I did something I never do last night - I stayed up past midnight to finish a book. My latest "assignment" in the Classical Conversations reading list was The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom - her account of her family's experiences living in Holland during World War II. I can't believe I've never read it before. It's the only book on the list that I've had to wait for - and for that I say, good! This is a book that deserves to have a backlog of library requests. Most books I don't care about owning, read it and return it, don't have to dust it. But I want to own this one.
There are so many things I'd like to say about it. For one, this will sound self-righteous at first - but I really identified with Corrie Ten Boom. Obviously not in experiences! But she did not immediately notice the needs of those around her at first, even sometimes later on. She struggled with being more concerned with her own needs and desires than with pleasing God and serving others. She contrasted herself with her sister Betsie, who constantly cared for others more than herself, who was thankful to be sent to a concentration camp so that she could comfort others.
In short, what a convicting, inspiring story. I feel different about my life just by reading it. How much I take for granted. And I look forward to sharing it with the kids when they are older.
The other books on the 8th grade list that I've read so far:
Little Britches: Father and I were Ranchers by Ralph Moody - loved it, loved it, loved it
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls - cried, love it anyway
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - liked it, it's amusing, yet kind of preachy, but I was ok with that by the end
And The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis - a re-read and a favorite, maybe my favorite of the Narnia books, but I like Dawn Treader a lot too. Technically I was supposed to read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, but since I'd read them all, I thought I'd choose an alternate. The kids wanted me to read it aloud to them, but the language in The Horse and His Boy was hard for them to follow, so I read them Prince Caspian instead.
So in short, all these book were very good, but go read The Hiding Place.
