Finally here with five more mini-book reviews from last year! It’s been a very busy couple weeks, so I didn’t get around to posting one last week. But we are now more than halfway through last year’s book list! And as usual, today’s post is a very eclectic mix, but then, I’m a very eclectic reader.

This is one a friend asked me to read with her, saying it was one of her favorites and she was due for a re-read. Despite absolutely loving L.M. Montgomery (huge Anne fan here!) I had never even heard of this book. I agreed eagerly.

It was an absolutely lovely story. For the first few chapters I wasn’t sold on it — the protagonist frustrated me and I felt she was unlikable with all the complaining about her life rather than actually doing anything about it. But as the tale progressed, it grew sweet and won me over with its unusual love story and core message that both taking charge of your life and service to others are roads to contentment and beauty.

One of my absolute favorite reads last year (and maybe ever), this book was recommended to me by my counselor to help with my chronic and often debilitating intrusive thoughts. I have since recommended it to many friends and family members, and even bought copies for some people.

It really helped me find the key to finding peace with my thought life and stop struggling so much. Even though the book isn’t actually about OCD, the ideas within are applicable to that as well as all manner of negative thoughts and feelings. And even though the authors aren’t writing from a Christian perspective, I believe the methods and philosophy are compatible with a Christian worldview. I highly recommend this one.

This was a book club read, and I was not enthusiastic about it at first. I knew it was about monks in a 14th century monastery, which did not sound interesting to me at all.

I was surprised and charmed. The book is a collection of stories told to a young girl by her mother, stories about a great, great, great uncle, Father Peregrine of St. Alcuin monastery. Both the present-day and far-past storylines were enjoyable, with the tale of Father Peregrine inspiring in its saga of strength, humility, and Christian character. I definitely recommend this one as well!

I read this because I thought that as a sci-fi writer it was high time I read some Philip K. Dick. And I picked this one because the premise sounded fascinating and clever.

And it was a great premise, but the story was odd and filled with unlikable characters, plus I discovered that I really don’t know enough about World War II to fully appreciate the ins and outs of this alternate history version of events. I might have appreciated it more if I had a deeper knowledge of all the politics and events of the time. Even so, it was interesting and I don’t regret reading it. But I think the next Philip K. Dick I pick up will be more traditionally sci-fi.

Continuing with my re-read of Sherlock Holmes — this is the collection of stories that begins with Holmes’s return from his “death” at the end of the last book.

It also contains The Six Napoleons, a story I vividly remember reading for the first time because I actually figured out the solution before Holmes did! There are several fun and iconic Holmes stories in this volume, and reading about the detective and his faithful sidekick will honestly never get old for me!

That concludes this list of books — I will do my best to be back with another five books next week! In the meantime, have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts? If you haven’t read them, are there any that you would be interested in reading?