Fall Into Reading 2011

Well, today is the first day of fall. That means cooler weather should be coming our way...eventually. I'm planning on lots of Starbucks this fall and lots of reading. Callapidder Days is hosting the Fall Into Reading challenge again and I have my list ready. I picked most of these books randomly, so there really isn't much rhyme or reason to my list.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff

Jillian Dare by Melanie M Jeschke

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton

Courting Morrow Little by Laura Frantz

Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee

A Sound Among the Trees by Susan Meissner

A Distant Music B J Hoff

Bad Ground by  Dale Cramer

In the Arms of Immortals by Ginger Garrett

 The Inheritance of Beauty by Nicole Seitz

I've had some of these books a ridiculously long time, so I am looking forward to getting them read. Or at least deciding not to read them. We'll see how it goes. I'll give an update and some book reviews in December when the challenge is over. Wow! By then it will be almost Christmas! Oh well, happy fall and happy reading.

Book Review: The Skin Map

Kit Livingstone always thought his grandfather Cosimo had deserted his family. He went to the market one day and never returned. Imagine Kit's surprise when Cosimo shows up almost one hundred years after his disappearance and tells Kit and amazing story of traveling through time. Kit is a little skeptical, until he makes the journey for himself. This is how The Skin Map begins.

The Skin Map is a fun beginning to The Bright Empires series by Stephen Lawhead. Throughout the story, the characters travel through "leys" which are roads that lead to parallel universes. All of these universes have been mapped out by a previous traveler and tattooed on his body. When he died, the map was removed and eventually lost. Kit and his friends must find the map before it falls into the wrong hands.

The Skin Map is a fast paced, enjoyable story. The time travel element makes it easy for characters to show up in unexpected places, and, some times, to get lost. I had some trouble keeping track of everyone. I had to go back a couple of times to figure out who was where and what they were doing, but overall it was a fun read with enough suspense to make me want to read the next book. I would recommend The Skin Map to anyone who enjoys the Science Fiction or Alternate History genres.

I received this book free from BookSneeze for the purpose of review.

Book Review: Desiring God by John Piper

Well...I am going to come right out and say it. I really struggled reading this book. I agree with with what the author is saying, but I found it very difficult to read. It came highly recommended by my father-in-law who is a pastor, so I know it's good. I have read two other books by John piper that I really enjoyed. He has a very warm writing style. I think the content was a little too technical for me right now.

I received this book for free for the purpose of review from Waterbrook Multnomah.

You Can't Mess Up Kindergarten

I was talking to my niece a few weeks ago about home schooling. She has a pre-schooler and she  was sharing some of her concerns about starting up, so I thought would share some of the resources I've used over the years. I don't do formal schooling until kindergarten, and even then I keep it light and fun. I have home schooled 2 Kers, and they have both turned out fine. My mantra is "you can't mess up kindergarten". So...here are some of my favorite resources and curricula.

Five in a Row: This is what I use as my spine. It uses literature based unit studies to cover social studies, language arts, fine arts, applied math (I don't do formal workbook math until 1st grade), and science. There is a list of picture books in the front of the book. Each week you choose a book. Everyday you read the book and cover one subject. There are several lessons to choose from. You can do as many as you want or only do one. I have used this since the first day I home schooled. I love it.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons: This is the reading curriculum I used. It's pretty dry, but it gets the job done. After the whole manual is completed your child should be reading at about a 2nd grade level.

A Reason for Handwriting: This is a traditional handwriting approach. It uses scripture for practice which makes it easy to incorporate Bible memory into your routine.

That about sums up how I did kindergarten. We were always done by lunch time, which left the afternoon for rest, free play, and lots of snuggling on the couch with a good book. As far as socializing goes, I never did much outside of church activities and programs. If your church doesn't have much for school age children I would recommend finding an AWANA program or something similar in your area. I would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have about home schooling. Just remember: You can't mess up kindergarten!



July Reads

I had a great reading month. I love looking back over what I read and seeing what I liked and didn't like. Did I read all about one time period, or was my reading diverse? This month it was pretty diverse, and that always gives me a feeling of accomplishment. And, without further ado, here is my reading list for the month of July.

*She Walks in Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems by Caroline Kennedy
This was a really beautiful book. Caroline Kennedy collected the poems and put them into different categories such as love, work, marriage, motherhood, etc. I appreciated the fact that she chose to include several passages of scripture like 1 Corinthians 13, Song of Songs 2 and 3, Proverbs 31, and Ruth 1:16-17. She also included a prayer by St. Theresa of Avila and The Shaker Hymn. There was a section with poetry about lovemaking that made blush, and several rather blunt poems about menopause and a young woman's coming of age.

How Do I Love Thee by Nancy Moser
This is a fictional biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her relationship and marriage to Robert Browning. It was a little slow in the beginning, but picked up once Robert started coming around. I learned some interesting things about Elizabeth. She was very sickly most of her life, and her father was a controlling tyrant who wouldn't let any of his children marry. This was an excellent follow up to She Walks in Beauty.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
In my old age, I have grown tired of beautiful people falling in love with beautiful people. There is none of that in Jane Eyre. She is plain and he is downright ugly, but she is the only truly good thing in his life, and he is dark and mysterious. They can't help but fall in love. If you've never read Jane Eyre, I would recommend you do. It's long, and you may not like it, but please give it a try. Watching a movie version is not enough. So much scripture is quoted throughout this book, and they never put that in the movies. It was also wonderful to see a heroine committed to doing what was right even though it brought her grief. I read this book in high school, and enjoyed it. I read it as an adult and adored it. I want to be Jane Eyre when I grow up.

*The Virginian by Owen Wister
This was a very different book for me. It's a romantic western set in the 1890's.  The language was a little hard to get used to, but ,overall, I enjoyed it. That Virginian was quite a man.

*Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy
This was my first Maeve Binchy book. I had been meaning to read her for a while, but had never gotten around to it. So many books.... Her books are all set in Ireland. This one was set in a small community in Dublin. I liked the book and it moved along quickly. It was about a young man who finds out he has fathered a child. The mother dies and wants him to raise the baby. The story centers around him and the people in the community who help him get his life together so he can keep the little girl. It isn't a romance. It's just a book about people and their lives, but I found it charming.

Unspoken by Francine Rivers
This was not my favorite Francine Rivers book. It is about Bathsheba and David and all that mess. A quick read, but not a great one.

Fireflies In December by Jennifer Valent
I didn't know much about this book going in, but it turned out to be a really great read. It's a coming of age story about a girl in the depression era south. She and her family take in her best friend after she is orphaned. Her best friend is black. This causes problems in their (racist) community. It was a great story, although sometimes I felt the protagonist was a little stupid, and I wanted to shake her. I cut her some slack since she was only 13. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

*Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosney
I was worried this book was going to be one of those books you have to slog through. You know the kind...heavy, depressing, and preachy. It wasn't any of those things. It centers around a journalist's investigation of the round up and deportation of  French Jews by the French government. The Jews were sent to Auschwitz. Most of them were children and most of them were killed. The journalist's discoveries change her life and the lives of the people around her. It was a very bittersweet story. I'm still thinking about it.



*This is not a Christian book. There may be some bad language and other "stuff " in it.

Wordless Wednesday: Our New Neighbors

June Reads

Here is the lowdown on my reading this month.

Dearly Loved ~ Bonnie Blythe ~ B

Cute chick-lit/romance. I got it for my Kindle for 99 cents. I think it was self published, but still a good read. A man walks back into a woman's life. They were 'friends' in high school. She was a nice girl, he was a player. Now he wants to settle down and get serious.

Last Light ~ Terri Blackstock ~ B

Good, fast paced thriller/mystery. I got this one free for my Kindle. Something causes all technology world wide to stop working. The book focuses on one family learning how to survive with no electricity, cell phones, xbox, facebook...you get the picture. There are three more in the series that I want to read eventually. I will say the writing was not all that great, and one of the characters was really annoying, but the story was fun.

Dug Down Deep ~ Joshua Harris ~ A

Review here.

On Who is God ~ Mark Driscoll ~ A

Another Kindle Cheapie. Very good, short, easy to read explanation of  God and why we believe what we believe. There is a series of these books on different aspects of the Christian faith, and I hope tho read them all. Highly recommended.

The Great Divide ~ T. Davis Bunn ~ B-

I originally gave this book a C+, but I decided that was a little harsh. It is a political/legal thriller which aren't really my cup of tea. It is about a lawyer who takes on an unwinable case against the Chinese government and a large American corporation. There is a good twist at the end.

The Potluck Club ~ Linda evens Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson ~ B+

Kindle freebie. I liked this book. It reminded me of The Yada Yada books. A group of friends meet every month to 'pray' together. Mostly they eat and gossip. By the end of the book they begin to know what real prayer looks like, and have grown closer together. There are some yummy sounding recipes at the end of the book too. I plan to read the next 2 in the series as soon as I can get my hands on them.

Alice's Tulips ~ Sandra Dallas ~ B+

Disclaimer: This is not a Christian book. That being said I really enjoyed it. It is clean, and I don't remember any bad language. There are some adult themes, and the author gets her opinion about abortion in a couple of times.The story is set during the Civil War in Iowa. It is told in letters between Alice and her sister. Alice does a lot of growing throughout the book, which is good, because she starts out rather petty and selfish. Even though it is not a Christian book, Christianity is present and treated respectfully for the most part. I plan on trying out another book by this author at some point.

Well, it looks like the best books I read this month were theology books. I added my favorites to the side bar. If you read any of these let me know what you think.