Your 4-Year-Old by Louise Ames & Frances Ilg
This series of child development books has comforted and amused me each year. Though some things are obviously dated, this series adequately provides parents with developmental expectations for their children at each age. 7.5/10
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
I enjoyed reading the Power and the Glory in college, but that was my limited experience with Greene. He is a powerful writer, and this short novel was certainly prophetic in it’s descriptions of American interventions in Vietnam in the 50s and our foreign policy botches in that region and period in general. I enjoyed how well he captured the male rivalry and those characters in general. Not perfect, but it’s a deserving classic and worth reading. 9/10.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Re-read for book club, yet again. I like Jane, I pity her and root for her, and I am glad that I have read this so many times. 9/10
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Chaim Potok is one of my favorite authors, and this is his most popular book. If you have never read this coming of age story about friendship and fathers and sons set in the orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, you are missing out. 10/10.
The Promise by Chaim Potok
In many ways, this book is satisfying, and ties up many loose ends from the Chosen. There are a lot of great issues raised as far as technical criticism, and belief and practice in a modern/post-modern context. I think it is not *quite* as good as the Chosen, but it’s certainly a good read nonetheless. 9/10
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Berry’s beautiful writing is always a treat to read, it is graceful and filled with life. I can’t give it any higher praise than to say that I wept when I finished, for Hannah and for myself, because it was over. 10/10.
