Our Guest:
Reader and artist Kelly Curtis. A serendipitous meeting through Facebook has lead to this wonderful discussion and her sharing of her alternative book covers from last year’s reading. More of Kelly’s art can be found and purchased on Etsy in her shop EudemoniaArt.
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“It all started with Miss Prim.
For many years, I was convinced of a tragic lie: that novels were lesser things than non-fiction. In my youth, a novel was a school assignment to trudge through, because some conclave of intellectuals blessed it with merit. At best, the story within would relate to some "real" thing of interest. This conviction became less of one over time. And it changed completely in January when the ancient widow character in The Awakening of Miss Prim shook my depths. From there I began novel reading for pleasure; to soften all the hardness; to elevate the soul.
I am not a speedy reader, but I managed 13 novels this year. I painted a little painting for each book, which I happily display here.” -Kelly Curtis
Featured books in this episode:
The Great Divorce CS Lewis
The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
The Awakening of Miss Prim: A Novel by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge
The Dean’s Watch by Elizabeth Goudge
Skyward Novellas by Brandon Sanderson
Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward with Christine Hunter
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
These Are My People: a Biography of Gladys Aylward by Millie Howard
The Proper Place by O. Douglas
Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel by John Guy
The Histories of Earth series by Steven J. Carroll with Joel Froomkin (Narrator) Further information now that I’ve finished the series: book four does have some “religious content” in that they meet a society founded by Ancient Romans and tell them the history that came since Ancient times on Earth including the downfall of their Empire and the influence of Christianity in that time. They are all appalled (lol) to have ever become a monotheistic society. It does not proselytize. I loved this series and cannot recommend it highly enough!
Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl
The Confessions, Revised: Saint Augustine (The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Vol. 1) by Augustine and Maria Boulding (Translator)
The Julian Messner Shelf of Biographies- Link is to our printable series list
The Story of Clara Barton of the Red Cross by Jeannette Covert Nolan
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsk
Kelly’s other covers from last year:
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S2E2 Elevating the Soul Through Fiction with Kelly Curtis