March 2018 Books

The Mister Rogers streak slowly turned into a Henri Nouwen streak...

1.  Dear Mister Rogers, Does it Rain in Your Neighborhood?  Letters to Mister Rogers by Fred Rogers. 
This collection of correspondence between families and Mister Rogers is great.  Some of the responses are repetitive, but they show the care and attention of the company. 

2.The Happiest Kids in the World: How Dutch Parents Help Their Kids by Doing Less Themselves by Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchinson. 
Written by two moms who are not Dutch and how living in Holland has transformed the way they parent.  This book was awesome.  It also gave me my Easter Monday breakfast: waffles with dulce de leche and hot chocolate. 

3.  Nouwen Then: Personal Reflections on Henri ed. by Christopher de Vinck. 
I read this book for the essay by Fred Rogers, but I loved the recollections; especially the one by Luci Shaw.

4. Cain and Abel: Finding the Fruits of Peace by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Joani Keller Rothenberg. 
What a wonderful book. 

5.  Anne Frank and the Remembering Tree by Sandy Eisenberg Sasson, illustrated by Erika Steiskal
WOW.

6.  Dare We Be Christians by Walter Rauschenbusch.  I think the first two pages are his finest two pages ever written. 

7.  Genius Born of Anguish: The Life and Legacy of Henri Nouwen by Michael W. Higgins
A biography, sort of.  I was curious how honest folk would be about Henri's homosexuality, they are very honest.  This book and others give his writing such a richer texture and deeper meaning. 

8.  Wounded Prophet: A Portrait of Henri J. M. Nouwen.  same as #7.

9.  Beloved: Henri Nouwen in Conversation with Philip Roderick.  I wasn't very hopeful about this little book, but within the first few pages I was taking all kinds of notes!

10.  Gospel of Mark  still violent.  What did Jesus have against figs?

11.  Befriending Life: Encounters with Henri Nouwen edited by Beth Porter with Susan M.S. Brown and Philip Coutler. 
My favorite book on Nouwen thus far, and to think I almost took it back to the library without reading it...

12.  Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin - more killings (but not in Scotland, this one is set in London).