What I'm Reading - February through May

I finished The Mountain of Silence by Kyriacos C. Markides and really enjoyed it. I got much more spiritual encouragment and advice than I had anticipated from my initial perusal of this book. Highly recommend.  

After sharing my January reading blog post with my darling husband, he got me For the Life of the World and Everyday Saints for Valentine's day.  I had to make myself not touch Everyday Saints until I'd finished The Mountain of Silence. Then I devoured it. It was every bit as wonderful as I'd heard. I missed it for weeks when I was done. I have also started For the Life of the World, which is incredible. I am reading it very slowly, because I feel like I really need to pay attention to each paragraph. The depth of truth in this book is stunning and yet subtle. It requires me to pay attention. I'm only a few chapters in so far.

In the interim I read Hannah Coulter, which was very good, as is everything by Wendell Berry, but not, I would have to say, my favorite of his. This one had a greater focus on the reality and brevity of life.  A bit sad.  I also read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It was a bit slower reading at first, at least in comparison to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but definitely entertaining, and picked up quickly toward the end.
My sister-in-law lent me another Terry Pratchett book, Going Postal. It was the best one I've read yet, lots of fun. As soon as I finished, I requested a few more from the library. So now I have Men at Arms and Guards, Guards! waiting for me.  
I just finished re-reading In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. A very good book and this time (having recently read Everyday Saints), I noted many of the similarities between Orthodox monasticism and Roman Catholic monasticism, at least of the Benedictine variety. The only thing that struck me as odd was the reference to the crucifix with the broken knees. What about the scripture "For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken" (John 19:36)?

I still want to pick up a copy of Brideshead Revisited. And I found a book of short stories by Jessamyn West at our local used bookstore and have read a few so far - I loved Cress Delahanty as a girl and was excited to see that she had a greater repertoire.

Also, I should note that the main reason I'm able to keep up with reading after Jenny Wren's birth is the amount of time I spend hooked up to that blessed breast pump.