Daily Scripture Reading

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

Another reading practice I have been working to cultivate is that of daily Scripture reading. 

On my own, I have a read through the entire Bible plan that I should finish before the end of June. It consists of reading from the epistles on Sunday, the law on Monday, history on Tuesday, the Psalms on Wednesday, Poetry on Thursday, works of prophecy on Friday, and the Gospels on Saturday. For a while there, I was treating one week like a singular day's reading. It was intense, but good. And is now why I'm set to finish in June. I like the variety I experience in a week, however, I do think it is easier to really dig in and study when I go book by book, rather than pop all over the place. Once I am done with this study I would like to do a better job of really digging in when I do my reading, making notes, consulting commentaries, etc. Last year I really dug into the books of the minor prophets, and that was a very fruitful study. I have the time and ability to do such deep-dives right now, and a person gets so much more out of it with a deep study like that rather than a cursory read-through. 

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;

    with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;

    in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness." — Psalm 89:1-2 ESV

Because my plan above does not include the deuterocanonical books, I added those in to my daily reading last month. 

But truth endures and is strong forever, and lives and prevails forever and ever. — 1 Esdras 4:38 NRSV-CI

Additionally, I am (slowly) making my way through John with a friend. This is obviously not my primary Scripture study, but it has been nice to discuss themes and things that stand out with another person. 

He must increase, but I must decrease. — John 3:30 ESV

Read Christie 2021

You can't go wrong with Agatha Christie! I'm taking a very relaxed approach to her books this year, as I have read through her entire canon (save the Westmacotts and her plays) but I have dipped into the #ReadChristie2021 challenge that Agatha Christie Limited hosts. 

"I am not one to rely upon the expert procedure. It is the psychology I seek, not the fingerprint or the cigarette ash." — Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express 🚂 Revisiting Murder on the Orient Express this month [March] for #ReadChristie2021. No, it's not the main pick for the month (Lord Edgware Dies) nor their suggested substitutions. But Murder on the Orient Express has society people in spades, and I wanted to revisit the first Agatha Christie I ever read. 🚂 ⁠And for fun, a second quote because it made me giggle: "I like to see an angry Englishman," said Poirot. "They are very amusing. The more emotional they feel the less command they have of language."

“What an awful place to live in England is... If it isn't snowing or raining or blowing it's misty. And if the sun does shine it's so cold that you can't feel your fingers or toes.” ― Agatha Christie, The Sittaford Mystery⁠ ❄️❄️❄️ For whatever reason, April had itching to re-read this wintery snowed-in, locked room mystery. And ✔️, it hits the mark for this month's #ReadChristie2021 prompt, a story set before WWII. Plus, I got re-acquainted with this gem of a quote: “The Captain's habit of letting off a revolver at real or imaginary cats was a sore trial to his neighbors.” What a neighbor that would be! 😂⁠

Mary Stewart Fan Club

The Mary Stewart Fan Club has been such a fun addition to my reading life this year. I missed the first two books, but I am so glad that my friends' posts were so tempting and convinced me I needed to join. 

The first book I joined with was Nine Coaches Waiting, a new-to-me Mary Stewart. 

"I've been sorely tempted by the #MaryStewartFanClub posts I've seen so far this year. The Moonspinners, This Rough Magic, Wildfire at Midnight, and Touch Not the Cat were favorites in high school, borrowed from my mom's collection. Happily, my library decided to cooperate— they actually had an edition of Nine Coaches Waiting! 🙌🏻🎉💃🏼 Clearly a well-loved copy, at that. It was delightful. I particularly loved the Jane Eyre and Cinderella references. ⁠⁠• And yes, I now have used copies of the next three books for the Mary Stewart fan club reading schedule headed my way courtesy of the USPS, as unfortunately _neither_ library system near me has them in their collections. Clearly a grave oversight. (And yes I requested that the libraries buy them so others do not have to suffer as I have 😝)"

“If a man goes up into Parnassus after sunset, why should he not see strange things? The gods still walk there, and a man who would not go carefully in the country of the gods is a fool.” ― Mary Stewart, My Brother Michael⁠ ❇︎ A (literary) trip to Greece was in order, and Mary Stewart delivered. ⁠Now I am wishing that said literary trip could turn into a real-life trip.

Cue all the delicious gothic vibes with Thunder on the Right, and multiple Ann Radcliffe references (see: The Mysteries of Udolpho). Delightful. ⁠Thanks ThriftBooks for coming through with the vintage 1957 edition featuring our main character Jennifer in a fetching billowy red cape as she paces the High Pyrenees, with the convent grounds of Notre-Dame-des-Orages (Our Lady of the Storms) in the background. ⁠⁠⛈️ Were you aware that thunder on the right is considered a good omen? (At least if you're Greek. And thunder on the left is a good omen if you're a Roman.) ⁠

“People are straightforward enough, on the whole, till one starts to look for crooked motives, and then, oh boy, how crooked can they be!” ― Mary Stewart, The Ivy Tree⁠ • Mary Stewart ⁠transports us to rural Northumberland for this tale of romance, ambition, and deceit. Whitescar is a beautiful old house and farm situated in Roman Wall country. There's deception, mistaken identity, scheming heirs, Roman ruins, long-dead love, and quite possibly my favorite cat book scene ever 😆 • Please enjoy the billowy blue cloak, ruffled sleeves, poofy fur coat, riding boots and strong moustache/hair game that is my vintage The Ivy Tree cover.

“It was the egret, flying out of the lemon grove, that started it. I won’t pretend I saw it straight away as the conventional herald of adventure, the white stag of the fairy-tale, which, bounding from the enchanted thicket, entices the prince away from his followers, and loses him in the forest where danger threatens with the dusk.” ― Mary Stewart, The Moonspinners⁠ ∙ Re-reading The Moonspinners was a delight. The little sister read this story last year, so we were able to chat about it some after I finished, which is always fun. Was decidedly amused at a bit of a throwaway line our main lady Nicola made to her cousin Frances about how Frances' chain smoking habit was bound to give her cancer, given all the smoking that tends to go on in Stewart's novels. Mary Stewart has me wanting to visit Greece yet again, although this time I'm eyeing Crete 🇬🇷⁠ But maybe no murders/attempted murders when I visit? ⁠

"Two things were quite certain: I did not want to go anywhere near Godfrey Manning's boathouse; and if I didn't, I should despise myself for a coward as long as I lived. I had a gun. There was probably a key. I had at least to try it." ― Mary Stewart, This Rough Magic⁠ ⁠🌊✨🇬🇷🐬⁠ Corfu here I come!! Wait, maybe that's not what I was supposed to get out of This Rough Magic? Mary Stewart gives me the travel bug 🤷🏼‍♀️ The delightful vintage copy is my mother's. It was so much fun to re-read this Stewart. I remember it being my favorite out of my mom's small collection when I read it forever ago. All the Tempest references really elevate it. ⁠I'll leave you with a final delightful quote: “I supposed there were circumstances in which it was correct, even praiseworthy, for a girl to bash a man's head in with a lamp while he was kissing her...” Actress Lucy Waring can hold her own 😉⁠

I had a bit of a late start to Airs Above the Ground, the most recent #MaryStewartFanClub installment. That said, I had no trouble catching up! Such a fun, engaging read. This was a new-to-me Stewart, and I loved being thrown into the action as our heroine, Vanessa, tries to figure out why her husband Lewis, who is ostensibly in Stockholm for a business trip, shows up in a newsreel story about a circus fire in Austria. All of this is set against a backdrop of circus life, stolen goods, international smuggling, and an old mystery involving the disappearance of a famed Lipizzaner stallion and his groom. Mary Stewart did not disappoint!⁠

Up next... The Gabriel Hounds! 

Victorian Sensation Bookclub

The Victorian Sensation Bookclub is a group I found recently, and it is so fun! Every few months the two ladies in charge choose a book that we read over the course of the month. They have been reading for a while, and I have had a chance to join in for Wilkie Collins' The Dead Secret and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Henry Dunbar. 

"'The Secret must be told,' answered Mrs. Treverton. 'My husband ought to know it, and must know it. I tried to tell him, and my courage failed me. I can not trust you to tell him, after I am gone. It must be written. Take you the pen; my sight is failing, my touch is dull. Take the pen, and write what I tell you.'” ― Wilkie Collins, The Dead Secret⁠ ⁠🤫 Wilkie Collins, I think you're maybe my favorite Victorian author. (Just don't tell Gaskell.) Was the secret all that surprising? Nah. But I also think it is not supposed to be. The suspense is in how everyone is going to react to the unveiling of said secret. Is this his best novel? No. Was it sometimes melodramatic? Sure. But I was INVESTED. Eccentric secondary characters provided so much humor, from the dyspeptic Mr. Phippen, to the misanthropic Andrew Treverton and his sidekick Shrowl, to the pedantic and stodgy steward, Mr. Munder. And Uncle Joseph was absolutely delightful. I want an Uncle Joseph to play me Mozart on his music box. ⁠🤫

"That which would have been called a crime in a poorer man was only considered an error in the dashing young cornet of dragoons..." ― Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Henry Dunbar⁠ ⚖️⛓️🤫🔍 Henry Dunbar, first published in 1864, includes all the classic ingredients of a sensation novel including murder, fraud, mistaken identity, and a train accident. Is there anything better? Plus, we are (eventually) treated to a clever, relentless detective, Mr. Carter. "... little by little, I put my questions, and keep on putting ’em till every bit of information upon this particular subject is picked clean away as the meat that’s torn off a bone by a hungry dog." ⁠

We will be reading The Doctor's Wife, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon in July next! It's a rewriting of Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, so a group of us will be reading that to prep in June.