December 2023 Book Roundup
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Reading Roundup for December
December is FULL of family activities for my family. Church events, a play, family outings, and everything Christmas. I was able to squeeze in some reading time, thankfully, and I have some great recommendations for you!
The Warsaw Sisters - Amanda Barrett
Targeted age: Adult (and possibly mature teens)
Clean: Mostly. Closed door romance. Talk of premarital sex (and regrets) and the consequences of those choices occur.
Christian: More Catholic than Christian
My Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (My favorite book of the month)
From the blurb…”On a golden August morning in 1939, sisters Antonina and Helena Dąbrowska send their father off to defend Poland against the looming threat of German invasion. The next day, the first bombs fall on Warsaw, decimating their beloved city and shattering the world of their youth.
When Antonina's beloved Marek is forced behind ghetto walls along with the rest of Warsaw's Jewish population, Antonina turns her worry into action and becomes a key figure in a daring network of women risking their lives to shelter Jewish children. Helena finds herself drawn into the ranks of Poland's secret army, joining the fight to free her homeland from occupation. But the secrets both are forced to keep threaten to tear the sisters apart--and the cost of resistance proves greater than either ever imagined.”
Amanda Barratt is a new author for me as a reader, and she didn’t disappoint. This was my favorite novel of the month! I’m really glad I made the decision to buy the paperback rather than read this on my Kindle, as I feel this needs to be read slower and more intentionally.
Throughout this book, both sisters find themselves struggling with their belief in The Lord (how does a good God allow such evil?), which is a great way to bring us to discussions about God’s sovereignty. As Christians, we all must face and answer that question at some point in our walk with the Lord. We really see how the twins mature and grow through the story. Barratt takes the sisters from young women to mature women, and we see them transition from scared girls to fighters by the end of the story. We see their faith grow and mature as they mature themselves. We also see their relationship grow and mature with each other. I love the bond between these two women and how it shines forth through every situation, even when the characters didn’t realize it themselves.
I found myself talking about this book with my husband when I wasn’t reading it. The stories of WWII Poland are not ones we hear often. My husband is a WWII buff, and even he hadn’t heard much of the stories (the real stories in the background of the sister’s fictional story) portrayed here. Barratt has a way of writing these stories and giving you a history lesson at the same time.
While I don’t want to dive into spoilers, but I do want to make some content known before you make a decision to give this book a try for yourself or for your mature teens.
Physical intimacy is discussed. While we don’t read any details other than a kiss, we know what happened in the following scene. This decision is not glorified and there is instant regret.
Next, this book is more Catholic than Christian. There are Christian themes, but we’re not reading about the gospel in this novel. We read about the prayers they characters recite and things of that matter, but that makes sense in this story because the characters are Catholic. I wasn’t expecting to read a transcript of the gospel here, however, I did want to explain that as a Protestant reader.
Being that this book is about WWII and the German occupation of Poland, we’re going to read about violence and death. But Barrett has a way of writing these scenes where you know what happened, but it’s not gory or glorified violence. She isn’t writing violence for the sake of being violent.
American Christmas Stories by Nicki
Targeted age: All ages
My Rating: 5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When I saw Nicki Truesdell post about her new book, American Christmas Stories, I knew I had to get it. My 7th grade son is taking an American History course, and I wanted to add this into our collection of books for December. This book didn’t disappoint!
This is Volume 1 and spans the years 1773-1926. It’s a larger book than I was expecting! Each entry is a speech, letter, or short story for you all about Christmas in early America. These include eyewitness accounts and first hand knowledge of life in America. I love that the dates are also published with each entry. We get a real, first hand account of how early Americans celebrated Christmas. There are also pictures sprinkled throughout the book (which I loved!).
This book includes:
Christmas in Chicago
Christmas Dinner & Christmas Cheer (1880)
An Engineer’s Christmas Story (1899)
A Hunter’s Christmas Dinner (1901)
Christmas in America (1902)
Address at the 150th Anniversary of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton by Calvin Coolidge (1926)
Christmas on a Virginia Plantation (1773)
…and more!
This book is published by Knowledge Keepers. I’m eagerly awaiting more in this series. I recommend adding it to your history curriculum or using as a stand alone read aloud in your homeschool. The stories are short enough for a morning basket or add-on to a subject.
A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens
Targeted age: Middle grade and up
Clean: Yes, but obvious talks of ghosts
Christian: Christian themes
My Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If I could sum up this book in one sentence, it would be this; great story, horrible theology. This book focuses on doing good works and having good attitude is what makes a person “good”. We know from Scripture that no one is good (Mark 10:18) and doing all the good deeds in the world won’t get you into the Kingdom (Ephesians 2:8-10). Only Christ saves, and we cannot save ourselves.
Now, onto the actual story…This is the classic tale of Scrooge and his grumpy attitude. He meets 3 spirits, the ghost of Christmas past, present and future, to show him the error of his ways. Scrooge turns from his selfish ambition and grumpy persona and turns his life around. Sounds good on the surface, and the story itself was really good. Theologically, however, it’s in grave error. Only Christ can truly change a man, and Scrooge looks to these Spirits as his savior. He mentions going to church, and we have a lot of Christian lingo sprinkled throughout the text (“God bless us, every one!”). There’s no talk of Christ, sin, or real salvation in this book.
It’s kind of on the same level as “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Good story, bad theology. Who gets the glory in this story? Scrooge and the ghosts, or Christ? Certainly, it’s not Christ.
I do feel like this story would be a good one to read and discuss with our children. Can works based religion save us? Can we do enough good deeds to outweigh the bad? Will Scrooge be allowed into the Kingdom because he helped Bob? Lots of opportunities here to talk with our kids.
The Christmas Promise (novella)
Targeted age: Teen & up
Christian: Yes
Spice: Just kissing
My Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a cute book that I read after the kids went to bed one night. It was just a novella, so it was a quick read. Very cute little love story with just light kissing at the end. Clean, sweet, and the descriptions of the home, setting, and dresses captivated me.
Fear Has a Name
Targeted age: Adult
Spice: Closed door romance. Gives the illusion of sex in a couple of places between married couples. One mention is a little more in depth, but not descriptive.
Trigger Warnings: A pastor is depressed and suicidal. A woman is kidnapped by a stalker, held against her will.
Christian: Yes
My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My favorite genre is suspense, so when I saw this book on Kindle Unlimited, I grabbed it. This is a new to me author, so I went into it blind. Overall, the story is really good. The main character does a few things that were head-slapping, but the plot needed to advance that direction so I understood. It was still annoying, though 🤣
I would pick up other books by this author. I enjoy fast-paced suspense books, and this one was good.
The Advent of Glory
Targeted age: All ages
Christian: Yes
My Rating: 5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was our family devotion for the month of December. If you have been around my channel for long, then you know I collect RC Sproul’s books. I have a wide collection. This one just released, and the devotions are taken from Sproul’s Christmas sermons. Prayers are added at the end of each one from others such as Steve Lawson and Joni Eriksson Tada. This was a beautiful deovtional.
Happy reading!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Mandy
