Adjustments

There is a bit of an adjustment to December.  We will meet at my house on December 13th at 8pm.  This is an updated change from before.  There is a conflict on the regular night so Second Thursday it is.  We will share short Christmas Stories, so start getting those ready.  I love this one, it's a great night.

January will be The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom but I don't have a date for that yet.

Until then, of course, Happiest of Reading!

As a note on the side, I love Thanksgiving.  It is home, it is joyful, it is thankful, it is gratitude, it is reflection, it is blessed, it is peace to me.  So, this is just for Thanksgiving:

"Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms."

"That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works."

"Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God."

"I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving."

Animal

For November, Brenda picked Animal Farm.  It was a great read for this month and gave us somethings to think about.  I think the last time I picked it up was in 8th grade.  Nice for a refresher.  So it's about-get ready-animals.  Hope I didn't ruin it for you...The animals at Manor Farm get the bright idea that they are sick of humans and they can do the work on the farm themselves.  This partially comes from a dream one of the animals has at the beginning of the book and partially comes from a series of events that occurs after the dream.  After running off the humans, they change the name of the farm to Animal Farm and they set up a set of 7 commandments -the most important being 4 legs good 2 legs bad.  They work, they go on, but slowly the power of the animals shifts to a certain group of pigs and they become the most powerful pigs.  They start to control their food and change thinking and it goes from everyone being fair to the powerful pigs having all the control.  Powerful pigs is just fun to say.  Conveniently the commandments change and the powerful pigs insist this was the way it always has been.  In the end, just kidding.  I wont give it away.  I liked this book.  We had a great discussion on our own country and government and the world government and truths about current events.  Different animals in the book played certain roles.  The powerful pigs in charge.  The longing Molly a horse who wanted the old life, Boxer another horse who was a hard worker and just did what he was told.  Benjamin the donkey who has a long memory and sees how it really is, the sheep who have a short memory and are easily convinced that things were as they always had been.  I liked how the book showed different sides to take.  Made me think where am I at.  How involved I should be in my community and awareness of life around you is just flat out important. This was a great read because I feel it was very relevant considering we just had our Presidential Election a few days later.  I highly recommend picking it up and flipping through it.  Until then, Happy Reading.

November and December

For November we are going to be reading Animal Farm by George Orwell.  We will meet Thursday November 1 at my house at 8pm.

For December we are going to do short Christmas Stories or Poems of your choice.  Everybody brings one and we all share.  That will be on December 6th at 8pm my house.  

You are officially caught up.  Until then, Happy Reading!

Well

So, We just finished reading The Well and The Mine, which was a very enjoyable read.  If I tell you a brief overview it is likely that you will first think differently of the book.  But, I will share anyway.  It's about a girl who witnesses a lady throwing her baby down the family well.  And then the family's reaction and day to day life after that. And it is more than that.   I like the compassion learned in this book and I like that the characters  stepped out of their box to see others.  Like when the girls went looking in at different houses, they could then see others situations better, and when they went to pick cotton with their dad.  It all gave them another side to life than what is front of them.  It's important to grow up.  It's important to see a full view before we judge and get carried away with what may not actually be the case.  I like that the parents showed respect and love to everyone even through a hard time era. I like that they tried to teach their kids to show that same respect to others.   Parents, sometimes, they can be so wise.  A main theme from the book was this:  The woman at the well is she forgivable.  I will let you decide.  Marie, great choice, great read!

October

We will be meeting October 4th, which is the First Thursday of the month to discuss our next book.  8pm my house as usual.  We have picked The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips as our next read.  Looks good.  So~until then.  Happy Hallo-Reading!  Yes.  I know.

things

There are things to go over.  End of summer vacation.  New book club time.  Old book.  New book.  Things.  So, we are officially re-beginning book club again.  After taking the summer months off, we had our first night back this last Thursday.  We went over the book called The Necklace.  It was a short discussion because it was a short book.  It's about a necklace that 13 women buy together and share through their lives and take turns wearing.  It enriches their lives and through time, these women learn to love, help, and serve each other.  Kind of like what Relief Society does for us.  Only minus the necklace.  I said it was short.  Next, we have moved days.  We meet the first Thursday of the month at my house at 8pm.  Even more next is our book for October.  We are reading The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips.  That's it.  An overview of things for now.  Until then, Happy Reading!

pass the time

If you're looking for something to read due to: boredom, long road trip/plane ride, the need of a new hobby, then here is a quick list for you.  These are not books we have read in book club.  They probably won't be read in book club, but I wanted to share some "other other" books that I enjoy.

1.  Divergent

2.  Insurgent the sequel to Divergent both which are very very very good.
3.  How to be an American Housewife
4.  Secret Daughter
5.  The Poisonwood Bible
6.  The Mistborn Series-it is sy-fi if you like that kinda thing and I do and I personally know the author
7.  Moloka'i
8.  A girl named Zippy
9.  Wives and Daughters 
10.  Home Front


A few books that I haven't read but look good are:
1.  Song of the Lark
2.  The Lost Wife
3.  The Forgotten Garden


Hope you all are enjoying the summer!  Happy Reading!

Update

 We are not going to meet Thursday for book club.  This summer has lots of fun activities going on and it seems like schedules aren't allowing much for book club time.  So here it is.  I won't delay any longer.  WE WILL NOT HAVE BOOK CLUB THROUGH THESE SUMMER MONTHS.  We will start back up in September, but we will still be discussing The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis.  So, Until Then-Happy Reading!!

Next Up

Next up is: The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis.  We will meet on June 14th at 8pm my house.  Happy Happy Reading to you!

Pixie Dust

If I had some would it make all my posts I was supposed to write appear?

Here's to trying...Wait for it....No? 

Fine. -Then, here's to procrastination!

1.  Healer.  By Carol Cassella.  We read this awhile back.  My memory eludes me.  I admit I had to google it to be refreshed and even then it's sketchy.  So, if someone wants to make a comment about it.  I'm all for it.  This is what I remember.  A doctor lady and her husband and daughter have tons of money and her husband is doing great with some research thing and then it goes bad and he has to secretly take money from accounts that the wife doesn't know is happening.  They just always have money it doesn't occur to her to look.  And it does't occur to him to tell her his problems even though they are married and should.  Anyway, they go broke and somebody dies.  And they live on a farm I think.  Pathetic of me, I know.  

2.  Letters in the Jade Dragon Box. By Gale Sears.  We have read one of her books before.  This one is much lighter and refreshing for a serious topic.  Historical Fiction.  A girl goes to live with her uncle because her mother is in communist China and cannot get out because of the rules of the tyrannical leader.  She does get paintings from her mother and a letter and I remember that we all commented on that you could see the paintings even though there were no actual pictures in the book.  I like getting a visual like that from a story.  The paintings and letters tell a story of her mother's life and why she chose to give the girl up.  They were smuggled in by friends.  The girl and uncle cherish these stories and it brings a closer bond between them which is sweet.  He is very hard on himself for choices he made and takes it out on the girl.  It does have a good ending.  I know my reviews aren't so hot right now.

3.  Kisses from Katie.  By Katie Davis.  I will end with the last book we just read.  No excuses to be too pathetic.  I love Katie and her strength.  Each of us has a calling and purpose whether it is big or small.  We can change lives one at a time and it doesn't have to be all at once in this grand gesture of a moment.  Katie who is 22 now, has gone to Africa to start a ministry and help children with education and the community with health and love of God.  She adopted 14 girls, 13 now since one had to go back.  She is amazing.  Her heart is open and full of love.  Unconditional love.  Everyone calls her mommy, and she knows when her own girls call her that.  I think her story is uplifting.  It gave us all little things we could relate to, take with us, try better at, and open our minds to.  She starts out by saying that Jesus wrecked her life, but only to her do more and be more.  Her faith is outstanding.  Simple faith.  Do what you can, be all that you were meant to be, be loving, be an example, be open, be forgiving, be patient, be able to accept, be with God.  Those are some minor things to take away from her book.  She has a blog if you want to look it up.  It's kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com.

Those are my updated reviews.  I will have more coming up.  Until then, Happy Reading!

don't stop believin'

Don't stop believing. Life just doesn't go as well if you do. Life, things, outside influences, creep up and take hold of you if you do stop believing. When trials come, and they do come, then who do you turn to if you don't believe. If you stop believing what influence do you turn to? Hannah couldn't make sense of her shattered world. She wanted to hold on to those she loved and lost, but the only way she knew how to do that was to cause hurt the way she hurt. Advocacy for new laws on drunk driving became her life (it will be ok Brenda), and forgiveness became a key focus in this book. One that Hannah was unwilling to take part of. In doing so, she too caused hurt to her daughter, herself, and those around her. She created a brick wall to be her comfort and forsake believing and peace altogether-because believing in the first place caused all this right? Right. I believe there's a cement talk I could reference here...So, back to the key issue of forgiveness and trials and believing. When she finally let herself believe again, Hannah was able to let go of the hurt and freely forgive the guy who had wronged her family so badly. She gained the inner peace she was looking for and opened her heart once again. I believe I like this.

Are you a believer?

Resolutions

Should I start by making some resolutions?

1. I will take back all library books on time

2. I will read all book club books this year

3. I will post comments from book club on time

Ok, maybe i should stop there...I already broke one of them. Care to guess which it is?

I have to back track just a little bit. We met in December, but I never posted that. It was amazing. That is such a special moment shared. I loved the Angel story Marie brought and Leslie's story about a man with a change of attitude, Laura's story about a boy who helped his father and mine about a town who helped a mother. I hope you ladies know how wonderful gifts you are.

A few reminders:

January~ we are meeting January 12th at 8pm my house. The book is Waiting for Morning by Karen Kingsbury.

February~ we are reading Healer by Carol Wiley Cassella. No date set yet, but likely on the 9th.

Until then my friends~Happy Reading!