Quick recap: Jon Acuff introduced the #EmptyShelf challenge in December. It’s pretty basic: starting December 23rd, you empty one shelf of a bookcase in your house completely. Then, through the entire next year, you fill that shelf with the books that you read.
To read what I read in January, click on over here.
February’s shelf:
I went on a nine day vacation in February, and thought I was going to have all kinds of time to read. I packed FOUR books to take with me, and ended up reading all of one and not a single page more. Vacation kept us busy, for better and for worse.
So, here’s what I read in February:
10.) Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life compiled by Carole F. Chase
11.) An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L’Engle
12.) The Signature of All Things: A Novel by Elizabeth Gilbert
It was a slow reading month, but it was a good one.
Madeleine L’Engle is one of my favorite authors of all time. I have always admired her ability to marry fiction and faith without writing faith fiction. An Acceptable Time was a nice, small paperback to lug with me on vacation, and small enough to read in an afternoon. Reflections on a Writing Life is a collection of beautiful quotes from the author herself, and I have copied so many of them down to save for later that I will eventually just buy the book. So many of the snippets have spoken to this period in my life, as I am setting out to be a writer and not just to write.
The Signature of All Things is not at all what I expected. I’ve never read anything by Elizabeth Gilbert before, and I completely ducked the Eat, Pray, Love movement since it seemed (perhaps injudiciously) to be yet another middle-life, self-serving memoir that are all the rage these days. Brené Brown, who I admire so, recommended this and so I jumped in headfirst and without knowledge. It is a beautifully executed novel, set in the early-to-mid 1800s and focusing somewhat on the world of botany, somewhat on the life of the main character, and somewhat on gender and sexuality. I really enjoyed it, despite some shortcomings. I might pick up some of Gilbert’s other stuff in the future. To read my full review of this book, click on over here.
So, what did you read in February? And what are you planning to read in March?
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend stuff that is good! I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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