Miss Bishop

Miss Bishop
Bess Streeter Aldrich
5 Stars

If we could only have more people in this world like Miss Bishop. The story begins with Ella Bishop's first days at Midwestern College. Ella is a lively, spunky girl and the book is her journey through life. She cares for her mother, is a devoted friend and a constant. She is a teacher, and therefore a mother to so many.

Ella Bishop's life is not an easy one, but she never complains. She never takes the easy way out and she always does the right thing. The book has ups and downs. At some points I was so sad I was brought to tears for Miss Ella Bishop and at other points I was literally laughing out loud.

I started Bess Streeter Aldrich's more famous book, A Lantern in Her Hand, for a book club last year and I never could finish it. Miss Bishop was such a touching book that A Lantern in Her Hand is up next on my list.

Pride and Prescience

Pride and Prescience

Carrie Brebis

3 Stars

It was Miss White, with the rope, in the ballroom. This book reminded me of a game of clue. It is a mystery and I picked it to read this week in honor of Halloween. I'm not much of a horror fan, and real life mysteries tend to really freak me out, so this was perfect. It was a fun read, but I must say pretty predictable.

The story starts where Pride and Prejudice ends. Mr. and Mrs. Darcy have just wed when Caroline Bingley announces her engagement and marries an American, when within the same week strange things start to occur. Fires, sleep walking, carriage accidents, even an attempted suicide. I have never been fond of Caroline (who is?!) but I found myself feeling very sorry for her in this book.

The author has a whole line of books based on Jane Austen books that I will be keeping in mind for the future. It's under 300 pages, so if you are looking for a good one-nighter or weekend book this would be something I would suggest.

Wish You Well

Wish You Well

David Baldacci

4 1/2 stars

After suffering through a car crash and losing their father, Lou and Oz are forced to move to the Virgina mountains to live with their Great-Grandmother and invalid mother. The year is 1940 and times in on the mountain and in the small mining communities are struggling. Lou and Oz are struggling to find where they fit in as well.

I loved this story. It's about finding ones self. Finding out what really matters and learning how to love and forgive. I cried and I laughed. I just wonder why I haven't read this before, every person I suggest it to has already read it. Where have I been?

The day I finished the book I was driving home from grocery shopping and I saw an old boarded up farm house and a huge commercial for sale sign in front of it. I wanted to cry. I was sad because with every bit of expansion I'm sure there is a piece of history we are missing. We live in a world where ever one is keeping up with the Jones and trying so hard to be the the biggest and the best. Aren't we forgetting what is really important? Our families. Hard work. Honest living.

I loved this book and I hope to re-read it often. It is a very good reminder of what is important in life.

P & P

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

5 Stars

How could I give Jane Austen anything but 5 stars? What more can be said about Pride and Prejudice?

The first section was hard for me to get through this time. Perhaps because I read while two little ones are running/crawling around. I prefer the last 1/3 of the book. I love the long BBC version of the movie much more than the shorter newer version. For some reason I have also been sparked into reading all sorts of Jane Austen spin offs this season. It's such fun! Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves.l They are my old friends. I have heard you metion them with consideration these twenty years at least."

"Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance."

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment."

"Those who do not complain are never pitied."

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing, after all."

"I was never more annoyed!"

"Handsome men must have something to live on, as well as the plain."

"I am the happiest creature in the world."

Weekly goal

Wow! This month as entirely gotten away from me. I started out very strong and then came to the realization that my baby boy would be turning one soon (less than 2 weeks!) and I had made a goal to have his scrapbook caught up by his birthday.

I only scrapbook my boys first year and include everything else in a separate family album so this shouldn't be a hard tasks, but it has significantly decreased my reading time. The holidays are also approaching. There are so many books I want to finish and ideas I want to post. My goal is to be more consistent, so perhaps a weekly post for now might be a goal I can accomplish.

Today is Monday. Here is to weekly (or more) posting.

Book Swap

It's that time of year again. I promised I would host another book swap. So everyone get ready for the fun! We all love getting new books, and this is such a fun way to get one! You can send one book or more, it's up to you. You can pick a used book you have loved or buy a new one. Recipe books, non fiction, fiction, or even children's are all free game.



Here is the low down:
Send me an email to sign up - wadeanddebbi - at - gmail - .com
Send me your shipping address, type of books you enjoy, any other information you might find useful about yourself and if you would mind receiving children(s) books
Deadline to sign up is one week - MONDAY, OCTOBER 15
I'll send you your special swap someone on -TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16
Packages must be postmarked one week from that day - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23

Friday - Religious

Reading is an essential part of religion to members of all different faiths. No matter what your religious preference, each one has their set of scriptures to study. Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Huss made it possible for each of us to have Bibles in our home. They allowed us all the freedom read and study religion on our own level, on our own time and in our own space. How grateful we should be for this freedom they gave us.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "This Great Book...is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong."

For the past few months I have been reading and studying the New Testament. It has been fascinating to me. This is not the first time I have read or studied it, but each time you find and see different things as a reader. I have been reading the writings of Paul and I love the inspiration in this scripture I found just this past week:
"For God hat not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timonthy 1:7.

I am a creature of habit. I have made it a habit to read from my scriptures every day as my children fall asleep for their nap. I have to do this every day now. This gives me a nice quiet time to read and ponder. It also gives me a refueling time since our afternoons are sometimes harder than our mornings. I have to read straight through a book, so I use a chart so I can mark off what chapters I have read. My husband on the other hand is a subject scripture reader. He loves to be asked questions so he can research them and find answers through his study.

What kind of religious reader are you? Do you have habits? Do you read by subject or straight through? How has this type of reading helped you?

Thursday - Fiction

How well do you know your favorite fiction? I thought I would mix it up today and present a little quiz. Here are the first sentences of works of fiction I randomly pulled from my shelf this morning. I even made it easy and gave you choices to match them up to. Let's see if you can figure it out!

1. On the 24th of February, 1815, the watch-tower of Notre-Dame de la Garde signalled the arrival of the three-mastered Pharaon, from Smyrrna, Trieste, and Naples.

2. Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain. Many years later, Meggie had only to close her eyes and she could still hear it, like tiny fingers tapping on the windowpane.

3. A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple- crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and other bareheaded, was assembled in the front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.

4. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

5. I ran my fingers across the page, feeling the dents where he a had pressed the pen to the paper so hard that it had nearly broken through.

6. A cold December wind was blowing, and Theresa Osborne crossed her arms ans she stared out over the water.

7. The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few years apart in the narrow, moonlit lane.

8. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single girl in possession of her right mind must be in want of a decent man.

9. In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

10. Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened.
~~~~~
a. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
b. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
c. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
d. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowlings
e. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
f. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
g. Inkheart, Corelia Funke
h. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
i. Me and Mr. Darcy, Alexandra Potter
j. Message in a Bottle, Nicholas Sparks

~~~~~
What are you answers? Some are sooo easy! What is your favorite fiction to read? Please share!

Wednesday - Series

Series. A good series of books can over take your life for months, sometimes even years. In Harry Potter's case, 7 years. Harry Potter is among my very favorite series. I would rank it above Twilight. I think that Rowlings development if characters over time was impressive. In this case seven books was perfect. Some even argue that the epilogue should have been continued in a whole other book.



I loved Twilight. I think Twilight is a great love story, and argue with me if you must, but 7 books would be overkill and I think Stephenie Meyer knows that so she is ending with 4. Four books will be perfect. I know many of you can't believe that I'm a Jacob Black fan, but what would the books be without him? Every good love story has to have a twist.


If you loved Twilight, I will say it again - read A Great and Terrible Beauty. There are only two in this series now and a 3rd one coming out later this year. Libba Bray is a witty author. She says in her biography that she loves Target. You can't argue with a girl who loves Target!





Now I must admit, most of the series I love have been LDS Fiction. If you aren't LDS you would still enjoy them, don't' let that scare you off. My top LDS Fiction series would have to be Work and the Glory. This nine book series I read last year. It took me a little over nine months and these are ones I could read and reread. I loved seeing the stories come to life and I was able to visit a lot of the sites where these saints lived. Church history had always been boring to me until I read these books.


Also top on my list of LDS fiction: Dean Hughes. The Hearts of the Children and The Children of the Promise were fun series to read. Each book follows the Thomas family of Salt Lake City. The Children of the Promise is set during WWII and The Hearts of the Children follows the next generation of children through the 1960's. My favorite out of the two had to be The Hearts of the Children, the 60's were fascinating times for me.



What is your favorite series? Do you love the time it takes to read one or find you want to move on to other books and other stories? What about children book series? I loved Babysitters Club, Nancy Drew, American Girls. Did you read series as a child?

Tuesday - Nonfiction

Ahhh, nonfiction, where to begin? I think that my true love for nonfiction began when we were living in Salt Lake City during our undergrad I was a frequent patron of the Downtown Salt Lake City library. This vast library had two huge floors of nonfiction books. I could have spent days and days touring the stacks of book shelves. Anytime I had a question about any subject I would literally drive myself downtown to the library and search out the section on these two floors. By this time my baby would be fussy and I would not be allowed to leisurely browse each book, so I would just check out as many as I could grab and head home to devour my treasures.

Nonfiction sounds boring to most people. Not to me. I love cook books, decorating books, parenting books, self help books, exercise books, health books, craft books, computer books, church, world and American history books, and organization books. Books that teach me how to take pictures, sell things on eBay, create an awesome blog, write well, be a patient mom, be a better wife, scrapbook, teach my kid to read.

I’ve also noticed a pattern that my nonfiction loves change over time. They are always evolving and changing to suite the needs of my life. We went on a vacation to Washington DC last summer. You can bet that I was a frequent visitor to the travel and American history section in the library. Since becoming a parent I have always loved reading new parenting books. I love reading different theories and strategies. I’ve recently started doing many at home school projects with my preschool child. I have never searched the education section of the library until the past month. Why have I lot looked there before?

For this post I have attempted to narrow it down to 5 of my current favorite nonfiction titles and a short quote from inside.

Raising Your Spirited Child
"Spirited – it feels good, sounds good, communicates the exciting potential of these children, and yet honestly captures the challenges faced by their parents. When we choose to see our children as spirited we give them and ourselves hope."
The Read Aloud/How to get your child to love reading
“Neither books nor people have Velcro sides –we don’t’ naturally attach to each other. In the beginning there must be a bonding agent – parent, relative, neighbor, teacher, or librarian – someone who attaches child to book.”
The Encyclopedia of Scrapbooking
Rise to the Divinity Within You, talks from the 2006 BYU Women’s Conference
“May we take time to build our testimonies and our faith, to love and serve, to learn something new, to build family relationships, and to find contentment and joy in who we are and our circumstances. When we spend our time well each day, the sun will shine, we will cast the gospel light into the dark places of this world, and we will make a difference.”
The Writer’s Idea Workshop
“Prompt: You’ve probably had many ideas for writing that you’ve never written down. Here’s your chance to do it. Brainstorm as many as you can recall. You might even want to write “Ideas” in a circle and create a “web” or “cluster” of thoughts around it”
~~~~~~~
So do you share my love for nonfiction or do you prefer fiction? What subjects are interesting to you? Do your interests change over time or stay the same?

Up tomorrow: Series