Book #16

It's like I'd forgotten how to read - or at least lost the will to open the next cover and spend the time and energy it always takes me to become part of the story inside.

For months it's been like that.

I've even found myself dreading the books I've been reading to the girls, sometimes skipping nights with the "You shouldn't have watched that movie before bed - now it's too late" excuse much too often.  When is it EVER too late to read the next chapter of a book to your children?!  I even started book A.D.D.ing with their books, and sometimes set aside classics like "Call of the Wild" to go watch a mindless chick-flick.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??!!" I blurted out to the mirror (I tend to stare at myself in accusatory ways in the hopes that I can guilt myself into changing.  It's never worked, but for some reason, its usually the first thing I do when I feel bad...TMI? <giggle>.)

The answer came after we finished our second week of homeschool and I finally felt like I had a little routine going...

I am apparently completely incapable of doing two things at once.  It was why I couldn't diet while going to college and why I've (rather conveniently) been unable to remember how to do housework since graduating.  When I'm focused heart and soul on one thing...I just don't have the gumption for anything else.

Lazy?  No will power? I dunno. But, I'm going to cling to something a darling, sweet friend said. "Well, that means that the ONE thing you're doing is going to come out well.  If it's got all of YOUR attention - its bound to be good."  XOXO

Okay, okay...that's not going to work.

So - at the recommendation of my mother (God Bless that woman's soul for putting up with me the past...well, forty years!) I picked up "Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President" by Candace Millard. (It's "professional" breakdown is here.)

It is a great book; a book about the "what ifs" of History, the dark ironies of Time, and it continuously evoked thoughts of another America that "could have been" had our 20th president not been assassinated by a completely loopy psychopath with delusions of grandeur. I liked the author so much that the next book I'm reading is by her as well. (See it on the sidebar under "The Book I'm Reading Now".)

Yes.  I went back to what I do best, History, to get those "juices" flowing again.  The good news is - it worked!  The book bug is back but I've since discovered that I am seven (SEVEN !!) books behind schedule for my goal - so there is going to be some serious Kindle Fire happening here! (Oh, Lordy - I do love that thing...but if I must be honest...my next book is a hardcover.  And so is the next. But I promised that  I would never go back through my rantings and ravings about the feel of a good hardcover...)

Uh-oh, you say!  But what about that "problem" you have with only being able to do one thing at a time?  What about the housework, and homeschooling the girls?

Heck - Hubby's been doing the dishes and laundry all of this time anyway - and maybe I can just read all of those books out loud to the girls as I go...
                                       ...surely that counts as homeschooling....right?

<wink>

Onward and Forward!!

She Lives!!!

Life is known for throwing curve-balls, even in our best laid plans.

I finally graduated this May and thought of nothing more than all of those books I'd be able to annihilate throughout all of those "wide open" days to come.

Day One: I made a pot of my favorite tea. I picked up the next book on my list.  I read the first sentence.

"Ahhhh...." I thought.

Then I read the first sentence again...

The buzzer went off on the dryer.

I read the first sentence again...

Needless to say, I have not yet gotten to the second sentence in that book and two months have passed!

Don't be fooled - that's not to say I haven't been reading!  I've devoured two novels with the girls - each night hopping on the bed and giggling with anticipation about what that next chapter might hold.  (Friends, if you ever have a moment, read "Mara, Daughter of the Nile."  It is part of Emily's reading curriculum...mystery, romance, murder, a genuine heroine...all of it was in there done in such a tasteful way.  Kind of like a good movie on the BBC, you know?  No smut - just page turning good!)

And now I'm neck-deep in nutritional books.  For those of you that don't know my little family that well, you would'nt know how intestine-ally challenged we all are - and frankly, the Momma's sick of it!!  I was gaining weight and felt horrible, Brad was fatigued constantly, Emily and Tink were being prescribed medication to get them "regular"....ugh. Soooo....I went to work - aaannd, EUREKA!

We've been talking for years really about changing what we ate, how we ate it and where the food we ate came from.  But, I couldn't get all of the pieces to fit.

That changed with one moment of indecision on movie night.  Brad was out on a train and the kiddos were sleeping so I chose a movie with a cool cover.  Seriously - that's how I picked it.  "Forks Over Knives." ...and our lives will never be the same.

So, I've been reading quite a few medical publications, recipe books, and now two books written by some incredibly intelligent doctors...I say that because they've cured my family of EVERY problem that each of us had.  Thank. you. God.

To me, that's what reading should be all about - Life Changing and Miraculous.

So, no, my book list is not being checked off just yet.  I feel "the call" every once in a while...but I just got a new nutrition book in the mail today so...it may still be a few more days yet!

Hope all of you are traveling to incredible places between the pages this summer!  Would LOVE to hear what ya'll are reading! ;)

Onward and Forward!

Book #15

People always ask me, "how do you have time to read, with kiddos, a household to run, and school...?"

Folks, my answer is simple. 

Those things all suffer when I find a really good book.  And for twenty-four hours, no teeth were brushed, no dinner was made, no homework was done - unless somebody else did it - while I read Half Broke Horses.

Shocking, right?

Well, I can't exactly explain why I couldn't put the book down, other than to say that from now on, when someone says the words "real life" for the rest of mine, I will forever envision the sights, sounds, smells, and truths of this book and what Lily Casey Smith lived through.  She was gritty, no-nonsense, real, and lived by lessons like:

"...even though I was getting a better education at home than any of the kids in Toyah [her hometown] I'd need to go to finishing school when I was thirteen, both to acquire social graces and to earn a diploma.  Because in this world, Dad said, it's not enough to have a fine education.  You need a piece of paper to prove you got it."

(Funny - even back then people gave homeschoolers grief!)...

and

"I had learned a lot [in Chicago] - about myself and other people.  Most of those lessons had been hard ones.  For example, if people want to steal from you, they get you to trust them first.  And what they take from you in not only your money but also your trust."

I will also forever wonder where the moral and work ethic disappeared to that people like Lily lived by throughout the early decades of the 20th century...absolutely incredible.

The people that reviewed this book claimed it was "Little House on the Prairie" for adults.  I saw it more as a "Little House on the Prairie" reality TV show with happenings that I wouldn't have survived through the first page!

Great read with the voice of a woman you can swear you are sitting next to...no, not sipping on tea, more like slamming back a whiskey.

Thanks, Nancy, for another great book!! :)

Onward and Forward to Book #16!!!

Book #14

Well, once again I have to admit that I wasn't very open-minded when I started this book.  Ever since I took that "Science Fiction Literature" class at the way-too-early hour of 8 o'clock in college, I have dreaded reading sci-fi books.  To be completely honest, I totally stereotyped the people I thought that enjoyed such writing and convinced myself that those people were entirely too logical, technical, and had way too much hand-eye coordination to be someone I could relate to. (Yes, I'm also admitting that I lumped sci-fi lovers with video-gamers...I've confessed already to being a total book snob!) :)

I've recently discovered that this stereotypical person that I'd "pooh-poohed" for so long as "not my crowd" included my own mother.  Whoopsie.  And, now...another confession.

I loved this book. 

Probably not for the reason that a "normal" sci-fi lover would (oops, there I go again...) I actually fell in love with Ender, in a "momma" kind of way. In the end, his humanity was incredible despite what he was put through before he'd even reached adolescence. 

I am purposefully NOT going to go into any detail about the book because I am petrified of giving away any secrets....I will only say that I was totally shocked by the ending...

...and in keeping with my snobbery...I would like to complain about the last sentence...AFTER you read it.

Thanks, W.R., for the suggestion!  And for all of you Sci-Fi lovers, I guess I've joined your ranks...though I still have absolutely no tolerance for video games! <lol!>

Onward and Forward to Book #15!

Some A.D.D. reading...

 (And those that pretend that they're not!)

This book was so much more than I expected…

Honestly, a lot of Christian inspirational or self-help books can leave a bad taste in my mouth.  The people writing them strike me as judgmental, or whiny, or “too good to be true” and I usually throw the book aside in frustration.

This book was the complete opposite.  I actually hi-lited, scribbled, wrote notes in the margins, and relished every word.  Sheila Walsh “gets it.”  She chucks her Bible when she’s mad, she yells, she asks the tough questions – it’s all out sabotage on the lies that your spirit has been told and she won’t stop until you “get it” too.

We’ve all been broken in some way in our lives, and when that happens, we have a tendency to drift away from the peace we’re promised by Jesus.  Sheila Walsh tugs you back in these pages, reminding you of those promises, and illustrates how that brokenness can actually bring you the relationship you’ve always wanted with Him in an intimate, love-filled way.

A definite must read for all people who struggle with the “why me/us, why now?”  and the “Where ARE you, Lord?!!”…even if you’re “pretending you’re not.”

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com http://BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html

Book #13

As school is finally in the homestretch I thought for sure I would have more time to read, but reality is quite the opposite.  I find myself sneaking off at strange times of the day and night to catch a few lines now and then, but I've been unable to do anything substantial. 

It was different when I was reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God." I truly believe I could have gotten a better score on my last Evidence test if I had quit picking up that book to steal away to another time...and to another place.  Written in southern black dialect from the earlier decades of the 1900's, I had to read each and every word syllable by syllable, each paragraph line by line - and it was delicious.

It's perhaps another story, like "To Kill A Mockingbird", that I can't add any extra thought to or make any remarks that haven't been made...but what a story! (So I won't do it any injustices, it's "blurb" is here.)

What a woman, Janie, the lead character is!  She is proof positive that no matter what your situation, your education, your color, your gender, your prospects...love is love - the way it leaves you wanting and dreaming; the determination to find it and the surprise that you feel when it comes, and the situations you find yourself in when its "true."

My favorite part of Miss Zora Neale Hurston's writing is the way she describes things that most of us take for granted.  Like, instead of just saying, "The sun rose..."

...the line is written,
"Every morning the world flung itself over and exposed the town to the sun."  

Oh, the extravagance of the sun just simply rising!  That is the essence of this book...the extravagance of every day life...told like you've never read it before, I'm positive.

This is by far NOT an "easy read."  Not that it begs for Cliff notes, but it is slow going because of the dialect. I will promise you though that if you take the time to read it, word by word, line by line - you'll find yourself sneaking away and avoiding things you're supposed to be doing just like I did...  :)

Thanks, Kim W., for another great suggestion! :)

Onward and Forward to Book #14!

Just Checking In...

Didn't want you all to think I'd given up...but after "To Kill A Mockingbird" it was really hard to concentrate on anything else. (How do you pick a book to follow up Harper Lee's magic?)

 I've been reading a couple of books that were not on my list to help me "get back into the groove."

I finished a great book by Sally Clarkson that really helped to refresh my "mission" as a mother.  She has such a sweet, accepting outlook on motherhood that reminds me that there should be no expectations of perfection in my role as the temporary protector, nurturer, and guide to these incredible "little people" that God has lent to me.  And, I feel so validated in her reflection on what I'm actually trying to accomplish here...to raise intelligent, thoughtful, loving, responsible, Godly children that I will one day send out into the world to continue the cycle.  That in itself sounds nearly impossible for one person to do, and I have always complained that there was no "manual" for parents to follow to help in raising children.  Mrs. Clarkson gently reminded me that there is indeed a book full of all we need to know to raise great kids laid out in 66 easy to read chapters...the Bible!  Excellent book! (Of course I mean "The Mission of Motherhood" AND the Bible!!)

The other book I'm reading (and relishing) is Robert K. Massie's "Peter The Great", an 800+ page tome that I dove into after a great lecture on Russian history.  HAD to know more! 

This one will take me a bit...so I can officially start back on my list and...

on to Book #13..."Their Eyes Were Watching God."   I've been told I will need Cliffnotes for this book, but I'm going to give it a try without and see what happens!

Onward and Forward!!