Welcome to the June 2019 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart AND CatholicMom.com!

Do you read and/or listen to many books simultaneously? I’m usually listening to one audiobook and reading one ebook or paperback at a time. Occasionally, I’ll add another that I’m reading bit by bit. My husband has so many going I can’t keep track. One that sparked by interest is The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys are Struggling and What We Can Do About It by Warren Farrell and John Gray. The blurb describes it as: “A comprehensive blueprint for what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our sons become happier, healthier men, and fathers and leaders worthy of our respect.” It touches on mental health, fathering, and education. As a father of two boys and a Cub Scout and Boy Scout Leader, this topic is of great interest to him.

Did you know whole books are written about sleeping in hammocks? Me neither. Enter The Ultimate Hang: Hammock Camping Illustrated by Derek Hansen. Whether you’re looking to lounge in your home, back yard, or intent on serious trail hiking, this book has tips and many illustrations for setup as well as staying warm, dry, and bug-free. Done right, the hammock should be more comfortable than the ground.

Laura Frantz writes sweeping sagas filled with longing, heartbreak, and romance in the broadest sense of the term. In A Bound Heart, Magnus MacLeish, laird of a Scottish isle, is alternately drawn to and pulled away from his childhood friend, Lark MacDougall. Exiled from their beloved home, they are sent as indentured servants across the Atlantic to America. The narration is very well done with heartfelt emotion and Scottish accents that seem, at least to this uneducated ear, to be on point. Filled with lovely imagery and strong, honorable characters.

I’ve just finished The Hidden Legacy: A Novel by Carrie Sue Barnes. Through this novel and Ellen Gable’s Great War-Great Love series, I’ve come to learn about the service of American nurses in France during World War I. This story is split between France during WWI and the beginning of the 21^st century, moving between nurse Annie’s tumultuous past serving wounded soldiers and her relaying the tale to her granddaughter Laurel eighty-three years later. I was drawn into the characters’ lives and their attempts to love bravely and freely while letting go of past hurts.

For the last fifteen minutes or so during weekly adoration, I’ve been reading The World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God by Fulton J. Sheen through FORMED. In each chapter, I highlight beautiful and profound insights that I’m eager to share. Venerable Fulton Sheen’s clear thinking and wisdom are evident on every page. It’s a mix of spirituality, history, and theology.

The last book for my son’s sophomore literature class is Thomas Bolt’s play A Man for All Seasons. The class reads portions of the play aloud together and other parts independently. I’m looking forward to watching the Oscar-winning movie adaption of this story of St. Thomas More’s conflict with Henry VIII with him once the school year ends.

With the long days of summer looming ahead, my daughter has decided to give the rather long but beloved classic Little Women by Louisa May Allcott a try. We watched the movie adaption featuring Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder several months ago, and I think my daughter will come to love the book.

Eager to have a cavy of her own, my daughter is also reading Guinea Pigs by Kay Ragland. The pictures of the cuddly creatures are adorable, but there is also a lot of information about breeds and care though this book was written in the 1980s.

Many, many nights in our home end with my youngest son requesting Secrets of the Rainforest: A Shine-a-Light Book by Carron Brown. Armed with my book light, the kids take turns shining it behind the pages to reveal the hidden creatures in the rain forest: the tapir, the leaf-cutting ants, the sloth, and more. Another quality book from Usborne!

In anticipation of his older brother’s birthday, my little boy also borrowed Click, Clack, Surprise! (A Click Clack Book) by Doreen Cronin. The wry farm animals in this series of books entertain me as well as the kids, and this birthday-themed story centered on a duckling trying to ready himself for a party is cute.

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