“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored.”
Anne Lamott
What I’m Currently Reading
Updated December 2020.
I generally have a pile of books I am reading through very slowly (as in, over the course of years), an audio book or two, and a shorter stack of books I’m reading at a “normal” pace.
I participate in an annual reading challenge that I helped design: The Scholé Sisters 5×5 Challenge. This challenge encourages us to dig in deeply to significant topics while also reading broad and eclectic in our reading.
Audio books
City of God, by Augustine
read by David McCallion
written in AD 413
Theology. 5×5 Pick.
first started in 2017, stopped halfway through, resumed in August 2020
Normal book pile
Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation, by Josef Pieper
Philosophy. Whim. Loving Well 2020.
started in May 2020
The Liberal Arts Tradition, by Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain
revised edition; published in 2019
Education. 5×5 Pick. Book club study.
started in March 2020
restarted in August 2020 for Scholé Sisters Book Club
purchase through Classical Academic Press
In Vital Harmony: Charlotte Mason and the Natural Laws of Education, by Karen Glass
published 2019
Education. 5×5 Pick. Book club study.
started in February 2020
Early Christianity and Greek Paideia, by Werner Jaeger
published 1961
Whim. Education.
started in February 2019.
Christ: The Meaning of History, by Hendricks Berkhof
Theology. 5×5 pick.
published in 1966
started in June 2020
On Christian Teaching, by Augustine
translated by R.H.P. Green
written in AD 397
Education. 5×5 pick.
started in July 2020
Kingdom Come: The Amillennial Alternative, by Sam Storms
published in 2015
Theology. 5×5 pick
started in July 2020
Long-Term, Slow-Reading Pile
Commentary on the Whole Bible, by Matthew Henry.
first published in 1714; my edition published 2008
Theology.
started in September 2018; my goal is to read the whole thing before I’m 50 (in 2032).
Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin
translated by Ford Lewis Battles
first published in 1536; my edition published 1960
Theology. Reading & discussing with my high schoolers.
started in July 2019
Nicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle
translated by C.D.C. Reeve
originally published in 340 BC; my edition published 2014
Philosophy. 5×5 pick.
started in February 2019
Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture by Werner Jaeger
published in 1967
Education.
started in 2018, slowly reading and recording conversations about each chapter with Brandy Vencel & Abby Wahl for Scholé Sisters.
The Great Tradition: Classic readings on what it means to be an educated human being, edited by Richard Gamble
published in 2009
Education. 5×5 pick.
started in 2014, reread several selections multiple times, but not finished
Books Finished in 2020
These are grouped by my 5×5 Challenge categories. Visit Scholé Sisters to learn more about the 5×5 Reading Challenge, get the printable reading guide, and find accountability for broad reading.
Star ratings are on a 5-star scale and awarded based on how well I thought the book achieved its intentions and lived up to its potential.