Here shall be my ongoing list of books read in 2008, since so far such has included more than just the list I made for Quest One, or the Book Society selections.
- The Iliad by Homer
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay
- Republic by Plato
- The Bible
- North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
- Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
- Good Grief by Granger Westborg
- Art and the Bible by Francis A. Schaeffer
- Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context by David Instone-Brewer
- Miracles by C.S. Lewis
- 31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew by Ruth and Warren Myers
- How to Stock a Quality Home Library Inexpensively by Jane Williams
- The Epic of Gilgamesh
- The Aeneid by Publius Vergilius Maro
- Confessions by Augustine
- Revelations of a Single Woman by Connelly Gilliam
- A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss by Jerry Sittser
- Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise by Dante
- Comfortable in Your Own Skin by Dr. Deborah Newman
- Candide by Voltaire
- Elements of Style by Strunk Jr. and White
- The Way of a Man With a Maid by Robin Phillips
- Journey of the Heart by Jeannie Castleberry
- Against Depression by Peter Kramer
- Auralia’s Colors by Jeffery Overstreet
- Evangelical is Not Enough by Thomas Howard
- Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster
- Paradise Lost by John Milton
- Milton, Spenser, and the Chronicles of Narnia by Elizabeth Baird Hardy
- Stronger Than You Think by Kim Gaines Eckert
- Where is God When it Hurts? by Philip Yancey
March 10, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Looking forward to regular updates! Ivanhoe is a favourite, as is most Scott. I read North and South a couple summers ago; hope to be able to join the Tea Table/Book Society before that discussion ends (I already missed the Sense and Sensibility discussion).
March 11, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I tried reading Ivanhoe when I was 16 and (sorry!) got stuck on the first page. Maybe I should try reading it again!
Doesn’t Jo March read it? Yes … I’m sure she’s “eating apples and crying over Ivanhoe” when Meg finds her and tells her they’ve been invited to Sally Moffet’s party. Maybe I’ll read it (and refuse to get ’stuck’ again!) after I’ve finished Quest 2.
March 11, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I had the same thing happen some years ago.
It’s worth it, I think. If you can go into it with an idea of the story line, it can help you persevere until things get going…
Right now I am having trouble putting it down! I read about half in the last 24 hours and hope to finish by Thursday and get back to N&S.
March 12, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Scott is very easy to get bogged down in. I am a fan of his (pick the books up in antique stores whenever I can). Every one that I’ve read is very slow for at least one chapter, but then picks up and becomes impossible to put down.
Ivanhoe was the last Scott book I read,so I had already figured this out by the time I got to it.
When I started his The Heart of Midlothian (very different from Ivanhoe; but it was his most popular work among his own countrymen) I had to put it down, because there are six or so chapters at the beginning that on a first reading seem very boring and irrelevant. Later I picked up again, determined to pass those chapters, and it is now one of my favourite books (I highly recommend it!). And those first chapters did turn out to be related to the story:).
Anyway . . .Ivanhoe is definitely worth the effort to get into it.
By the way, did anyone know that Scott was Jane Austen’s favourite novelist and she was his?
~Emma
March 12, 2008 at 1:01 pm
what fun facts, Emma. Thanks for sharing.
March 12, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I have some Scott on my list for this year. You’re making me look forward to it! Has anyone read Lady of the Lake?
March 13, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I love some of Scott’s titles - I can’t remember any of the interesting ones right now (of course!), but if the books are as good as the titles (and you both seem to be sure that they ARE), then …
Anyway, now I definitely want to read Ivanhoe - not because I have to, but because I think I’m missing something good!
I’ll persevere past the first chapter! 
I didn’t know that about Jane Austen and Walter Scott - how fun!
March 13, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Rachel, I have Lady of the Lake, an old scrumptious copy–but it, like most of my books, is packed away and has not yet been read. But hey, if you ladies want, we can do a Scott for the Book Society sometime! Ivanhoe is not a super fast read but it’s only taken me about 4 days…maybe because it’s soooo hard to put down and I read in all those spare moments at work.
March 13, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Definitely in favour of that idea (using Scott in the Book Society)! I haven’t read any of his epics but would love to do so. I have actually memorised the section from The Lay of the Last Minstrel about one’s ‘Native Land’ (it shows up in a lot of anthologies), although I’ve never been able to get ahold of a copy of the book. I might have to overcome my prejudice against reading classics on the internet. . .
Any of the novels would also be fine with me–I’ve only read four so far . . .
~Emma
March 13, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Forgot to add: Another piece of Austen/Scott trivia: In Persuasion, Anne Elliot and Captain Benwick discuss Scott’s epics and compare them to the poetry of other romantics (Byron I think); they specifically mention Marmion and The Lady of the Lake.
I’m afraid I spend time memorising Austen’s novels that could be spent more profitably :).
~Emma
March 14, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Emma, that last line made me laugh.