The Immediate Book Meme

photo by Evan Laurence Bench

There are plenty of memes that want to know all about your book history and your all-time greats and your grand ambitions, but let's focus on something more revealing: the books you're actually reading now, or just read, or are about to read. Let's call it The Immediate Book Meme.

1. What book are you reading now?
I'm in between many books right now, so the actual current reading is light.

Emma, by Jane Austen.
When I asked what we should do for our next readaloud, the older girls requested Emma. 

The Gospel of John

2. What book did you just finish?

The Intellectual Life, by A.G. Sertillanges, O.P.
First book of 2017. An excellent book about living the vocation of the intellectual life, full of encouragement and practical advice for those who wish to glorify God with their intellect. As it's an older book, the passing mentions of women are rather patronizing. The sort of reader who find themselves triggered by such things would lose much of value by rejecting the book on that account. I thought it excellent nonetheless, and intend to recommend it to my daughter in a year or two.

The Force Awakens novelization.
My girls had it out from the library, and it was sitting around, so I read it. It doesn't really fill the plot holes, and the author seems at a disadvantage, not being able to fully develop the interior life of the characters for lack of information that won't be revealed until later movies.

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Our most recent readaloud, finished (most fittingly) on Christmas Day.

Victorian Cakes, by Caroline B. King
A memoir about the author's childhood in a large household in Chicago in the 1880s, centered around the various cakes her mother, many sisters, and German hired girl made. The recipes are fascinating but hard to translate into modern measurements and oven temps. That's okay, because the reading itself is delectable enough. 

A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer
One of Brandon's fortnightly books. My favorite Heyer novel, about a penniless Viscount obliged to marry the daughter of a wealthy upstart trader to save his family's estate. Not your standard romance.

3. What do you plan to read next?

The Case Against Sugar, by Gary Taubes
WSJ review here.

The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers
A book I love, which has come up in numerous conversations lately. Sayers examines human creativity in light of the doctrine of the Trinity and the creative power characterized by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Sayers emphasizes that this is not a work of apologetics, or even an affirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity, but I find it provides much food for meditation anyway.

They All Laughed..., by Ira Flatow
A Christmas present from my brother-in-law, about the invention of various modern (up to 1993, anyway) technologies. "It's about how things like the Xerox machine were invented," I told my 14-year-old.
"What's a Xerox machine?" she asked.

4. What book do you keep meaning to finish?

Nothing at the moment. I finally gave up on John Adams and returned it, and my bedside table is clear of everything except...

5. What book do you keep meaning to start?

Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar by Amy A. Kass and Leon R. Kass
My friend lent it to me, and then I got pregnant, and then... I should just buy my own copy to reproach me each evening.

6. What is your current reading trend?
Not exactly a trend, but I want to work through all the books I received for Christmas, once I assemble them in one place.