One Catholic Life Blog

Kristin Lavransdatter

Books and Reading

Classics Club #17: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

So a man must learn to accept, when he produces offspring from his own body, that his heart will burn if he loses them or if the world goes against them. God, who gave them souls, is the one who owns them—not I. Kristin Lavrandsatter by Sigrid Undset is a book that everyone should read, for a multitude of reasons. First, it is a beautiful work of historical fiction set in medieval Norway, a time of political unrest, plague, and physical struggle. Next, it is the story of...

Nonfiction Challenge 2018

Books and Reading

Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2018

Last year I read a paltry three nonfiction books, so I’m glad Katie at Doing Dewey is hosting a nonfiction challenge for 2018. It’s a flexible challenge, so I’m going to keep it simple by reading a few nonfiction books that have been on my radar for awhile. I’m hoping to triple my nonfiction reading by reading nine books in 2018. Katie’s challenge is also going to feature a giveaway, Twitter chats, and a quarterly group read-along. Be sure to check out all the details at the 2018...

British Book Challenge

Books and Reading

British Books Challenge 2018

The British Book Challenge is back again this  year, hosted by Chelley at Tales of Yesterday. I read a lot of British classics, so it was easy to decide to participate. Here are the details: The British Books Challenge is a reading challenge that will be running here on Tales Of Yesterday between 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018 and the main focus of the challenge is reading and reviewing books by British authors. This challenge is available for all bloggers and/or booktubers who review books on their...

Victorian Reading Challenge

Books and Reading

Victorian Reading Challenge 2018

Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews is hosting the 2018 Victorian Reading Challenge, a challenge I have not tried before. Since I have so many Victorian books on my Classics Club list, I’m going to give it a go. Becky has a checklist of different types of Victorian books and several options to choose from, with the only requirement being to read a minimum of four Victorian books: Option A. Read alphabetically A-Z with authors OR titles OR a blend of authors/titles. I’ve decided that from now on X...

Books and Reading

Read It Again, Sam 2018 Reading Challenge

As I wrote about earlier, in 2018 I’m going to focus mostly on reading books that have been on my to-be-read shelf for years. However, there are a few books that I want to reread for various reasons, so I’m going to join the Read It Again, Sam 2018 Reading Challenge, hosted by Bev at My Reader’s Block. There are four different levels to the challenge as outlined by Bev: Déjà vu: Reread 4 books Feeling Nostalgic: Reread 8 books A Trip Down Memory Lane: Reread 12 books...

Mount TBR 2018

Books and Reading

Mount TBR 2018 Reading Challenge

The reading challenge sign-ups continue with Bev’s Mount TBR 2018 Challenge. This is her seventh year hosting this challenge that encourages readers to read the books that have been purchased over the years and never read. I have an embarrassing amount of books on my to-be-read shelf, so I am definitely participating in this challenge again. There are several levels to this challenge, each of which is represented by a different mountain: Pike’s Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your...

Monthly Keyword Challenge

Books and Reading

Monthly Keyword Reading Challenge 2018

Bev at My Reader’s Block is too good at coming up with tempting reading challenges. I can’t seem to keep from signing up for them. A new one for me for 2018 is the Monthly Keyword Challenge, which she is hosting for the first time. In this challenge, Your task is to read at least one book each month whose title includes one or more of the key words for that month. For instance, in January you might read Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon. See Bev’s...

Color Coded Challenge 2017

Books and Reading

Color Coded Reading Challenge 2018

The Color Coded Reading Challenge caught my attention last year and I find myself interested in it again this year. I’m not sure why, since it’s not easy to find books that match the color categories. My own personal rule for this challenge is not to use the covers of books to satisfy the categories, but only to use the titles of the books, which makes it even harder. I’m not sure how many years I’ll be able to do this using only books from my TBR pile,...

Charity Reading Challenge

Books and Reading

Charity Reading Challenge 2018

The Charity Reading Challenge, hosted by Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews, is a new challenge for me, and I’m excited to participate in it. Here’s how Becky explains it: Read for a good cause! Buy books at a charity shop, or, even a friends of the library book sale, or, donate a certain percentage of money for each book you read for the challenge. You can choose your own goal of how many books to read, what charity you’ll be donating money towards, how much money, etc. (For...

Back to the Classics 2018

Books and Reading

Back to the Classics Challenge 2018

I’m happy to be participating again in the Back to the Classics Challenge, hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate. The idea of the challenge is to read six to twelve classics that fit predetermined categories. This year’s categories are a perfect fit for many of the books I’ve already got planned, so I’m going to go for all twelve. I think most of the categories speak for themselves, but there are a couple I want to mention. First, for the “classic that scares you” I’ve chosen The Violent...

European Reading Challenge 2018

Books and Reading

European Reading Challenge 2018

Gilion at Rose City Reader is hosting the European Reading Challenge again for 2018.  The “gist” of the challenge, according to Gilion, is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it’s supposed to be a tour....

Book Review / Books and Reading

Classics Club #16: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

The house was a sepulcher, our fear and suffering lay buried in the ruins. There would be no resurrection. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a masterpiece of suspense that should not be missed by anyone who loves atmospheric settings, classic mysteries, or gorgeous prose. Ranked as the 9th greatest mystery novel of all time by the Mystery Writers of America, Rebecca entrances the reader with its lyrical sentences as the story slowly unfolds, picks up speed, and then builds into a page-turning climax. I enjoyed every sentence of this haunting...