In Which I Dump My Recent Favorite Books On You (and also feels) + Books I've Marked DNF

Yes, yes, I know that I'm supposed to post my Monday's Minutes story today. But how could I pass up this topic for Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish? Said topic is: "5 of my latest five star reads & five of my most disappointing or 1 star reads" (I'm doing books I Did Not Finish instead of 1 star reads). Come on, I had to do this!


Caution: Be prepared to get crushed by feels (of your own, or the author's, or both).

*** Books I recently gave 5 stars 

(aka some of my new favorites) ***

1) St Ignatius and the Company of Jesus by August Dereleth

Okay, can we just talk about the fact that I absolutely love St Ignatius of Loyola? Like, he's one of my favorite saints of ever. I think I've become a fangirl of his... but not in a weird way, I promise! 

I love Saint Ignatius because he completely changed his life. He used to be a proud soldier who was so tough that he didn't even cry out in pain when the DOCTORS WERE BREAKING HIS LEG WHILE HE WAS AWAKE SO THAT THEY COULD SET IT PROPERLY. He went from that, to being the humblest missionary priest who SOBBED SO MUCH DURING MASS THAT THE POPE HAD TO TELL HIM IT WAS BAD FOR HIS HEALTH IF HE CONTINUED TO SAY MASS EVERYDAY.

Another reason I love him so much is that even though he was humble, it didn't mean that he kept his gifts or insights to himself. He wrote what he called the Spiritual Exercises, and he was passionate about guiding people through them. He didn't keep them to himself and think, "Because I created these, I know that they can't be that good. I shouldn't share these with anyone because that would draw attention to myself." No. He could take all of the attention because he was humble and didn't let the fame get to him.

Do I want to become as holy as this man? Yes. Do I have the will and determination to do it? Not yet. But I hope that by God's grace I will someday.

So if you've never read about St Ignatius, I advise you to go do it now. I've read 4 books about him, and I learn something more every time.

2) May B.

Have I mentioned before that I love novels in verse? This book is about a 12 year old dyslexic girl from Kansas in the 1800's who is sent to help a neighbor who lives, like, 20 miles away (which was a whole lot in those days) for the summer until Christmas. I won't give anything away, but it was a sad book. I loved it, though. Besides, novels in verse are usually sad. Anyway, you should read it if poetry is your thing - in which case, tell me, cause we can be buddies. :)

3) St Joan the Girl Soldier by Louis de Wohl

Gahh, and St Joan of Arc is also one of my favorite saints! I had a hard time choosing either her or St Maria Goretti for my Confirmation Saint, but I ended up picking St. Maria Goretti.

So, St Joan had sass, okay? Like, these Chruch authorities were asking her questions about her Voices, and she shot back really funny/semi-insulting answers. Would you normally think of a saint doing that? No. But the Maid did.

And she also got this military commander who was infamous for swearing to GIVE UP CUSSING altogether. And then they ended up becoming super close friends. Seriously, just read any book about her, and then you tell me if you don't ship the friendship of Joan and La Hire!

*sighs* I love when I get overwhelmed with feels about the saints!

4) Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

Clare Vanderpool is just amazing, all right?

Navigating Early was an original way to explore the mind of a boy with autism in the 1940s - which was before anyone knew what it was. I loved how the author portrayed the sort of "out of contact with reality" side of Early's mind, but also the brilliance of it. As a cousin of two autistic children, I have experienced the ways in which they are different from other people, but also the ways in which they are smarter than others in particular areas. I really loved this book. It had an altogether mysterious air to it, which is also something I love in books.  

5) The Boy On the Porch by Sharon Creech

Okay, this is a book for, like, 3rd graders. Why would I like something written for that age target? For one thing, the language was so beautiful. It also fit so much into only a few words. The way in which the author crafted sentences together sounded much more meaningful in their brevity than if she had used as many words as most writers {insert nervous "yeah, that's me" chuckle} do to explain things. This book also had a mysterious air to it. I just really, really loved this book. <3

*** Books I Recently Marked Did Not Finish (please, don't judge me!) ***

1) The Milk of Birds

So, I checked this book out, renewed it, then turned it in and rechecked it out the same day. After all that, I finally started reading it, and... Hehehe. I still didn't ever finish it. Don't get me wrong, I actually thought it was a fine book. I just... I didn't really feel like finishing it. I had other things I wanted to read, and this book didn't interest me enough to finish before getting on to books that I really wanted to start. Fair? 

2) A Step Toward Falling

Okay, can I just say that I honestly didn't know what the point of this book even was? The synopsis didn't do that great of a job summing it up, and I still didn't feel like the book was getting anywhere after I read the first few chapters. So I stopped, because I felt like I was wasting my time. Plus, the characters were just... I didn't particularly like any of them. Or feel anything that they were feeling, I guess. So anyway, I only read a few chapters and will probably not pick it up to try again.

3) The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making

So, this is probably the only book on this DNF list that I might consider trying again... Maybe. That's a strong maybe, actually, with an emphasis on the trying. I thought it was an interesting idea for this book, but I didn't really like its style. I don't know. I feel like the characters were sarcastic in a mean way that wasn't really funny to me. 

4) A Corner of White

This book sounds so enchanting, but I don't really know why I picked it up. I had read reviews by two bloggers I follow who both said that they felt this book was pointless. And they were lovers of YA novels. Why did I think that I would find it better when I am not easily impressed with much from this genre? I think it was mostly a feeling of, "Hey, they actually have a popular YA book that I recognize at my library! I guess that means I should check it out. How bad could it be?" (Plus, the cover was so pretty!) Anyway, I only read the first chapter. It wasn't really anything I read in the book that made me give up on it. I started reading it first, and that's when my logic kicked in. I realized that I shouldn't waste time on something I had already heard wasn't worth it. 

5) The Emperor of Anyplace by Tim Wynne-Jones

You know that feeling you get while reading a book that there is not going to be a really good lesson in the end? I felt this way while reading The Emperor of Anyplace. It was actually an interesting plot, and I was tempted to keep reading it. But I really like a meaningful story. If I'm just going to read for pleasure, I want it to be completely clean and light-hearted. And it's not that this book was terrible... I just... I don't know. I just couldn't finish it. I felt like I wouldn't have had that awe-filled, breathless feeling you get when you finish a really good book if I had finished it, you know? So I didn't.

***

Hmmm, you know what's funny, and what I'm just now noticing? It seems that my most recent 5 star ratings have been all children's books... and my recent Did Not Finish books are all... YA. Does this surprise you? I've told you before that I usually enjoy children's books more than I do Young Adult books. Believe me now?! I guess I love the innocent atmosphere of children's books - I don't have to worry about anything being inappropriate. Even if "mature" topics occur in Children's Fiction, they're usually glossed over, and I don't feel uncomfortable reading them. Or maybe I'm just still a kid at heart. I wouldn't mind that. ;)

So, what do you think about my opinions for each set? Do you love any of the books that I love? Hate them? Have mixed feelings? What about the books I didn't finish wading through? Did you finish them and love them? Do you have a reason why I should finish them? Tell me! I'd love to know these (and other bookish) thingies! Let's talk about all the feels!!!

Oh, and before you go: Did you get squished by my feels??? If you did, I'm sorry but not sorry. You were warned! ;)

- Maddie