Hi Seán,
The November 1st defense sounds interesting. I hope you enjoy it and also provide support.
I am slowly reading Life in a Jewish Family. She is a detailed writer. I find this material interesting from a field perspective (as I did with Eric Metaxas' s biography of Eric Bonhoeffer). Both Stein and Bonhoeffer were contemporaries (and met the same fate at the hands of the Nazis).
I have not given up on this study of Stein. I think I will be at it for some time to come. Next comes Knowledge and Faith (actually, I've dipped into this already and am reading it alongside her autobiography).
Phil