MARKET ECONOMY AND DEFENDING LIBERTY by Gary Wolfram // ★★★☆☆
(amazon // bookshop)

This was the reading for an online course I took on Economics 101.  I’ve never taken an economics course before and I learned a lot.  3.5 stars.

#12. THE AMAZING MRS. POLLIFAX by Dorothy Gilman // ★★★★★
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

Number two in the series.  This time Mrs. Pollifax is sent to Istanbul.  So good and the last scene was gold!

#13. FREDDY THE DETECTIVE by Walter R. Brooks // ★★★★☆
(amazon // better world books)

This book is about a pig named Freddy who, after learning about Sherlock Holmes, decides he is going to be a barnyard detective.  I read this to the kids for a school read aloud and it was a big hit!

#14. SEE HOW SHE LOVES US: 50 APPROVED APPARITIONS OF OUR LADY by Joan Carroll Cruz // ★★★★☆
(amazon // bookshop)

I have read a few of Cruz’s books before (most notably the one about Eucharistic miracles) and they are all really great.  This one is a collection of fifty approved Marian apparitions through the ages and it’s a great jumping off point for further research.

#15. LIGHT A PENNY CANDLE by Maeve Binchy // ★★★☆☆
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

This chunker of a book (almost 600 pages!) is an epic story of two friends and how the friendship holds them together as they grow up.  I found the beginning of the book way more enjoyable than the latter part when the older girls were making poor decisions and I was yelling, “Red flags!” at the pages, but all in all, it was still an engrossing read, even if I kinda hated the ending.  (This was also my 1982 pick for the 20th Century in Literature challenge.)

#16. BEARING FALSE WITNESS: DEBUNKING CENTURIES OF ANTI-CATHOLIC HISTORY by Rodney Stark // ★★★★★
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

The interesting part about this work on debunking anti-Catholic myths is that it was written by a non-Catholic!  He makes that distinction clear right away and believes that a person’s feelings about Catholicism throughout history should be based on facts, not on lies or exaggerations.  I thought it was excellent and he even has a very thorough bibliography for further research.

#17. THE CHUCKLING FINGERS by Mabel Seeley // ★★★★☆
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

A mystery from the 1940s, this is a “Depression-era tale of a wealthy family’s dark secrets turning deadly on their remote lakeside estate.”  There are a ton of characters, but the action never lets up and I couldn’t predict the reveal at the end.  3.5 stars, rounded up.

#18. ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS by Stacy Willingham // ★★★★☆
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

This one was a quick read and talk about an unreliable narrator!  The protagonist is a grieving mother whose toddler was abducted from his crib in the middle of the night.  It’s a year later and the mother has barely slept…to the point where she is questioning what is reality and what is not.  Regardless, she is determined to find her son and you get to be along for the ride.  3.5 stars, rounded up.

#19. THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW by C.S. Lewis // ★★★★☆
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

Another read aloud for school!  We loved how this story connects with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

#20. THE LAST RUNAWAY by Tracy Chevalier // ★★★☆☆
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

After all of that excitement, I decided to change gears and read something historical.  I’ve had this one on my TBR for years and years and was happy to get it off my shelf!  This story is about a young Quaker woman coming to America for the first time and how slavery and the Underground Railroad come into her life.  The ending seemed a little abrupt, but it was still a 3.5 star read.

#21. COBALT RED: HOW THE BLOOD OF THE CONGO POWERS OUR LIVES by Siddharth Kara // ★★★★☆
(amazon // bookshop)

This book will haunt me.  The way the minerals used in our electronics are mined is horrifying.  This is the hidden consequence of the West’s mission of “going green” and it makes me question everything.  We can do better and I am brainstorming what small role I can play.

The translator for my interviews, Augustin, was distraught after several days of trying to find the words in English that captured the grief being described in Swahili.  He would at times drop his head and sob before attempting to translate what was said.  As we parted ways, Augustin had this to say, “Please tell people in your country, a child in the Congo dies every day so that they can plug in their phones.” (p.155)

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MY 2024 UNREAD SHELF PROJECT

Unread Books as of January 1, 2024: 209
Books Finished in February: 12
Books Donated/Sold in February: -2
Books Added: +14 (used bookstore haul and generous gifts from family!)
Unread Books Remaining: 213