April 2016 archive

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journey and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. Kellee and Rikki at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts gave the meme a kidlit twist. It’s a great way to reflect on what you’ve read and reviewed the last week and plan what you want to read next. Join up with us and discover what good books other people are reading.

IMWAYR 2015

Our eating adventures have continued this week. I must say how proud I am of my daughter. She is a notoriously picky eater, but she as been open to trying so many new foods in order to improve her health. It’s too soon to tell if the diet is having an effect on the amount of inflammation (and may be difficult to tell its effects from that of her medicine), but she has noticed an immediate improvement in how she feels–no more queasiness from medicine side effects. She’s also thrilled that she’s lost weight while eating more. I suspect all of us will be healthier. We’ve discovered new favorites like the Curried Roasted Chickpeas and Blueberry Turmeric Muffins and Banana Oatmeal Energy Bites. Others, like the roasted cauliflower were not so popular. In addition to enjoying good food, I also enjoyed several good books this week!

I finished…

Faithquakes by Leonard Sweet – I found lots to think about. It’s true of most ages, but times are changing. Churches can learn to embrace the changes in the world or pretend they aren’t happening or protest the changes. The changes keep on happening anyway. Even though this book was published a decade ago, many of the trends have only intensified. Some have taken unexpected (back then) turns, but for the most part Sweet’s understanding of these times still ring true.

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith – Yes! Another quirky romance that springs from a chance encounter. I love these books by Smith. This time Owen (the building superintendent’s son) and Lucy (privileged daughter of world-traveling parents) meet in an elevator. They would have probably ignored each other but they were trapped in the elevator when all the lights and power went out in New York City. They spent the evening exploring the city in the dark before their lives careened off in different directions, Lucy to Europe and Owen to the West Coast. While they spend most of the book apart, neither can forget the other. But can their relationship (whatever it is) move beyond postcards and ignored emails?

In Front of God and Everybody: Confessions of April Grace by KD McCrite – One of my students gave me this book when I was still teaching, and I finally got around to reading it. April Grace is a delightful narrator, full of humor and sass. Her summer just took a nose dive when new snooty neighbors move in next door. No matter how awful the neighbors are, April Grace’s mamma and daddy insist on doing the right thing to help them out. Then her grandma has a new boyfriend, and no one will take April Grace’s complaints seriously. Then her older sister Myra Sue is obsessed with being glamorous, just like the new neighbors. This is a quiet book–but also funny–that explores growing up in the country, the Ozarks to be exact.

I’m currently reading…

Enough Bull: How to Retire Well Without the Stock Market, Mutual Funds, or Even an Investment Advisor by David Trahair – This title caught my eye when I was browsing the new books shelf at the library. I’m not too worried about our retirement savings, but I figured I’d read this to see everything we’re doing wrong. I haven’t read very much, but Trahair seems to be quite contrary about conventional advice for retirement planning. I should enjoy it though I tend to mistrust people who claim to have all the answers and everyone else is wrong.

Coming up…

I finally made it back to the library. Since it’s on the other end of town, I kept planning to go when I had errands up that way, but my daughter kept volunteering to do the errands for me. She wasn’t volunteering to select books for me, though it might be interesting if she did. Here’s the stack I got from the library, along with my copy of Big Magic that came in the mail this week. I suspect I will be jumping around so I can get started with more of these books!

IMG_20160425_095847611_HDR

What good books have you read this week?

Disclosure: I participate in the Amazon Associates Program. If you decide to make a purchase by clicking on the affiliate links, including in the linked picture above. Amazon will pay me a commission. This commission doesn’t cost you any extra. All opinions are my own.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journey and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. Kellee and Rikki at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts gave the meme a kidlit twist. It’s a great way to reflect on what you’ve read and reviewed the last week and plan what you want to read next. Join up with us and discover what good books other people are reading.

IMWAYR 2015

We enjoyed a glorious weekend of sunshine and warm weather that ended with a cookout on Sunday afternoon. It was so different from the weekend before, when we went on a wildflower hike in the snow. Even the poor flowers were shivering that day.

I finished…

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen – Wow!  What a thought-provoking read. I am thankful that throughout my education, many of my teachers have corrected popular misconceptions about history, but I still learned a lot from this book. Even more than Loewen’s willingness to tell the sometimes ignored parts of history, I enjoyed his analysis of why certain things get emphasized and why other things get ignored. The issues he raises have not gone away in the teaching of history. I now have a waiting list for people who want to read it next.

The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal – Another book that makes me think. Each time I read a new essay, I found my own understanding of forgiveness being stretched and challenged. I do not know what I would do in Wiesenthal’s situation. Could I forgive someone who had committed such horrible deeds as the Nazi officer described? I don’t know. I suspect that there is not one right answer for every situation, maybe not even for this one situation. I am glad for the challenge this story and the responding essays give me.

Rose Harbor in Bloom by Debbie Macomber – I enjoyed this story and had no trouble picking up the characters even though it is the second in a series. (No, I haven’t read the first one yet.) Jo Marie Rose opened a bed and breakfast in Cedar Cove after her husband was killed in Afghanistan. Each of the guests that fill the inn during this spring weekend brings secrets from their past that need healing. Annie is throwing a shindig for her grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary, but can’t escape the attentions of the pesky boy who grew up next door to them. Mary confronts her past after her bout with cancer leaves her with questions and regrets about decisions she made. Each of them find peace during their stay,

I’m currently reading….

Faithquakes by Leonard Sweet – I am enjoying the books I have been reading by Sweet, and I find that he comes back again and again to similar themes. Even though these books were written in the 90s/early 2000s, his understanding of postmodern trends apply even more today.

The Inflammation Diet for Beginners – Both my daughter and I struggle with a form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis. She currently has much worse symptoms than I do. She finally decided that she would be willing to try to change her diet to one that is more healthy than the typical teenage diet of junk food to see how it might help. Since she is a notoriously picky eater, I’ve been thrilled that she is willing to try new things. We even ordered this cookbook. Along with the 100 recipes, it provides some  background on the interaction between diet and inflammation. I’ll let you know how we enjoy some of the recipes.

Coming up…

It is time for another trip to the library to see what I can find! I am also waiting for my copy of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic to arrive. I’ve heard such good things about it. I can’t wait to start reading it myself.

What good books have you read this week?

Disclosure: I participate in the Amazon Associates Program. If you decide to make a purchase by clicking on the affiliate links, including in the linked picture above. Amazon will pay me a commission. This commission doesn’t cost you any extra. All opinions are my own.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journey and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. Kellee and Rikki at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts gave the meme a kidlit twist. It’s a great way to reflect on what you’ve read and reviewed the last week and plan what you want to read next. Join up with us and discover what good books other people are reading.

IMWAYR 2015

We are back in the swing of the final weeks of school as my daughter counts down the days until graduation. I’ve been driving lots of back roads and love coming upon surprising sights. This week it was an elephant statue standing on a flatbed trailer in the yard of an abandoned school building. The red, tasseled cloth hanging down its forehead and the sunflower grasped in its trunk made me smile every time I passed it. Meanwhile, back at home we are alternating between mowing the grass and covering the garden plants to protect them from frost. I’ve also had more time to read some great books.

I finished…

Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater – I put off reading this conclusion to the Shiver series because it focuses on my two least favorite characters:  Cole and Isabel. I’m glad I finally read it, though. Isabel has fled to California to try to escape the memories from Minnesota and the wolves and her family’s tragedies, but she can’t seem to find her way. Cole comes after her, but is caught up in the most destructive reality show on the Internet. Somehow these two flawed, damaged people try to find their way back to each other in spite of themselves. Cole and Isabel still aren’t easy to like, but it’s hard to look away from their story.

Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor – My Bible study is back to finish our discussion of this book. It is one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read in a long time. I experience the dark differently now.

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks – Once again I am blown away by Brooks. This one is historical fiction–the story of King David, who united the tribes of Israel and Judah.The writing is breathtaking and the story fills in the parts missing from the Biblical record with imagination and grace. My favorite character is the narrator, the prophet Nathan who dared to speak the truth to David.

The Three Hardest Words by Leonard Sweet – What are the three hardest words to get right and to live right? I love you. Sweet explores the challenges in getting each of these three words right as we live out our faith. Once again, Sweet gives me much to think about and challenges the way I live my faith.

I’m currently reading…

The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal – I read just a few more essays this week. As from last week, they give me much to ponder. Just what are the limits of forgiveness? What do you do when confronted with some of the worst evil the word can devise? Does forgiving mean forgetting? What does it mean to forgive? Who can forgive?

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen – I wasn’t going to start this book yet, but I kept picking it up to sneak a few pages here and there. Now I’m hooked. I thought I was a pretty astute history student. My major in women’s studies opened my eyes to a lot of history overlooked in traditional textbooks, but just in the first chapter I’ve been shocked by what I didn’t know. I can’t wait to finish the rest of the book.

Coming up…

Since April is the month to celebrate poetry, I want to read more poetry this month! I’m sure I’ll find lots of other things to read as well. I just haven’t come across them yet.\

Happy reading to all of you!

Disclosure: I participate in the Amazon Associates Program. If you decide to make a purchase by clicking on the affiliate links, including in the linked picture above. Amazon will pay me a commission. This commission doesn’t cost you any extra. All opinions are my own.